The Golden Cockerel

2014, Mariinsky Theatre, Opera. Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Director: Anna Mathison

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s «The Golden Cockerel» is the composer’s final opera, a sharp satirical parable based on Pushkin’s fairy tale. The 2014 production by the Mariinsky Theatre, directed by Anna Matison and designed by Sergey Novikov, brings this «fairy tale in person» to life with impressive visual expressiveness. Novikov’s monumental and vibrant set design, combined with Matison’s glossy aesthetic, creates a dazzling world that exposes the absurdity of Dodon’s kingdom.

Reviews

The Golden Cockerel

It is no coincidence that the word "fairy tale" was removed from the title of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Golden Cockerel": this is not a fairy tale, but a ruthless musical and theatrical pamphlet. The Russo-Japanese War, the 1905 Revolution, student unrest, and the confrontation between the composer-professor and the authorities provide the historical and biographical backdrop for Korsakov's "fairy tale in personages." Composed in 1907, The Golden Cockerel was Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera and the last work of the pre-revolutionary Russian school of composition, the same school that had once made its mark with the patriotic Life for the Tsar.…

Read more
The Golden Cockerel
Watch video
Watch video