Description

A cruel and sardonic fairytale, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel draws from a poem by Alexander Pushkin, and undoubtedly counts among the most subversive works in the history of music. One has to admit that the opera, composed less than ten years before the revolution that was to change Russia forever, doesn’t paint a very favorable picture of the Tzar’s regime ! A very direct attack against autocracy, stupidity and political inertia, it was censored and premiered only in 1909, one year after
Rimsky-Korsakov’s death. This new production from the Théâtre de la Monnaie was imagined by Laurent Pelly. French conductor Alain Altinoglu works wonders with the Théâtre de la Monnaie Symphonic Orchestra, and reaffirms his strong affinities with Russian music, which were already made clear in the Tchaikovsky dyptich Iolanta / The Nutcracker at the Paris Opera in 2015.