"The Little Prince..."
"Once upon a time there lived
the Little Prince. He lived on the planet, which was a little bigger than
he himself and he wanted to have a friend…" Everyone knows these magic
words, which carry us to the world of talking foxes, capricious roses
and great kindness and mystery. A pedagogue and conductor of Magnitogorsk
State Conservatoire Sariya Malyukova was dreaming to perform this tale
with her children of a musical group . Her creative experience is rather
large - 25 years of work with children and it's high time to sum up. The
spectators of Magnitogorsk have already seen a lot of musical tales performed
by this musical group, such as "The Song in the Forest", "The Scrip's
Tale" and others. The time for a serious experiment has come. "The Little
Prince" is not just a musical tale, it's an opera. Sariya Malyukova says:
"It's a very kind and wise tale. Everyone will find something important
for oneself. "The Little Prince" - is Koran and Bible both for children
and adults. For example, my daughter studies this book in the second form
and she understands everything in it. As for adults they understand it
in their own way…"
An idea to perform the opera
was born in autumn of 1999. There was no doubt that the music to it had
to be written by Vladimir Sidorov. V. Sidorov and S. Malyukova have been
working together for 10 years. He has written the music for "The Scrip's
Tale" and the concert program "We And Song are Inseparable". Sariya Malyukova
says: "Vladimir Alexandrovich is astonishing man. He has no ambitions
or arrogance. He just creates". The opera was written and staged for a
short time, for 3 months. There were a lot of problems, but all of them
were solved magically… Sariya Malyukova has 2 choir groups - juniors and
seniors. They worked together and the first-formers were taught by the
seniors. The parents also supported that project. The girls rehearsed
their roles to the Phonograms at home, and had to go to bed late at night
and to get up early in the morning with this tale. They came home from
the rehearsals at 9 and 12 o'clock sometimes. But still all of them enjoyed
this hard work. The music helped them. It's very interesting, full of
sense and they memorised it easily. S. Malyukova says: "The music is composed
in the modern rhythms. Duets, monologues, choir scenes are organically
connected. The music is natural, it has no false and hypocrisy". One of
the main merits of the opera is that it is composed on the author's original
text. The language of the tale is beautiful, capacious and musical".
The premiere has taken place
in the Grand-hall of the Conservatoire on the 19 of May, 2000. The performers
of the main roles did their best. A soloist of the choir Julya Karimova
played a difficult part of the Little Prince. The role includes a lot
of vocal scenes, dialogues, recitatives and poetic insertions. Julya's
manager has a high opinion of the girl: "Undoubtedly, she is talented
and her voice is like a clean spring. Besides, she is a well brought up
and modest girl. It is pleasant to work with such children". Dasha Kovalyova
plays two important roles - the Fox and the Rose. Her characters express
the main idea of the tale. The girl has a large experience, she has been
singing for 5 years. The Snake is also a philosophic role, which was played
by Nastya Kozhevnikova. During his travels on the planets the Little Prince
met the Business Man (Katya Tretyakova), the King (Masha Chelmakina),
the Ambitious Person (Nurzilya Ishberdina). Nurzilya learned her role
very quickly and replaced a sick performer. The choir was organically
included into the events on the stage and determined the main outline
of the opera.
Liya Kinebayeva is a costumier
of the opera. Her costumes are non-ordinary and surprising. A choreographic
group enriches the opera. It adds entertainment and accentuates the meaning.
It is not by chance that the dancers from school № 65 and their choreograph
Galina Galashenko were invited. Two creative groups worked together and
were a success.
Eugenia Schevtchenko
"Magnitogorsk news"
3.06.00
Main
| Text by the scenes | Phonogram (mp3)
| Press | Photo&pics | About Antoine de
Sent Exupery | About composer Vladimir Sidorov and children choir by Sariya Malukova
Russian version
