From June until late September most of Moscow’s concert halls and theatres close and the city’s orchestras, theatre and ballet companies perform elsewhere in Russia and abroad. However, for the rest of the year the city has a rich and varied cultural scene. The Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow’s oldest and most famous opera and ballet house, offers an impressive repertoire. Numerous drama theatres put on a variety of plays in Russian, ranging from the conventional to the avant-garde. For non-Russian speakers there is a wide choice of events, ranging from folk dance and gypsy music to classical concerts by top international musicians. Evening performances at most venues begin at 7pm or 7:30pm, while matinees generally start around midday.
BALLET AND OPERA
There are numerous venues in Moscow where visitors can see high-quality ballet and opera. Undoubtedly the most famous is the Bolshoy Theatre, originally built in 1780. Despite two major fires, the building remains impressive and stands on its original site. Today the bolshoy is still the best venue in Moscow in which to see opera and ballet. Its magnificent main auditorium accommodates some 2,500 people. World-famous ballets, including Giselle by Adolphe Adam and Swan Lake and The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, have been danced here by the company. The theatre’s operatic repertoire includes a number of works by Russian composers. Among them are Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky, The Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Another much younger company, the Kremlin Ballet Company, can be seen at the State Kremlin Palace in the Kremlin. This gigantic steel and glass building, originally constructed in 1961 as a convention hall for the Communist Party, has a 6,000-seat auditorium. It is a prime venue for those wishing to see visiting Western opera singers, as well as for ballet.
Less grandiose, but nevertheless high-quality, operas and ballets are performed at the Helicon Opera, the Novaya Opera and the Stanislavskiy and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre. As its name implies, the Operetta Theatre performs operettas, while the Gnesin Music Academy Opera Studio stages more experimental productions.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Moscow has a strong tradition of classical music and has long been home to several top international music events. One of Moscow’s most famous classical music venues is the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. The main feature of this large circular auditorium is a giant pipe organ, whfch has 7,800 pipes and weighs approximately 20 tonnes. It was made in Czechoslovakia and was installed in 1959.
The Moscow Conservatory is both an educational establishment and a venue for concerts of classical music. It was founded in 1866 and Pyotr Tchaikovsky, then a young composer at the beginning of his brilliant career, taught here for 12 years. Nowadays the conservatory has more than 1,000 music students at any one time.
The Bolshoy Zal (Great Hall) is used for orchestral concerts, both by the conservatory’s resident orchestra and visiting orchestras. The Malyy Zal (Small Hall) is used for recitals by smaller ensembles. Over the years many prominent musicians have performed here and every four years the conservatory plays host to the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Competition.
Moscow’s most prestigious classical music gathering is the annual Svyatoslav Richter December Nights Festival. Held in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the concerts attract a star-studded array of Russian and foreign musicians.
In summer both indoor and outdoor concerts are held outside Moscow at Kuskovo on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
THEATRE
Moscow has more than 60 theatres, most of which are repertory. This means that a different production is staged every night. Listings can be found in the Friday edition of The Moscow Times or in The Exile.
The Moscow Arts Theatre stages a wide repertoire, but it is particularly famous for its productions of Anton Chekhov’s plays, such as The Seagull. In contrast, the Lenkom Theatre produces musicals and plays by contemporary Russian writers. Russia’s first drama theatre, the Malyy Theatre, across the street from the Bolshoy, played a major role in the development of Russian theatre.
The Obraztsov Puppet Theatre is as entertaining for adults as it is for children. It was founded in 1931 and is named after its first director, Sergey Obraztsov. The theatre’s repertoire is outstanding and most of the plays can be enjoyed without a knowledge of the Russian language. Evening performances may only be open to those over the age of 18.
Performances at the Gypsy Theatre consist of traditional gypsy dancing and singing. Performances of Russian folk dancing are held at various venues throughout Moscow.
The Taganka Theatre, favourite of Russian president Vladimir Putin, has some excellent productions such as works by Mikhail Bulgakov.
The Mossoviet Theatre is also among the city’s best, showing alternative interpretations of Shakespeare and excellent productions of Russian classics.
FILM
The Russian film industry flourished under the Soviet regime and Lenin himself recognized the value of films for conveying messages. Specially commissioned films shown throughout Russia on modified trains, for example, informed much of the rural population that there had been a revolution in the capital. Until the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, the film industry was run by the state. Films were subsidized and their subject matter closely monitored. Russian film-makers now have artistic freedom, but suffer from a shortage of funding. Cinemas show both Hollywood blockbusters and Russian releases. After a period of stagnation, Russian cinema is enjoying a real boom, and domestically produced films are now more popular than imports.
Many cinemas have out-of-date equipment, muffled sound and uncomfortable seats, but two central Russian-language cinemas, the Rossiya and the Udarnik, offer digital sound and good facilities. The Arts Cinema is one of the oldest in Moscow. Its sound system is not as good as those at the Rossiya and the Udarnik, but it remains one of the city’s most popular cinemas. It shows the latest Russian releases and Western films in Russian. For English language cinema, the Dome Cinema and 35mm are the only options within the city centre. The Dome shows only one or two films a month. 35mm screens various films in English, although not very often and sometimes at peculiar times. Outside the centre Kinostar De Lux at Mega in Khimki offers screenings in a modern Western-style cinema.
Films from Europe and India can be seen in their original languages at the Illuzion and the Cinema Centre. The latter is also the venue for the Moscow International Film Festival.
Tickets for films can only be bought at the cinemas themselves. At most, payment is in cash, although the Dome Cinema accepts credit cards.