Stage direction & scenography: Dmitri Tcherniakov

Costume design Elena Zaytseva

Lighting design: Gleb Filshtinsky

Chorus master: Valery Borisov

Ruslan and Lyudmila, the fable of Mikhail Glinka (from a poem by Pushkin), and a symbolic Russian opera in itself, was an apposite choice to open the 2011-2012 season of the majestic Moscow opera, after its long renovation.
Director Dmitri Tcherniakov transposes Glinka’s opera into the 21st century, exposing the protagonists to contemporary forms of temptations: a ‘harem for Ruslan, and a Thai massage for Lyudmila…
Vladimir Jurowski conducts the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and magnificent soloists Albina Shagimuratova, Mikhail Petrenko, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Charles Workman and Elena Zaremba, in this production acclaimed for its musical quality and its staging.

HD recording: Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, November 2011

Produced by François Duplat

Directed for TV & video by Andy Sommer

Bonus: Interview with Dmitri Tcherniakov

“Petrenko’s soft bass makes for a warmly sympathetic Ruslan…Shagimuratova copes well with the coloratura of Lyudmila’s teasing wedding feast aria…Charles Workman is a light-voiced, sympathetic Finn and Alex Penda’s dark dramatic soprano suites Gorislava…Jurowski conducts an urgent account of Glinka’s colourful score” Gramophone