Published on: 2026-08-26
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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At the theater “Helikon Opera”, subordinate to the metropolitan To the Department of Culture, the 37th season has opened. Director Ilya Ilyin, who took the position of artistic director in September 2025, spoke at the traditional company meeting about the premieres and concerts awaiting the audience.
Five premieres
The first premiere is scheduled for September 26 and 27. Soloists of the Helikon Opera and actors of the Moscow Puppet Theater will jointly present a musical performance for children as part of the festival “Shostakovich instead of chaos” “Shostakovich-Tales”. The dolls involved in the production will be seen by the audience for the first time — they are being created specifically for it. The directors-producers are Olga Melkumova and Natalia Pakhomova. Artem Davydov will take the conductor’s podium.
“This performance will unite two compositions by Dmitri Shostakovich — ‘The Tale of the Silly Little Mouse’ and ‘The Tale of the Priest and His Workman Balda.’ Shostakovich himself designated them as an opera, so the opera theater is their rightful place,” explained Ilya Ilyin.
Another premiere — “Standard” Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini. At the center of the plot is the high priestess Norma, who is devotedly in love with the Roman military leader Pollione, who no longer reciprocates her feelings. The premiere took place in 1831, with the lead role performed by Montserrat Caballé, Maria Callas, Beverly Sills, and other artists in various versions. At the Helikon Opera, the story will be staged by the theater’s president, People’s Artist of Russia Dmitry Bertman. The set design will be handled by Austrian artist Hartmut Schorghofer. The conductor is the Italian maestro Fabio Mastrangelo. The premiere series will run from November 25 to 29.
On December 31, on New Year’s Eve, the theater invites you to the performance “The New Year’s Ball of Princess Shakhovskaya.” The program includes masterpieces of opera classics and contemporary musical numbers.
During the winter holidays, the whole family can go to a musical fairy tale “New Year in Lukomorye”, which Ilya Ilyin will set to the music of Alexander Pokidchenko. This will be the premiere of the renewed version of the play; the previous edition was presented in 2015. Now guests are promised new decorations, costumes, and unconventional stage solutions. Young theatergoers will embark on an exciting journey into a fairy-tale world inhabited by both Pushkin’s characters and our familiar contemporaries, where miracles happen and transformations occur.
And on January 27, guests will be treated to another premiere — the play “The Secret Weapon of Besieged Leningrad,” dedicated to the heroism of the city’s residents during the Great Patriotic War. The program will feature the rarely performed cycle of spiritual choruses “Kanty” by Boris Asafyev, who composed it in 1942–1943 during the siege of Leningrad.
Concerts
From September 22 to 27, a large-scale festival will be held at the theater “Shostakovich instead of chaos”, dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The program includes performances by renowned Russian orchestras, conductors, artists, and opera stars.
In addition, from September to December, unusual concert-meetings will be held here. For example, on October 20, as part of the new cycle “Portrait Concerts,” Honored Artist of Russia Anna Grechishkina will present a new solo program “The Box of My Dreams”, and on November 4th, viewers can look forward to an unusual concert “Cello Jubilee”, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the instrument of the Honored Artist of Russia Viktor Kozodov.
In the new season, performers will take the stage P. I. Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra, the chamber ensemble “Moscow Soloists,” the State Academic Choral Chapel of Russia named after A.A. Yurlov, and other groups. Meetings will also continue in the musical living room of Lyudmila Zhumaeva and project concerts #JazzCafe.
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