Premiere of the Sergei Prokofiev’ s opera The Love for Three Oranges will take place at the Latvian National Opera on December 7.

Artistic Director and Conductor of the new production is Mārtiņš Ozoliņš, Conductor – Atvars Lakstīgala, Stage Director – Alexander Titel, Set and Costume Designer – Vladimir Arefiev, Choreographer – Irina Lychagina, Light Designer – Kevin Wyn-Jones.

Cast of the new production includes Romāns Poļisadovs, Krišjānis Norvelis, Vasily Efimov, Viesturs Jansons, Raimonds Bramanis, Andris Lapiņš, Mihail Chulpaev, Inga Šļubovska, Dana Bramane, Ilona Bagele, Irma Pavāre, Rihards Mačanovskis, Jānis Apeinis, Garri Agadzhanyan, Felix Kudryavtsev, Anatoly Sivko a.o.

The King of Clubs is in despair – his son is a hypochondriac. Though it turns out his son could be cured by laughter, not everyone at court is eager to see the prince well again... Those who would wish harm on the heir to the throne poison him with tragic prose and old, banal poems; the presence of wizards, devils and witches only adds to the intrigue. However, good prevails in this phantasmagorical chaos... The Love for Three Oranges is one of the 20th century’s best operas; it combines comedy and tragedy, poetry and the grotesque, romantic tales and philosophical satire. The LNO production, directed by Alexander Titel, artistic director of Moscow’s Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre, is based on the street theatre aesthetic and boasts the light-hearted humour and vitality characteristic of Titels’ directing style.

Stage director Alexander Titel: “The Love for Three Oranges is an opera about theater. And most of its interpretations rely on the well-known device of ‘theatre within theatre’. Meanwhile, we wished to change this tradition, to escape the theatre. The result we encounter is something not unlike the street theatre – when the story evolves around ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. However, The Love for Three Orange is also a story about the benefits of resisting the sorrow. It was already Pushkin who said that despondency is a mortal sin. Our performance is about the triumph of laughter, about the art of laughing, a story suggesting that people with the gift of self-irony – regardless,whether it is our entire planet or someone alone – make it not a hopeless place any more. And not all is still lost…”

Further performances will take place on December 8 and 20, and January 23.