Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre marks 170th anniversary with concert
A roster of opera singers and the venue's own orchestra celebrated the date with a live audience attending the concert. Photo: Khatia Jijeishvili/via Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.
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Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, the central venue for stage art in classical opera and ballet in Georgia, is celebrating its 170th anniversary, with a concert marking the milestone hosted in two bills over the past three days.
Arias from opera classics were heard at the downtown theatre by an audience attending the show with seating restrictions for Covid precautions, as musicians of the venue's orchestra performed from spots separated by barriers for the same reason.
The two-show bill, offering performances on Sunday and Tuesday, marked the reopening of the theatre for its vocal troupe for the first time in a year, and celebrated the launch of the 170th artistic season.
The anniversary occasion saw messages of congratulations and support flowing in not only from the local scene but also Georgian singers of international stage. Baritone George Gagnidze, a familiar name on renowned international stages from Gran Teatre del Liceu to San Francisco Opera, reacted to the anniversary by wishing the Tbilisi theatre a successful exit from the pandemic.
The first professional theatre venue opened in Tbilisi with a ball on April 12, 1851. The construction of the theatre had been commissioned in 1947 by Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, the Imperial Russian Viceroy of the Caucasus.
Built by Italian architect Scudieri, the venue hosted its first opera show in November 1851 with Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti. The performance was followed with an open-air public celebration on the bank of River Mtkvari in the capital.
Productions of opera classics by Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini and other famed composers became a familiar part of the repertory at the theatre over the following years. The official theatre history also said Teresa Stolz, later Verdi’s favourite soprano, had made her operatic debut at the Tbilisi theatre in 1857.
A devastating fire interrupted theatrical life in the city when it completely consumed the theatre in 1874. Only in 1896 a new building - recognised as the current theatre venue on Rustaveli Avenue - was commissioned based on a project by architect Victor Schröter.
More milestones followed in the 20th century, with the first full production of a Georgian opera - Meliton Balanchivadze's Tamar the Wily - premiering during the 1925-1926 season, before more local composers followed to form the basis of the Georgian professional theatre scene. The venue now bears the name of one of them, Zakaria Paliashvili, whose work formed the basis for Abesalom and Eteri, an iconic opera of the local scene performances of which launch every season at the venue.
The theatre is also home of State Ballet of Georgia, the state troupe that has seen a rebirth under the artistic directorship of Georgia's internationally renowned dancer Nina Ananiashvili since 2004. The former Bolshoi Theatre and American Ballet Theatre dancer has invited international choreographers and dancers including Trey McIntyre, Yuri Possokhov, Ángel Corella, Tamara Rojo and more for staging performances for the Georgian company and for gala shows featuring stars of classical dance.
The Opera and Ballet State Theatre now involves around 700 staff under the artistic directorship of former tenor Badri Maisuradze, who, like Ananiashvili, has overseen a reinvigoration of creative work in the opera company over the recent years, with projects for young performers and projects featuring recognised international directors.
The Tbilisi venue is part of the European Route of Historic Theatres, a project supported by the Culture Programme of the European Union, and a member of Opera Europa, an association of companies and festivals across the continent.