Президент России Дмитрий Медведев посетил основное здание Большого театра

The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, visited the renovated historic building of the Bolshoi Theatre on Sept. 20, 2011.

Aleksandr Beglov, the deputy head of the presidential administration, accompanied the Russian head of state on his tour of the remodeled theater, as did Ziyavudin Magomedov, the founder and principal shareholder of Summa Group; Aleksandr Avdeyev, the Russian minister of culture; Anatoly Iksanov, the general director of the Bolshoi Theatre; Vladimir Resin, the first deputy mayor of Moscow; and Marat Oganesyan, the head of the Construction, Renovation, and Restoration Directorate.

Preparations are underway to open the Bolshoi Theatre after a six-year renovation. The reconstruction and restoration has more than doubled the size of the theater space, and the stage area and new underground auditorium have been equipped with the latest theatrical equipment. Rostekhnador has already completed its final inspection of the premises. Based on the results of this inspection, a request has been submitted requesting that a verdict be issued as to whether the construction site is in compliance with the relevant urban-planning requirements and land-use regulations. The historic stage will have its grand opening on Oct. 28, 2011.

President Medvedev visited the main historic building and had a look at the new underground premises and stage area. In the underground concert hall, located under Teatralnaya Ploshchad, the Russian head of state was told about the new space and the theater’s new technical capabilities, and he watched a demonstration of how the underground stage can be transformed with the use of state-of-the-art equipment. President Medvedev emphasized that the theater is now a “fantastic structure” in the engineering blueprint. According to RIA Novosti, the president noted, “This is now a very complex facility and it’s very important that everything here run smoothly. This is a huge operation and its work must never be interrupted.”

The Russian president spoke with musicians from the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra in the auditorium, and had the chance to admire the ballet troupe’s artistry during rehearsals for the premiere of Sleeping Beauty, directed by Yuri Grigorovich. The Bolshoi Theatre’s general director, Anatoly Iksanov, drew everyone’s attention to the theater’s pride and joy - its newly refurbished, unique acoustic environment.

In the stage area, Dmitry Medvedev was shown the new backstage premises. There he got a peek at a small choral class where Vladimir Matorin, a People’s Artist of Russia, was busy rehearsing. At the end of his tour, the Russian president met the artists on the stage and had his picture taken with them, against the backdrop for the ballet Sleeping Beauty.

IA Interfax reports that Dmitry Medvedev asked the artists whether they felt that the spirit of the old Bolshoi Theatre was still present in the renovated building, and he expressed his wish that the troupe feel at home in the theater. “This is something we’ve waited a long time for. This is truly our stage and we can feel it,” Svetlana Zakharova, a prima ballerina at the theater, assured the head of state.

Later the Russian president met briefly with those who were working on the restoration, renovation, and the installation of the new technical equipment in the historic building of the Bolshoi Theatre. While speaking with the head of state, Ziyavudin Magomedov, the founder of Summa Group and member of the Bolshoi Theatre’s advisory board, mentioned that when the company took on the project in the summer of 2009, they literally had to begin the restoration of the theater from scratch, because no design documentation, regulations, or standards existed on which to base the construction work.

As a reminder, in June, 2009, Summa Group purchased a controlling share in the company that is the general contractor for the renovation and restoration of the Bolshoi Theatre. One of the biggest challenges was to energize the pace of the work at the site, by increasing the number of builders and bringing in qualified personnel and experienced contractors. Summa Group is also sponsoring the historic building’s grand opening.