Tristia

Chorus opera

Performed in French and Russian with Russian subtitles

A few years ago, the composer Philippe Hersant wrote pieces for choir and chamber orchestra based on the poems of French prisoners. Then, at the request of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, he added Russian, Japanese and Corsican texts. In May 2016, the world premiere of the «expanded and augmented» musical score will reach audiences. The title refers to a collection of poems by Osip Mandelstam, Tristia (1922), which, in turn, is an allusion to Ovid’s Tristia. The Russian part includes texts from both professional writers — among them Mandelstam, who was exiled for his poem The Stalin epigram (also known as The Kremlin Highlander) and who died in a prison camp, — and simple, self-taught poets, who write about their love for the girls who are waiting for them on the outside.