Premiere 10/6/2025 Subsequent performances: 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29* June 2025 | Curtain-up: 19:00 / *14:00 | Ticket sales start on 22 August 2024 | Price Category: A | Location: Main Stage, Dutch National Opera & Ballet New production Holland Festival Opera in four acts with prologue Sung in Russian Libretto Based on Pushkin with modifications by Mussorgsky Musical direction Vasily Petrenko Stage director and set designer Kirill Serebrennikov Co-director and choreographer Evgeny Kulagin Costume designer Kirill Serebrennikov and Tanya Dolmatovskaya Lighting designer Sergey Kucher Video designer Yurii Karikh Dramaturgy Daniil Orlov Boris Godunov Tomasz Konieczny Xenia Inna Demenkova Prince Vasili Ivanovich Shuisky Ya-Chung Huang Andrei Schelkalov Dmitry Cheblykov Pimen Dmitry Ulyanov Grigory Najmiddin Mavlyanov Marina Mnishek Raehann Bryce-Davis Rangoni Gevorg Hakobyan Varlaam Shenyang Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus of Dutch National Opera Chorus manager Edward Ananian-Cooper Nieuw Amsterdams Children’s Chorus (part of Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam) Child murder, devious monks and a tsar who falls victim to madness. In his grand choral opera, the Russian composer, Modest Mussorgsky deals with a theme that offers poignant parallels to today’s world: the extremes to which one man’s thirst for power can lead. The director Kirill Serebrennikov incorporates his own experiences in Russia in this highly topical production. In Russia, the years between the death of Ivan the Terrible and the start of the Romanov dynasty are known as the Time of Troubles (1598 – 1613). It is during this period that Boris Godunov accumulates power with firm determination. But the ghosts of the past catch up with him and he ends up dying mad, abandoned and betrayed by everyone. Meanwhile, the country sinks ever deeper into a mire of corruption, intrigue and coups. Russia today Kirill Serebrennikov, multi-talented and equally at home in the worlds of opera, theatre and film, previously surprised Amsterdam audiences with his unconventional interpretation of Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz. Now he returns to present his take on Mussorgsky’s opera about political turmoil and its consequences. In Serebrennikov’s production, parallels with modern-day Russia, which is dominated by high-stake political schemes at the cost of the country’s people, will be clearly drawn. Leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, acclaimed conductor Vasily Petrenko will make his debut with Dutch National Opera. Also at his disposal is the Chorus of Dutch National Opera in full force and a top-flight cast of singers. Leading bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, celebrated for his ability to get into the skin of his characters both vocally and in his acting, will be singing Boris Godunov for the first time. In other roles, much-loved singers will be returning to Amsterdam, including mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis (previously Ježibaba in Rusalka) as Marina Mnishek, bass Dmitry Ulyanov (previously Prince Galitsky/Khan Konchak in Prince Igor) as Pimen and tenor Najmiddin Mavlyanov (previously Calaf in Turandot) as Grigory. B oris Godunov Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) Power and destruction 63
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