The premiere of the opera about the poisoning of Litvinenko begins in England

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The premiere screenings of the opera The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko, which is dedicated to the poisoning of a former FSB officer, have begun in Great Britain. Permission to stage was given by Litvinenko's wife. This was reported on the theater website.

All tickets for the premiere of the production have already been sold out, as well as for similar screenings, which will be held on July 16 and 17.

The first act of the opera tells about the work of a security officer in the Russian special service, including the period in Chechnya and the refusal to kill businessman Boris Berezovsky. In the second act, the audience will see the emigration of the protagonist to London, where he meets with his former colleague Andrei Lugovoi, whose name is associated with the poisoning of Litvinenko. The opera ends with the death of an ex-FSB officer.

Permission to stage was given by the widow of a Russian, Marina Litvinenko. "Music is a very powerful weapon. Sometimes it is impossible to convey a word or a frame. But music can influence even more than just words," says Marina. “I like the name“The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko,”because for what he devoted all his life and which he could not achieve, he paid with his death, as a sacrifice,” she says.

It is noted that the widow of the deceased did not interfere with the creation of this production. Marina Litvinenko added that she was amazed when she was approached with the idea to stage an opera, but agreed. “For me, this is an opportunity to fight. My participation will help preserve the documentary nature of events, but fictionalization will allow more people to learn about Sasha's story,”the Afisha Daily website quoted the wife of a former FSB officer as saying about the opera.

The music for the play was written by Anthony Bolton, a British investor who is also involved in the creation of musical works. He decided to create the production after reading the book "Death of a Dissident" by Marina Litvinenko and Alexander Goldfarb.

The production was directed by Stephen Medcalf, known to fans of Aida at the Royal Albert Hall and The Queen of Spades at La Scala.

The libretto was written by British musician Keith Hesketh-Harvey, who wrote the libretto for productions of the Royal Opera House in London and the English National Opera.

The part of Alexander Litvinenko is performed by tenor Adrian Dwyer. Other characters involved in the production include Marina Litvinenko, oligarch Boris Berezovsky, and Russian Andrei Lugovoi, who is assigned the role of Litvinenko's killer.

Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko died in 2006 in London, where he received political asylum. The cause of death of the security officer was poisoning with radioactive polonium-210. British investigators concluded that the Russian authorities were involved in the crime. The Kremlin, in turn, denied this.