August 18, 1961 - Premiere of the first Komi ballet - Yag Mort ("Forest Man") by Yakov Perepelitsa  www.cultmap.nbrkomi.ru |
The performance became a major musical event and was of great importance in the development of the Komi musical art. The ballet is rich in authentic ethnographic material: it combines elements of the Komi musical folklore, national rituals and dances.
The performance was created by composer Yakov Perepelitsa, artist Vasily Ignatov as production designer, who tended to the Komi folklore in his work, the stage managers - choreographer G. Vakhovsky and director I.Orlovsky, conductors N.Klaus, V.Shestopalov and the entire staff of the theater. In 1961, at the All-Russian Performance Review the show was awarded with a Diploma of the first degree.
In the Komi-Zyryan language, "yag" means forest, forestal, "mort" – a person. "Yag-Mort "means" forest man". A giant of enormous stature, looking like a wild animal, dressed in untrimmed bearskin.
In 1962, Yag-Mort was performed on the stage of the Kremlin Theater and broadcast on Central Television.
The Komi Opera and Ballet Theater is the only professional theater company in the European North of Russia producing the world’s most famous . Today, the playbill of the theater includes more than 60 names of operas, ballets and other genres of musical theater.
August 26, 1958 is the official opening date of the theater.
On August 26, 1958, during the celebration of the formation of the Komi Autonomy, the Musical Theater of the Komi ASSR was opened to the public by the premiere of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin staged by music professor and composer A. Kireev, invited from Leningrad.
The theater was founded, but did not have a permanent building. At the start, the troupe consisted of 104 people: 20 soloists, 16 dancers, 36 members of the choir, 20 orchestra musicians and the artistic management of six people under the leadership of the legendary personality Boris Daineka.
Translated by Karina Koshlets.
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