On 26th & 27th of  September at Meyerhold Center SounDrama will present new, third part of the Gogol series, directed by Vladimir Pankov. This premiere continues the two previous parts, Mayskaya Noch’ ili Utoplennica and Sorochinskaya Yarmarka. Altogether they open a new and uncommon vision of the mysterious and fantastic literature world of the genius Russian writer. Third part of Gogol’. Evenings is based on the story Ivan Kupala’s Eve. Tale told by the clerk of *** Church.

Gogol’. Evenings is a soundrama, it focuses on the synthesis od drama and music art. Musicians here are actors, actors, in turn, are musicians, vocalists and dancers, and musical instruments become a part of the stage performance. The parts of the series are linked between each other with common associations, stories of love and relations, told by the means of music compositions. While in the first part the music instrument dominated the performance, bringing together traditional folk and classical music by Rimskiy-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky, and in the second part the use of the music instruments was replaced by gypsy motives, folklore and music by Musorgsky performed by the actors and musicians, the third part carries the achievements of the previous two works in this series.

‘I am now interested in bringing together vocal parts with the music instruments, this part is built on the music constructions, rather then the visuals and static. For me this is oratoria’ – says director Vladimir Pankov.

The director also continues to introduce the modern times into this piece, as already seen in the 2nd part, the characters of the story face the realities of the modern time that brings disillusionment with the idyllic image of the world, presented in the 1st part. The combination of drama, music, contemporary choreography and costume design creates a unique atmosphere on stage, a real Gogol’s phantasmagoria, balancing between dreams and reality.

The premiere was held on 26/09/2009
Performance duration: 1 h. 40 min.

Staged by:
Director — Vladimir Pankov
Libretto —  Irina Lichagina
Music — SounDrama studio
Scenery and costumes designers — Natalia Zholobova and Sergey Agafonov
Music leaders —  Sergey Rodyukov and Alexander Gusev
Choreographer —  Sergey Zemlyanskiy
Sound designers — Pavel Danilin, Pavel Michailov
Tecnical equipment —  THEATRE SOLUTIONS company
Light designer —  Andrey Tarasov.

Performed by:
Alexander Gusev, Alina Olshanskaya, Alisa Estrina, Anastasiya Sicheva, Andrei Zavodyuk, Vladimir Kudryavtsev, Vladimir Nelinov, Olga Berger, Olga Demina, Pavel Akimkin, Petr Markin, Sergey Rodyukov, Sergey Shevchenko, Taras Kucenko, Inga Smetanina, Aleksey Chernih, Irina Rindina.