Carousel. Tree. Tower.

The premier of “The Magic Flute” (Die Zauberflöte) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the scenery designed by Sergey Kuznetsov and Agnia Sterligova (Planet 9) in “Helikon-Opera” is a pure delight for adults and children alike (the opera is staged in two versions). The stage design is the core, upon which is strung the wild narrative about the controversy between the feminine and masculine.

Written by:
Lara Kopylova
Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

19 November 2018

News

This opera includes everything one can possibly think of: a quest and a Christmas show for children, ancient symbols and myths seen through the prism of psychoanalysis, picaresque romance and masonic themes, the subtleties of gender relations, and, of course, the celestial Mozart choirs that sound just short of the whole audience joining in, like you would expect at a rock concert. The loving couple goes through a terrible ordeal only to be together, and once they are together at last, they go through more ordeals, just as terrible. Everyone loves everyone, everybody saves everybody, lots of them want to kill one another or themselves but finally everybody ends up loving everybody all the same.

For the Chief Architect of Moscow, Sergey Kuznetsov, this is his second project that he did in the capacity of a production designer (the first was the premier of “Helikon-Opera” after it was reconstructed in 2015). His coauthor, Agnia Sterligova (Planet 9) already has some experience in stage design. At the press conference before the premiere of “The Flute” that took place November 12, the authors of the performance shared their impressions.

zooming — Stage design of “The Magic Flute” in “Helikon-Opera”. Production designers: Sergey Kuznetsov, Agnia Sterligova. Photograph © Sergey Krotov

According to Sergey Kuznetsov, he and Agnia Sterligova proceeded not so much from the music as from the stage design tradition, watched a lot of material, and did not want to repeat something that already was done before them. “This is a show that teeters on the verge of pop art and kitsch yet does not overstep the mark; a show that will leave nobody indifferent. Mozart would have been pleased – recapped the chief architect – This is a meditation on the conflict between man’s and woman’s worlds and about how they are attracted to each other, which affects all of us. Any living creature can associate itself with this or that gender. Well, those who definitely can, they will surely find this interesting, and as for the others, well, maybe they will stop to think for a second and will finally make up their minds. We believe that after this performance everyone will be absolutely certain on this issue”.

Agnia Sterligova was more specific about the idea: “In the dialogue with the production director, Ilia Iliyn, we came up with the image of a Luna Park, the kind that they had in the beginning of the ХХ century in New York’s Coney Island. This choice was motivated by the pop art inflatable costumes designed by Alexandra Sharova. The controversy between man’s and woman’s world was shown against the backdrop of a grand-scale spinning carousel, this carousel also being the Temple of Wisdom”. And the producer of “Helikon-Opera”, Dmitry Bertman, made an important speech about the role of architecture. He said: “We have been friends with Sergey Kuznetsov for years; he designed the exposition for the opening ceremony of our theater, and we were thinking about producing “The Flute” for quite a while. In spite of his high status, Sergei Kuznetsov is not a “government official” at all, he is quite the reverse, and he is a true artist. Modern theater is essentially symbolic – the age of imitation is over, and it’s not about a “painted veil” anymore. Today, it’s the architects who come out on stage, we see this in theaters all around the world”.

In spite of my musical background, I could never not so much as make sense of but even remember the storyline of “The Magic Flute”, and focused solely on the music. Why does the wizard Sarastro (a reference to the fire worshipper Zarathustra, I presume) summon the Egyptian Isis and Osiris? They seem to be from different pages of history, do they not? The masonic librettist Schikaneder (he is also the first performer of Papageno) hints at some secret knowledge of the Ancient Greece that was passed on to the Freemasonry – but what does Persia have to do with it? Why did the Persian sage steal the princess? As it turned out, to teach her wisdom, not to marry her. If this is to be the case, then why does he leave her guarded by the blackamoor who literally harasses her (or is this the narrative of the beauty and the beast that somehow popped up along the way?)

Before the beginning of the performance, we see the curtain demonstrating a water color painting by Sergey Kuznetsov that shows a carousel that also looks like a chandelier that starts to beautifully give off smoke, its colors starting to run, during the overture. Then the curtain goes up, and we find ourselves in the Luna Park, where anything can happen: terrible danger and breathtaking adventures are on the way. In the first act, there is a rollercoaster on stage, upon which a train tears back and forth – but, instead of a train, this turns out to be the serpent chasing Prince Tamino. The serpent almost got him but at the very last moment the prince was saved by three infernal-looking ladies dressed in black and red – the fairies or the “attendants” of the Queen of the Night.

In Luna Park, we are in for both market square performances and quests that we have to take a part in. And it is not accidental that the Queen of the Night crawls out from a popcorn cup, while the snakes upon which she rests (not really scary-looking because they are inflatables) minimize the fanfare of the world’s most difficult aria, which includes an F-note of the third octave. (The aria, incidentally, did sound really beautiful, just as Tamino’s tenor part and the Grandfather’s bass part did). Generally, they sing with finesse, easily tackling Mozart’s “instrumental” barely singable tunes, the orchestra plays tastefully, and it’s a rare treat for one’s ears… but I digress.

The stage design of “The Magic Flute” is centered around some universal tree that shows different colors: it crackles in flames when the heroes have to go through the fire, it turns blue and starts bubbling when they go through the water, and it shines pure gold in the temple of Sarastro (I only learned about the fact that this is a “carousel” after I wrote the review but the associations with the biblical tree of knowledge of good and evil only make it more beautiful because it comes to knowing the depths of human nature and enlightenment thereof). The shape and the metallic structures of the tree look like the bell of the Shukhov Tower, something you might call a “constructivist church bell” of sorts (and, getting ahead of myself, I will say that later on it will be surrounded by little constructivist bells growing around it). This tower tightly holds the composition together, it is always in the center, it is always prevailing, it helps to arrange the choreography, rotating on a turntable during the change of scenery. The media screen in the left part of the stage comments on the things that are going on.

The colors play an immensely important role in the stage design, interacting with the bright pop art of the costumes. Being symbolic, the colors go a long way to help unravel a mysterious narrative. The loving couple – Prince Tamino and Princess Pamia – also have their proprietary colors. The princess is dressed in pink, and Tamino is wearing a blue business suit, he is something like the alter ego of the audience, and only in the end of the play he turns into a steel warrior. Unlike the loving couple of two children, there is also an older generation – Mother Night and Sage Sarastro, she embodying the dark side of femininity (black color, black fairies, snakes and monkeys), he embodying the reasonable and sunny masculinity (golden armor, golden warriors and a golden lurex pullover). Queen of the Night and Sarastro are engaged in a complicated kind of Freudian relationship between themselves and the younger generation. They argue over the Princess, he stole her, the bitchy mother is jealous of her daughter for Sarastro (or of Sarastro for her daughter?), and even wants to kill him. But then the elders made peace with each other and set out on a trip with a suitcase – it is not for nothing that Queen ofg the Night sings her second aria riding an inflatable pink swan, one should think she fell in love (again, Nabokov’s German seams come to mind). The entire stage design and choreography constantly works with black and golden colors, including in mass scenes. Sarastro’s warriors are also designed in a really cool way, as golden men a-la Star Wars. He is also served by women, not black, but of the “lunar” enlightened kind, dressed in white spacesuits.

If we are to ultimately assign gender symbolics to the colors, we will see that, out of all the characters, Papageno is the only one who is wearing the colors of the rainbow with violet and orange prevailing. He is also the most “inflatable” one, whatever that means for you. Just as rainbow-like is his bride Papagena, who wears a skirt of toy balloons. Generally speaking, Papageno is a typical valet from picaresque romance, he is related to the prince very much like Leporello is to Don Giovanni or Sancho Panza is to Don Quixote. He does a lot of drinking, a lot of lying, is scared of everything but still it was him who saved the princess from the blackamoor. What Mozart wrote was Singspiel, a vaudeville with musical numbers and conversational cues for an unassuming theater. The lyrics of the famous aria of the bird-catcher (“Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja”) are rather frivolous but somehow it is not felt here. In this context, the bird-catcher is a childish character, and at the same time a picaroon who mitigates the seriousness of the central couple of the prince and the princess. The lovers have to go through the trials by fire, water, and deadly silence. The most terrible thing for a woman is when her man won’t speak to her (and in “Orpheus” he could not so much as look at her, let alone speak, remember?), and she cannot understand why he doesn’t, and sings such a truly heart-wrenching aria. Close to the point of suicide, the Princess holds a sword above herself. Papageno at once offers a travesty version of suicide and hangs himself on a toy balloon.

In the last scene where the lovers are finally reunited, the stage designers place them in the most pompous place one could think of: on top of the structure of the “tree” tower; the lovers kiss each other standing on top of the tower, mimickinga Hollywood happy ending.

And what is the “Magic Flute” that helped the lovers overcome all the difficulties? I think that the flute is art itself, it serves to quiet the fears and to light up the darkest sides that both the adults and even the princess has in them (the black bull of the blackamoor who periodically tortures here is one archetype of passion). Still another variation of the flute is the bells of Papageno. Their meaning is simpler but if you “turn them on” at the right moment and duplicate on the media screen, everyone, including the villains, start dancing, some sort of a dancing uniting finale that removes the hostility between the characters. At the same time, the bells also look like a logic cube, a talisman from a blockbuster movie. And in the last scene we can see the inversion of them: the constructivist metallic bells have grown around the “Shukhov Tower”. The iron tree got “kids” of its own.

One must also mention here the figure of three. There are three chords sounding in the opera overture. Three “heavenly boys” – little white clouds, out of which stick little children’s heads, form beautiful “white” pictures. The boys help the Prince. Their antagonists are the three corrupt fairies of the Queen of the Night. But then again, incidentally, the fairies also helped the prince (if you have read this far but lost the plot, I will remind you that they saved him from the “train” serpent). When the Queen of the Night sped away with Sarastro, the black women, demonstrating the great powers of the stage machinery, fall down to hell – what was their sin, may I ask? Or does this mean that the Queen finally got rid of her dark sides? Or is it just an allusion to the final scene of Mozart’s Don Giovanni? There is still a slight hint of gender discrimination here. Take the boys – they are white, take the girls – they are black and ultimately go straight to hell. Feminists would be unhappy with that.

As Sergey Kuznetsov said, the most beautiful thing about “The Magic Flute” is its multiple meanings. It has a countless number of interpretations because it is all based on fairytales, myths, initiations and archetypes, merry and deep at the same time, and this is why “The Magic Flute” is always so contemporary and gives offer such a great scope for imagination. And the stage design goes a long way to develop all of these symbolic and mystic layers and lay them before the audience in the palatable form of a theatrical show.

19 November 2018

Headlines now

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

Object

The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

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Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

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New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

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The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.

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Architecture and Leisure Park

For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.

Overview

The U-House

The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.

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Black and White

In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.

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The “Snake” Mountain

The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.

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Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring

The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.

Object

Feed ’Em All

A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.

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The Ensemble at the Mosque

OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.

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Pargolovo Protestantism

A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.

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The Shape of the Inconceivable

The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.

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Rays of the Desert

A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.

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The Dairy Theme

The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.

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The Road to the Temple

Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.

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Towers Leaning Towards the Sun

The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.

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In the spirit of ROSTA posters

The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.

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The Northern Thebaid

The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.

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Brilliant Production

The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.

​Carousel. Tree. Tower.

Carousel. Tree. Tower.