In 1915, Sergej Prokof’ev began composing The Gambler. To this day it is considered his first important musictheatre score. He completed it in 1916, after also editing the libretto taken from the homonymous novel by the celebrated Fëdor Dostoevskij. The debut of the opera, initially scheduled for the Mariinskji theatre in Petrograd the following year, was postponed because the cast protested that the score was too difficult. The October Revolution of 1917, and the composer’s subsequent departure – he was away from Russia for 15 years – mark the cancellation of the title from the programme of the Mariinskji. When he returned to Russia in 1927, Prokof’ev found the score of The Gambler in the library of the theatre of what was now called Leningrad. But the changes are not limited to the name of the city: the opera was contested by the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians for its modernism, and cancelled once again. The Gambler therefore first saw the light outside the Soviet Union, on the 29th April 1929, at Brussels’ Théàtre Royale de la Monnaie, in a second edition of the score, the libretto in French edited by Paul Spaak, and the translated title Le joueur. It was the only occasion in which Prokof’ev saw his opera stages. This is the version that will be performed in Martina Franca’s Palazzo Ducale.
Presentations and conferences | Mettiamoci all’opera
Delitto e castigo by Dostoevskij in the interpretation of Giorgio Strehler, with Giovanni Soresi and the participation of the schools of Martina Franca
Chiostro di San Domenico, Martina Franca | Friday, July 15th h. 7:30 PM
The event is held in Italian
Conversation about Dostoevskij, Prokof’ev and Il giocatore, with Fausto Malcovati
Auditorium della Fondazione Paolo Grassi, Martina Franca | Monday, July 18th h. 7:00 PM
The event is held in Italian
Locandina
Conductor Jan Latham Koenig
Director David Pountney
Scenes and costumesLeila Fteita
Light design Alessandro Carletti
Pauline Maritina Tampakopoulos
Alexis Sergej Radchenko
La Grand-Mère Silvia Beltrami
Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari
Coro del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari
Choirmaster Fabrizio Cassi
Le Général Andrew Greenan
Pauline Maritina Tampakopoulos
Alexis Sergej Radchenko
La Grand-Mère Silvia Beltrami
Le Marquis Paul Curievici
Mr. Astley Alexander Ilvakhin
Blanche Ksenia Chubunova
Le prince Nilsky Sandro Rossi
Le baron Wurmerheim Strahinja Djokic
Potapytch Gonzalo Godoy Sepulveda
Au tableau de la salle de jeu
Le Directeur Andrew Greenan
Premier Croupier Dagur Thorgrimsson
Deuxieme Croupier Joan Folqué
Le Gros Anglais Strahinja Djokic
Le Long Anglais Toni Nezic
La Dame bariolée Irina Bogdanova
La Dame pâle Alessia Panza
La Dame comme ci comme ça Ksenia Chubunova
La Dame vénérable Larissa Grigoreva
La Vieille Joueuse suspecte Silvia Beltrami
Le Joueur maladif Paul Curievici
Le Joueur bossu Sandro Rossi
Le Joueur malchanceux Elcin Adil Huseynov
Le Vieux Joueur Yuri Guerra
Les six joueurs Vincenzo Mandarino,
Pantaleo Metta, Elia Colombotto, Diego
Maffezzoni, Graziano De Pace,
Dario Lattanzio
