MEDIATHEK

Prose, an opera by Vladimir Rannev, is based on texts by Yury Mamleev and Anton Chekhov, whom the creators of this opera consider two of the harshest, most uncompromising writers in the 150 year tradition of Russian realism.

A full century separates the times in which they worked, but their manner of exploring human nature and social relationships is timely even today – or, to be exact, is especially timely today.

Critic Dmitry Renansky writes:“A leading Russian contemporary composer, Vladimir Rannev has worked in the theatre for several years: in 2012 he directed the opera Two Acts, based on a libretto by Dmitry Alexandrovich Prigov, and in purely instrumental works he constantly experiments with theatrical discourse. In Prose, his fourth opera, Rannev is simultaneously a librettist who conflates texts by Mamleev and Chekhov, a composer of musical scores for eight a capella voices, and a stage director. Prose already appears to be an exemplary work of contemporary art, wherein the artist deliberately refuses to limit the scope of his activity to a specific specialization – but uses the widest possible range of artistic means available in order to express himself, applying his authorial will to all the elements of the theatrical whole.”