Opera director Armen Kaloyan: his handwriting in art

Abstract

The article covers a new name in the modern opera theatre of Ukraine – opera director Armen Kaloyan outlining his search for his own creative style. Since 2016, he has held the position of Chief Director at Kharkiv National Kotlyarevsky University. Leading opera directors’ influence on his creative growth is revealed. His teacher was Alexander Barsegyan, Ukrainian director, general director at the Kharkiv’s Pushkin Academic Russian Drama Theater. Before taking on that position, Barsegyan had been working for three years as the head of Kiev Operetta Theater. Kaloyan’s work as an assistant of Stanislav Gaudasinsky, opera director at the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg (Russia) and the head at the creative opera studio at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, became an extremely interesting school for him. An example of the joint work of Armen Kaloyan with another well-known opera director is the 2017 th project of the production on the Kharkiv stage of the beautiful opera by G. Bizet “The Pearl Seeker”, where he has worked in a team of Dutch designers led by director Marc Krone. Marc Krone has staged around 300 operas around the world and has his own theatrical school. He worked as an actor for ten years and he is familiar with current trends in the theatrical life of the world’s theaters. He witnessed experiments that determined the theatrical modernity of Western Europe. He has always given a lot of attention to performers’ stage movements, historical fencing and stage fights, and in 2001 received a diploma in the summer school in Sofia, Bulgaria, for performing arts in Rudolf Laban’s technique and contact improvisation in the Monika Koch classroom (London, UK). Among Kaloyan’s students are actors of the trendy elite theater group “Beautiful Flowers” (Kharkiv), which defines itself in new futurological theatrical techniques, in particular plasticity. Relevance of the study. In recent years, Kaloyan has seen through a number of remarkable opera projects, making him the talk of not only the opera community and journalists, but also ordinary audiences. In recent years, A. Kaloyan is seen through a number of remarkable opera projects and has become an object of publications not only in the opera community but also in journalistic circles. He causes delight in ordinary viewers. Such a bright turn in his career makes me look more closely at the figure of the young director, which is briefly covered in the media and largely outside the context of the development of the modern opera house. Armen Kaloyan’s performances have gained considerable popularity with the public, in particular with youth audiences. His success also grew after the guidance of such projects at the opera house as “Night in the Opera”, “Student Night”, Gaudeamus “Opera”, and open air performances: “Taras Bulba” by M. Lysenko in the square in front of Kharkiv Opera House, “Mazepa” in the village of Kolomak within the framework of the festival of Hetman glory. It is rather surprising that no reviews from professionals followed on these bright theatrical events. Nevertheless, every new work of A. Kaloyan’s provokes an active interest in the ordinary audiences and connoisseurs of operatic milieu: to a lesser extent, among the academic music community and music lovers, and much interest among the supporters of modern art. Access to the director’s “backstage” of Armen Kaloyan gives an idea of the nuts and bolts of the work done in his creative workshop. This understanding makes this scientific research really relevant. Main objective of the study. The purpose of the article is to comprehend the creative searches of director Armen Kaloyan in the array of opera performances he created while his artistic personality was being formed, and to identify the peculiarities of his idiosyncratic directorial techniques, or “handwriting”. Methodology. The opera “Carmen” by G. Bizet and “Mazepa” by P. Tchaikovsky are put under investigation. In “Сarmen”, plastic directorial leitmotifs were discovered, which allowed us offering a new reading of this usual opera. In the opera “Mazepa”, a detailed analysis of the libretto is made in terms of changing the concept of the opera in connection with its translation into the Ukrainian language. Conclusions. Armen Kaloyan’s creative search continues, he keeps on doing his studies, as now it is all about self-education and self-improvement in his profession. However, today it can be argued that the young director has found his unique “handwriting”. A. Kaloyan has his own concept of Opera Theater. He is a supporter of the acting theater. A. Kaloyan skillfully makes use of the stage space, thanks to a clearly pre-arranged stage sets and moves. In some cases, when a director comes to the musical scene who is experienced in the drama theater or in the cinema, the results are disappointing. In the case of Armen Kaloyan, on the contrary, opera is enriched, being given a new dimension.