S. Prokofiev "War and Peace"

From August 19 to 30, the V International Festival of Classical Art "Caspian Seasons" was held in Astrakhan.

The culmination of the festival was the premiere of the opera "War and Peace" by Sergei Prokofiev, which the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater showed in the open air on the Cathedral Square of the Astrakhan Kremlin.

"War and Peace" is a grandiose historical canvas. The opera was written based on the novel of the same name by L.N. Tolstoy in 1943 and was the most important work of the war period. Prokofiev created this opera over the course of twelve long years, it is divided into thirteen lyrical and dramatic scenes, consists of two parts, and the number of characters exceeds seventy people, not counting secondary characters and the chorus.

Stage director - Sergey Novikov, costume designer - Olga Polikarpova, production designer - Ivan Skladchikov, artistic director and principal conductor of the theater - Valery Voronin.

The main parts in the opera were performed by soloists of leading Russian theaters: Honored Artist of Russia, soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Evgeny Nikitin; Ilya Selivanov, Vladislav Popov - Bolshoi Theater of Russia, Ilya Bannik, Gleb Peryazev, Anna Denisova, Evgeny Chernyadyev - Mariinsky Theater, Kirill Matveyev - Theater named after K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.

The Governor of the Astrakhan Region Igor Babushkin noted that "the festival is a significant event in building intercultural dialogue and strengthening partnerships between Russia and the Caspian states."

Cathedral Square of the Astrakhan Kremlin, Astrakhan, 29.08.25