Celebrating Pushkin: Mozart and Salieri on Stage at York University

"In every great poet there is both a Mozart and a Salieri"
Osip Mandelstam

TORONTO, September 20, 1999 -- The premiere of a new version of Rimsky-Korsakov's chamber opera Mozart and Salieri, based on the play by Alexander Pushkin, will be presented at York University on October 5 and 6.

A favourite with Russian audiences but rarely heard in North America, this stage classic has been newly translated and adapted by York University Professor Emeritus Sterling Beckwith. The entire text of Pushkin's play, as written in 1830 and set to music in 1897, has been faithfully restored.

Pushkin has often been called the Russian Shakespeare, and this particular work - a taut, dramatic dialogue on the nature of art and genius - makes the case well. Set in 18th century Vienna, the opera revolves around the confrontation between two leading composers of the day: the celebrated Antonio Salieri and the irreverent young upstart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Central to the story is the intriguing question: did Salieri kill Mozart and if so, why?

A modern morality play, Mozart and Salieri explores the heights and depths of the creative mind at work. Over the years, the opera has become a goldmine for analysis among intellectuals and artists of every stripe. It was also a major source for Peter Shaffer's stage and film success Amadeus.

The title roles in this production are sung by Beckwith and Michael Herren, Distinguished Research Professor of classics and humanities at York. The stage director is Myra Malley, who teaches in York's Theatre Department. Musical director is Mila Filatova, and design coordinator is Marjorie McColl. The period costumes, designed by Dora Rust-D'Eye, are on loan from Opera Atelier.

The Mozart and Salieri project was conceived and produced by Beckwith as part of the worldwide celebration of the Pushkin bicentenary. Following the shows at York, the production will be presented by the University of Toronto and the Toronto Mozart Society and will tour to Buffalo, Cornell and Princeton Universities.

Mozart and Salieri plays on Tues. Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. and Wed. Oct. 6 at 12:30 p.m. in the McLaughlin Performance Hall, 050 McLaughlin College at York University, 4700 Keele Street. Admission is free.

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For further information please contact:

Carol Bishop
Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts
York University
(416) 736-2100 ext. 20421
email: cbishop@yorku.ca