In early March, the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre will present the premiere of Léo Delibes' opera Lakme to the audience. The stage director of the performance is Sergei Novikov, musician, journalist, head of the Presidential Administration's Department for Public Projects.

Sergei Novikov was born in Nizhny Novgorod. He graduated from the Music School and the Faculty of Philology of the Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University. He worked as a journalist, press secretary of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia in the Volga Federal District, in the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, and Rosatom. In January 2017, he was appointed as head of the President's Office for Public Projects.

Sergei's passion for opera grew into extensive work in the field of music theatres. In 2015, he won a diploma at the Nano-Opera International Competition for Young Opera Directors (Moscow). At the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, he previously staged the concert experiment SlovZov-GALA and Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi.

Besides, Sergei Novikov is the author of directorial concepts for the operas Rusalka by Dargomyzhsky, Iolanta and The Oprichnik by Tchaikovsky, Requiem by Verdi staged in the theatres of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Minsk, Stockholm.

The opera Lakme, according to the director, was originally written about the clash of Eastern and Western mentalities, worlds, values.

“Delibes, like other composers of that time (for example, Bizet in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Puccini in Madama Butterfly), vividly depicts the situation when a Western person may involuntarily give people umbrage without understanding the peculiarities of the Eastern mentality. Sometimes it may even be a mortal affront. It is obvious that the topic is relevant even now, and the opera is set in modern reality. A Western young man can rock the world of an Eastern girl. On the one hand, this is good because she discovers completely unknown words and feelings. On the other hand, if he acts carelessly, it will kill her because there are no middle tones in her love.” Sergei Novikov explains the plot and psychological motives of the opera.

Premiere performances of Leo Delibes' opera Lakme will take place on March 1, 2, 3, and 4.