The Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre is going to introduce the Pyotr Pospelov’s chamber opera Night at the Museum or the Testament of the Master to the audience on February 14.

This intriguing story takes place in a museum - for some reason, four of its employees stayed locked for the night. The opera’s creators are composer Pyotr Pospelov and author of the story and libretto Yekaterina Pospelova; they define the work as an opera for four singers and pianoforte based on Mozart's sonatas.

“Mozart is an opera composer: even when he composed the works of other genres, it was like he was composing operas. Many musicians noticed that Mozart's clavier sonatas contained hidden theatre elements where one could distinguish voices and characters of unnamed protagonists. I turned Mozart's sonatas as if to sketches of his unfulfilled opera plan and transformed them into a completed opera work. Preserving Mozart’s musical text, I reinterpreted it; I sometimes composed new music to the text, sometimes changed the emphasis of the original, reinventing and sharpening the form in a contemporary spirit. Thus, Mozart’s new opera was born”, explained Pyotr Pospelov.

Pianoforte is an instrument that preceded the piano - musicians used in the Mozart’s times.

The ironic and witty text of the libretto was created by a team of modern Russian authors - Yekaterina Pospelova, Olga Prokhorova, Psoy Korolenko. Stage designer is a theatre artist, graphic artist Alla Shelimova. Director of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia Elizaveta Moroz is working on a production at the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre: rehearsals are in full swing now.

Two premieres of the Night at the Museum or the Testament of the Master opera will take place at the Quadrat art space loft (Red Army-Street 10, building 4) on February 14 at 7 p.m. and February 16 at 7 p.m.