Caligula’s Favorite Play

When as a teenager I began writing music actively and even studying composition with Evgeny Gudkov, a professional composer, my mother was never tired of repeating: “Write joyful, optimistic music! Where do you get the craving for drama at your age, for conveying a joyless mood?” Well, the current stage of my life led me to the creation of a 2-act opera “Caligula’s Favorite Play”, freely inspired by “Caligula” by Albert Camus (Copyright © Editions Gallimard). Is there joy and optimism in it? Unfortunately, no. At all. There is a real human tragedy, which coincides with what is happening now. Since the authoritarianism theme is applicable more than ever to our world’s current socio-political environment, I think that makes it quite compelling if we were to draw that distinct parallel.

This summer, I made an audio recording of the Third Scene (1 out of 8 of the opera) and a few days ago have completed working on its video. I believe, in many ways, it gives an idea of what is happening in the entire work, and its rich musical dramaturgy, provides the key to understanding of my operatic style.

I would like to express my endless gratitude to all the most talented participants in this project:

• Librettists: Eric Nicolas www.ericnicolas.com and Igor Tsunsky https://tsunja.narod.ru/

• Translator: Katya Ignatova https://www.instagram.com/katyaviolin7/

• Mockup maker: Vladimir Nikolaev https://kmpztr.ru/en/authors/s/nikolaev-vladimir/

• Videographer: Fedor Lukashuk

• Baritone: Kreshnik Zhabjaku https://www.kreshnikzhabjaku.org/

• Bass-baritone: Michael Pitocchi https://www.michaelpitocchi.com/

Tenor: David Morgans Sanchez https://hunkentenor.com/

• Sopranos: Roseanne Ackerley https://www.roseanneackerley.com/

& Nicole Haslett https://www.nicolegracehaslett.com/

• Mezzo-sopranos: Ema Mitrovic https://www.emamitrovic.com/

& Hilary Baboukis https://hilarybaboukis.com/

• Sound engineer: Dave Kowalski http://www.davidkowalski.com/

• Teaneck Sound Studio https://teanecksound.com/