Big as he was in his time, even with a nicely compounded name difficult
to fit into headlines, pity poor Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
He turned out to be one of the most unfairly neglected composers in all
opera.

Between "May Night" (1880) and "Snow Maiden" (1882) at one end, "Sadko"
(1898); "Mozart and Salieri" (1898), "The Tsar's Bride" (1899) and the
wonderful "Golden Cockerel" (1909) at the other, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote
"Mlada" in 1892.  All of them (and even more titles) experienced a
hit-and-miss performance schedule for most of the past century, "Mlada"
faring the worst perhaps, certainly in the US.

Prominent Rimsky-fan Michael Tilson Thomas to the rescue of the work he
describes as "Rimsky's answer to Wagner's "Ring," a Disney-esque tale of
love and envy, greed and revenge." The San Francisco Symphony's Russian
Music Festival - having already added Balakirev and Tcherepnin to the
normal musical diet one expects from such event - will present semi-staged
performances of "Mlada" on Davies Hall's small, decidedly un-opera-worthy,
stage, with an eye-popping cast.

On June 27, 29 and 30, Ljuba Kazarnovskaya sings Princess Voislava;
Gegam Grigorian, Prince Yaromir; Tigran Martirossian, Prince Mstivoy;
Susanna Poretsky, Morena and Sviatokhna; Vladimir Glushchak, Verglasny
Priest; Brian Asawa, Lumir; Narucki, tradeswoman and wife.  "Mlada"
being an "opera-ballet," the San Francisco Ballet's recently retired
prima ballerina, Evelyn Cisneros, and currently reigning choreographer,
Val Caniparoli, will participate in the production.

Kazarnovskaya, whose teacher at the Moscow Conservatory was a student of
Konstantin Kumnov (himself a student of Tchaikovsky), is about to release
(on Naxos) a five-CD recording of all of Tchaikovsky's songs.  Grigorian
and Poretsky were knockouts in recent LA and DC "Pique Dame" performances,
both on top of their game again.  Glushchak, a fine young Onegin, can be
heard performing Rachmaninoff songs in Barrie Gavin's BBC film, "The
Mysterious Island."

Janos Gereben/SF
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