Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Italian opera "Siberia" was staged at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku on November 3.

Composed by the acclaimed Italian composer Umberto Giordano, the opera was staged by Moscow musical theater "Helikon Opera".

Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the event.

The performance was directed by Dmitry Bertman, Russian theatre and opera director and the founder and artistic director of Helikon Opera in Moscow.

Siberia which is an opera in three acts and premiered on December 19, 1903 at La Scala, Milan was Giordano`s seventh opera.

The libretto by Luigi Illica was inspired by Tolstoy's last novel Resurrection (1899), and draws upon real people involved in the 1825 Decembrist Revolt.

The opera is a tragic love story about two young characters that start in St. Petersburg, Russia's royal capital, and end up in exile on the other end of the huge Empire.

Dmitry Bertman is a stage director, a holder of the several Orders, including the Order of Friendship of Russia, the Officier des Palmes Academiques of France, the Maltese Cross and the title of Count of Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, and the Order of the Cross of Maria Land.

Bertman's work as a stage director is in great demand all over the world. According to his website, among his recent works are "Il Re Nudo" by L. Lombardi in Rome Opera (2009), "Rusalka" by A. Dvorak in Canadian opera in Toronto (2009), "The Love for Three Oranges" in "Estonia" theatre in Tallinn (2010).