Street Life Samotechny Lane, Moscow: It ain't over till Boris stops singing

FOR RUSSIANS in their time of troubles, there is at least one cause for celebration. A new opera house has opened in Moscow to challenge the stodgy Bolshoi. Its first offering is a fresh production of Boris Godunov that tells of the Tsar in the period known as the "Time of Troubles" in a way opera-goers are not used to hearing.

The Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, is worthy of a role in opera himself. A petty dictator in a leather cap, he sometimes rides roughshod over individual rights. Yet he has presided over the construction of the Novaya Opera (New Opera) in the Hermitage Gardens in just two and a half years.

For the first time in eight years, the wandering Russian conductor, Yevgeny Kolobov, has a home in which to stage his operas. Designed by the Russian architect Igor Kotelnikov in the art nouveau style and built by Yugoslavs and Austrians, it is elegant and warm. It is a far cry from the former accommodation of the New Opera company.

Last week Kolobov, dressed in black, was pottering around backstage, too preoccupied with thoughts of the Godunov premiere to give an interview. I last saw him five years ago when the only place he had to work in was a dusty, disused cinema called Zenit. It was his own fault that he became a squatter among artists because he chose to walk away from the Soviet musical establishment.

The Bolshoi Theatre itself has now started changing under a new artistic director. And in St Petersburg, the Mariinsky Theatre is also freshening its repertoire. But when Kolobov made his protest, Soviet opera was stuck in a rut, repeating the same productions year after year with fat, ageing singers who could not be fired because their jobs were guaranteed for life.

"Yevgeny Vladimirovich (Kolobov) found it all so pompous," said Tatyana Roshkova, a musicologist and chief administrator of the New Opera. "He gathered together a young company to inject some life back into opera."

The New Opera has only singers, no ballet dancers. It performs some contemporary works but more often takes a fresh approach to old favourites. "That may not be new in the West but it is new for us," Ms Roshkova said. "And of course, we have stripped away all the old political overtones of Soviet opera."

Mayor Luzhkov was dreaming of this. "He said he was tired of seeing 50-year-old, bald Romeos with lousy diction," said Ms Roshkova. "He wanted opera to be accessible."

And so he promised a new home for the company, which in the cinema could put on only concert versions of operas, without all the scenery and costumes. The New Opera stands on the site of an old summer theatre. While modern, with a foyer of brass rails and chandeliers like the first-class deck of the Titanic, it also echoes that older theatre with a traditional red and gold auditorium.

Black stars came from New York to sing Porgy and Bess at the gala opening. Now the autumn season is starting with Boris Godunov.

The opera, about the period of turbulence in Russia after Boris Godunov succeeded Ivan the Terrible, has tremendous relevance today when another Boris is struggling with the legacy of Soviet totalitarianism.

On Sunday, the role of Boris was sung vigorously by Oleg Korotkov. The ragged masses pinned their hopes on a gold-clad Tsar, who was tragically flawed. A pessimist might say that nothing changes in Russia. But the elegantly dressed audience was satisfied. Despite the depressing parallels, a night at the opera was a welcome chance for enjoyment.