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God gives people talent, a joyful and
painful gift. Our land was always rich in talents. Just remember
four schoolboys that once lived in Perm.
One of them, Ivan Sviyazev, became an architect and Academician.
He made the native land and town more beautiful throughhis
eminent pieces of architecture. His ideas became true in the
province of Perm as well as in both capitals of Russia. It
is enough to mention that Sviyazev was a senior architect
in the commission for constructing the Cathedral of Christ
the Savour in Moscow. (The Cathedral was destroyed in the
30s and restored recently.)
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Perm musical circle. 1890s
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Another, Aleksey Merzlyakov, composed
so Russian a song that the Russians have sung it for two centuries:
"Amidst a flat and grassy plain, upon a level height..."
A. F. Merzlyakov taught philology in Moscow University and
among his students was young Lermontov.
The Perm classical school student, Michael Ilyin took a pen-name
of Osorgin, became a famous writer, took part in the famine
relief committee, participated in founding the Writers Union
(Moscow branch) and the All-Russian Journalists Union. In
1922 M. A. Osorgin was deported from Russia. Up to the end
he felt the loss of Russia. His are the mostly touching pieces
of prose devoted to Perm and the Kama.
Another Perm classical school student, Sergey Dyagelev became
a prominent figure in the theatre. He spread the fame of Russian
art in Europe, organized exhibitions for artists. Dyagelev's
Russian Seasons in Paris fixed the names of our ballet dancers
in the history of the world culture. Writing about Venice,
Joseph Brodsky remembers Dyagelev:
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Sergey P. Dyagetev (1872 - 1929).
The future organizer of Russian Seasons in Paris
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...Only the star's falsetto amidst
telegraph lines.
Over the place at which Perm's citizen lies fast asleep...
The 12-volume History of Venice suddenly echoes the poet's
words: "The welfare of the Venice population is provided
... by the reliable pile-construction of the city, i.e. by
the karagais from Perm". 400 000 piles made from the
Ural larch support the famous Italian city Dyagelev was buried
in.
The world space of culture has no state boundaries. Any settlement
on the Earth can contribute to it. The enthusiasts always
lived in Perm - along side with streams of convicts and exiles,
refugees and evacuees whom Perm welcomed and learned from.
A highly experienced and demanding reader and theatre-goer
was growing in Perm. The theatres, poets, writers, musicians
and artists of Perm have set high standards for a long time.
125 years ago Perm fell in love with opera. At the end of
the last century a conductor N. N. Bogolubov wondered: "Why
this little town with the population of hardly forty thousand
people, with a few paved streets and lots of wooden pavements,
why this courageous little town suddenly decided to found
the Opera House?.."
Nowadays Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre is the pride
of the city. It adopted the masterpieces of opera and ballet
inherited from Pyotr Tchaikovsky and is rightly named after
the great composer. The theatre is considered a cradle for
the modern opera in Russia. Its ballet troupe succeed in both
classical performances and the most risky experiments. The
graduates of the world-known Perm Choreography College dance
on various stages in Perm, Russia and all over the world.
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Michael A. Osorgin (1878 - 1943).
The famous Russian writer
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The tour routes of the theatre cross America
and Australia, Asia and Europe. Gifted dancers successfully
represent the musical and ballet culture of Perm in the Russian
and world contests and competitions. They brought home such
awards as a Grand Prix and a Golden Mask national prize, medals
and Laureate titles.
At night the elegant lampposts of Perm Drama Theatre beckon
people in. 70 years ago it was as an amateur theatre of young
workers. At present it is called the Academic Drama Theatre.
Its repertoire offers both Russian and foreign classic and
modern plays. The theatre troupe successfully combines the
professionalism of the stage masters and the daring searches
of the youth. Traditions are respected here. It is not for
nothing that one of the theatre's founders was given the Stanislavsky
Prize, a high Russian theatrical award.
Perm Young Spectator Theatre successfully performs plays by
Voltair in France and dramas by Chekhov in Perm, naive fairy
tails for children and tragedies by Shakespeare.
The actors of Perm Puppet Theatre are actually devoted to
their art and audience. They are always ready to start for
a God-forsaken village and bring its children a festive puppet
show.
For a few decades some bright performing-arts troupes have
appeared in our city: the City Ballet of Eugene Panfilov,
such drama companies as By the Bridge, The Ironic Company,
The Big Wash, Pagoda and the Chamber Theatre in Motovilikha,
such folk groups as The Russians and Home and others.
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Idols of Perm theater-goers in
the 19th century
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The musical culture of Perm is kept on
a high level by the city singers ensembles -from the Little
Boys Choir to Perm State Academic Chamber Choir - and by world-class
on-tour musicians.
Orthodox Church chants and classical vocal music, folk songs,
jazz and rock-music sound in Perm. "The Fat's Ballet"
and ritual dance can be seen here.
The Perm publishing tradition is more than two centuries old.
Books witha Perm trademark tell about the history and folk
lore of the land, de monstrate the standards of its literature,
reflect the fates of its poets and writes. Miniature books
and originally published books for children are a unique visit
card of Perm.
Nowadays Perm writers and poets are supported by the Yuryatin
Trust that arranges their meetings with readers in Pushkin
Library and publishes poetry and local lore studies.
Supporters of both realism and avant-garde can be found among
Perm painters, sculptors, graphic and applied artists. Their
work can bee seen not only in the exhibition halls but also
in Gorky Library. The latter is turning into a meeting place
for scholars, writers, poets, artists and actors.
Unique are the exhibitions held in Perm Art Gallery. Wonderful
pieces of art are stored by its enthusiastic guardians devoted
to and interested in rather art than money - well, like most
museum curators, like most people devoted to culture.
Every worthwhile performance or concert, every good book or
picture make us happy with meeting the beautiful.
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Theatrical Park in the 50s
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Ivan Ò. Bobylyov, Drama Theatre
Artistic Director, and Lidiya V. Mosolova (1918 - 1996),
the great Russian actress
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Actors and actresses of Drama
Theatre after the performance of a Perm playwright's
play
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Old circus, 1930s
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New circus
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N. V. Gogol in the BY THE BRIDGE
theatre
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THE BIG WASH theatre tells about
the nineteenth-century Perm
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Illusion-workers Vladimir and
Elena Danilin are first-class sorcerers
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Lyudmila Sakharova, Artistic Director
of Perm Choreography College
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Copellia ballet at P. I. Tchaikovsky
Opera and Ballet Theatre
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Perm Academic Opera and Ballet
Theatre named after P. I. Tchaikovsky
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Chamber Choir headed by V. Novik,
People's artist of Russia
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18th century. One of the world-known
Perm Wooden Gods
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St. Niphont. Icon, late 17th -
early 18th centuries
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St. Nicolas of Mozhaisk. Icon,
18th century
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St. Nicolas of Mozhaisk. Icon,
late 17th - early 18th centuries
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Lev I. Davydychev (1927 - 1988),
one of the most talented Perm writers
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Vladimir I. Radkyevich (1927 -
1987). A poet of Perm
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