PRINCE IGOR Opera on Film

Director Roman Tikhomirov pursues the logic of cinema, not the op1ua house, in his dazzling re-imagining of Borodin’s Prince Igor, which tells the story of a war between the Russians and Tartars. The mournful, elegiac opening shots, as the camera tracks across a battlefield strewn with human debris, have the visionary quality of the grandest Hollywood epics. On the other hand, The Polovitzian Dances, borrowed along with other melodies by Broadway and Hollywood for Kismet, have the kitsch splendor of the best musicals. Opera News called this sweeping production of Alexander Borodin’s renowned epic a “landmark.” The score is performed by the Orchestra and Chorus of the Kirov State Theatre.