Black Square: Two World Premieres and a Workshop
Black Square is a contemporary opera in the Russian Futurist tradition, inspired by the 1913 avant-garde opera Victory over the Sun and the absurdist poetry of Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov.
Based on the original idea by Igor Konyukhov, with a libretto by Olga Maslova and Igor Konyukhov and music by Ilya Demutsky, the opera combines Futurist language, opera buffa, opera seria, and contemporary political satire to examine the mechanics of ideological transformation.
Premiere #1
World Premiere, semi-staged: November 27, 2018, directed by Danila Kozlovsky - conductor Ilya Demutsky — Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
Premiere #2
Academic World Premiere, orchestra, directed by Nathan Gunn - Conductor: Michael Tilley. April 2, 2024 — Tryon Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Black Square, World Premiere#1
New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, 2018
Creative team:
Conductor — Ilya Demutsky
Director — Danila Kozlovsky
Scenic Design — Andrew Freeburg
Costume Design — Igor Garanin
Lighting Design — Ivan Vinogradov
Pianists — Katia Skanavi and Vladimir Ivanov-Rakievsky
Chamber Choir — Intrada
Choir Conductor — Ekaterina Antonenko
Photographs — Alexey Antonenko
“With music by Ilya Demutsky and libretto by Olga Maslova and Igor Konyukhov, the opera is a two-act futuristic tragicomedy that “mixes intellectual traditions of Russian avant-garde and fast pacing style of an action thriller.” The work is reportedly inspired by the 1913 opera “Victory over the Sun.””
Moscow premiere, November 27, 2018, Tretyakov Gallery. Most talked opening of the year, partially because the original $140 million Black Square painting by Kazimir Malevich was featured as a part of the set, along with two armed guards backstage.
The original painting Black Square is seen behind the singer
“Black Square acknowledges artistic response to that era’s large-scale upheaval while allowing us to sense ongoing relevance. Demutsky evokes, in a contemporary way, some of the rhythmic incision and colorful flair of several well-known Soviet musicians. The libretto cautions against political manipulation, and contains much that is bizarre, leveraging ironic distance while suggesting that stable kinds of meaning are elusive”
Black Square, World Premiere#2
fully staged and orchestrated
Tryon Festival Theatre
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 2024
Creative Team:
Stage Director — Nathan Gunn
Music Director and Conductor — Michael Tilley
Scenic Design — Scott C. Neale
Costume Design — Olga Maslova
Lighting Design — Robert Perry
Media Design — Eme Ospina-López
Sound Design — Darien Durell
Chorus Director — William Murphy
Choreography — Kato Lindholm and Alex Tecza
Orchestra — Illinois Modern Ensemble
Photographs — Darrell Hoemann
Black Square #3
first act (abbreviated) workshop
Tryon Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. December 2017
Creative team:
Music director: Julie Gunn
Stage direction: Olga Maslova
Costume design: Olga Maslova
Lighting design: Alena Samoray
Sound design: Hayat Dominique
Accompanists: Julie Jordan Gunn, Michael Tilley
