Following the UK premiere of Eugene Birman's documentary opera Russia: Today at London's King's Place in February 2023, a new edition of the project is coming to Pushkin House. The evening features the film version of Russia: Today by Alexandra Karelina (2021), a world-premiere of two pieces by composer Martyn Harry performed live by EXAUDI, and a discussion with the Russia: Today creative team.
From 2017–2019, hundreds of Russian-speaking citizens living adjacent to and inside Russia sent anonymous recordings of what they really think about the country, what it was, is, and will be. The Guggenheim- and RPS-award winning composer Eugene Birman, working with librettist Scott Diel, set their words verbatim to music, a prophetic “requiem for the nation” titled Russia: Today. After a controversial and timely world premiere on the EU-Russia border in September 2021, the work was presented to British audiences for the first time in February 2023, immersing the audience in the complexities and contradictions of modern Russia.
In 2019, leading Russian poet Lev Rubinstein contributed a collection of poems to the Russia: Today project, which British composer Martyn Harry set to music in “Chimeras” and “Do Not Forget Me” in 2020, and which will be presented for the very first time by one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, EXAUDI, conducted by James Weeks.
These new works will be performed alongside the film version of Eugene Birman’s Russia: Today and contextualised in an open public discussion with the creative team.
Russia: Today as reviewed in the press:
“A powerful immersion in the complexities and contradictions of contemporary Russia” – Financial Times
“‘Russia: Today’ tries to open a window into Russia’s psyche – exactly when many people outside are wondering what’s on its mind” – The New York Times