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Georgian National Opera Theater
41°42′4.7″N 44°47′46.2″E / 41.701306°N 44.796167°E
The Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისის ოპერისა და ბალეტის სახელმწიფო აკადემიური თეატრი, romanized: tbilisis op'erisa da balet'is sakhelmts'ipo ak'ademiuri teat'ri), formerly known as the Tiflis Imperial Theater, is an opera house situated on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, Georgia. Founded in 1851, Tbilisi Opera is the main opera house of Georgia and is among the oldest opera houses in Eastern Europe.
Since 1896, the theater has resided in an exotic neo-Moorish edifice originally constructed by Victor Johann Gottlieb Schröter, a prominent architect of Baltic German origin. Although definitively Oriental in its decorations and style, the building's layout, foyers and the main hall are that of a typical European opera house. Since its foundation, the theater has been damaged by several fires and underwent major rehabilitation works under Soviet and Georgian leadership; the most recent restoration effort concluded in January 2016, having taken six years and costing approximately 40 million U.S. dollars, donated by a Georgian business foundation.
The opera house is one of the centers of cultural life in Tbilisi and was once home to Zacharia Paliashvili, the Georgian national composer whose name the institution has carried since 1937. The Opera and Ballet Theater also houses the State Ballet of Georgia under the leadership of internationally renowned Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili. In recent years it has hosted opera stars such as Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras, while also serving as a traditional venue for national celebrations and presidential inaugurations.
The foundation of the Tiflis Imperial Opera was closely intertwined with the turbulent political processes in Georgia following the country's annexation by the Russian Empire in 1801. Georgia remained an uneasy and inadequately integrated part of the empire in the first half of the 19th century. Unhappy with Russian policies, the Georgian aristocracy plotted to overthrow the local Russian government in 1832. When their scheme was discovered, it led to numerous arrests and repressions in the years that followed. Anxious to reconcile the Georgian opinion in view of these lingering difficulties, the new Viceroy of the Caucasus, Count Mikhail Vorontsov, implemented a number of cultural initiatives, one of which was the foundation of the opera. The declared purpose of its establishment was to benefit the "public well-being" but it also served an important political goal of fully integrating the local Georgian aristocracy into the Imperial social life, thereby distracting them from any further anti-Russian conspiracies.
To satisfy Georgians, Vorontsov went on to patronize Georgian-language theater performances and did everything Saint Petersburg would permit to win over locals. These types of efforts were particularly relevant in light of the ongoing Shamil's rebellion in the North Caucasus, which prompted some Russians to see Georgian aristocrats as the only bulwark protecting Russia's southern imperial borders. Vorontsov's conciliatory efforts were not without controversy, as not all Russians were enthusiastic about non-Russian contributions to the city's cultural development; some objected to Georgian-language productions and had them moved to different days, rather than precede regular opera performances as it was done up to that point.
At Vorontsov's initiative, the original theater site was chosen on Rustaveli Avenue in Erivansky Square, an area the administration correctly envisioned would be the center of the expanding city. The land was given free of charge from the governor of the Tiflis Governorate, provided the theater would belong to the city.
The foundations of The Tiflis Imperial Theater were laid down on 15 April 1847. Italian architect Giovanni Scudieri, who had come to Tiflis from Odessa, was hired to oversee the project. The construction was completed in 1851. The interior of the theater was decorated by a Parisian designer, using colored velvet, gold and silver details, and expensive silks. A massive chandelier weighing 1,218 kilograms (2,685 lb), unassembled in 12 large boxes, was shipped by a steamer from Marseille to Kulevi on the Black Sea coast. Buffalo pulled the chandelier more than 300 kilometres (190 mi) to Tiflis. Russian painter Grigory Gagarin created the artwork for the theater and its first stage curtain. The second curtain was designed by Sergo Kobuladze in the 1950s. Vorontsov appointed writer Vladimir Sollogub as the theater's first director.
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Georgian National Opera Theater
41°42′4.7″N 44°47′46.2″E / 41.701306°N 44.796167°E
The Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისის ოპერისა და ბალეტის სახელმწიფო აკადემიური თეატრი, romanized: tbilisis op'erisa da balet'is sakhelmts'ipo ak'ademiuri teat'ri), formerly known as the Tiflis Imperial Theater, is an opera house situated on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, Georgia. Founded in 1851, Tbilisi Opera is the main opera house of Georgia and is among the oldest opera houses in Eastern Europe.
Since 1896, the theater has resided in an exotic neo-Moorish edifice originally constructed by Victor Johann Gottlieb Schröter, a prominent architect of Baltic German origin. Although definitively Oriental in its decorations and style, the building's layout, foyers and the main hall are that of a typical European opera house. Since its foundation, the theater has been damaged by several fires and underwent major rehabilitation works under Soviet and Georgian leadership; the most recent restoration effort concluded in January 2016, having taken six years and costing approximately 40 million U.S. dollars, donated by a Georgian business foundation.
The opera house is one of the centers of cultural life in Tbilisi and was once home to Zacharia Paliashvili, the Georgian national composer whose name the institution has carried since 1937. The Opera and Ballet Theater also houses the State Ballet of Georgia under the leadership of internationally renowned Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili. In recent years it has hosted opera stars such as Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras, while also serving as a traditional venue for national celebrations and presidential inaugurations.
The foundation of the Tiflis Imperial Opera was closely intertwined with the turbulent political processes in Georgia following the country's annexation by the Russian Empire in 1801. Georgia remained an uneasy and inadequately integrated part of the empire in the first half of the 19th century. Unhappy with Russian policies, the Georgian aristocracy plotted to overthrow the local Russian government in 1832. When their scheme was discovered, it led to numerous arrests and repressions in the years that followed. Anxious to reconcile the Georgian opinion in view of these lingering difficulties, the new Viceroy of the Caucasus, Count Mikhail Vorontsov, implemented a number of cultural initiatives, one of which was the foundation of the opera. The declared purpose of its establishment was to benefit the "public well-being" but it also served an important political goal of fully integrating the local Georgian aristocracy into the Imperial social life, thereby distracting them from any further anti-Russian conspiracies.
To satisfy Georgians, Vorontsov went on to patronize Georgian-language theater performances and did everything Saint Petersburg would permit to win over locals. These types of efforts were particularly relevant in light of the ongoing Shamil's rebellion in the North Caucasus, which prompted some Russians to see Georgian aristocrats as the only bulwark protecting Russia's southern imperial borders. Vorontsov's conciliatory efforts were not without controversy, as not all Russians were enthusiastic about non-Russian contributions to the city's cultural development; some objected to Georgian-language productions and had them moved to different days, rather than precede regular opera performances as it was done up to that point.
At Vorontsov's initiative, the original theater site was chosen on Rustaveli Avenue in Erivansky Square, an area the administration correctly envisioned would be the center of the expanding city. The land was given free of charge from the governor of the Tiflis Governorate, provided the theater would belong to the city.
The foundations of The Tiflis Imperial Theater were laid down on 15 April 1847. Italian architect Giovanni Scudieri, who had come to Tiflis from Odessa, was hired to oversee the project. The construction was completed in 1851. The interior of the theater was decorated by a Parisian designer, using colored velvet, gold and silver details, and expensive silks. A massive chandelier weighing 1,218 kilograms (2,685 lb), unassembled in 12 large boxes, was shipped by a steamer from Marseille to Kulevi on the Black Sea coast. Buffalo pulled the chandelier more than 300 kilometres (190 mi) to Tiflis. Russian painter Grigory Gagarin created the artwork for the theater and its first stage curtain. The second curtain was designed by Sergo Kobuladze in the 1950s. Vorontsov appointed writer Vladimir Sollogub as the theater's first director.