The Bolshoi theatre's performance of Mozart's “The Magic Flute” has been nominated for several of Russia's prestigious theatre awards, the “Golden Mask”. They include best direction by the British master, Graham Vick.

Vick is presenting his fourth staging of the opera. This time it is a classical production with a modern twist.

Such an approach is very popular today among theatre directors, and Graham Vick is one of those who has given way to their imagination.

Singer Florian Boesch has starred in several versions of “The Magic Flute” from classical to the most surprising. This time he performs in Graham Vick’s version. “Well, look at my costume. I am a chicken man, I deliver sample advertisements. This is another personality, than in other interpretations, in all productions I did,” believes Florian Boesch.

The director entrusted one of the main roles to a Moscow first-year opera student Anna Aglatova. The young singer says she is thankful to her stage partner for being so tactful and reliable.

“I am free. I can improvise as much as I want, I know, that will not adversely affect Florian,” Anna Aglatova says.

Both singers are nominated for Golden Masks, together with designer Paul Brown, who created the scenery for the production. They will find out if they have won at a ceremony in April.