Alexei Syumak: “Requiem”- our memory and pain

“Requiem”, a large international charity project, will be staged in Moscow on May 4th with support of the Chekhov Art Theatre. The project is dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Victory in the Second World War.

Jeremy Irons from England, Polish actor Daniel Olbrykhsky, actress and singer Hanna Shigulla from Germany, Mina Tanaka from Japan and their Russian colleagues Oleg Tabakov, Alla Demidova and Vladimir Yepifantsev participated in the “Requiem” performance. Greek poet Dmitrios Yalamas, a group of painters which created video decorations, and the Russian National Orchestra lead by Theodore Currentzis are also involved in the project. 

“Requiem’s” authors, director Kirill Serebrennikov and composer Alexei Syumak, did not witness the events which occurred 65 years ago. 30-year-old Alexei Syumak gave an interview for the Voice of Russia: I think that there is hardly a family in Russia that wasn’t affected by the war. My grandmother survived the 900-day Leningrad Blockage and I was deeply impressed by the stories she used to tell. Therefore, the “Requiem” project was extremely difficult for me. Of course, the “plot” of a requiem mass is closer to our idea, since it arouses the feelings of loss and sorrow of the Day of Judgment. This episode is central in our project. Although we chose the received text, assuming that the Latin language will become a kind of uniting factor, some parts will be performed in Russian. We perceived Latin as a foundation for the layers of other languages the project involves, like Hebrew, French, English, German, Greek and other ones. Apart from prayers, we used historical chronicles and private letters to give our “Requiem” additional features, as well as death notices from the front.