Black Square

Black Square is a new comic opera with libretto by Olga Maslova in collaboration with Igor Konyukhov, composer Ilya Demutsky

World Premiere, semi-staged: November 27, 2018, directed by Danila Kozlovsky - conductor Ilya Demutsky — Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

Academic World Premiere, orchestra, directed by Nathan Gunn - Conductor: Michael Tilley. April 2, 4 & 6, 2024 — Tryon Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The libretto combines elements of opera buffa and opera, blending original text with fragments from Russian Futurist poets Aleksei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov. The work is loosely inspired by the 1913 opera Victory over the Sun, not as a reconstruction but as a contemporary reflection on authenticity, conformity, and the instability of collective will.

Above: Tryon Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 2024. Photos by Darrell Hoemann

Below: Tretyakov’s Gallery, Moscow, Russia, November 2018. Photos by Alexej Antonenko

Last Day of the Eternal City

The Last Day of the Eternal City is a staged work for choir, soloists, and ensemble, with original idea and libretto by Olga Maslova, in collaboration with Katya Kapovich, composer Ilya Demutsky.

World Premiere: November 11, 2021 — Zaryadye Concert Hall, Moscow, Russia Directed by Daria Borisova · Artistic Director and Conductor: Timofey Goldberg

A staged work for choir, soloists, and small ensemble, The Last Day of the Eternal City combines fragments of ancient Roman inscriptions with contemporary poetry and dramatic action. Drawing on the visual language of political protest and digital ruins, it explores collapse, memory, and survival .

Venetian Cycle

Venetian Cycle is the art song cycle for baritone, soprano and a string quartet + harp, with original idea, libretto and poetry by Olga Maslova, composer Ilya Demutsky.

First produced as a part of Six World Premieres, Lyric Theatre @ Illinois,  May 2, 2023, Tryon Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana, IL. The Illinois Modern Ensemble. Conductor Julie Jordan Gunn, projection design Eme Ospina-López 

This six-part cycle dwells on the dark mysteries of medieval Venice during the time of the Carnival and the Bubonic Plague, set in the darkly famous quarantine island Lazzaretto Vecchio ("Old Lazaret") that housed a hospital during the plague epidemics and the Jewish ghetto of Venice.