National Opera and Ballet of Belarus

The National Academic Grand Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Нацыянальны акадэмічны Вялікі тэатр оперы і балета) is located in a park in the Trinity Banlieu of the city of Minsk. Local people call it the "Opierny Teatr" (Belarusian) or the "Opera and Ballet Theatre". It opened on 15 May 1933 but it first did not have its own venue for presentations at the Belarusian Drama Theatre building until 1938.

The first permanent theatre was founded in Belarus in 1933 on the basis of the Belarusian opera and ballet school, the organizer of the studio being the famous Russian Opera singer Anton Bonachich (Bonatschitsch) (ru: Антон Петрович Боначич). He was the first head of the new theatre. But he stayed in this position for a very short time, dying in 1933.

The current theatre building was opened in 1939. It was designed by the Belarus architect from Leningrad, Iosif Langbard, whose original design was only partially implemented and some design details were omitted yielding to financial and other problems; the theatre has reliefs done by Zair Azgur.

The first permanent theatre was founded in Belarus in 1933 on the basis of the Belarusian opera and ballet school, organizer of the Studio being the famous Russian Opera singer Anton Bonachich (Bonatschitsch) (ru: Антон Петрович Боначич). He was the first head of the new theatre, but he stayed in this position for a very short time and died in 1933.

Bizet's Carmen opened the theatre on 25 May 1933 with the title role being sung by Larisa Aleksandrovskaya. Several professional soloists and dancers were added to the troupe in the first few years at this location. Swan Lake, performed by K. Muller, was the first show on the stage of the new theatre. By 1940, Grand was added to the theatre's name to indicate its expansion. The performances by the theatre company during the "Decade of Belarusian Art" in Moscow in June 1940 was a great success which included the first Belarusian ballet, The Nightingale composed by Mikhail Kroshner, as well as other national operas such as "In the Dense Forest of Palesse", "The Flower of Fortune", and the second version of "Mikhas Padgorny". Performances continued during the war in Nizhny Novgorod, then known as Gorky until the liberation of Minsk in 1944; after that performances took place in Kovrov.

...
Wikipedia