Zurich: Kirill Serebrennikov directs Alfred Schnittke’s “Life with an Idiot”

Almost exactly six years ago something unique happened at the Zurich Opera. Kirill Serebrennikov staged Mozart’s “Così” and wasn’t even there. He was under house arrest in Moscow. During the years in which Dmitry Medvedev was Russian president, Serebrennikov became a directing superstar and, among other things, directed the Gogol Center in Moscow. Then in 2012, Vladimir Putin took power again, the avant-garde’s money was cut off, Serebrennikov and three colleagues (all with Jewish backgrounds) were confronted with extremely dubious allegations of corruption and were placed under arrest. The director remained in contact with the Zurich Opera House through his lawyer; his assistant Evgeny Kulagin meticulously implemented the detailed instructions that had been smuggled out of his arrest, and the production itself was a sensation. His new work is no less: the production of Alfred Schnittke’s opera grotesque “Life with an Idiot”.