Secret of the heroic Power

The Mystery of the Heroic Strength

A Tale about How Ivan, the Peasant’s Son, Defeated the Twelve‑Headed Monster

It’s hard to imagine a person who wasn’t read fairy tales in childhood. Fairy tales are a person’s first moral and spiritual experience, which determines much in their entire future life.

As the art historian and art and music critic Vladimir Stasov (1824–1906) said in his work devoted to Russian fairy tales and epics: “Fairy tales are not (are not) works that one could regard as valuable but empty toys. One cannot consider as toys such creations that countless human generations have nourished as intellectual and artistic food for centuries and perhaps millennia; one cannot regard as toys such creations into which these generations have invested the expression of their beliefs, concepts, thoughts, feelings, and tastes.”

The text of each fairy tale presented in this subscription is original, close to the original sources, and specially composed for stage performance (specifically, for reading aloud, not for acting out “by roles,” as is usually done in fairy‑tale performances). The literary basis of the script was taken to be fairy tales retold by Alexander Afanasyev (1826-1871), Irina Karnaukhova (1901-1959), Ivan Bunin (1870-1953), Alexei Tolstoy (1883-1945) and, in addition, studies of the texts of Russian fairy tales by A. N. Afanasyev, V. V. Stasov, V. Ya. Propp and others. The reading is accompanied by video illustrations created by St. Petersburg artist Fyodor Popov, as well as Pskov artists Evgenia and Nikolai Arsenyev ("The Tale of how Ivan, the Peasant Son of the Miracle Yudo the Twelve—headed, won"). Video illustrations do not directly depict an event, as is the case in cartoons, but rather support the figurative structure of a fairy tale, expand it, and give it a deeper sound in order to "awaken" the listener's imagination.

The same can be said about the musical side of the project: Russian folk music, as well as works by Russian composers performed by artists of “Petersburg‑Concert,” serve as an illustration for the fairy tales.

For the project, the designers of “Petersburg‑Concert” have developed special coloring books (one for each fairy tale) with amusing, not very easy questions that encourage reflection and, perhaps, turning to one’s own imagination (for children) or (for adults) to books on the history of Russian folklore.

A joint project by Anna Yakovleva and Olga Kotlyarova

Performers: Anna Yakovleva (master of artistic speech), the “Bis‑Kvit” ensemble, the “Barynya” dance ensemble (artistic director — Honored Artist of Russia Tatyana Timokhina), Olga Kotlyarova (musical director)

Duration — 1 hour without an intermission

Tickets are sold at a single rate. There are no discounts.

Children aged 0 and over must purchase a full-price ticket.

All Tickets WITHOUT SERVICE FEE!