March 29, 2020

Homebound a la Russe


Homebound a la Russe

Theaters, museums, cinemas and libraries have all closed this month as the Russian government has moved to cut down on crowded venues. The soft lock-down (people are still allowed to walk outside, and public transit is open) is making culture venues especially reach out to their audiences. Now you can visit the Bolshoi Theater or the Tretyakov Gallery from the comfort of your own home. 

We've compiled some of the best options for Russian-style self-isolating. This page will be updated with more great offerings. Enjoy!

Music

Classical music lovers will appreciate a series put on by the Moscow Conservatory this month called "Home Seasons." The program was kicked off by pianist Denis Matsuev, who played in an empty conservatory to an online audience of some 1.5 million on March 20. That concert is still available online. 

Tune in to watch concerts streamed from the conservatory to an exclusively online audience, or to see pre-recorded shows, for example, a 2013 concert of Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died of cancer in 2017 will be aired on April 2.

Ballet

If you're in the mood for ballet, tune in to the Bolshoi Theater's special online series, which started Friday with Swan Lake. Russia's legendary theater will be streaming some of its best classics over the next few days, starting shows at 7 PM Moscow time on its official YouTube channel. The shows will be available for the next 24 hours on the channel for people from inconvenient time zones.

On Saturday, the theater streamed Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, starring greats Svetlana Zakharova and David Hallberg, who has since departed the Bolshoi's troupe.

Theater

To watch other great productions Russia, check out the online program created by the Golden Mask festival (the festival had to cancel most of its shows this year because of the outbreak). Some of the best plays from previous years are available here.

Another platform is the culture ministry's Big Tour program done to build audiences for smaller or regional theaters. Go to their page to see offerings for that particular day, usually streamed at 7 PM Moscow time. 

Tourism

Streamings are also organized by Moscow's Department of Tourism, which will be offering both theatrical and gastronomical programs on its website "Moscow is with you." Tune in for 7 PM shows or twice-a-week online food preparation classes by capital chefs. The department has also compiled online programs from the city's various museums.

The Tretyakov Gallery has introduced online tours and lectures in a program called Tretyakovka at Home. Streamed on YouTube and Facebook, it gives the audience a chance to ask lectors and presenters questions. The program for the coming week has not yet been put online, but you can sign up to their mailing list or follow the museum's page on Facebook. And of course, view any of the past events. Unfortunately for non-Russian-speakers, they all seem to be in Russian only.

The State Hermitage calls its program Cultured Isolation: every day, it publishes recommended videos on a particular subject, showing viewers the secrets of storing stained glass, or explaining why Peter the Great had a great admiration of all things Dutch. Most of the streamed Russian programs can be found on the museum's YouTube channel

It is also preparing an English-language program, to begin airing soon, and last week it took Italians on a tour of the Winter Palace, in solidarity with Italy's museums and the mounting coronavirus toll in the country. 

Speaking of the Hermitage, perhaps you missed this 5-hour tour filmed on an iPhone earlier this month, which gathered over a million views. 

Movies

Finally, some new opportunities to watch movies have appeared in recent days, as cinemas have shuttered.

Kinopoisk, an online streaming platform owned by Yandex, has offered free service until the end of April. While a lot of the fare is Hollywood-made, some Russian films are also available. You can even indulge in some Russian-made series like Anna Nikolaevna, a freshly-made production about an android policewoman who is sent to work in provincial Russian town. (the free access code is POKAVSEDOMA)

Moscow's Center for Documentary Film has launched a platform with a free online subscription for ten days. Watch documentary classics, little-known festival items, and recently-released films like Russian Georgians, narrated by Leonid Parfyonov.

And for kids, Russian animation studio SoyuzMultfilm is publishing short animation films at 10AM Moscow time daily, as part of its festival SoyuzMultQuarantine.

And let's not forget the great site of Mosfilm, which allows one to view loads of films online for free.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955