People's Artist of Russia, rector of the Vaganova Russian Ballet Academy, premier of the Bolshoi Theater (in the period 1992-2013) Nikolai Tsiskaridze is sure that tickets to the "main theaters of the country" should not equal the monthly salary of a Russian. He stated this at a lecture as part of the educational marathon "Knowledge.The first", the video of which is available on VKontakte.
"Today, it seems to me that only very wealthy people can visit our main theaters, because the pricing policy does not please me as a spectator…It wasn't worth it, like a cast-iron bridge. A ticket to a performance cannot cost as much as a person's monthly salary. It's not normal. I do not support this," Tsiskaridze said.
The actor noted that when he danced on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, there were no empty seats in the hall. However, now the situation has changed.
"Now, when I come and see that the rows are empty, I am very sad because people are not able to buy tickets. The main tickets are from speculators on Teatralnaya Square. It's very sad," he said.
At the same time, Tsiskaridze recalled that theaters are budgetary state institutions, that is, the bulk of their funding is directed from the country's budget.
"It is our taxes that support all these theaters, so it should be affordable for us. I would like to remind you that, for example, the Bolshoi Theater receives almost 5 billion rubles from the budget and other sources. This is not a small amount of money at all. I think there should be a separate visiting program for those who want to," Tsiskaridze concluded.
Recall that this year the main theater of the country — the GABT (State Bolshoi Academic Theater), continuing the difficult struggle with ticket resellers, raised prices twice. In February, prices for the cheapest seats increased by 150%, repertory performances became more expensive than the mega-popular Nutcracker, and morning and afternoon performances were equal in price to evening performances. At the same time, on average in the country and in the capital's theaters, tickets went up by only 4%.
On the eve of the new season, viewers learned that prices for tiers and places with limited visibility now range from 6 to 35 thousand rubles, seats in the stalls for opera and ballet can be bought for 30-50 thousand rubles.
As EADaily reported, earlier People's Artist of Russia Ilze Liepa stated that "The Bolshoi Theater, unfortunately, is no longer available to the viewer." She stressed that the ballet in There is more to Russia than ballet, and the Bolshoi Theatre is more than the Bolshoi Theatre. However, I would like it to be a brand of spirit and culture, not fashion.