Boris Yukhananov: 'Treat the Audience as You Would Yourself – The Law of Contemporary Art' // An interview by Yu. Chechikova for the online edition of m24.ru

Sometimes people simply can't do without a good philosophical fantasy. It gives us the opportunity to see people with different ways of perceiving the world. Projects like this are growing increasingly popular. Drillalia is a full-fledged, complex world. It is not just the tale of a parallel reality, but of the interconnections with an earthly reality. This world is filled with many emotions, connections, joys and sorrows, because it is always on the verge of destruction. When we learn to perceive things that are unlike us, we find new ways of seeing our own world and ourselves.

Contemporary opera offers the best method of describing these relationships – the best way of transfering knowledge. It is a condensed world. Theatre, poetry, sound, the conductor's energy passing to the orchestra, the singing and the intellectual inspiration – this all comes together in the art of opera, and it exists in rhythms and moods that are characteristic of our age. This is priceless. For me it is a joy to participate in this synthesis. <...> I would tell anyone interested in contemporary music to pay attention to how it is interpreted – listen to what people say about it, consider how modern composers think about it. Opera for contemporary composers tends to be a highly developed, intelligent, subtle, well organized expression of their own work. They don't merely write notes and express themselves in sound, rhythm, time and silence, but their fine command of the art of speech allows them to create valuable contexts. <...> As in lofty poetry and music – the artist relates to the spectator and listener as to an equal. This allows us to avoid the cheap manipulation of marketing, advertising, incoherent politics and all other kinds of social effluvia. It enables the composer, the director and the actor to work without compromise. It is clear that audiences today are increasingly grateful to contemporary culture; it is precisely what allows them to experience the full complexity of their own lives. In a sense, the spectator receives a gift of experience – through music, poetry, performance – and begins to feel that he or she is an equal participant in that mysterious dialogue, which, in fact, is contemporary art.