"I'm not tall enough!"

Tatar Musa Jalil Opera and Ballet Theater signed an agreement with Premier Art Agency representing the interests of tenor Khachatur Badalian Khachatur Badalyanto participate in four projects of the F.I. Chaliapin International Opera Festival. F.I. Chaliapin International Opera Festival. The singer was to perform in two productions ("Madame Butterfly" 04.02.19 and "La Traviata" 20.02.19) and two gala concerts (22.02.19 and 23.02.19). On January 31, the state contract was published on the website zakupki.gov.ru.

On January 20, 2019 all the necessary measurements of the artist, including height, were sent to the casting manager A. Bagautdinova for the preparation of stage costumes. Upon arrival of Khachatur Badalyan on 3.02.19 in the theater at the rehearsal it was found out that the costumes do not correspond to the declared sizes, they were much larger. According to the contract the artist arrives one day before the performance, so the costumes were quickly adjusted to the size on the eve of the performance. The video of the performance shows that the costumes do not correspond to the size of the artist.Khachatur Badalyan's performance in the opera "Madame Butterfly" on the stage of the Tatar Opera and Ballet Theater took place on February 4 and was met with enthusiastic responses from the press. The theater management also recognized that the performance was at a high artistic level.

On February 8, 2019 the Agency received a call from the casting manager of the Theatre Anna Bagautdinova informing that the Theatre cancels the scheduled performances of Khachatur Badalyan due to the small height of the artist (1m 70 cm) and intends to terminate the state contract. The management of the Agency has repeatedly attempted to contact the director of the theater R. S. Mukhametzyanov to clarify the situation, but the director of the theater evaded the conversation and, according to his secretary, shifted all responsibility to the casting director Anna Bagautdinova.
According to the management of the Premier Art Agency, as well as the expert musical community, the stated reason for the termination of the contract with Khachatur Badalyan for the physical data of the artist, with which the theater management was familiarized in advance, does not meet professional criteria for evaluating the work of opera singers, violates moral norms, entails reputational risks, and causes psychological trauma to the artist.

On February 14, 2019, a representative of the legal department of the theater contacted the management of the Premier Art Agency and informed them that on February 15 an official letter of unilateral termination of the contract would be sent. However, on the official website of the theater on February 14, changes appeared in the composition of performers of the performance "La Traviata" on 20.02.19, as well as in the number of participants in the gala concerts on 22.02.19 and 23.02.19. Badalyan is not listed. This fact is also a violation and causes reputational losses to the artist.

Press Reaction:

ClassicalMusicNews.Ru (portal about academic music)

It's not the vocalist's fault?

BUSINESS ONLINE (Business electronic newspaper of Tatarstan)

"The opera director thought I would look 'comical' to him!"

MOSCOW TALKS

Theater in Tatarstan terminates contract with opera singer because of his small stature

RUSSIAN NEWSPAPER 

A theater in Kazan disqualified a singer because of his height