Andrei Konchalovsky, director, was born in Russia. He directs opera, theatre and film. His many movies include The First Teacher, Siberiada (special Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival), Duet for One, The Inner Circle, Dom Durakov and most recently Nutcracker in 3 D. As a theatre director he worked in Paris, Moscow, Italy, the USA and many other countries. He directed many Chekhov plays including The Seagull and Uncle Vanya. His wide opera repertoire includes productions of Yevgeni Onegin, Pique Dam (Tchaikovsky), War and Peace (Prokofiev), Un ballo in Maschera (Verdi), Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky) and others. He directed at La Scala, the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as the opera houses of Madrid, Tokyo, Parma, Washington, Turin and many others. This is his Israeli Opera debut.