In recent years, interest in baroque opera has grown manifold — ensembles recreating authentic instruments are being created, and the repertoire of the most famous opera houses is being replenished with rare titles. At the same time, the focus of almost all baroque ensembles is on the music of Western European composers.

Verstovsky's Quarantine is one of the masterpieces of the Russian Baroque, that is, the rarely performed operas of the pre-Glinka period. I have always been interested in the music of this era, and so when I was invited by the management of the N.S. Mikhalkov Academy to stage a musical school play, I chose this particular vaudeville. The relevance of the plot, written 200 years ago, is striking: just replace the rag masks with disposable ones, and the vinegar and alcohol with sanitizer, and there on stage is no longer the story of the plague quarantine, but the recognizable reality of the COVID lockdown.