“Callas? It’s not for long! You’ll see: soon no one will remember it...” So says a certain Carlotta Berlumi a squalid woman who has long accounts for Maria Callas: she assures that she once shone on the opera stage and was the most important rival of Callas . Yes, Carlotta behaved like a capricious prima donna, did not want to learn, did not want to change, did not want to hone her skills, and over time she was completely forgotten by even the most enlightened fans of the opera. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt is a world-famous writer, playwright, director and filmmaker, a member of the Goncourt Academy and winner of prestigious awards. His books have been translated into several dozen languages, and in France they are published annually with a total circulation of half a million copies, his plays are played on stage in fifty countries. His novel “Oscar and the Pink Lady” changed the lives of many readers along with the Bible, “The Little Prince” and “Three Musketeers” But Schmitt's first love was always music - in his youth he dreamed of becoming a composer - and now he, a melomaniac, a scholar, an astute connoisseur of human souls, tells the story of Maria Callas, whose centenary was celebrated in 2023. Callas is the greatest opera star who devoted her entire life to art, which eventually destroyed her. Callas is a legend that has become a myth (in 2024, the audience of the world’s largest film festivals applauded “Maria”, a biopic staged by Pablo Larrain with Angelina Jolie in the title role). However, “The Rival” is a completely different story. The myth inside out, a look from the mirror, an anti-portrait through the eyes of a woman who Maria Callas hates, and this story about her, about the world of opera, about intrigue and cruelty, hidden behind the external brilliance, Schmitt tells how only he can. deceptively easy, infinitely deep and not without cunning. For the first time in Russian!