Is it based on Checkov Three sisters? This is what it means.

Hmmm, I think we could well avoid grewsome debates on the pros and cons of different transliteration conventions for cyrillic ;-)  But "Tri Sestry" would do me...  (you might want to somehow "mark" the final vowel-sound of the second word to indicate that the stress falls on it, rather than on the first one as the norms of English might suggest...   but the trouble with doing so (conventionally by placing a "grave" accent on the "y") starts to modify its sound in other languages and just causes confusion in the end).

Three countertenor sisters?  I can't say I'm immediately keen on that   I think that's why T-P couldn't quite believe it was the Chekhov play, and I've got my own doubts too...  those are the "golden" roles Russian actresses dream of playing   The countertenor voice struggles for acceptability in Russia - there's no 600-year-old tradition of male altos in ecclesiastical choirs to legitimise it in the way it's accepted in Britain, for example.  Whether right or wrong, it would be like casting The Three Sisters with Three Fairground Bearded Ladies, and you just set yourself up for a fall.  The very few countertenors there are in Russia (of whom Oleg Usov is pretty-much the best currently working) are working in a vacuum - no-one is there to teach it, there's little music in print, etc.   

I can't say I'm terribly convinced about that idea either. But of course it isn't intended to be a "natural" treatment of Chekhov's play, which indeed it uses as a point of departure rather than of arrival: the chronological sequence of events in Chekhov is also broken up so that each section of the work relates to the viewpoint of one of the characters rather than to a particular segment of time. My own feeling is that if one's ideas are so far at variance with those of the "source text" it's usually better to call the work something new, rather than cause unnecessary confusion by creating expectations that it isn't even trying to fulfil. Nevertheless I still found the music very engaging. The orchestration I was talking about is indeed quite functional, in that it works by associating particular characters, and particular groups of characters, with instrumental soloists (including a prominent part for accordion) and "chamber-music" combinations chosen from a smallish ensemble whose sound is then "amplified" through a large chamber orchestra of 50 players. As one might imagine from Eötvös' expertise as a conductor, the balances and timbres here are managed in a fascinatingly subtle way.

Anyway, there it is. Do give it a listen if you can, and have a look at this:

I'm sure you won't regard either as a waste of time.

Hello George, where have you been hiding? Somewhere interesting I hope. (Kitty's Orangerie??)

I don't quite know how my brain made a connection between Three Sisters and The Pillowman. I think I was just looking for an excuse to mention McDonagh, because his work has made more of an impact on me than any theatrical writing since I came across Sarah Kane for the first time.