Danses Concertantes/The Judas Tree/Gloria - T92296732As part of the international celebration of [Kenneth MacMillan]. [Kenneth MacMillan]'s contribution to The Royal Ballet is immeasurable. This Triple Bill features three one act works that show the depth and wealth of his talent. Danses Concertantes was [Kenneth MacMillan]'s first commissioned work and also marked the beginning of his lifelong collaboration with [Nicholas Georgiadis]. Set to [Stravinsky]'s score, the ballet requires total precision that matches and complements the complexity of the music, with its sudden shifts in metre and tone. In 1991 [MacMillan] asked [Ian Spurling] to create new designs for the ballet. For this programme, the revival of Danses Concertantes will recreate the original Georgiadis designs. [MacMillan]'s profoundly moving Gloria, set to Francis [Poulenc]'s Gloria in D major used [Vera Brittain]'s Testament of Youth as its inspiration. Created for The Royal Ballet and first performed on 13 March 1980 this powerful and elegiac work mourns the waste of young lives in the trenches during the First World War. [Andy Klunder]'s designs are a distinctly abstract depiction of the period providing a stark and strangely ethereal view of the desolation of the First World War. The [Laurence Olivier] Award winning [The Judas Tree], premiered on 19 March 1992, was [MacMillan]'s last work for The Royal Ballet. [Brian Elias]' commissioned score was created independently of any scenario or characterisation from [MacMillan], a process that was to drive the ballet rather than illustrate it. Using [Jock McFadyn]'s designs The Judas Tree is set on a building site using Canary Wharf as its backdrop. It is a highly charged ballet of betrayal and sexual violence, a resounding condemnation of humanity's flaws. Approx. running time: 2 hours 30 minutesConductor Richard Bernas. Music Igor Stravinsky (Danses Concertantes). Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan (Dances Concertantes). Design Nicholas Georgiadis (Danses Concertantes). Music Brian Elias (The Judas Tree). Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan (The Judas Tree). Performer Jock McFadyen (The Judas Tree). Lighting John B Read (The Judas Tree). Music Francis Poulenc (Gloria). Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan (Gloria). Design Andy Klunder (Gloria). Lighting Bill Besant (Gloria). Performer Miyako Yoshida. Performer Nathan Coppen. Performer Johan Kobborg. Performer Tamara Rojo. Performer Martin Harvey. Performer Ricardo Cervera. Performer Mara Galeazzi. Performer Edward Watson. Performer Jonathan Cope. Performer Marianela Nunez. Performer Carlos Acosta. Performer Jaimie Tapper. Performer Inaki Urlezaga. Performer Yohei Sasaki. | |
| 29 Apr 03 to 14 May 03 | Royal Opera House, West End :: V377 listing details L01645157785 |
Apollo/Divertissements/Raymonda Act III - T1006023633This Triple Bill highlights the immense contribution that [Rudolf Nureyev] made to The Royal Ballet and the world of dance. [Rudolf Nureyev] died in Paris on 6th January 1993. To mark the 10th anniversary of the death of this truly remarkable dancer, choreographer and ballet director, The Royal Ballet will stage a Triple Bill of works particularly associated with him. [Balanchine]'s Apollo was first danced by [Nureyev] at the Royal Opera House on 23 June 1971 with [Svetlana Beriosova], [Vergie Derman] and [Georgina Parkinson] as his muses. Francis Francis of The George Balanchine Trust says: "We are thrilled to be opening this great tribute programme to [Rudolf Nureyev] on this the anniversary of his death, and look forward to many further collaborations with The Royal Ballet in the years to come." The divertissements will include a solo from [Marius Petipa]'s Le Corsaire, [MacMillan]'s pas de trois from Images of Love, originally created for [Nureyev], [Christopher Gable] and [Lynn Seymour] in 1964, [Pierre Darde]'s solo Lame, an extract from [August Bournonville]'s La Sylphide and a pas de deux from [William Forsythe]'s In the middle, somewhat elevated. [Nureyev] first staged his complete version of Raymonda for the Royal Ballet Touring Company to perform at the Spoleto Festival in 1964. Raymonda Act III was first performed by The Royal Ballet, with Fonteyn and Nureyev in the leading roles, on 27 March 1969 at the Royal Opera House. Approx. running time 2 hours 30 minutesConductor Paul Murphy. Choreographer George Balanchine (Apollo). Music Igor Stravinsky (Apollo). Choreographer Marius Petipa (Divertissements - Le Corsaire). Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan (Divertissements - Images lof Love). Choreographer Pierre Darde (Divertissements - Lame). Music August Bournonville (Divertissements - La Sylphide). Choreographer William Forsythe (Divertissements - In the Middle Somewhat Elevated). Choreographer Rudolf Nureyev (Raymonda Act III). Choreographer Marius Petipa (Raymonda Act III). Design Barry Kay (Raymonda Act III). Performer Carlos Acosta. Performer Darcey Bussell. Performer Mara Galeazzi. Performer Marianela Nunez. Performer Jonathan Cope. Performer Jaimie Tapper. Performer Belinda Hatley. Performer Tamara Rojo. Performer Edward Watson. Performer Ivan Putrov. Performer Ricardo Cervera. Performer Nathan Coppen. Performer Miyako Yoshida. | |
| 5 Apr 03 to 26 Apr 03 | Royal Opera House, West End :: V377 listing details L0376477269 |
Scenes de Ballet/Winter Dreams/Sinfonietta - T234363268[Frederick Ashton] described Sc?nes de ballet as 'just an exercise in pure dancing'. This one-act ballet set to [Stravinsky]'s score of the same title is a complex and lively piece. Choreographed to the geometric studies of Euclid, Ashton intended that this ballet could be viewed from any angle and still 'work'. A homage to 19th-century classicism. Yearnings for escape and fulfilment turn to resignation in Winter Dreams, the second of five ballets by [Kenneth MacMillan] in the Season that marks the 10th anniversary of his death. Completed in 1991 and set to [Tchaikovsky] and traditional Russian music, the ballet is an evocation of [Chekhov]'s The Three Sisters, in which the hope that Lt Colonel Vershinin seems to offer becomes bitter melancholy as Masha, Olga and Irina realize the inevitability of their isolation, exiled from the Moscow of their youth. Sinfonietta has become one of the best-known works of its Czech choreographer, [Jir? Kyli?n], since its premiere at the Spoleto Festival in 1978, and now becomes an uplifting addition to The Royal Ballet repertory. Set to the resonant music of his fellow countryman Leos [Jan?cek], Kyli?n's modern classic is a virtuoso display which matches the score's dramatic contours with choreography that is truly exhilarating in its celebration of the joyousness of life.Conductor Charles Barker. Choreographer Frederick Ashton (Scenes de Ballet). Music Stravinsky (Scenes de Ballet). Design Andre Beaurepaire (Scenes de Ballet). Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan (Winter Dreams). Music Tchaikovsky (Winter Dreams). Design Peter Farmer (Winter Dreams). Lighting John B Read (Winter Dreams). Choreographer Jiri Kylian (Sinfonietta). Music Janacek (Sinfonietta). Design Walter Nobbe (Sinfonietta). | |
| 13 Jan 03 to 28 Jan 03 | Royal Opera House, West End :: V377 listing details L02108473865 |
