BOLSHOI BALLET PERFORMS 'SWAN LAKE,' 'DON QUIXOTE' AND 'SPARTACUS' AT LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL
Classicalite
July 16 2014
Lincoln Center is currently hosting the Bolshoi Ballet for a two-week
residency, during which the company will perform three famous ballets:
Don Quixote, Spartacus and Swan Lake, one of the company's defining
works.
The Bolshoi opera, orchestra and chorus recently presented The Tsar's
Bride at Lincoln Center as part of this two-week engagement. These
performances mark the first time that all four ensembles of the
Bolshoi--ballet, opera, orchestra and chorus--will perform together
at the Lincoln Center Festival.
Their unprecedented two-week engagement will continue through July 27,
and will involve at least 340 artists and support personnel.
This is an extremely ambitious undertaking for any arts organization,
and is particularly impressive given the scandals and upheaval the
Bolshoi has experienced over the past two years. The scandals were
related to a 2013 acid attack against Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi's
artistic director.
The 238-year-old company has a long association with the ballet Swan
Lake. The Bolshoi premiered the Tchaikovsky ballet in Moscow in 1877.
The Bolshoi's current production of Swan Lake (July 15-20) has
choreography and book by Yuri Grigorovich (the 2001 version)
with story elements by Vladimir Begichev and Vasily Geltser. The
production incorporates choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov,
and Alexander Gorsky.
Don Quixote (July 22 and 23) is a ballet in three acts with a libretto
by Marius Petipa, who also created the original choreography, after
the novel of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes. The music is by
Ludwig Minkus, who composed over twenty ballets and was the official
ballet composer of the Bolshoi Theatre from 1864-1871.
Spartacus (July 25-27) has been one of the Bolshoi's signature works
for 45 years. With stirring music by 20th century Soviet-Armenian
composer Aram Khachaturian, and choreography by Yuri Grigorovich,
artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995, this
ballet in three acts tells the tragic story of Spartacus, a Thracian
gladiator who unsuccessfully led a slave revolt against the Roman
Empire in the first century BC.
Vogue.com recently presented an excerpt of a ballet film series from
Pathe Live, the French company responsible for broadcasting Bolshoi
performances to movie theaters. This preview features the Bolshoi's
leading soloist Olga Smirnova and principal David Hallberg and is
directed by Performa TV founder Pierce Jackson and Dianna Mesion.
http://www.classicalite.com/articles/9817/20140716/bolshoi-ballet-performs-swan-lake-don-quixote-and-spartacus-at-lincoln-center-festival.htm
From: A. Papazian
Classicalite
July 16 2014
Lincoln Center is currently hosting the Bolshoi Ballet for a two-week
residency, during which the company will perform three famous ballets:
Don Quixote, Spartacus and Swan Lake, one of the company's defining
works.
The Bolshoi opera, orchestra and chorus recently presented The Tsar's
Bride at Lincoln Center as part of this two-week engagement. These
performances mark the first time that all four ensembles of the
Bolshoi--ballet, opera, orchestra and chorus--will perform together
at the Lincoln Center Festival.
Their unprecedented two-week engagement will continue through July 27,
and will involve at least 340 artists and support personnel.
This is an extremely ambitious undertaking for any arts organization,
and is particularly impressive given the scandals and upheaval the
Bolshoi has experienced over the past two years. The scandals were
related to a 2013 acid attack against Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi's
artistic director.
The 238-year-old company has a long association with the ballet Swan
Lake. The Bolshoi premiered the Tchaikovsky ballet in Moscow in 1877.
The Bolshoi's current production of Swan Lake (July 15-20) has
choreography and book by Yuri Grigorovich (the 2001 version)
with story elements by Vladimir Begichev and Vasily Geltser. The
production incorporates choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov,
and Alexander Gorsky.
Don Quixote (July 22 and 23) is a ballet in three acts with a libretto
by Marius Petipa, who also created the original choreography, after
the novel of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes. The music is by
Ludwig Minkus, who composed over twenty ballets and was the official
ballet composer of the Bolshoi Theatre from 1864-1871.
Spartacus (July 25-27) has been one of the Bolshoi's signature works
for 45 years. With stirring music by 20th century Soviet-Armenian
composer Aram Khachaturian, and choreography by Yuri Grigorovich,
artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995, this
ballet in three acts tells the tragic story of Spartacus, a Thracian
gladiator who unsuccessfully led a slave revolt against the Roman
Empire in the first century BC.
Vogue.com recently presented an excerpt of a ballet film series from
Pathe Live, the French company responsible for broadcasting Bolshoi
performances to movie theaters. This preview features the Bolshoi's
leading soloist Olga Smirnova and principal David Hallberg and is
directed by Performa TV founder Pierce Jackson and Dianna Mesion.
http://www.classicalite.com/articles/9817/20140716/bolshoi-ballet-performs-swan-lake-don-quixote-and-spartacus-at-lincoln-center-festival.htm
From: A. Papazian