Dance Open 2013

Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin. Photo by Stas Levshin

Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss

Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden, 2012
Philip Arlaud, Christian Thielemann, Eike Wilm Schulte, Sophie Koch, Renée Fleming, Robert Dean Smith, Jane Archibald, Nikolay Borchev, Kenneth Roberson, Steven Humes, Kevin Conners, Christian Baumgärtel, Roman Grübner, David Jerusalem, Michael Ventow, Christina Landshamer, Rachel Frenkel, Lenneke Ruiten, René Kollo. Mezzo.tv, Live Internet Steaming, 12

Va, pensiero - Nabucco de Giuseppe Verdi

Va, pensiero es el coro del tercer acto de Nabucco, una ópera de 1842 de Giuseppe Verdi, con letra de Temistocle Solera, inspirada en el Salmo 137 Super flumina Babylonis. Calificada tantas veces como la «obra judía de Verdi», canta la historia del exilio hebreo en Babilonia tras la pérdida del Primer Templo de Jerusalén.

Posteriormente se convirtió en un himno para patriotas italianos quienes identificándose con el pueblo hebreo, buscaban la unidad nacional y la soberanía. La canción, cuyo tema es el exilio y que expresa nostalgia por la tierra natal, así como la frase «Oh mia patria sì bella e perduta!» (en italiano, «¡Oh patria mía, tan bella y perdida!») resonaba en el corazón de muchos italianos

¡Ve, pensamiento, con alas doradas,
pósate en las praderas y en las cimas
donde exhala su suave fragancia
el dulce aire de la tierra natal!
¡Saluda las orillas del Jordán
y las destruidas torres de Sion!
¡Oh, mi patria, tan bella y perdida!
¡Oh recuerdo tan caro y fatal!
Arpa de oro de fatídicos vates,
¿por qué cuelgas muda del sauce?
Revive en nuestros pechos el recuerdo,
¡Que hable del tiempo que fue!
Al igual que el destino de Sólima
Canta un aire de crudo lamento
que te inspire el Señor un aliento,
que al padecer infunda virtud,
que al padecer infunda virtud,
que al padecer infunda virtud,
al padecer, la virtud!.

Coro del Metropolitan Ópera House de Nueva York (2002) 

La Traviata de Salzbourg (2005)

L'événement lyrique de l'anée, 2005

Anna Netrebko & Rolando Villazón

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Magnifique !

PATHE LIVE

3 opéras en direct du MET en décembre, 2012

Nutcracker at the Mariinsky Theater

Choreography and Libretto Adapted by Vassily I.Ivainonen
Design by Simon Virsaladze
The Orchestra of The Mariinsky Theatre Conducted by Victor Fedotov
Masha and the Princess Larissa Lezhina
Nutcracker and the Prince Victor Baranov
Drosselmayer Piotr Russanov
The Ballet of The Mariinsky Theatre

Alumna de la Ópera de París

Una bailarina nace, y se hace ...

Zoia Miller. Présentation des eleves de l'opéra, 1999

Raymonda por Olesia Novikova

Ballet Raymonda - II Act Grand pas
Olesia Novikova and Friedemann Vogel, corpo di ballo del Teatro alla Scala
La Scala, Milan - Raymonda - October 27, 2011

Raymonda - II Act Grand pas

Swarovski Black Swan

Swarovski Black Swan

New York City Ballet in The Sleeping Beauty

Three Auroras
NYCB Dancers Ashley Bouder, Tiler Peck, and Kathryn Morgan discuss dancing the role of "Aurora" in "The Sleeping Beauty".

New York City Ballet

Aurore, chorégraphie Kader Belarbi

Aurore - Bal oriental
Chorégraphie Kader Belarbi
Musique Carolin Petit
Marie-Agnès Gillot. Jiri et Otto Bubenicek
Danseurs de l'Opéra de Paris 

Cavalleria rusticana, de Pietro Mascagni

Dir.Riccardo Muti - Festival de Ravenna, 1996
Orquesta del Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Intermezzo de la ópera Cavalleria rusticana, by Pietro Mascagni

Renée Fleming as The Marschallin

Renée Fleming as The Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier
New York Metropolitan Opera

Adriana Lecouvreur at Oper Frankfurt

Christian Lacroix. "I love to resurrect bygone worlds," he says. "My idea of ​​paradise is to touch the fabrics of the past, to smell the scents of the past."

Proving that historical inspiration can transcend mere reproduction, here are some of his fabulous costume designs for Vincent Boussard's new production of Adriana Lecouvreur, which opens at Oper Frankfurt (season 2012)

ADRIANA LECOUVREUR
Francesco Cilea (1866 – 1950)
Oper Frankfurt

v.l.n.r. Micaela Carosi (Adriana Lecouvreur), Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Fürstin von Bouillon), Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012 © Wolfgang Runkel

Christian Lacroix costume ópera Adriana Lecouvreur Statisterie der Oper Frankfurt, Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012

Micaela Carosi (Adriana Lecouvreur), Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012 © Wolfgang Runkel

Christian Lacroix costume ópera Adriana Lecouvreur Statisterie der Oper Frankfurt, Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012

 v.l.n.r. Peter Marsh (Abbé von Chazeuil), Maren Favela (Fräulein Dangeville, verdeckt), Julian Prégardien (Poisson), Micaela Carosi (Adriana Lecouvreur), Davide Damiani (Michonnet), Anna Ryberg (Fräulein Jouvenot), Florian Plock (Quinault), Federico Sacchi (Fürst von Bouillon), Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012 © Wolfgang Runkel

Micaela Carosi (Adriana Lecouvreur), Frank van Aken (Maurizio), Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012 © Wolfgang Runkel

 v.l.n.r. Anna Ryberg (Fräulein Jouvenot), Florian Plock (Quinault), Julian Prégardien (Poisson), Maren Favela (Fräulein Dangeville), Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012 © Wolfgang Runkel

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Fürstin von Bouillon, links vorne, mit Glas in der Hand), Frank van Aken (Maurizio, in der Bildmitte, mit gebeugten Knien), Chor und Statisterie der Oper Frankfurt, Besetzung der Saison 2011/2012 © Wolfgang Runkel

DIVAS Shop for Opera

Fashion Designers Sketch Opera Costumes for Charity

If you enjoyed the previous round of designer sketches by Narciso Rodriguez, Peter Som, Carolina Herrera and others, check out the follow-up with works by Giles Mendel, Nicole Miller, Austin Scarlett and Deborah Lloyd for Kate Spade.

Miuccia Prada for Atilla. Thierry Mugler for Lady Gaga. Rodarte for Black Swan. It seems that high-end fashion designers are expanding far beyond their runways these days. So it was only befitting when the 6th Annual Divas Shop for Opera event, a charity designated to benefit the design of New York City Opera costumes, asked various designers to create sketches inspired by their favorite operas. Narciso Rodriguez, Peter Som and Carolina Herrera were among those who created one-of-a-kind drawings that will be auctioned off at the event.

Narcisco Rodriguez - Madama Butterfly

Richard Chai - Tosca

 

Peter Som - Un Ballo in Maschera

 

Carolina Herrera - Der Rosenkavalier

Nanette Lepore - Die Zauberflöte

Nicole Miller - Turandot

Roland Nivelais - Queen of Spades

 Stan Herman - Tosca

Austin Scarlett - La Voix Humaine

Deborah Lloyd for Kate Spade - Le Nozze di Figaro

Gilles Mendel - La Traviata

DIVAS Shop for Opera raised funds for the design and creation of costumes for productions at New York City Opera. 

Giselle for the Dresden SemperOper Ballet

"Giselle" , Dawson and the Dresden SemperOper Ballet - © Costin Radu

The world of the stage has been enriched by David Dawson's subtle reworking of Giselle for the Dresden SemperOper Ballet, shown at the Liceu Theatre in Barcelona.

Dawson has modernised a sacred relic. In his new version, years of tradition have been given new life in an intelligent and creative reworking of the ballet worthy of our time. The result is outstanding, since the SemperOper Ballet has both the artistic and intellectual resources needed to deliver a work of the highest quality. 

For anyone seeing this ballet for the first time Dawson’s Giselle is a delight, as it flows like its music – light and entertaining. For those who know the traditional ballet well and have Coralli’s original etched in their memories, this fantastic rework will come as a complete surprise and true discovery. While Dawson has stuck to the story and spared us supernatural additions, he has brought this tale of love, betrayal, forgiveness and redemption into the modern age. The corps’ entrances and exits have not been lost, for example, but have been given a modern twist, along with Adam’s score. The result is the birth of a new legacy, a conception of a repertoire that is more classical and carefully adapted to our times. Innovation, transformation and the progress of tradition (Giselle was premièred at the Opera Garnier in 1841) are the notions Dawson has applied in this full-length ballet.

The dancers clearly revel in his choreography, characterized by harmonious movements and subtle details (gestures, caresses, kisses), which add an elegance rarely seen in this art form. The highlights of the new choreography are extensive development of the main variations, marked and expressive torso work, twisting port de bras and the lifts of the main pas de deux.

Dawson has worked with his leading dancer and costume designer, Yumiko Takeshima, stripping the story of every vestige of the past. Takeshima has become a distinguished celebrity, not only because of her fine talent as a dancer but also because she has a lively and creative mind for costume design. Her company, Yumiko, is internationally renowned. Big names in European dance, such as Forsythe, Dawson and Hans van Manen, turn to her for her simple, elegant and beautiful costumes.

The score was interpreted by the Vallès Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Coleman, an expert in ballet music, who reworked the original score of Adolphe Adam. Coleman's reorchestration removed additions made by other composers; hence, Giselle’s first-act variations and Albrecht’s second-act variation have been eliminated, as the music is often attributed to Minkus.

The striking white set of the first act, designed by Arne Walther, reminded me of the titanium panels on the outside of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and contrasted with the large black moon of the second act which, faintly illuminated, announced the exit of the Wilis and the end of the ballet.

For me, the highlight of the evening was Elena Vostrotina, a dancer as incredible as she is distinguished, in the role of Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. This thrilling ballerina could be Svetlana Zakharova's younger sister (artistically speaking), as she has tremendous technical and expressive power. Vostrotina has amazing body strength – everything about her is incredible. With her fantastic pointes and endless legs with sculpted musculature, under a white veil and with delicate flowers on the palms of her hands, she achieved technical and musical perfection.

The performance was also graced by the presence of big names such as Jiří Bubeníček, brother of another great dancer, Otto Bubeníček, in the role of Hilarion; Yumiko Takeshima, who danced a beautiful Giselle; Raphaël Coumes-Marquet as Albrecht, elegant, aristocratic and highly expressive, and an outstanding Jón Vallejo, who earned well-deserved applause for his variation that had the audience riveted. Together they formed the visible components of a uniform and remarkable corps de ballet that maintained an excellent standard throughout the evening. The ghostly and ethereal Wilis in the second act were undoubtedly another highlight of the evening.

Dawson and the Dresden SemperOper Ballet deserve hearty congratulations.

By Carolina de Pedro Pascual © 2005 - 2010 Danza Ballet .

 "Giselle" , Dawson and the Dresden SemperOper Ballet - © Costin Radu