News from Germany, Austria, Switzerland

[Angela]

Mr. Shklyarov as pronunciation teacher for Russian names and opera titels

 

[toursenlair]

I'd sign up for Russian lessons with him!

[Angela]

Casting for Spartacus at Munich is online

[ElenaF]

Interesting casting of Osipova as Aegina. Will she be able to channel the sinister sensuality this role calls for? Also curious how German audiences will react to the opening scene of the Roman army on the march, with the helmets and the insignia and all that.

[SwissBalletFan]

Christian Spuck's new collaboration with the Opera of Zurich to create a dance choreography to Verdi's Messa da Requiem will be transmitted online on Sunday 18th December at 11:05 CET.

 

http://www.arte.tv/guide/de/067840-000-A/libera-me

[assoluta]

I'd sign up for Russian lessons with him!

 

You might regret later, he is a chain smoker.

[Angela]

A very long interview in English language with company speaker and dancer representative Elinor Jagodnik of Berlin State Ballet, explaining the situation with Sasha Waltz and what the dancers think about it.

[Duck]

_{The second Colours International Dance Festival will take place at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart from 6 – 23 July.}

_{The line-up includes Ballet Zuerich (Spuck’s Romeo & Juliet), Russell Maliphant (Conceal Reveal in a version for Stuttgart), Hofesh Shechter with a production that will have its world premiere in Paris just a few days earlier, Gauthier Dance with a triple bill, and many more. The second week of the festival will see five young choreographers at work, creating a new piece which will then be performed during the final week. There will also be events in various places in the city.}

_{There are a number of videos on the web site – a trailer, a teaser, and extracts from performances.}

_{http://www.coloursdancefestival.com/en.html}

 

 

[Angela]

One day after the general rehearsal, Bavarian State Ballet finally found a Phrygia for their Spartacus premiere, it's Ivy Amista. Yet no further casting for the next performances in December and January.

 

Ricardo Fernando, a Brazilian choreographer who directed the small ballet company at Hagen (near Dortmund) will follow the Canadian Robert Conn as ballet director of the small ballet company at Augsburg (near Munich).

 

Bettina Kogler was appointed director of Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna’s centre for contemporary dance and performance.

 

There will be no German Dance Prize in 2017. The board of the association that awarded it in the past has dissolved about disputes and personal issues. From 2018, the German Dance Prize will be awarded by Dachverband Tanz Deutschland, a national lobby for all dance institutions. They announced that from now on, laureates will come „from the whole range of contemporary creativity in dance today“.

[Angela]

And we have a trailer for Spartacus

[toursenlair]

 

Ricardo Fernando, a Brazilian choreographer who directed the small ballet company at Hagen (near Dortmund) will follow the Canadian Robert Conn as ballet director of the small ballet company at Augsburg (near Munich).

 

 

Where is Robert Conn going? (Actually, he's American, not Canadian)

[toursenlair]

new head for opera house in Vienna:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-culture-idUSKBN14A148?mc_cid=e79f2574d9&mc_eid=c2e02122f6

 

"Vienna State Opera will be headed by a former pop radio boss and record company executive, Austria's Culture Ministry said on Wednesday, hoping to attract a younger audience to Austria's flagship music venue.

Bogdan Roscic, 52, will take up the post in 2020, moving from Sony's classical music unit which he has headed since 2009. Before then he worked at Decca Music Group and an Austrian pop music station, but has never been director of an opera house before."

 

The appointment doesn't take effect until... 2020! I wonder what this will mean for Manuel Legris and the Staatsballett.

Edited December 22, 2016 by toursenlair

[balletsoccermom]

Adhonay Soares da Silva was just promoted from Corps to Soloist at Stuttgart Ballet after his premiere of Basilio in Don Q.   I hear it is well deserved and he will be dancing this role again this Saturday.

[Angela]

Where is Robert Conn going? (Actually, he's American, not Canadian)

Indeed, he is, thank you Katherine! He is going nowhere at the moment, I don't know if he quit because the Augsburg theatre building was closed for renovation rather suddenly and they have to adapt to different new locations, or if his contract was not renewed. I heard he wants to return to Northern America. Yseult Lendvai, his Canadian wife and former ballet mistress at Augsburg, now works at Stuttgart Ballet.

[Angela]

he will be dancing this role again this Saturday.

Not on Christmas Eve, no.   He'll be dancing on Monday and on New Year's Eve. You'll find some pictures of him here

[balletsoccermom]

Oops.  Sorry for the error.  I was looking at the wrong dates!  

[Angela]

Igor Zelensky's Bavarian State Ballet is having a gala at the smaller Prinzregententheater at Munich (a very beautiful theatre, by the way, built like the Bayreuth Festspielhaus). No guests, only dancers from the company, and with one exception they do only classical pdd. Programm here

[Angela]

I forgot the best part: the Munich Gala will be streamed on January 15 at 18.00 CET on www.staatsoper.de/tv for free.

[alison]

Oops, I'm obviously not really awake yet: when Angela said "no guests", I had visions of them performing to an empty theatre, and thought "?????!!!"

 

 

Edit: Well, I've just read the schedule, and thought "Who?" for most of the dancers, so I'm not sure that "international renommierte Tänzer" really applies

[Julie 2 Milner]

The Prinzregenten is a lovely theatre. Went to see Martin there a few times when he was with the Bavarian State Ballet. It has a more intimate atmosphere than the Opera House. 

[Angela]

Oops, I'm obviously not really awake yet: when Angela said "no guests", I had visions of them performing to an empty theatre, and thought "?????!!!"

You know that King Ludwig II. of Bavaria had Wagner's "Tristan" performed for him alone, as the only audience, at the Munich Nationaltheater? So who knows, dancers dancing for dancers only...  

[Duck]

A local newspaper reports that Robert Robinson, a Soloist with Stuttgart Ballet, and whom some here saw in BalletWorks in recent years (an annual charity event in support of a hospice on the Isle of Wight), will take time out from Stuttgart Ballet following the end of this season and this year’s performances by BalletWorks in August. This is to study the origins, history and relevance of tango as well as the dance itself. The aim is also to broaden the types of dance that are shown by BalletWorks.

 

The newspaper article (in German) charts his progress within the company and lists a number of roles that he has danced in Stuttgart http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.stuttgarter-ballettsolist-nimmt-auszeit-robert-robinson-will-den-tango-erforschen.78d3132b-1ce1-4792-acf1-eb58dae2161a.html

 

As someone who saw the gala in both 2015 and 2016, I wish him every success in his endeavours. I also hope that he’ll be back in Stuttgart soon.

[Angela]

Promotions at Hamburg Ballet: Emilie Mazon, Madoka Sugai and Jacopo Bellussi will be promoted to soloist with the beginning of next season. Mazon is the daughter of Neumeier's former muse and principal dancer Gigi Hyatt, who is now director of the Hamburg School of Ballet. Sugai came from the Bundesjugendballett and won the Prix de Lausanne in 2012.

 

After more than 50 years, John Neumeier revealed his true age some days ago in several interviews with German newspapers. He was born on February 24 in 1939, not in 1942 as was published in every dictionary and of course by the Hamburg Ballet until today. This makes him 78 years, not 75 years. He said he changed his age in 1962 when he came to Europe to get into the Royal Ballet School and did not want to be turned away because he was to old then. He had wanted to go to London earlier, but his parents had insisted that he finished university and his military service.

[Angela]

New at Semperoper Ballet Dresden next season:

- an evening with Frederick Ashtons "Midsummer Night’s Dream" and "The Four Seasons", a creation by David Dawson to Max Richter’s new composition of Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons" concerts – premiere 10.3.2018

- a triple bill "100°C" with "Heatscape" by Justin Peck, music: Bohuslav Martinů; "Gods and Dogs" by Jiří Kylián, music: Ludwig van Beethoven/Dirk Haubrich; a new creation by Hofesh Shechter - premiere 2.6.2018

 

download: https://www.semperoper.de/fileadmin/semperoper/bilder/publikationen/Saisonbroschuere_Jahresheft_2017-18.pdf

[Angela]

Next Season at Ballet Zurich:

a “Nutcracker and Mouse King” (after the original, darker tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann), choreographed by Christian Spuck

a new “Faust” choreographed by Edward Clug with music by Milko Lazar.

a double bill “Emergence” brings “Emergence” by Crystal Pite and “Speak for yourself” by Paul Lightfoot and Sol León

Ratmansky’s “Swan Lake” will stay in the repertoire, as will three mixed programms by Forsythe/Kylián/Naharin, by Kylián/Favre/Portugal/Soto and by Goecke/Clug.

 

Former Dresden principal Elena Vostrotina will join the company as principal

 

 

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, ballet/dance next season:

- Hamburg Ballet with Neumeier’s “Song of the Earth” (October 7/8) and “Nijinsky” (October 13-15) – perfect for a comparison to National Ballet of Canada touring to Paris one week before

- the Mariinsky with Romeo (December 21/22), the new Paquita (Dec. 23/27), Nutcracker (Dec. 25/26)

- a Ballet Gala on Dec. 31 – no guests named yet

- “Don Quijote” by Marcia Haydée with Sao Paulo Companhia de Danca (April 13/14)

- NDT with Lightfoot/Leon and Pite (June 16/17)

 

 

At Ballet on the Rhine in Düsseldorf, Martin Schläpfer (who has never done a story ballet before) has announced a new “Swan Lake” for June 2018.

[Angela]

News from Berlin State Ballet: as different newspapers report today, Nacho Duato will leave one year earlier, already in Summer 2018, and Johannes Öhman from Sweden will take over for one year alone, before Sasha Waltz joines him in 2019.

Reports (in German) here and here

[Angela]

Casting for Wheeldon’s "Alice" at Munich – just the names as published by Bavarian State Ballet, no dates yet   - and no Polunin

 

Alice - Ivy Amista, Maria Shirinkina, Ksenia Ryzhkova and Elizaveta Kruteleva

Knave of Hearts - Osiel Gouneo, Vladimir Shklyarov, Jonah Cook and Alexey Popov

Mad Hatter - Jonah Cook, Dustin Klein and Gianmarco Romano

Lewis Carroll/White Rabbit - Javier Amo and Tigran Mikayelyan

Queen of Hearts - Séverine Ferrolier, Prisca Zeisel and Luiza Bernardes Bertho

[Ellie]

News from Berlin State Ballet: as different newspapers report today, Nacho Duato will leave one year earlier, already in Summer 2018, and Johannes Öhman from Sweden will take over for one year alone, before Sasha Waltz joines him in 2019.

Reports (in German) here and here

Angela, has anything been reported about the dancers' opinion regarding the earlier changeover ? I'm afraid I don't speak German...I'm assuming that the petition and social media campaign were not successful. 

[Angela]

There was a small improvement this time, because the dancers were informed by the Senator for Culture BEFORE the news went to the press. But no, the petition with almost 20.000 signatures was not successful, the transition from Duato to Waltz/Öhman will go on as planned. Mainly because the contracts were already signed, I suppose. Even with heavy protests, Sasha Waltz won't back down, I'm sure. Some principals have left after Duato started in 2014, others finished their career or will finish their careers in the next years, so Öhman will have the chance (or the burden) to rebuild the company when he starts. The Berlin ballet audience is devestated.

[Vanartus]

Ah well - not the best of timing for my move to Berlin! ????

[Ellie]

There was a small improvement this time, because the dancers were informed by the Senator for Culture BEFORE the news went to the press. But no, the petition with almost 20.000 signatures was not successful, the transition from Duato to Waltz/Öhman will go on as planned. Mainly because the contracts were already signed, I suppose. Even with heavy protests, Sasha Waltz won't back down, I'm sure. Some principals have left after Duato started in 2014, others finished their career or will finish their careers in the next years, so Öhman will have the chance (or the burden) to rebuild the company when he starts. The Berlin ballet audience is devestated.

Thank you for replying.

[aileen]

I think of Berlin audiences (because I think of Berlin as a magnet for creative types and entrepreneurs) as being quite young and more interested in contemporary work than the big classics, hence the current appointments and the previous appointment of Duato. Is that not the case? Vanartus, at least you'll have the pleasure of seeing the lovely Ksenia Ovsyanick (who was featured in a lengthy and quite candid interview in this month's Dance Europe).

[Vanartus]

Thanks for the info!