News from Germany, Austria, Switzerland

[Angela]

The exact schedule for Stuttgart Ballet's next season is now online here
https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/1819-season/

 

The whole brochure: https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/home/#

 

almost no change in the roster, two dancers have been promoted to principals: Ami Morita from Japan and Adhonay Soares da Silva from Brazil

[Angela]

Tigran Mikayelyan, a longtime principal dancer with Bavarian State Ballet, will say farewell to his company on 30. June as Stiwa in "Anna Karenina" by Christian Spuck. Until recently he was also dancing with Richard Siegal’s Munich company Ballet of Difference, now he wants to study kinesthesia therapy. He’ll keep dancing occasionally with the project "Forceful Feelings", a company of male Armenian dancers. Mikayelyan came to Bavarian State Ballet in 2005 from Ballet Zurich and was made principal in 2007.

 

 

Another job for the much sought-after Marco Goecke, currently house choreographer at Stuttgart Ballet and NDT and from 2019 director of the ballet company at Hannover: He will be the first Artist-in-Residence of Gauthier Dance at Theaterhaus Stuttgart, starting in January 2019. He will create at least one ballet per season. He already made the very successful full-length "Nijinski" for Gauthier Dance and also two solos.

[Angela]

Guests and pieces for the Nijinsky Gala at Hamburg are now online:

https://www.staatsoper-hamburg.de/de/spielplan/stueck.php?AuffNr=147014

 

Guests include Tiler Peck, Herman Cornejo, Jillian Vanstone, Heather Ogden, Guillaume Côté, Francesco Gabriele Frola, Alina Cojocaru, Olga Smirnova, Artem Ovcharenko, Semyon Chudin, also Daria Ionova, Anastasiia Nuikina, Mariia Khoreva and Maria Bulavona from Vaganova School. The gala is dedicated to Marius Petipa and Leonard Bernstein

[Bruce Wall]

What a FANTASTIC line up ... So wish I was there.  I'm going to do my very best to make it (and get a ticket for) next year   So pleased that Tiler Peck is getting to do the SB grand pas ... as she (aside the EVER GLORIOUS Cojocaru) is one of the best Aurora's going.  Moreover to see Peck in the Tschi Pas (with Cornejo) should be so thrilling.  No one can do speed as she does - It leaves her the time to add so many delicious details.  (They are followed by Smirnova/Chudin in the Diamonds PDD).  So pleased Alina is getting the Rose Adagio - She is SO special in it as we saw in London as recently as last week. So pleased too the Royal Ballet School graduate, Jacopo Bellussi, is being featured so heavily.   I saw him in two recent Hamburg Ballet performances of La Dame aux Camelias (one with Smirnova) and thought he was truly stellar.  And the EVER STUNNING Silvia Azzoni and Alexandre Riabko (two GREAT dancers) in Nureyev's Don Juan segment would be worth the price of the ticket unto themselves.  WHAT A FEAST!!  

Edited June 19, 2018 by Bruce Wall

[toursenlair]

37 minutes ago, Bruce Wall said:

What a FANTASTIC line up ... So wish I was there.  I'm going to do my very best to make it (and get a ticket for) next year

 

Bear in mind that getting a ticket is not easy:

For the Nijinsky Gala and “The World of John Neumeier”: Requests in writing (only via mail, with sufficient postage) will be accepted between September 24 and September 28, 2018 at the following address: Hamburgische Staatsoper, Kartenservice/Galabestellung, Postfach 302448, 20308 Hamburg, Germany. Requests and booking cannot be submitted in person and tickets cannot be purchased at the box office or via the internet. All requests will be handled in the order they were delivered to us by the German postal service. Please submit your name, address, customer number (if available), number of tickets requested (maximum of 2 tickets per customer and household) in legible writing (illegible requests will be discarded); please also choose between payment via direct debit or credit card. Accordingly, please submit your account information or your credit card information including the expiry date and verification code. Requests for the Nijinsky-Gala that had to be turned down last year will be treated preferentially if they reach us during the time period mentioned above. From October 29, 2018, we will inform only those whose requests can be fulfilled.

[Duck]

The McGregor triple bill Kairos / Sunyata / Borderlands at the Bavarian State Ballet will be livestreamed on 23 June https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsopertv.html?no_cache=1, and available on demand for a short period of time thereafter.  Technical details can be found under https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsopertv.html?no_cache=1#c9597.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2018 by Duck
typo

[annamicro]

On 19/06/2018 at 17:07, Bruce Wall said:

What a FANTASTIC line up ... So wish I was there.  I'm going to do my very best to make it (and get a ticket for) next year   So pleased that Tiler Peck is getting to do the SB grand pas ... as she (aside the EVER GLORIOUS Cojocaru) is one of the best Aurora's going.  Moreover to see Peck in the Tschi Pas (with Cornejo) should be so thrilling.  No one can do speed as she does - It leaves her the time to add so many delicious details.  (They are followed by Smirnova/Chudin in the Diamonds PDD).  So pleased Alina is getting the Rose Adagio - She is SO special in it as we saw in London as recently as last week. So pleased too the Royal Ballet School graduate, Jacopo Bellussi, is being featured so heavily.   I saw him in two recent Hamburg Ballet performances of La Dame aux Camelias (one with Smirnova) and thought he was truly stellar.  And the EVER STUNNING Silvia Azzoni and Alexandre Riabko (two GREAT dancers) in Nureyev's Don Juan segment would be worth the price of the ticket unto themselves.  WHAT A FEAST!!   

 

Well, I love your enthusiasm but to say that Bellussi is heavily featured seems quite an excess 🙂 : he is one of 4 men in the second part and one of the 4 porteurs in the rose adagio... He has a wonderful lyrical soul and is fantastic when he can show it out; in the Kameliendame he was cast as Gaston and Des Grieux, probably to push him to try other ways to express himself: in the first role he made the character more elegant and delicate than usual, in my opinion successfully, in the second he was good but I think he should push his dancing a little more...maybe it was just the comparison with Sascha Riabko, seen in other shows: Riabko brought the role of De Grieux to a level I could have never imagined...a small consolation for not having him cast as Armand...nor as The King in Illusions, nor in The Seagull, nor as DQ first cast as requested by Legris (he was not cast at all, and Legris loosed also his "second", the ebullient Azatyan, for an injury and had just Trusch...) and so on, with the exception of Nijisnky. Returning to Bellussi: I hope to see him being cast more often in leading roles and I'm looking forward seeing him grow on stage as he can do. In a recent past he was particularly fine as Luciano Nicastro in Duse (giving a sense to the role that looked quite odd in the first cast...) and wonderful in the second abstract part of Duse.

I'm sorry to not see Aleix Martinez, one of the more interesting dancer of the company (and the leading dancer in Beethoven-Projekt, that premiered few days ago - I have not seen it), apparently not cast at all. The one heavily featured is Trusch: an unelegant and ordinary dancer in my opinion, with a good technique but not style, and a bad actor. Unfortunately he will be cast again with Alina Cojocaru: he proved not only to be too short for her (short arms and small dancing...) but was also able to annihilate her artistry in Die Kameliendame and not for the first time (they were ok in Romeo and Juliet - quite obvious considering that the other I've seen with her was Revazov - but definitely not adequate in the bad Neumeier version of Giselle... to see Cojocaru dancing the Skeaping one with Hernandez was as to see a resurrection and I was so relieved, even if many others thought she was not up to her usual standard...just imagine in the other context!).

As Angela was pointing out in another thread, Hamburg is not the company it was 10 years ago and seems going down by the minute: major coaching problems are reported (Kevin Haigen is rarely present) and to have a decent Armand from the last run, I have to think to Artem Ovcharenko, guesting from the Bolshoi (he danced two excellent shows with Cojocaru, and 3 even better Seagull with her - of these 3 I saw just the first). The three "Armands" of the company (the dull Revazon, the truly awful Trusch, and the surprising better than expected Evans - the only one looking really in love for his Marguerite...a Smirnova good in the first act but completely absent in the other two) were so modest that the spreading theory that Riabko is not cast in almost anything because clearly head and shoulder (and waist..) above the other technically and artistically gains consent (age cannot be an issue: the stiff and modest Jung is older than him and has been cast much more then Riabko in the past few years). The real best of Kameliendame run were Silvia Azzoni and Sascha Riabko as Manon and Des Grieux; she is absolutely fantastic especially when dancing with Cojocaru: an incredible "partnership"! You can really feel the tension in some parts and the continuous exchange of emotions between the two...in the pdt these three wonderful dancers and actors made me cry (... in the shows with Ovcharenko, the two Trush ones were so compromised couldn't be saved)

Regarding the Gala I see that Neumeier's imagination is really at a minimal point: Smirnova and Chudin have already danced Jewels in 2014 (I'm sure their repertory is quite wide). The same happened with Cojocaru: she danced Le Corsaire in 2014 with Yonah Acosta and 2016 with Hernan Cornejo...little imagination here too but at least a change of cast (Cornejo is a fantastic dancer, but I preferred Acosta as Alì). The gala costs the double than a season show and is usually gorgeous and looong (also for the introduction to the pieces by Neumeier, in German...I understand a little bit), but not always I felt I was changed enough: at least an effort to show only new things from the guests should be made, I think.

[Angela]

On 04/06/2018 at 12:04, Angela said:

John Cranko's Romeo will be in German cinemas on 22.July - a list of screenings (more venues to follow, it says) and a preview here:

http://www.ballett-im-kino.de/

The recording was made last year with Elisa Badenes, David Moore, Marti Fernandez Paixa, and with Marcia Haydée als Juliet's nurse. As far as I know it is supposed to be  published on DVD later on. Onegin was also recorded with Alicia Amatriain and Friedemann Vogel, so maybe it will follow.

 

 

Onegin to follow on September 23 in German cinemas. With Amatriain, Vogel, Badenes, Moore, Reilly, Haydée. Trailer on the same website.

[Angela]

Berlin State Ballet has cancelled a part of the Bournonville evening next season - they will drop Napoli 3rd Act and show only La Sylphide, "due to unforeseen strained budget-dispositions between the different productions next season". I suppose Ratmansky's Bayadère may be more expensive than expected.

 

Stuttgart Ballet's big screen adaptation of Cranko's Romeo will also be on German/French TV: arte will show the production on August 12th.  

[Vanartus]

4 hours ago, Angela said:

Berlin State Ballet has cancelled a part of the Bournonville evening next season - they will drop Napoli 3rd Act and show only La Sylphide, "due to unforeseen strained budget-dispositions between the different productions next season". I suppose Ratmansky's Bayadère may be more expensive than expected.

 

Stuttgart Ballet's big screen adaptation of Cranko's Romeo will also be on German/French TV: arte will show the production on August 12th.  

....sigh...

[Vanartus]

Actually...you know what...sighing is not enough...I’m going to rant! I am so fed up with SB! They so lost their way under Duato, and the new team have a lot to do. Saving money is actually a good thing - I get that. Bringing in Ratmansky to do Bayadere is great - I cheer this to the roof of every BERLIN venue! And re-Cranko-ing the rep with Onegin and R&J are solid moves, and the re-introduction of the previous Nutcracker is also good. But Duato has left precious little. Rubbish versions - ok that’s harsh I know - of Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker and R&J (ok the latter wasn’t rubbish I give him that one but it’s being dumped so...) some truly dreadful newly created one-actors. He did some good stuff in the 90’s but his flame fizzled out pretty early on. There are two short pieces perhaps that the SB could still perform after his departure. But the new stuff they’ve commissioned is light - and I don’t think ambitious enough. They could have relaunched their MacMillan heritage with Concerto, one-act Anastasia and added Elite. They’ve got more Ratmansky, Millepied back stage and I think they connect well with Hofesh Shechter too. But there’s no sense of new energy as with Munich, or rebooted energy as in Stuttgart. There’s no inspiration as in Hamburg, or punching above weight as in Ballett am Rhein. Dresden has a far more interesting repertoire than Berlin. Zürich and Vienna score higher points too. Berlin used to do Manon, Sylvia...it was in my book in the top 10 of European companies- not now. It’s all the more frustrating because the opera and theatre is so damn good in Berlin!

 

....sigh.

 

...and rant over - forgive!

[Vanartus]

Oh - post rant: the Berlin production of Jewels is beyond fab - it was amazing! It was my fave out of the RB and Danish offerings. So yes they can get it right and they just need the right support. In fact destination Balanchine (see new programme...) could be THE way forward for them.

[SwissBalletFan]

Sorry to say Vanartus, Zurich do not score higher points at all. I would rant if I wasn’t feeling so downtrodden by such a depressing black repertoire each Spuck season. 

 

Its like a poor imitation of NDT unfortunately, with only one classical performance each season.

Edited July 5, 2018 by SwissBalletFan

[Vanartus]

Oh dear...I really liked their Ratmansky Swan Lake though...

[SwissBalletFan]

11 minutes ago, Vanartus said:

Oh dear...I really liked their Ratmansky Swan Lake though...

Yes, it is a great piece of work. Because of the beautiful Odile/Odette, the only shining light in the repertoire, the only one...

[Angela]

@SwissBalletFan: Do you know where the beautiful Odette/Odile = Viktorina Kapitonova is going?? It seems such a big secret...

And by the way: Spuck announced that he will stay at Zurich until 2024/25.

 

The pity with Berlin State Ballet is that Duato used lots of money to bring in his versions of the classics, now they throw them out after a very short time to get back the old versions - Nutcracker, Cranko-Romeo. No surprise that they lack money...  Thanks, Vanartus, for the striking overview of the German/Swiss/Austrian ballet companies - I totally agree, but not everybody is happy in the cities you envy. At Munich, they have just one premiere next season and the repertoire stays exactly the same, at Hamburg you have to love Neumeier and his increasingly peculiar taste in dancers or else you're desperate for something, anything else. Everybody was happy at Ballet on the Rhine, except for the director, who is leaving. At Vienna, on the other hand, they are baffled why he chose to come there. It's a mad mad ballet world at the moment.. 😶

[annamicro]

1 hour ago, Angela said:

Neumeier and his increasingly peculiar taste in dancers

 

I've been thinking for a while that in my previous rant about Hamburg I spoke just of the men, better to not start now with the other side of the moon...😁😱😱😱

[SwissBalletFan]

@Dear Angela, I am afraid I have no idea. I have seen that she is joining a new company but cannot say where. It is a real shame, but understandable considering the repertoire in the company under Spuck. I hope

whereever she goes her talents will be noticed and appreciated, she really is kind and beautiful ballerina. I am not sure it is a secret, I guess the use of ‘cannot say’ on social media is more that the new company will announce it. Any way I will miss her as will a lot of the audience in Zurich.

 

I have heard lots of stories And so it is a surprise and shame that his contract is lengthened. So many dancers also leaving the company, and lots of unhappy dancers.

 

But I guess such a small theatre of 1,000 seats is easy to fill, and so the issues are not readily noticed. 

[Angela]

5 hours ago, annamicro said:

in my previous rant

 

Maybe we should call this thread "Rants about ballet in Germany and Switzerland"   😆😜

[assoluta]

Yes, Angela, I appreciate your timely suggestion, I stopped posting, I am so depressed by the ongoing process that is literally killing ballet in the West. At a recent gala "Stars of the 21st Century," where the top dancers from some of the best ballet companies were represented, all the West had to offer were contemporary pieces performed by athletic dancers.

[capybara]

16 hours ago, Angela said:

At Vienna, on the other hand, they are baffled why he chose to come there. It's a mad mad ballet world at the moment.. 😶

 

Who? Legris?

[Angela]

Dear assoluta, my remark was supposed to be ironic - hint: the smileys.

I don't think that you can deduce the state of ballet in "the West" or in Germany from a gala. The ballet companies in Germany are doing fine, even if they sometimes lay low for five years or even a longer time. We see Sleeping Beauties, Swan Lakes, Nutcrackers, Bayadères and even Raymondas in traditional and sometimes even reconstructed versions, we see Ashton, Balanchine, Robbins, MacMillan and Cranko, we see fine dancers who are educated in academies that get better with every year. And we see lots of new choreography that sometimes is too modern for the English/American taste, but hey, it took quite a while for Pina Bausch or William Forsythe to succeed on an international level... 😉 New choreography is the essence of a ballet company, and as much as I love the classics and the pure old Mariinsky style, I also love the modern classics by Hans van Manen or Jiri Kylián, and I know that you have to wait a long time and patiently see lots ot mediocre works with athletic dancers until a new voice comes along. Like Crystal Pite, like Marco Goecke. Ballet is the only theatre form that offers to see everything from the very old to the very new in the form, the style, the décor it was created - the whole ballet history on stage to see and learn and compare. Whe should be glad about that.

[Angela]

7 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Who? Legris?

 

Martin Schläpfer, now director at Ballet on the Rhine, who will be going to Vienna in 2020. Legris is leaving Vienna after next season.

[Vanartus]

I’m hopeless at reviewing- I can gush or rant though! Anyway just wanted to say I had two wonderful nights in Stuttgart. Saw Lulu - the Spuck ballet and the coproduction of Death in Venice directed by Volpi. Lulu was a marathon romp with a humdinger of a lead role, in this case the amazing  Alicia Amatriain. The staging, the eclectic music choice, the feel and the dancing were terrific. The applause heartfelt for the commitment of the dancers. The choreography was grab, spin, drag, lift, throw and emote - but it did have real moments of quality emotion too. An event. However for me the triumph was Death in Venice. The singing was amazing - Matthias Klink as Aschenbach was sublime. The whole production threw me at first - sort of set in the late 60’s, sliding screens and piles of old books, but it worked. By the end I was a wreck. The choreography and dancers were fantastic —Matteo Miccini as Apollo and José Angel Vizcaino as Tadzio. It was one of those times where you really felt privileged to have seen something. The audience reaction was ecstatic. Rightly so.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Vanartus
Spelling

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, Angela said:

Dear assoluta, my remark was supposed to be ironic - hint: the smileys.

I don't think that you can deduce the state of ballet in "the West" or in Germany from a gala. The ballet companies in Germany are doing fine, even if they sometimes lay low for five years or even a longer time. We see Sleeping Beauties, Swan Lakes, Nutcrackers, Bayadères and even Raymondas in traditional and sometimes even reconstructed versions, we see Ashton, Balanchine, Robbins, MacMillan and Cranko, we see fine dancers who are educated in academies that get better with every year. And we see lots of new choreography that sometimes is too modern for the English/American taste, but hey, it took quite a while for Pina Bausch or William Forsythe to succeed on an international level... 😉 New choreography is the essence of a ballet company, and as much as I love the classics and the pure old Mariinsky style, I also love the modern classics by Hans van Manen or Jiri Kylián, and I know that you have to wait a long time and patiently see lots ot mediocre works with athletic dancers until a new voice comes along. Like Crystal Pite, like Marco Goecke. Ballet is the only theatre form that offers to see everything from the very old to the very new in the form, the style, the décor it was created - the whole ballet history on stage to see and learn and compare. Whe should be glad about that.

 

Brilliant post, thank you Angela.

[Angela]

4 hours ago, Vanartus said:

I’m hopeless at reviewing- I can gush or rant though! Anyway just wanted to say I had two wonderful nights in Stuttgart. Saw Lulu - the Spuck ballet and the coproduction of Death in Venice directed by Volpi. Lulu was a marathon romp with a humdinger of a lead role, in this case the amazing  Alicia Amatriain. The staging, the eclectic music choice, the feel and the dancing were terrific. The applause heartfelt for the commitment of the dancers. The choreography was grab, spin, drag, lift, throw and emote - but it did have real moments of quality emotion too. An event. However for me the triumph was Death in Venice. The singing was amazing - Matthias Klink as Aschenbach was sublime. The whole production threw me at first - sort of set in the late 60’s, sliding screens and piles of old books, but it worked. By the end I was a wreck. The choreography and dancers were fantastic —Matteo Miccini as Apollo and José Angel Vizcaino as Tadzio. It was one of those times where you really felt privileged to have seen something. The audience reaction was ecstatic. Rightly so.

 

I was there too at Death in Venice yesterday evening, saw it for the fourth time: yes, this is a masterwork by Demis Volpi and the whole cast. With every visit I discovered new ideas, new symbols, new pictures in an opera that until then I thought was difficult and rather boring. It''s not. Matthias Klink is incredible, apart from the singing he also dances along with the boy from the Cranko School...

I think your reviewing is even better than the ranting, Vanartus!!!

[assoluta]

12 hours ago, Angela said:

I don't think that you can deduce the state of ballet in "the West" or in Germany from a gala.😉

 

I don't deduce the state of ballet "in the West" or in Germany from a gala. I am first hand familiar with it, and my opinion is that ballet in the West and in Germany is rapidly dying.

[Angela]

Promotions at Hamburg Ballet:

Christopher Evans was promoted to Principal. Matias Oberlin, Lucia Ríos and Yun-Su Park were promoted to Soloists.

Anna-Sophia Samy, Daniel Brasil, Aljoscha Lenz, Gabriel Brito and Aurelian de Brocas are leaving the company.

New to the company: Sara Ezzell, Charlotte Larzelere and Ricardo Urbina join from the Bundesjugendballett. Olivia Betteridge, Frederike Midderhoff and Borja Bermudez were promoted from Apprentices to the Corps de ballet.

New Apprentices: Viktoria Bodahl, Chiara Ruaro, Airi Suzuki, Louis Haslach, Diogo Maia and Roberto Pérez, all come from the School of Hamburg Ballet.

[Angela]

 

[Duck]

On ‎06‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 10:07, Vanartus said:

Lulu was a marathon romp with a humdinger of a lead role, in this case the amazing  Alicia Amatriain. The staging, the eclectic music choice, the feel and the dancing were terrific. The applause heartfelt for the commitment of the dancers. The choreography was grab, spin, drag, lift, throw and emote - but it did have real moments of quality emotion too. An event.

 

Thank you, Vanartus, for writing about Spuck’s Lulu at the Stuttgart Opera House. It was your post that made me get a ticket for this programme. I saw cast two last night, with Elisa Badenes in the lead role, and she was utterly convincing as Lulu. Loved the facial close ups of Lulu through the use of the camera at the front of the stage in combination with the huge screen centre stage, illustrating how the painter Schwarz sees her, and in spite of the various lovers all around her. Admired how the steps for Lulu (standing, walking, running like a normal person, in ballet flats) were so distinct from those for the Duchess of Geschwitz (repeatedly grands battements, on pointe). The use of song and spoken words live on stage. Massive ovations for Elisa Badenes, notable cheers also for Daniele Silingardi in the role of Alwa Schoening. Glad I went.

 

[Angela]

Promotions at Bavarian State Ballet:

Dmitrii Vyskubenko, Emilio Pavan and Jinhao Zhang were promoted to soloists. Henry Grey was promoted to demi-soloist.

 

New in the corps de ballet already since April: Florian Ulrich Sollfrank and Evgeniya Victory Gonzalez.

Coming from the Junior Company: Carollina de Souza Bastos and Sava Milojevic.

 

Guest stars in 2018/19: Sergei Polunin, Natalia Osipova, Vladimir Shklyarov, Ashley Bouder and Ivan Vasiliev – dates to be confirmed.

 

Leavers: Principals Tigran Mikayelyan (end of career) and Alejandro Virelles Gonzalez (for Berlin State Ballet). Soloist Erik Murzagaliyev is leaving for the Norwegian National Ballet, also leaving are soloists Alexander Omelchenko and demi-soloist Evgenia Dolmatova, from the corps de ballet Irina Averina and Sophia Carolina Fernandes. Anna Nevzorova is leaving for Ballet Nowosibirsk, Giorgia Sacher is leaving for Teatro alla Scala and Freya Thomas also for the Norwegian National Ballet.

[Vanartus]

Just the quickest of mentions for the Portrait of Wayne MacGregor triple bill performed by Bayerisches Staatsballett. If you like him, you’d have loved it...if you don’t, it would have been hellish. Three works: one newly created for BS Sunyata which was the most opaque and restrained. A Persian miniature brought to life. Two brought in from San Francisco - Borderlands, and Kairos from Zürich Ballet, these both brought the house down. What I find interesting is that the audience were so enthusiastic, and feedback in intervals also good. I’m a huge fan of Wayne so I was in my element! Video clip here:

https://www.staatsoper.de/stueckinfo/portrait-wayne-mcgregor.html

[Lizbie1]

I see that Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch has shed its AD, Adolphe Binder (http://www.wz.de/lokales/wuppertal/tanztheater-pina-bausch-trennt-sich-von-adolphe-binder-1.2723074).  Does anyone know the background?