Aruna S

I just read this whole thread. I lost my own parents a while back, my father quite suddenly many years ago and my mother after a long period of ill-health and mental disorientation which was never actually diagnosed but involved a lot of very hurtful behaviour. After many years of being the sole support for my parents I was devastated to be attacked and pushed away. I can completely relate to the friction with siblings which such situations create, I don't think our relationship will ever recover from that. It made me very glad that my son is an only child! Fiz, it's wonderful that your brother is being so helpful. I will remember your family in my prayers.

I was absolutely thrilled to discover from the ROH's website some time back that several cinemas in Italy, including the one where I live, would be screening the RB's live transmissions this season. Previously we'd just had Giselle, I think in early 2011, and the occasional opera, seeing all the ballets will be a real treat. The downside is that these are the same cinemas which were earlier showing the Bolshoi broadcasts, and it looks as if they have decided not to screen both. This Bolshoi season has a lot of repeats so I don't mind that much but it's a pity. I know these things are dictated by commercial concerns and the audiences for ballet are small, so I am trying to focus on the positive side. Being able to see, for instance, The Winter's Tale fresh off the presses, so to speak, and the new DQ which I'm very much looking forward to.

I saw the Dowell-Park one last month when it was broadcast on Sky Arte. Other than the ABT version, there are snippets on YouTube of Ashton rehearsing the final Oberon-Titania pdd with Dowell and Sibley which you might find interesting, loveclassics. Alessandra Ferri is awfully good, but Sibley has a quality which Ferri doesn't. Who was in the live ROH broadcast? Cojocaru? Now that she's no longer at ROH my next person on the wishlist for Titania would be Sarah Lamb. She looks the part, IMO.

Yes of course I will! It's several months away though.

Mission accomplished! Many, many thanks for all the help and advice, I don't know what I would do without this lovely forum.

I saw a film about her by Tony Palmer in which a lot of her associates including, IIRC, her long-time secretary, were interviewed and it was really tragic. Given all the comments about how controlling her mother was, one would think she (the mother) would have thought a bit about taking steps to make provision for when Margot would have eventually stopped dancing, instead of letting her end up without a pension and dependent on handouts. Tito comes across as a really nasty piece of work, quite apart from the womanising which was bad enough.

I use Chrome and had no problems visualising the chart.

Thank you, annamicro. Would the second part of the parkett start around row 12? That's when the top price suddenly reappears. The Liliom chart was just as an example, next Monday is when the rest of the season goes on sale.

And a very special gift for ballet-lovers everywhere.

I'd forgotten the moment when the orchestra is tuning up. And to add to Janet's list of the first notes of some overtures, Swan Lake and Fille.

Yes, thanks, this link works. The theatre looks huge! I'm actually shorter than you, 157 cms...I think I'll try for the seats at the end of the row. Of course all this pre-planning may be completely useless if Hamburg is like Stuttgart and everything sells out in a flash.

Naomi, the link is giving me a 404 Error page . I do tend to sit in the stalls because I like being closer to the stage, except for Paris where I now aim for Balcon and nothing else. At Stuttgart I was in row 4 of the stalls and had a great view. When you were in row 5, do you remember whether there was anything blocking the view from the seats right at the end? Thank you!

Janet, I think the Opera Garnier would be an exception. The "Balcon" seats are much more comfortable than the orchestra stalls, the seats towards the back of the stalls were very cramped even for someone as short as I am!

Thanks for moving it, Alison!

Help wanted, please, with booking for the Hamburg Ballet. I was in two minds whether to start a new topic to ask my questions but thought they would probably fit in here. Booking for the new season opens later this month and I have been looking at the seating plan of the Opera House and trying to get an idea of what seats to book. Looking at availability for Liliom (link to the plan here https://tickets.rzsthh.de/staatsoper/HallPlanBooking.aspx?msg=0&ret=17&eventid=2116&e=2116 ) I noticed that the first row of the balcony costs exactly the same (i.e. highest price) as parts of the orchestra stalls, while in Stuttgart those seats were cheaper, so in terms of price there's nothing to be gained by choosing balcony over stalls. Since it's a relatively modern building I'm assuming it would be well-raked, would this be a fair assessment? If not, of course, the first row of the balcony would be infinitely preferable. Some stalls seats are in a cheaper category than those in the same row: in row 3, for instance, it's price group 1 (107 Euros) while the seats at the ends are in price group 2 (95 Euros), while row 5 is mainly group 2 with the end seats in group 3 (85 Euros). Is the view from those end seats restricted enough to warrant a cheaper price? I would be most grateful for any advice. Thanks very much!

I agree with what Anjuli says about the importance of small moments which can say so much. One of my major goose bump moments, every time, is in the Macmillan R&J, when Juliet is sitting on her bed absolutely still, in that desperate moment before she runs to Friar Lawrence. The soaring music makes It all the more poignant. Actually I think music plays a huge part in giving me goose bumps, like the final pdd in Sylvia, or the end of Swan Lake. Familiarity with a work however isn't important for me personally and I have a very recent example. A few months ago I saw a rehearsal video for Onegin and the final pdd music sent shivers down my spine. Despite loving Tchaikovsky, I haven't heard all his compositions, like the Francesca da Rimini tone poem which of course is the music for that pdd. Since then I've been quite obsessed with Onegin, and I always get goosebumps when Tatiana tears up the letter.

Will it be viewable outside the UK, I wonder?

Yes, I noticed that huge change when it was broadcast in cinemas, and it was one of the things I hated most about this production. It didn't seem like the ending of Swan Lake without that music.

I thought Steven McRae and Sarah Lamb made an excellent couple in Verona this week where they danced both Sleeping Beauty and a piece by Marriott. Perhaps a dream cast for The Dream

Nemo is absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you for posting, Caterina. It was an amazing evening. All the dancers were brilliant but Steven McRae was particularly captivating with his witty performance. The theatre was packed, and although the loudest applause was for Nunez-Soares, you could sense the deep affection for Mara. I felt privileged to be there.

Thank you Stucha, Kaptsova and Skvortsov are a joy to watch.

Some very nice photographs of Ruslan Skvortsov and Nina Kaptsova as Onegin and Tatiana, on Facebook. That's another couple I would love to see.

I started out booking for the company (RB), then had to move to a specific dancer when my son fell in love with Tamara Rojo. But generally I think it would be company rather than star for me, also because there's always the possibility of changes due to injury, and I can't wait till the last minute because travel plans have to be made and hinge on having tickets. That said, I do try to see Nunez as much as I can, and there is another RB dancer I try to avoid. I saw Cojocaru at La Scala having twice booked to see her at ROH and missed her, perhaps I'll be luckier with ENB. And apart from company and star, a priority for me would be programme. Anyone putting on Onegin will have me doing my best to get there while Manon does not attract me, neither does Petit's Coppelia - which will be staged at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome in September, and which I won't be going to see. I may perhaps be in a minority here but I do like the Coliseum. I've only been there once, to see the Mikhailovsky's Swan Lake with Rojo, and I thought the stalls seats we had were better, and significantly cheaper, than at ROH. What could be an alternative venue for ENB? I don't find the idea of the RAH very appealing, it gives me the impression of being just too big, like the O2.

Looking forward to seeing her with ENB.