Josette

Ashley Wheater was also ballet master at SFB before he became director of Joffrey Ballet.

I didn't see this coming, and it's a great (and prestigious) choice. I live in Los Angeles, am a SFB donor, and fly up to SF regularly to see SFB. I'm relieved by her appointment.

I saw The Dante Project five times. I had seen Inferno at its two performances in Los Angeles in July of 2019, and came to London specifically to see The Dante Project, and I happily also saw two performances of Romeo and Juliet (Lamb/McRae; Naghdi/Muntagirov) and one of L'Heure Exquise. I found The Dante Project increasingly profound and meaningful each time I saw it and was enriched by the experience. I am looking forward to seeing the production streamed. Thank you for the update!

It was a beautiful and moving evening, and one to remember always. Thank you so much, Rob S, for the photos.

I have tickets to see two performances of Creature in February in Chicago. I will take earplugs.

Did the Royal Opera House state a date of number of days/weeks/months for its closing? I've looked at my sources and not seen this information.

I saw this in a local cinema in California on Sunday afternoon mainly to see Semyon Chudin, whom I find exceptional in all ways, and he was more impeccable than how I had hoped he would be. He is not Bolshoi-trained and danced elsewhere before joining the Bolshoi. He moves with creamy control and expressiveness. I love the way he fills out the music and is never static, which is something I fault some Bolshoi dancer for (static movements from one position to another position instead of fluidity). He also has the gallantry and subtlety of a true danseur noble. I first saw him live twice in Swan Lake the year that he joined the Bolshoi and had the opportunity to talk with him and his wife at a reception after the performance and I have been an ardent fan of his ever since. As for the lovely Shrainer, I found her a bit tense in her Act II variation (understandably some of this is due to seeing her on magnified on a huge screen); some of the steps were simplified from what I recall from films of Maximova and Nadezhda Pavlova. For me, though she was both childlike and elegant, she had that posey movement that I note in some Russian dancers where they hit positions instead of moving with a fluid dance quality. My eye went to Chudin whenever they were together on stage precisely because of his exceptional quality of movement with no tension anywhere in his neck, shoulders, arms, hands, and face.

I saw Yasmine Naghdi's second performance as Aurora with the San Francisco Ballet last spring. I was there to see the performance the previous night (with the beautiful, lyrical Mathilde Froustey) and stayed in town to see Ms. Naghdi. She had a palpable effect on the audience the moment she entered in Act I, and swept through the Rose Adagio to thunderous applause at its end. What struck me was her joyous effect on her four suitors in the Rose Adagio - they looked so elated to be dancing with her and were smiling from ear-to-ear, such that the atmosphere was electric on stage and was transferred to the entire opera house. The audience loved her. She gave a brilliant and technically sure performance, with beautiful carriage and port de bras. It has been a pleasure reading all your comments about Ms. Naghdi as Aurora and remembering the performance I saw. I will be in London in May and have tickets to see her in Swan Lake.

I was at the two performances of Inferno, as well as the three Mayerlings and the Mayerling orchestra/stage rehearsal the prior weekend. Inferno was commissioned by LA Phil for its 100th anniversary - it was a wonderful event. Ades's composition Inferno was premiered at Disney Hall in May, I believe. I was at the after-performance reception after the second performance and it is my understanding, from talking with the choreographer and the director of the Royal Ballet and listening to speeches, that this was a collaborative event involving collaborative funding. I do not know the particulars to give a detailed analysis of from whom the financial support was obtained. Inferno is one part of The Dante Project, which we will have the opportunity to see when it opens on May 7, 2019, at the ROH. Ades's compositions are frequently featured and/or premiered with LA Phil - I have season tickets and have heard many of Ades's compositions there with Ades present to take a bow after the performance. Also, the LA Music Center initially advertised the Ades-MacGregor performance, with Ades conducting three of his works, as a LA Phil event, when it should have been equally advertised as a Royal Ballet event. I checked the ticket sales for all RB performances the week before Mayerling, and Mayerling was nearly sold out - amazing on an Independence Day weekend when so many LA residents go out of town - but the Ades-MacGregor performances were not selling so rapidly. Someone obviously woke up in management as it was announced before each Mayerling performance that the RB would be performing the following week. Consequently, the Ades-MacGregor performances were sold out, now with both dance lovers who were thrilled to have seen Mayerling with the Royal Ballet, as well as with the LA Phil crowd. All performances were thrilling. Here in LA, we are starved for first-rate ballet. In addition, the Royal Ballet is a beloved ballet company that had an ongoing presence in Los Angeles for decades, and a lot of us remember going to their performances when we were children. Ex-principal RB dancer, Stanley Holden, settled in LA, was greatly loved by all, and had a well-known and flourishing dance studio for decades (he was my teacher and I went on to a ballet career), so the Royal Ballet is known by reputation as well. Margaret Graham Hills, ex-teacher at the Royal Ballet School, settled here as well, and is another loved and respected teacher. As for the reviews, the critic who reviewed Mayerling is known for hating classical ballet and retired many years ago; but, as Mayerling opened the day after Independence Day, someone had to review it because having the Royal Ballet perform here is an event. It was not at all odd for the LA Times music critic to review the Ades-MacGregor premiere; there is no permanent LA Times dance critic. Having attended these marvelous performances, I am planning a trip to London in May for the ballet and to revisit beautiful London. If there are any spelling or other errors, please overlook them. I took a break from work to churn this out.