LIVE FROM COVENT GARDEN

[alison]

The concert is being relayed on Radio 3 this evening.  I suspect "Morgen" won't feature.

[Guest oncnp]

8 minutes ago, capybara said:

I know - as I have said too many times already, the ROH is behind the pace.

 

I think they've made a huge marketing error by advertising ballet they can't deliver at this point. All the ROH has done is antagonize the ballet fans and once they're gone they will be difficult to get back. They got my $5.00 this week but there are few other dancer's I'd pay to see for 5 minutes. 

 

And BTW who is Brandon?

[zxDaveM]

11 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

And BTW who is Brandon?

 

Brandon Lawrence from Birmingham RB.

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Brandon Lawrence from Birmingham RB.

 

Thank you!

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

And BTW who is Brandon?

 

Brandon is a wonderful ambassador for dance.  He's always going above and beyond the call of duty.

 

This was a solo appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a couple of years ago (not really representative of the classical style though):

 

 

[Lynette H]

2 hours ago, alison said:

The concert is being relayed on Radio 3 this evening.  I suspect "Morgen" won't feature.

 

 

It is on now. Morgen was played.  There was a brief phone interview with Pappano where he indicated (among other things) that the third concert would feature the young singers - I assume the Jette Parker artists. 

[Candleque]

On 14/06/2020 at 13:25, Irmgard said:

Wayne McGregor’s choreography did not do justice to the music, text or the considerable talents of Cesar Corrales and Francesca Hayward.

 Totally agree. It was a forgettable piece I don't think would make the stage in normal times. 

Of all the dance we missed due to lockdown, I too mourn missing this couple debut in Swan Lake. Happy to pay my £4.99 for Vadim, but I hope the ROH up the game on what they offer ballet fans going forward. 

[Peony]

I was a bit disappointed the ballet wasn’t live. It was good to get everything sorted and have to be somewhere at a specific time, it felt like a proper performance! Same as everyone else, i would have preferred something a bit more animated than some of the opera pieces chosen. I expect I will order the next one, as Vadim is perfect and I’d like to support the ROH. The ENB performances I presume are from the back catalogue that have been shown before? Haven’t had time to investigate those yet. 

[Irmgard]

2 hours ago, Peony said:

I was a bit disappointed the ballet wasn’t live. It was good to get everything sorted and have to be somewhere at a specific time, it felt like a proper performance! Same as everyone else, i would have preferred something a bit more animated than some of the opera pieces chosen. I expect I will order the next one, as Vadim is perfect and I’d like to support the ROH. The ENB performances I presume are from the back catalogue that have been shown before? Haven’t had time to investigate those yet. 

The recordings ENB is streaming were originally made for archive purposes only and therefore they have never been seen before by the general public.   Copyright holders have all given permission for the company to stream them in these difficult times so that ENB can try to maintain its public profile (and hopefully even gain some new audience members when we are allowed back into the theatres!). 

[Peony]

Great thank you, I will definitely make an effort to seek them out then.

[Janite]

13 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Brandon is a wonderful ambassador for dance.  He's always going above and beyond the call of duty.

 

This was a solo appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a couple of years ago (not really representative of the classical style though)

 

Thank you Janet. I don't think I had seen Brandon Lawrence dance before and this is great.

[Jan McNulty]

6 minutes ago, Janite said:

 

Thank you Janet. I don't think I had seen Brandon Lawrence dance before and this is great.

 

There are some snippets of Brandon on You Tube.  Last night I found 2 short ones of him rehearsing the reconciliation pdd from The Dream with Melissa Hamilton.  They performed this duet together in Belfast at the back end of last year in a concert-style programme.

[Tony Newcombe]

A performance that I was lucky  enough to see. He must surely dance Oberon the next time BRB perform The Dream.

Sadly I don’t think Melissa will ever dance Titania with the Royal Ballet. She was incredibly moving in Belfast. Then again BRB

could invite her up to Birmingham

[FionaM]

16 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Is Vadim famous and worth watching?

 

 

Vadim Muntagirov is possibly the best  pure ballet dancer of the classics in the world.  

Gorgeous adagio, beautiful arm movements, extended lines, elegant jumps, multiple fluid and controlled pirouettes, extraordinarily pure technique  👏.   

 

Here is a rehearsal in 2016 with Anthony Dowell of the upcoming solo.  
 

 

[Jan McNulty]

I hate to say it but I was being facetious Fiona.

 

People seem to think that everyone is familiar with every dancer in the Royal Ballet and some of us are not.

 

I'd like to see more of Tyrone too, while we are on the subject.

[capybara]

10 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

People seem to think that everyone is familiar with every dancer in the Royal Ballet and some of us are not.

 

I'd like to see more of Tyrone too, while we are on the subject.

Tyrone Singleton, I presume? Got ya,  Jan!!! 

[FionaM]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

I hate to say it but I was being facetious Fiona.

 

People seem to think that everyone is familiar with every dancer in the Royal Ballet and some of us are not.

 

I'd like to see more of Tyrone too, while we are on the subject.

thought you might have been, but I wanted to highlight his brilliance nevertheless!

[Scheherezade]

Fiona, Vadim is probably the only dancer that I would happily watch doing nothing more than running round in circles. It's that extraordinary purity that somehow touches the soul in a way that no-one else can quite match. Just gorgeous!

[Balletfanp]

Scheherazade, you have said it so much more eloquently than I ever could! Spot on.

[Beryl H]

Thanks for this video, it certainly is a beautiful solo. The BBC film will include highlights from all 3 programmes, so we should hopefully be able to see all the ballet sequences, looking forward to it.

[ninamargaret]

Will be a very short programme i think!

[capybara]

Has anyone picked up on ow many people were watching the streaming last Saturday? It would be really interesting to know. 

[Guest oncnp]

13 minutes ago, capybara said:

Has anyone picked up on ow many people were watching the streaming last Saturday? It would be really interesting to know. 

 

Interesting the ROH has not published the figures. 

[Jan McNulty]

18 minutes ago, capybara said:

Has anyone picked up on ow many people were watching the streaming last Saturday? It would be really interesting to know. 

 

I've just had a look on You Tube.  The video has had over 115000 views.

[Guest oncnp]

6 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I've just had a look on You Tube.  The video has had over 115000 views.

 

I saw that as well but I think that's all the views, not just the ones during the broadcast. I was wondering how many watched it live.  

[Jan McNulty]

14 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

I saw that as well but I think that's all the views, not just the ones during the broadcast. I was wondering how many watched it live.  

 

 

Does that make a material difference?

[Guest oncnp]

2 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

Does that make a material difference?

 

naw...probably not. Just curious

[MJW]

17 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

I saw that as well but I think that's all the views, not just the ones during the broadcast. I was wondering how many watched it live.  

 

It looked to be around 11,000 plus (certainly when I was watching anyway).

[Jeannette]

4 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

Does that make a material difference?

 

Live viewing gauges level of interest among arts lovers, especially in the time zone of the theatre...and even a few of us several time zones removed who love the arts. People who made a point to “be there” even though they could’ve watched later. 

[Tango Dancer]

7 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

Fiona, Vadim is probably the only dancer that I would happily watch doing nothing more than running round in circles. It's that extraordinary purity that somehow touches the soul in a way that no-one else can quite match. Just gorgeous!

 

Definitely.  There are many of the Royal Ballet dancers I enjoy watching but I find Vadim in a different league.  There's just something about the way he moves and jumps that captivates me and the way that whether he's partnering someone or doing a solo, he looks like he's exactly where he needs to be.  When I'm looking for ballet tickets the first thing I check is which nights he's performing and the second thing is I check if Gary Avis or Bennet Gartside are in the character roles.  

 

Interestingly unlike @zxDaveM I really like watching the men in a ballet rather than the women as I love seeing the grand allegro and the larger jumps. I have huge admiration and respect for the female dancers at RB, ENB and BRB who are remarkably talented, but my eyes are always drawn to the men on any stage.  

[Lizbie1]

While I agree with many here that Saturday's concert was on the gloomy side, I've been thinking about the possible rationale behind the programming.

 

Some here have suggested that the audience is more likely to tune in for something with more "popular" content, but ROH's principal aim is to attract people willing to part with £5 to watch. With so much already out there for free, the questions must be, what kind of audience would pay a fiver and what kind of programme would entice them?

 

There are gala pieces galore on YouTube, performed by the very best soloists; but as far as I know there is only one Dance of the Blessed Spirits (with David Hallberg and very imperfect sound). The Mahler, while of course much more widely available, is also nothing to be sneezed at: Sarah Connolly and David Butt Philip are very fine singers and the Schoenberg reduction is itself a point of interest for music lovers.

 

That's not to say the opinions here are invalid, or will be proved wrong. I just think sometimes we get into a downward spiral of negativity about ROH (in particular) which isn't always merited. And we must remember that they are feeling their way with all this - there must necessarily be some trial and error involved.

[Balletfanp]

I also feel that with an actual orchestra for the next one, that might make it a lot less sombre

[jmhopton]

1 hour ago, Tango Dancer said:

 

Definitely.  There are many of the Royal Ballet dancers I enjoy watching but I find Vadim in a different league.  There's just something about the way he moves and jumps that captivates me and the way that whether he's partnering someone or doing a solo, he looks like he's exactly where he needs to be.  When I'm looking for ballet tickets the first thing I check is which nights he's performing and the second thing is I check if Gary Avis or Bennet Gartside are in the character roles.  

 

Interestingly unlike @zxDaveM I really like watching the men in a ballet rather than the women as I love seeing the grand allegro and the larger jumps. I have huge admiration and respect for the female dancers at RB, ENB and BRB who are remarkably talented, but my eyes are always drawn to the men on any stage.  

 

You and me both, Tango Dancer. I find everything about his movement is just sheer perfection; even playing basketball on Alex Campbell's Instagram compilations! Everything is just perfect from his port de bras, his jumps, his exquisite partnering and just his general very likeable, diffident, personality. I've paid my £4.99 for this Saturday just to see him and if it works out £1 a minute I don't care. I could watch him forever. I already love the Ashton rehearsal featured above and it's a pity it's not a more widely performed piece. I can't remember it being done on the ROH stage before though I might be wrong. Indeed there are several pieces I've never heard of that are covered in the Ashton Foundation rehearsal videos that would be great to see as an actual performance. it seems a shame to get dancers and coaches to put so much time and effort into rehearsing ballets that aren't going to be actually performed either on the main stage or even in the Linbury when there are plenty of people who would love to see them.