News from Germany, Austria, Switzerland

[Ian Macmillan]

After the announcement earlier in the year of Cathy's departure, it is no surprise that Herr Märki has set things up for the future that he envisages for dance in Bern from next summer, and I wish Ms Miranda all the very best for her incumbency. I note that the company has already returned to its previous size after a couple of years during which it has been augmented by apprentices. If it is to reduce to around 6 dancers next year - possibly as a consequence of some financial constraint deriving from the organisational changes at the Theatre? - Bern audiences may well have to become accustomed to a thinner dance diet than that on offer since 2007. I believe there will have been some 30 new commissions in Cathy's time, and her own creative arc that began with a very different Firebird will be completed by Hexenhatz, coming to the ROH's Linbury theatre in May next year.

[Angela]

Ian, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, but Estefania Miranda will keep half of the dancers that Cathy Marston had hired and hire of course some new dancers. I think the size of the company will remain the same, around twelve. It's just moving towards a more contemporary style, I suppose.

[aileen]

I think that the subject matter of Hexenhatz is the last woman executed for witchcraft in Europe, Anna Goeldi, who was officially pardoned or cleared of murder in 2007. I look forward to seeing the company when it comes to the Linbury next year.

[Ian Macmillan]

Angela: Thanks for the clarification on dancer numbers ..... I could probably win a bet on identifying those who'll leave!

 

Aileen: I believe you're correct about Hexenhatz. Pretty much matching the era in which the story is set, it's to be performed in Bern to a baroque score with Camerata Bern - the second such local collaboration on a new work by Cathy, I think - and I do hope that they will be coming to London too.

[aileen]

Does anyone know which ballets the company is bringing to London? Hexenhatz has intriguing possibilities.

[aileen]

Julie, do you know whether Vadim Muntagirov danced in La Bayadere last night, as scheduled? If so, was he favourably received?

[Bluebird]

Here's what the Balletbag tweeted a few hours ago:

 

"ENB´s Vadim Muntagirov raised the roof during #Bayadère@staatsballett last night! WHAT a Germany debut! #SoaringSolorhttp://on.fb.me/QrjFVN"

[Ian Macmillan]

Aileen: Hexenhatz is to be a full-evening work and, from all I can see, it's the sole work being brought to London next May. If your German is good, or you want to risk Google Translate, you could look here, via the title button:

 

http://www.konzerttheaterbern.ch/tanz/premieren/

[aileen]

Thanks, Ian.

[Julie 2 Milner]

I've just seen some photos of Munich's La Bayadere. Very colourful Really want to get out to see it. Day Kol photography on facebook has alot of pics. Not sure if there are any of Vadim though.

[aileen]

I found a photograph of Vadim and his partner Ekaterina Petina on the company's website. It certainly looks like a very colourful production.

[Julie 2 Milner]

Oh just seen that though the site is not working for me properly today.

[Angela]

After a ravishing debut in Don Quijote, 21 year old Brazilian dancer Daniel Camargo was promoted to soloist at Stuttgart Ballet on Sunday. He danced with Elisa Badenes, ex-RBS, a great young couple.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Angela

[Angela]

And here is the link for the Bayadere pictures from Munich with Muntagirov!

[aileen]

Thanks, Angela.

[Angela]

Stuttgart Ballet announces a Gala for the 50th anniversary of John Cranko’s "Romeo and Juliet" on Dec. 2 with many former stars of the company, among them four dancers of the original cast in 1962: Marcia Haydée (former Juliet) as Juliet’s nurse, Ray Barra (former Romeo) as Duke of Verona, Egon Madsen (former Paris) as Lorenzo and Georgette Tsinguirides, former Gypsy and with 84 years still a Gypsy. Other famous names from the past include Birgit Keil as Lady Capulet, Melinda Witham as Lady Montague, Vladimir Klos as Lord Capulet, Robert Conn as Lord Montague, Yseult Lendvai and Sonia Santiago as Gypsies and Julia Krämer as Rosalind. The main parts will be danced by Alicia Amatriain and Friedemann Vogel, with Marijn Rademaker, Filip Barankiewicz, Alexander Jones and Jason Reilly in further roles.

In the morning of the same day there will be a ballet talk with Marcia Haydée, Birgit Keil, Georgette Tsinguirides, Ray Barra, Vladimir Klos, Jürgen Rose and Reid Anderson about Cranko’s "Romeo and Juliet" which premiered in 1958 at Venice and in a revised version at Stuttgart on December 2nd, 1962.

[Angela]

The town of Dresden will continue to subsidize The Forsythe Company until 2016. Due to an allegedly too low audience attendance at the festival house of Dresden-Hellerau, the town council had threatened to cut the funding for the company which is subsidized by the states of Hessia and Saxony and by the towns of Dresden and Frankfurt.

[Angela]

Polina Semionova will perform with Bavarian State Ballet in December in John Neumeier‘s Nutcracker. She’ll dance the role of Louise, Marie’s sister, who is a ballerina. Dates: 7./9./13. December

[Julie 2 Milner]

Just been told by my son that they are doing some live streaming from Bavarian State Ballet. He says it is being done on 13th Dec, which is "Nutcracker"

 

 

Also many apologies to aileen who asked me a question re Vadim earlier. I'm so sorry I didn't see this question.

 

He did indeed get a very appreciative reception.

 

Julie

[aileen]

Thanks for that, Julie. Ever since I watched the Agony and Ecstasy programme I've taken an interest in Vadim's career. Apparently, he and Daria are currently in Singapore for a gaa which is taking place tomorrow and Wednesday.

[Paul Arrowsmith]

Hello Angela - or indeed anybody who might have seen Mario Schroder's ballet Chaplin, created for the company in Leipzig.

 

I am trying to identify what music was used - any insights will be helpful. Thank you.

[Angela]

Dear Paul, didn't see "Chaplin", sorry, but here's a link to the website for the production, it says that Schröder uses "Music by Charlie Chaplin, Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, John Adams, Richard Wagner, Charles Ives, Kurt Schwertsik". He had made a Chaplin ballet already when he was ballet director at Kiel, where - as I take from the old reviews of 2006 - he used music by Arvo Pärt and Petr Vasks, jazz by Samuel Barber, Chaplin Songs and Wagner’s Lohengrin Overture, which is used in "The Great Dictator", apparently for the same scene. So Schröder's first version must have been a little different.

 

If you need a more specific listing of the music, maybe you could write to the press office at Leipzig Opera House?

[Farfallina]

Any idea who the Mikhailovsky will bring next April to Munich ?

[tim b]

Those whose favourite Nutcracker is the Nureyev production may be interested to hear that Denys Cherevychko (joint winner of Gold medal at this year's Varna competition) is scheduled to make his debut as Drosselmeyer / Prince in this production in Vienna this Friday

[Angela]

Any idea who the Mikhailovsky will bring next April to Munich ?

 

They bring Nacho Duato's Sleeping Beauty. Casting will be announced on this site, but I guess not until March...

[Farfallina]

thank you, Angela. Just send my ticket order in for both dates - so we have to be patient a little more and hope for the best....

[Paul Arrowsmith]

Dear Paul, didn't see "Chaplin", sorry, but here's a link to the websitefor the production, it says that Schröder uses "Music by Charlie Chaplin, Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, John Adams, Richard Wagner, Charles Ives, Kurt Schwertsik". He had made a Chaplin ballet already when he was ballet director at Kiel, where - as I take from the old reviews of 2006 - he used music by Arvo Pärt and Petr Vasks, jazz by Samuel Barber, Chaplin Songs and Wagner’s Lohengrin Overture, which is used in "The Great Dictator", apparently for the same scene. So Schröder's first version must have been a little different.

 

If you need a more specific listing of the music, maybe you could write to the press office at Leipzig Opera House?

 

 

Many thanks Angela. The answer it seems is only the storm music from Peter Grimes - I misheard what I thought was some gamelan music from Prince of the Pagodas.

[Angela]

"The Russian Season of John Neumeier": As part of the 3rd International Festival “Diaghilev P.S.”, taking place in St. Petersburg Nov 5th to Nov 9th in honour of John Neumeier, Hamburg Ballet was guesting with two performances at the Mikhailovsky Theatre: On November 6th and November 7th the company performed John Neumeier’s ballet “Lady of the Camellias”, casting: Diana Vishneva / Alexandre Riabko and Hélène Bouchet / Thiago Bordin.

On Nov. 9th there will be a Gala “Neumeier Without Borders” in his honour of his 40th anniversary as ballet director and chief choreographer at Hamburg. Next to principals from Hamburg Ballet and Hamburg’s National Youth Ballet, several guests from other ballet companies will present excerpts from Neumeier’s most celebrated ballets. Guests include Alina Cojocaru, Roberto Bolle, Jurgita Dronina and Remi Wörtmeyer from Het National Ballet Amsterdam, Susanne Grinder and Ulrik Birkkjaer from the Royal Danish Ballet, Julie Kent from American Ballet Theatre, Anastasia Pershenkova and Georgi Smilevski from Stanislavsky Ballet Moskow, Isabelle Ciaravola and Mathieu Ganio from POB.

Also in St. Petersburg during the Festival: the exhibition “Vaslav Nijinsky and John Neumeier” from Nov 5th to Dec12 at the State Museum of Theatre and Music, with more than a hundred pieces from Mr. Neumeiers private collection as well as from the Foundation John Neumeier. The exhibition shows works by Nijinsky’s contemporaries such as Jean Cocteau, Gustav Klimt, Amadeo Modigliani, portraying Nijinsky in a number of roles. A highlight will be Nijinsky’s own drawings, which belong to the early abstractionist movement and illuminate different aspects of Nijinsky’s art.

 

 

Stuttgart Ballet is on a tour to Shanghai and Beijing, also showing Neumeier’s „The Lady of the Camellias“. As on previous tours, they have a tour diary with many pictures.

 

 

Due to illness, German choreographer Marco Goecke has cancelled his new pieces for Ballett am Rhein at Düsseldorf (Nov 10th) and Stuttgart („Dancer in the Dark“ Nov 28th, co-production with the Stuttgart playhouse). The latter will be finished by Louis Stiens, a young German dancer and choreographer at Stuttgart Ballet.

Edited November 8, 2012 by Angela

[Sim]

Angela, thank you so much for keeping us informed of what is going on in your part of the world. For those of us who can't get there very often, if at all, it is so interesting to know what is happening. The Neumeier celebrations sound amazing. If you see any of the performances please let us know what you think. Again, thank you so much, it is really appreciated.

[Angela]

Thanks, Sim!

[Angela]

At Linz in Austria, German choreographer Jochen Ulrich has died yesterday on Nov 10th. He was born in 1944, after dancing at Cologne Opera (which then still had a ballet) he co-founded the Cologne Dance Forum in 1971 and directed it since 1979. He also established the "International Week of Modern Dance" at Cologne. In 2000, he became ballet director at Innsbruck, Austria, and from 2006 he directed the ballet company at Linz, where he was working on a new piece when he died after a serious illness.

 

 

At Erfurt Theatre, the German "Faust" Prizes were awarded yesterday, something like the Olivier Awards or the French Molières, but founded only some years ago and not as traditionally established as these renowned theatre prizes (and not as highly regarded, not even remotely). In the dance categories, the prize for best choreography was given to Martin Schläpfer für "Ein Deutsches Requiem" with music by Johannes Brahms ("A German Requiem"), created in 2011 at Düsseldorf for the Ballet on the Rhine. The prize for best interpretation in dance was awarded to British dancer William Moore, ex-Stuttgart and now Zurich Ballet, for his portray of Olivier Brusson in Christian Spuck's "Das Fräulein von S." ("Mademoiselle de Scudéri", after E.T.A. Hoffmann's novella), created in 2011 at Stuttgart – surely the smallest role they could find, Moore was much better in his other roles like Armand in Neumeier's "Lady of the Camellias", Orlando in Marco Goecke's story ballet after Virginia Woolf or as Mercutio in Cranko's "Romeo".

[Angela]

Former principal dancer Gigi Hyatt will succeed Marianne Kruuse at the head of the Hamburg Ballet School from next season on. The German-American ballerina danced with Neumeier’s company from 1982 to 1997 and created important roles for him. She then moved to Georgia Ballet, a small American company, where she was ballet master and also Artistic Director since 2004.

Kruuse, also a former ballerina, had followed Neumeier from Stuttgart to Frankfurt and Hamburg, she has directed the Hamburg Ballet School since 1993 and will be retiring.

[Angela]

The German Dance Price 2013, awarded by the Deutsche Berufsverband für Tanzpädagogik (German professional association for dance education), will be given to Ulrich Roehm, who co-founded the association in 1975 and also the Dance Prize itself in 1983. The prize had won a prestigious reputation over the years, as former winners included Gret Palucca, Pina Bausch, Hans van Manen, Maurice Béjart, John Neumeier, William Forsythe, Hans-Werner Henze, Marcia Haydée, Konstanze Vernon, Birgit Keil or Heinz Spoerli. The decision this year frankly is a joke, as 79-year old Roehm was the central character at adjudging the prizes and now, finally having quit the direction of the association, in return gets the prize himself – for having awarded it since 30 years.

 

The German Dance Prize “Future” for young dancers and choreographers will be awarded to the Bundesjugendballett (Federal Youth Ballet) at Hamburg, founded in 2011 by John Neumeier und funded not by the town of Hamburg but by the German state, which is very unusual in Germany where all culture is normally subsidised by the towns and the Länder like Bavaria, Saxonia etc. As successful and innovative this small company has been for the last year, one might also discuss this prize, as the Bundesjugendballett was not the first junior company in Germany, that was the BSB II, the Junior Company of the Bavarian State Ballet at Munich. Also the Bundesjugendballett was not the first company here to dance in retirement homes, hospitals or prisons, that was Gauthier Dance at Stuttgart.

 

A "Recognition prize", awarded only since two years, will be given to Tobias Ehinger, company manager of Ballet Dortmund, led by Artistic Director Xin Peng Wang. This prize is definitely well-earned and richly deserved, for the Dortmund company has a very small budget, and Ehinger makes miracles with it.

 

The award ceremony will take place on March 2, 2013 at Aalto Theatre, Essen. The main prize includes no money, the "Future" prize included 3000 Euro in the last years.