News from Germany, Austria, Switzerland

[Jeannette]

On 30/04/2022 at 11:23, Angela said:

Next season at Vienna State Ballet: 

At the Opera House: a new Sleeping Beauty by Martin Schläpfer and a double bill of The Goldberg Variations by Heinz Spoerli and Tabula Rasa by Ohad Naharin

At the Volksoper: "Yolantha and the Nutcracker", not the opera and the ballet as in the premiere in 1892, but a "Dance Opera" for the whole family which unites both, choreography by Andrey Kaydanovskiy. A mixed bill "Promethean Fire" with Paul Taylors "Promethean Fire", "Lontano" and "Ramifications" by Schläpfer and "Beaux" by Mark Morris, as well as an evening for the young choreographers of the company.

 

Speaking about Vienna’s 2022/23 season announcement….

 

I’m thrilled that they’ll be presenting Ratmansky’s 24  Preludes (to Chopin) at the Volksoper  during May/June 2023, as part of their “Begegnungen” triple bill. This is the work that AR created for the Royal Ballet which was to have been revived in London in June 2020 but was cancelled due to COVID. I was saddened when it didn’t appear in the Royal’s 22/23 schedule…but Vienna steps up! 🎉 

 

Dates & details on the 3ple bill:

https://www.volksoper.at/production/begegnungen-2022.en.html

 

 

 

 

 

[alison]

Me too - but I believe Ratmansky was due to revise the work for the RB, so I guess he needs to make a lot of room in his schedule  

[Emeralds]

On 27/04/2022 at 13:49, Angela said:

Alicia Amatriain says goodbye to the Stuttgart Ballet – the principal dancer announced today that she will end her active dancing career at the end of the season. Amatriain, born in Spain and a graduate of the John Cranko School, member of the Stuttgart Ballet since 1998 and principal since 2002, gave birth to her first child in March 2020. Upon her return to the ballet studio, she found that the chronic pain in one of her hips had worsened drastically. In March 2022, Amatriain finally had her hip replaced, which meant the end of her dancing career.

Ballet director Tamas Detrich and Amatriain searched for joint solutions - including the position of deputy director of the John Cranko School. However, the physical limitations were and continue to be so great that Amatriain decided against it, especially since as the mother of a small daughter she wants to be there for her child.

 

A public farewell is planned for Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at a performance of John Cranko's Onegin. Alicia Amatriain will not dance, but will bow to her audience and fans one last time on stage.

Oh no! I will miss Alicia. Glad I got a chance to see her dance in person- Katerina In Cranko’s The Taming of the Shrew when Stuttgart Ballet visited Sadler’s Wells, and when she performed Spuck’s funny Le Grand Pas de Deux spoof at a gala. And I’ve bought the Onegin DVD! It will be sad not to have her on stage  any more, but I’m glad that she has had a long and successful career. She won’t regret being with her little girl while she is growing up- this is a fun age and children grow up so quickly. I wish her all the very best! 

[Jeannette]

15 hours ago, alison said:

Me too - but I believe Ratmansky was due to revise the work for the RB, so I guess he needs to make a lot of room in his schedule  

Maybe Ratmansky will return to London during the 2023/2024 season to revise Preludes? 
Unless a geopolitical miracle happens, his planned works for the Bolshoi & Mariinsky are off his schedule, opening up time for the rest of the world.

[Don Q Fan]

Did anyone see the premiere of Sleeping Beauty in Berlin? Thoughts? The few photos I've seen on Instagram the costumes look glorious. 

I did always like Malakhov's SB and wish that would bevfabced again as the sets and costumes for that were wonderful too especially the topiary garden where conical shaped trees opened to reveal a dancer.....

[Angela]

I did not see it, but here is a clip from a news channel in Berlin:

 

 

Please take a look at Jason Reilly's Carabosse, dear Dinu Tamazlacaru... 😘

 

The first reviews are very friendly, some compare it to Nacho Duato's Sleeping Beauty or even Vladimir Malakhov's, they had three Beauties in 17 years at Berlin.

[Sabine0308]

On 14/05/2022 at 08:55, Don Q Fan said:

Did anyone see the premiere of Sleeping Beauty in Berlin? Thoughts? The few photos I've seen on Instagram the costumes look glorious. 

I did always like Malakhov's SB and wish that would bevfabced again as the sets and costumes for that were wonderful too especially the topiary garden where conical shaped trees opened to reveal a dancer.....

I will go on Wednesday for the B premiere (Iana Salenko, Daniil Simkin). Saw some costumes and stage setting during a rehearsal...a dream!💖 Marcia Haydee said they were made especially for Berlin. She wanted new costumes and stage.

[Vanartus]

On 14/05/2022 at 07:55, Don Q Fan said:

Did anyone see the premiere of Sleeping Beauty in Berlin? Thoughts? The few photos I've seen on Instagram the costumes look glorious. 

I did always like Malakhov's SB and wish that would bevfabced again as the sets and costumes for that were wonderful too especially the topiary garden where conical shaped trees opened to reveal a dancer.....

I’m down for July 6 - the final!

[Naomi M]

Putin's daughter is said to be in a relationship with the ex-head of the Munich State Ballet, Igor Zelensky.

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/leute/putin-tochter-soll-mit-ex-chef-des-muenchner-staatsballetts-liiert-sein-a-b571f397-4f35-4802-a8c9-2ed008bf4d7b
 

Also on Russian media.

https://istories.media/amp/investigations/2022/05/19/myunkhenskaya-doch-vladimira-putina/

[Lizbie1]

6 minutes ago, Naomi M said:

Putin's daughter is said to be in a relationship with the ex-head of the Munich State Ballet, Igor Zelensky.

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/leute/putin-tochter-soll-mit-ex-chef-des-muenchner-staatsballetts-liiert-sein-a-b571f397-4f35-4802-a8c9-2ed008bf4d7b
 

Also on Russian media.

https://istories.media/amp/investigations/2022/05/19/myunkhenskaya-doch-vladimira-putina/

 

Wow.

 

Moscow Times article here: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/19/investigation-links-german-ex-ballet-director-zelensky-with-putins-daughter-a77728

[alison]

Wow indeed.  No wonder.

[Angela]

I heard this two years ago and could not believe it. Someone said that he was divorced from his wife Yana Zelensky in a very quick way. I googled the names of both "official" Putin daughters like mad at the time and found nothing at all, so I finally thought it was made up. It seems that some people at Bavarian State Ballet knew about it.  Tikhonova was a rock'n'roll dancer, so maybe that's how they met... Wow, incredible.

[Angela]

That he resigned "for family reasons" suddenly makes a lot of sense 🤪

[Angela]

https://www.occrp.org/en/blog/16339-putin-s-daughter-in-relationship-with-ex-head-of-bavarian-state-ballet-new-investigation-reveals-2

 

 

[Jeannette]

OH MY G**!!!!!!!! 😮 

This sort of thing cannot be made up. 
So we thought that Olga Smirnova was the most famous ballet figure in this sad Russia-Ukraine Operation (war) saga.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Jeannette

[FionaM]

Well!  
 

Now I understand better why Yana stays at Münich, when Igor resigned.  Maybe she reverts to her maiden name Serebriakova?  She is an excellent coach and ballet master.

[stucha]

Igor Zelensky next director of the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky ????

[Jeannette]

4 hours ago, stucha said:

Igor Zelensky next director of the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky ????

Maybe. I’m not so sure that Vaziyev will easily leave the Bolshoi…but Fateev leaving his job at the Mariinsky? Maybe. Fateev has forever been the “interim” A.D., after all.

 

Imagine history repeating itself: Russia’s family-in-power occupying the Tsar’s Box again…the Putins instead of Romanovs! (Shudders)

[Angela]

Sorry to interrupt this thriller with very ordinary news:

 

The programme for next season at Stuttgart Ballet was published today. The main attraction is a new Nutcracker, choreographed by Edward Clug and with sets and costumes by - tada! - the famous Jürgen Rose. The last Nutcracker at Stuttgart was in the 1960s by John Cranko, and then a small, modern production at the Chamber Theatre by Marco Goecke for two seasons. No Nutcracker in the Opera House for 50 years...

The rest is repertoire. As John Cranko died 50 years ago in June 1973, there will be a big commemoration gala and lots of Onegin and Taming of the Shrew throughout the season. His Initials RBME will be combined with Kenneth MacMilllan's Requiem in a double bill named "Remember me". The season offers Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias (on tour to Hamburg in July), Jiri Kylián's One of a Kind (on tour to the Amare theatre Amsterdam in spring),  the Pure Bliss triple bill by Johan Inger (on tour to Berlin in September), and three new creations by N.N. in a triple bill in the playhouse.

 

Promotiones: Mackenzie Brown, Daiana Ruiz, Veronika Verterich, Fabio Adorisio, Clemens Fröhlich and Matteo Miccini from demi-soloists to soloists. Vittoria Girelli, Elisa Ghisalberti, Alicia Torronteras, Adrian Oldenburger and Flemming Puthenpurayil from corps de ballet to demi-soloists.

 

Leavers: Alicia Amatriain and her husband Alexander McGowan, Jessica Fyfe (going to Tolouse), Roman Novitzky (he will become Artist in Residence as choreographer and company photographer), Louis Stiens and Shaked Heller (going freelance as choreographers).

 

Joiners: New to the corps de ballet: Jolie Rose Lombardo, Joana Senra, Irene Yang, Lassi Hirvonen and Danil Zinovyev, who were apprentices last year. From the Cranko School: Ava Arbuckle. Florencia Paez from Mexico. 

New apprentices: Lily Babbage, Aoi Sawano, Ruth Schultz, Emanuele Babici, Lincoln Sharp, José Costa (all Cranko School), and Dorian Plasse (winner Prix de Lausanne).

 

https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/season-2022-23/

 

 

[Lizbie1]

22 minutes ago, Angela said:

As John Cranko died 50 years ago in June 1973, there will be a big commemoration gala and lots of Onegin and Taming of the Shrew throughout the season. His Initials RBME will be combined with Kenneth MacMilllan's Requiem in a double bill named "Remember me".

 

Thank you for this! Before I start getting my hopes up, how difficult will it likely be to get tickets for the RBME/Gloria double and Taming of the Shrew in July?

[Jeannette]

1 hour ago, Angela said:

Sorry to interrupt this thriller with very ordinary news:

 

The programme for next season at Stuttgart Ballet was published today. The main attraction is a new Nutcracker, choreographed by Edward Clug and with sets and costumes by - tada! - the famous Jürgen Rose. The last Nutcracker at Stuttgart was in the 1960s by John Cranko, and then a small, modern production at the Chamber Theatre by Marco Goecke for two seasons. No Nutcracker in the Opera House for 50 years...

The rest is repertoire. As John Cranko died 50 years ago in June 1973, there will be a big commemoration gala and lots of Onegin and Taming of the Shrew throughout the season. His Initials RBME will be combined with Kenneth MacMilllan's Requiem in a double bill named "Remember me". The season offers Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias (on tour to Hamburg in July), Jiri Kylián's One of a Kind (on tour to the Amare theatre Amsterdam in spring),  the Pure Bliss triple bill by Johan Inger (on tour to Berlin in September), and three new creations by N.N. in a triple bill in the playhouse.

 

Promotiones: Mackenzie Brown, Daiana Ruiz, Veronika Verterich, Fabio Adorisio, Clemens Fröhlich and Matteo Miccini from demi-soloists to soloists. Vittoria Girelli, Elisa Ghisalberti, Alicia Torronteras, Adrian Oldenburger and Flemming Puthenpurayil from corps de ballet to demi-soloists.

 

Leavers: Alicia Amatriain and her husband Alexander McGowan, Jessica Fyfe (going to Tolouse), Roman Novitzky (he will become Artist in Residence as choreographer and company photographer), Louis Stiens and Shaked Heller (going freelance as choreographers).

 

Joiners: New to the corps de ballet: Jolie Rose Lombardo, Joana Senra, Irene Yang, Lassi Hirvonen and Danil Zinovyev, who were apprentices last year. From the Cranko School: Ava Arbuckle. Florencia Paez from Mexico. 

New apprentices: Lily Babbage, Aoi Sawano, Ruth Schultz, Emanuele Babici, Lincoln Sharp, José Costa (all Cranko School), and Dorian Plasse (winner Prix de Lausanne).

 

https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/season-2022-23/

 

 

You’ve made my day, Angela! 🎉 

 

My biggest post-COVID dream may come true:  to see INITIALS R.B.M.E. live!!! 🥳 👏 🤩 🔥 🌟 🎊 

 

Oh, 401K Plan, don’t let me down!  

[Angela]

If you order by mail or email, do it NOW, and order the tickets with immediate payment - the bookings are made in order of arrival, around ten weeks before the performance. But there is another date two months before the performance when direct online and telephone booking starts - normally two months before (same date, two months before, if it's a Saturday or Sunday, call on the Friday before). It was all disturbed by Covid, right now they sell one month as a whole. I'm sure they will go back to the normal system for next season. Half of the tickets are sold by mail, the other half online and by phone.

I guess this is better than my jabbering:

https://www.staatstheater-stuttgart.com/tickets_service/booking-information/

[Angela]

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

how difficult will it likely be to get tickets for the RBME/Gloria double and Taming of the Shrew in July?

Not as difficult as the gala, I'm sure. Normally they sell all tickets in one or two days, but the Shrew is not as popular as Romeo or Onegin. Mixed programms sell as fast as full-length at Stuttgart. And it's the Requiem, not Gloria!

[Lizbie1]

16 minutes ago, Angela said:

Not as difficult as the gala, I'm sure. Normally they sell all tickets in one or two days, but the Shrew is not as popular as Romeo or Onegin. Mixed programms sell as fast as full-length at Stuttgart. And it's the Requiem, not Gloria!

 

Thank you, and yes - I meant Requiem so I'm not disappointed!

[Jeannette]

20 hours ago, Angela said:

…. it's the Requiem, not Gloria!

Best news: It’s the Macmillan Requiem with music by Faure from the late-1970s, rather than his late-1980s edition for ABT, to Lloyd-Weber. Hallelujah! 

Thanks for the tip on pre-ordering tix, which is normally done via this form: https://www.staatstheater-stuttgart.com/tickets_service/booking-information/ticket-reservation/?Event=5311

 

As a patron from outside the EU, I couldn’t use the online form but, instead, was directed to send the request via email.

tickets@staatstheater-stuttgart.de

 

So now I patiently - happily - wait for their response for one of the Initials/Requiem shows. I’ll deal with airline & hotel later! 🙏 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Jeannette

[Lizbie1]

Orders in - only a year till I hear back!

[Lizbie1]

On 21/05/2022 at 13:06, Jeannette said:

Best news: It’s the Macmillan Requiem with music by Faure from the late-1970s, rather than his late-1980s edition for ABT, to Lloyd-Weber. Hallelujah! 

 

I thought you were joking till I looked it up! 🤯

[Angela]

Season 2022/2023 at Ballet on the Rhine in Düsseldorf/Duisburg:

 

four mixed bills:

“Zwischenwelten” with "the little match girl passion“, an older work by Ballet Director Demis Volpi, and “don’t look at the jar”, a new creation by Gil Harush

“One and others” with “Polyphonia by Christopher Wheeldon, “One and others” by Volpi and “Salt Womb” by Sharon Eyal

“Short­cuts” with new creations by Bridget Breiner and Neshama Nashman, and with “Short Cut” by Hans van Manen and “Artifact II” by William Forsythe

“Sacre” with “The Cage” by Jerome Robbins, a new creation by Volpi  and a new “Sacre” by Marcos Morau

 

four (modern) story ballets:

“Krabat“, the very successful work that Volpi made for Stuttgart in 2013

Volpi’s Nutcracker,

a new Giselle by Volpi

“Coppélia X Machina“ by Hélène Blackburn, if I read correctly with the Delibes score

 

https://www.operamrhein.de/en/schedule/productions/#ballett

 

[Angela]

the cast for the Hamburg Ballet premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's The Winter's Tale is online here:

https://www.hamburgballett.de/de/spielplan/stueck-besetzung.php?AuffNr=205126#pagenav

 

Sets and costumes will be borrowed from the Royal Ballet

[Estreiiita]

I am going to see The Winter's tale performance next week (especially as I'm very fond of Ida Praetorius) along with 4 other ballets - many thanks to John Neumeier for giving this possibility to ballet lovers! 

[FionaM]

David Motta Soares has announced his debut performance with his new company Staatsballett Berlin will be 24 June.  
 

Sleeping Beauty with Ksenia Ovsyanick. 

[Angela]

A new director for William Forsythe’s former company: Greek choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis will direct the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company from season 2023/24 on. He replaces Jacopo Godani, who will quit after this season. The Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company was founded in 2005 as The Forsythe Company, when the Frankfurt Opera House closed its Ballet company. In 2015, after Forsythe left, the company got a new name and a new director with Jacopo Godani.

[Angela]

At Ballet Nuremberg, AD and chief choreographer Goyo Montero will stay for four more years, his contract was renewed until 2028. He directs the company at the Nuremberg Opera House since 2008 and is very successful there - more dancers, more performances, awards and prizes. You may know him from the Prix de Lausanne.