Press Release: Alfa Banking Group in new partnership with English National Ballet

[Jan McNulty]

Alfa Banking Group in new partnership with English National Ballet


Alfa Banking Group, the largest private commercial and investment banking group in Russia and the CIS, has entered a strategic partnership with leading classical dance company, English National Ballet.

The partnership will see Alfa sponsor English National Ballet's A Tribute to Rudolf Nureyev season, marking the twentieth anniversary of Rudolf Nureyev's death, and the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth.  Other sponsorships will be announced later in the year.

The Nureyev programme celebrates the legacy of one of the world's greatest dancers, by paying tribute to his role as a dancer, icon and choreographer, through three of Nureyev's most celebrated roles:  Petrushka, Song of a Wayfarer and Raymonda.

Petrushka tells the story of a puppet trapped in a love triangle with the Ballerina and the Moor, choreographed by Fokine to Stravinsky's score. Nureyev danced Petrushka throughout his career and all around the world. Song of a Wayfarer by Maurice Béjart is one of the most important ballets ever created for the male dancer, set to Mahler's first song cycle. This work marked Nureyev's move to the French contemporary repertoire in the early 1970s.Raymonda Act III was choreographed by Marius Petipa, creator of The Sleeping Beauty, with a score by Glazunov.  Nureyev mounted this version in 1969, a memory of his formative years at the Mariinsky Theatre.

The sponsorship with English National Ballet extends Alfa Bank's existing work of building cultural ties between Russia and the UK, as
well as other nations. The bank has previously sponsored concerts and art exhibitions in the UK, the USA and elsewhere. Alongside sponsoring A Tribute to Rudolf Nureyev, Alfa Bank will work with English National Ballet to foster creative exchanges between Russia and the UK in the classical ballet space, and highlight and promote English National Ballet dancers from Russia and the CIS.

Petr Aven, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Alfa Banking Group, said: "I am delighted that we are partnering with one of Britain's
greatest dance companies. Alfa Bank strongly supports building ties between the UK and Russia, be they in the business, economic or cultural spheres. Alongside bringing inspiring Russian work, like Petrushka, to British audiences, I hope this sponsorship will also shine a light on English National Ballet's young Russian dancers."

Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of English National Ballet, said: "Alfa Bank has a wonderful track record of supporting the arts, both in Russia and in the UK. I am absolutely thrilled that we will be working together to mark the important anniversaries of one of the world's
greatest dancers, Rudolf Nureyev. I am looking forward to working with Alfa in helping to extend the historic cultural ties between the UK and Russia. "

 

Alfa Banking Group is the largest private commercial and investment banking group in Russia and the CIS, and includes Alfa Bank in Russia, the largest private bank in the country, and banks in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and the Netherlands. The group also has presences in Cyprus, the US and the UK.

It is part of one of Russia's largest and most successful privately-owned companies, the Alfa Group Consortium which was founded
in 1989, with interests in oil and gas, financial services, retail telecommunications, and utilities.

The group has particular expertise in, and knowledge of working in Russia and the CIS, but also invests in other markets which form part of the group's strategic business objectives. Investments include Vimpelcom, a major emerging market telecoms business listed on the NYSE, and X5, one of Russia's largest food retailers and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

[chrischris]

Good news. ENB needs all the help it can get.