PUBLIC BOOKING OPENS ON TUESDAY, APRIL 27 FOR THE BOLSHOI BALLET'S GREATLY ANTICIPATED LONDON SEASON AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

(The Bolshoi Ballet at the Royal Opera House July 19 – August 7, 20004 presented by VICTOR HOCHAUSER)

Public booking opens at the Royal Opera House on Tuesday, April 27 for the greatly-anticipated season by one of the World's top ballet companies – The Bolshoi Ballet. The Russian company's three-week season from July 19 – August 7 is presented by Victor Hochhauser, who brought them to London some forty years ago.

There is enormous public interest in the Bolshoi's visit to London – its first major London season in the capital since 1999 - and eageer fans are expected to stake out at Covent Garden’s Box Office well before it opens for business at 10am on April 27.

The Bolshoi brings five full-length ballets to London, including two recent acquisitions to the Bolshoi's repertoire – a vivid and intennse staging of Romeo & Juliet from the celebrated British theatre director Declan Donnellan which reveals the Company in an entirely new light - and Pierre Lacotte's brilliantly-realised production of a rarely performed Petipa ballet, The Pharaoh's Daughter, which conjures up the mysteries of ancient Egypt with lavish spectacle and gorgeous costumes.

Svetlana Zacharova & Sergei Filin in The Pharaoh's Daughter
© I. Zaharkin

The repertoire also includes the Bolshoi's exuberant production of Don Quixote and two striking Grigorovich productions his majestic Swan Lake and the mighty Spartacus, a celebration of male dancing at its most spectacular. It is a ballet which has become indelibly associated with the Bolshoi's virtuosic style.

The Bolshoi's London season includes over 220 artists, including the illustrious Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, and a host of superb soloists including senior artists Nina Ananiashvili, Nadezhda Gracheva, Galina Stepanenko, Svetlana Zakharova; Dmitri Belogolovtsev, Sergei Filin and Andrei Uvarov. Amongst the gifted younger generation are Maria Alexandrova, Ekaterina Shipulina, Mark Peretokin, and Denis Savin.

Box Office 020 7304 4000
Online booking http://www.royaloperahouse.org
Further information http://www.victorhochhauser.co.uk

THE BOLSHOI BALLET at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London WC2

19 July to 7 August 2004

Week 1
Mon 19 July          7.30pm          Don Quixote
Tue 20 July          7.30pm          Don Quixote
Wed 21 July          2.00pm          Don Quixote
Wed 21 July          7.30pm          Don Quixote
Thu 22 July          7.30pm          Swan Lake 
Fri 23 July          7.30pm          Swan Lake
Sat 24 July          2.00pm          Swan Lake
Sat 24 July          7.30pm          Swan Lake

Week 2 
Mon 26 July          7.30pm          Romeo & Juliet 
Tue 27 July          7.30pm          Romeo & Juliet
Wed 28 July          2.00pm          Romeo & Juliet
Wed 28 July          7.30pm          Romeo & Juliet
Thu 29 July          7.30pm          Spartacus 
Fri 30 July          7.30pm          Spartacus
Sat 31 July          2.00pm          Spartacus
Sat 31 July          7.30pm          Spartacus

Week 3
Mon 2 August     7.30pm          Swan Lake 
Tue 3 August     7.30pm          Swan Lake
Wed 4 August     2.00pm          Swan Lake
Wed 4 August     7.30pm          Swan Lake
Thu 5 August     7.30pm          The  Pharaoh's Daughter 
Fri 6 August     7.30pm          The  Pharaoh's Daughter
Sat 7 August     2.00pm          The  Pharaoh's Daughter
Sat 7 August     7.30pm          The Pharaoh's Daughter