BALLET AND DANCE AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

PERIOD 4 SUMMER

THE ROYAL BALLET 2003/4 BOOKING PERIOD
BOLSHOI BALLET
OTHER DANCE EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS

On-line booking for period 4 opens 14 February http://www.royaloperahouse.org.uk and telephone and personal booking for period 4 opens 24, February 2004.

Supported by Arts Council England with National Lottery Funding

THE ROYAL BALLET

ONEGIN – a ballet in three acts 26, 28 May, 2, 3, 4, 10, 14, 16, 17^†, 18, 24, 25, 29, 30 June at 7.30pm 29, 31 May at 7pm / 31 May at 2pm

Supported (2001) by The Dalriada Trust

ONEGIN Music Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky Compiled by Kurt-Heinz Stolze Choreography John Cranko Production Dieter Graefe Designs Jürgen Rose Lighting Steen Bjarke

Cojocaru, Kobborg, Duprot*, Bonelli*, Gartside 26, 31 May, 17^†, 25 June

Rojo, Cope*, Cojocaru, Putrov, Saunders 28 May , 2, 10, 18 June

Galeazzi, Harvey, Bond, Hristov*, Soares* 29 May, 3, 30 June

Tapper, Makhateli*, Nunez, Stepanek, Tuckett 31 (mat) May, 4, 24, 29 June

Conductors Graham Bond / Ben Pope

Pushkin's classic verse-novel of unrequited love inspires a rollercoaster of shifting emotions in Onegin, John Cranko's full-length interpretation, new to The Royal Ballet repertory last year. The naive Tatiana is infatuated with the sophisticated and arrogant Eugene Onegin. However, her feelings are not reciprocated and he tears up her letter of love in front of her. He flirts to distract himself from boredom and so provokes a duel with his own friend Lensky, who is killed. Some years later, Tatiana has blossomed to elegance and sophistication through her marriage to Prince Gremin. The rural dances of her youth have now become the pageant of a St Petersburg ball, and it is in this grand setting that she meets Onegin once more. He recognizes in her what he has lost and writes to declare his love, but it is she who now tears up his letter and orders him to leave - for ever. With a score by Kurt-Heinz Stolze compiled from Tchaikovsky's music and with richly evocative designs by Jürgen Rose. Onegin closes the Season with its fine characterization, colourful ensembles and most of all its haunting, tragic passion. Onegin Insight Day Saturday 23 May 10.30am-4pm £20 Concessions £6 (students and members of the ROH Access List) Linbury Studio Theatre

With participation from members of The Royal Ballet and guest speakers, the day will at the choreography and history of John Cranko's full-length ballet and his interpretation of Pushkin's celebrated poem.

^{† -} BP Opera & Ballet – Live relays from the Royal Opera House

There will be a free BP Live Relay of Onegin on 17 June live to big screens in Trafalgar Square and Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets on 17 June at 7.45pm

BOLSHOI BALLET

VICTOR HOCHHAUSER BRINGS THE BOLSHOI BALLET TO THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

July 19 – August 7, 2004

One of the World's great ballet companies, the Bolshoi Ballet, comes to the Royal Opera House, London for a three-week season from July 19 – August 7, 2004. The company is presented by Victor Hochhauser who first brought the company to Covent Garden some forty years ago.

In its first major London season since 1999, the company under its newly appointed Artistic Director Alexei Ratmansky, will perform three of its most revered productions – Yuri Grigorovich's productions of Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty and Alexei Fadeechev's production of Don Quixote, as well as the latest acquisitions to the Bolshoi's repertoire – a brand new take on Romeo and Juliet from British theatre director Declan Donnellan with choreography by Radu Poklitaru, and Spartacus and The Pharaoh's Daughter.

Public booking for the season opens in March 2004.

EXHIBITIONS AND DANCE EVENTS IN THE VILAR FLORAL HALL, LINBURY AND CLORE STUDIOS

BEHIND THE SCENES Sunday 4 April – Thursday 8 April
An intensive residential course for 18-22 year olds, the week offers a general insight into the work of the Royal Opera House and an introduction to careers in a large performing arts organisation.

Course fee £160 (bursaries are available)

DIAGHILEV 2004
RECONSTRUCTING LE CHANT DU ROSSIGNOL 14 May at 7.30pm Film Viewing and coaching session

Le Chant du Rossignol, created in 1925, was George Balanchine's first ballet for Diaghilev and featured music and design by Stravinsky and Matisse. Despite its enormous success, the work was lost after Diaghilev's death and the demise of the Ballet Russes in 1929.

4 Emperors and 1 Nightingale, an award-winning 55-minute documentary film, follows Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer as they reconstruct this forgotten masterpiece, with its exquisite Nightingale's Solo created on the 14 year old Alicia Markova. Directed and edited by Wilbert Bank, and produced by Alexander van der Meer, the film was conceived and edited by Eva Van Schaik.

The screening will be followed by a coaching session, featuring two Royal Ballet dancers, in which Millicent Hodson will teach and rehearse extracts from Le Chant du Rossignol. The evening is concluded with a discussion, chaired by Deborah Bull, in which Millicent Hodson will be joined by Kenneth Archer, scenic consultant and art historian. Internationally renowned for their reconstructions of masterpieces by Nijinsky and Balanchine, Hodson and Archer's work has been performed all over the world.

This unique event marks the centenary of Balanchine's birth, in 1904, as well as the 75^th anniversary of Diaghilev's death in 1929.

Tickets £12 (£6 Students and ROH Access List) Linbury Studio Theatre

RAMBERT SCHOOL
18 May at 8pm
As well as the students' own choreography, this programme showcases the emerging talents of Rambert's students in dances from Ashton's Les Patineurs and new works from the director of Rambert Dance Company, Mark Baldwin, Rambert dancers Glenn Wilkinson and Ross McKim, Director of Rambert School.

£12, £5 standing ROH Access List and students £8 Linbury Studio Theatre

BALLET CENTRAL
25 & 26 May at 7.30pm Ballet Central, the company of Central School of Ballet, gives audiences a chance to spot the stars of tomorrow in ballet, contemporary, jazz and narrative dance with new works from Sara Matthews and David Fielding. The second evening will be devoted to new and experimental works.

Tickets£12.50, £8, £4 standing £8 ROH Access List, £4 Students Linbury Studio Theatre

INSPIRED BY DIAGHILEV THE ROYAL BALLET
23, 26 June at 7.30pm 26 June at 2.30pm 27 June at 3pm

The Royal Ballet in the Linbury is supported by Virginia and Simon Robertson

Monica Mason, Director of The Royal Ballet, has invited five choreographers each to create a small-scale work for the Company, drawing inspiration from an aspect of Diaghilev or the ballets created for Ballets Russes. The choreographers are Vanessa Fenton and Alastair Marriott from The Royal Ballet, Cathy Marston Associate Artist of the Royal Opera House, Robert Garland of Dance Theater of Harlem, and Matjash Mrozewski, an independent choreographer from Canada. Cathy Marston's Venetian Requiem will have a commissioned score by Judith Bingham, Alastair Marriott is taking as his starting point L'Envoi d'Icare for percussion and two pianos by Igor Markevitch and Stravinsky's Suite Italienne will be Matjash Mrozewski's score.

Tickets £20 (£6 Students and ROH Access List) Linbury Studio Theatre

DIAGHILEV EXHIBITION Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929)
Entry to these exhibitions in the front-of-house areas is free (Monday-Saturday, 10am-3.30pm and to ticket-holders attending performances in the main auditorium).

ROH2 present, THE SOLDIERS TALE
World premiere 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 June at 7.45pm 17 June at 1.30pm

William Tuckett's new production offers a new take on this popular work by integrating dance with theatre. Adam Cooper, Will Kemp, Matthew Hart and Zenaida Yanowsky draw on their experiences in film and musical theatre to reveal themselves anew, delivering the narration as well as dancing the story.

Based on a Russian folktale and created in collaboration with the novelist Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, The Soldiers' Tale was first produced in Switzerland in 1917. The ongoing World War I mean that the number of musicians available to Stravinsky (and the means to pay them) was limited. He responded by creating a dramatic, percussive score for a number of musicians which drew on popular music of the time, especially jazz, reflecting the story's streak of dark humour, devilishly difficult music which demands extreme virtuosity from the players and belies its chamber scale.

The Soldier's Tale, rarely staged in its entirety continues our series of ROH productions created specially for the Linbury Studio Theatre. Designs are by award-winning designer Lez Brotherston and lighting by Paule Constable.

Tickets £15, £12, £8, £5 standing (£8 Students and ROH Access List) Linbury Studio Theatre

FLORAL DANCE
12, 26 March, 16, 30 April, 14, 28 May, 4, 25 June and 16 July at 1-3pm We continue to celebrate the days when the Royal Opera House was one of the most popular dance venues in London with our tea dances. These take place throughout the Season in the Vilar Floral Hall where you waltz, tango, cha cha cha and quickstep to the New Covent Garden Band. Booking in advance is recommended.

Tickets £6 (including refreshment) Vilar Floral Hall

EXHIBITIONS FROM THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE ARCHIVES

Front of House Spaces and Amphitheatre Gallery mid March – July 2004

Nicholas Georgiadis An artist at the Ballet and Opera

Nicholas Georgiadis considered himself primarily an artist and, throughout his long and successful career as a theatre designer, the themes and ideas he explored in his paintings were to inform his design work. The exhibition groups together Georgiadis' paintings from the early 1960's until the 1990's with his design work for The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera in the same period. Material on display will include costumes, model sets, set and costume designs from the Kenneth MacMillan ballets The Burrow, Romeo and Juliet, Manon, Mayerling and The Prince of the Pagodas.

http://www.royaloperahouse.org.uk

I'm pretty sure that an awful lot of people would be interested in the new Tuckett work (The Soldier's Tale) at the Linbury, especially with such a starry cast. But....

a) On line booking promised for Sat, 14th Feb? Well, it didn't happen.
b) Cast list? It didn't happen. ROH website only lists Hart and Zanowsky performing.

My good friend in the States, poised to book and take a long distance flight for this event, rang the ROH booking office and was told that only Hart and Zanowsky had signed contracts, plus no online booking was available (only postal booking).

Now it's just about OK for me to add train fare to my ROH ticket in the UK at Network Rail's exorbitant prices, but it's something else to fly in long-haul only to find that the cast you were expecting was not going to happen. (Nothing against Matthew and Zen, I may add, but a couple of starry extras wouldn't come amiss.

Isn't it a bit naughty of ROH to issue a Press Release on such flimsy, unconfirmed evidence? Another attempt to get bums on seats, I suppose?

and:

>Now it's just about OK for me to add train fare to my ROH
>ticket in the UK at Network Rail's exorbitant prices, but
>it's something else to fly in long-haul only to find that
>the cast you were expecting was not going to happen.
>(Nothing against Matthew and Zen, I may add, but a couple of
>starry extras wouldn't come amiss.
>

I can't be alone in feeling that this is more than a little unfair. If you're interested in a new Tuckett work, then you know it's going to be well performed, regardless of whether the dancers are what you would consider to be "starry" names or not. I think it's very rude to imply that Matt Hart is less than starry, and there are more than a few of us who consider that Zenaida is one of the best dancers the RB has on their books and they do not use her talents as well as they should.

>a) On line booking promised for Sat, 14th Feb? Well, it
>didn't happen.

There hasn't been any online booking for the Linbury Studio Theatre before, so that could be why it didn't happen this time either.

>b) Cast list? It didn't happen. ROH website only lists Hart
>and Zanowsky performing.

Don't Matt and Zenaida count as cast? The full cast list will probably be released on the website as soon as it has been confirmed by contract, and as this is a new work with only 6 performances I can't believe there will be more than one cast.

>My good friend in the States, poised to book and take a long
>distance flight for this event, rang the ROH booking office
>and was told that only Hart and Zanowsky had signed
>contracts, plus no online booking was available (only postal
>booking).

I doubt that anyone in the box office would know for certain who had signed contracts and who hadn't (apart from it being a fairly good chance that Zenaida would be available, being part of the company). Telephone/personal booking will be available as usual, according to the box office last Friday, not just postal.

>Isn't it a bit naughty of ROH to issue a Press Release on
>such flimsy, unconfirmed evidence? Another attempt to get
>bums on seats, I suppose?

This wouldn't be the first time a Press Release has included details of a cast who haven't all committed themselves to the project by signing their contracts. Reprehensible, definitely, but not unusual.

Jane

I'm so sorry . I didn't mean to imply that Matt and Zeniada were not my most preferred (or starry) performers. In fact I'd travel anywhere to see both, or individually. Same for any Tuckett work. And I truly believe that both performers are seriously under-valued.

It just seemed to me that what the ROH press release inferred was at odds with the info given on the ROH website and the box office. I just wish they'd all get their act together.

I'm afraid, for those of us who live out in the sticks and need to spend some money to travel, up-to-date info is pretty essential. It would be good if the ROH would wait until they have all the relevant casting info and then broadcast it.
(I suppose that one of the problems for us provincials is that ballet performances in our local areas are pretty well fully booked right from the word Go. So it seems to have generated a 'panic' culture in that you have to get in there straight away to get a good seat. Not so for Londoners, it seems ).

As far as no previous online booking for the Linbury before - well, I booked WiW online with no problems at all.

Ann.

The RB press release aside … I feel like I have to chime in and say that although Yanowsky might not be talked about as much as the other RB ballerinas, she is, to me, every inch a star in her own right (haven’t seen Matthew Hart so I can’t comment on him just yet!) Her powerful performance as Gamzatti still lingers in the mind even after all these months and, as someone else said in another thread, she blew everyone’s socks off in Agon last week! I’d definitely want to see more of her, on the ROH stage or anywhere else really, and I’m fairly certain that I will be sulking somewhat after the Agon bill run ends since she doesn’t seem to have much to do after that.

But sometimes I don’t know if it’s the case of the management not seeing what I see on stage (a great dancer and artist) or if it’s the case of them being aware that yes they have a very fine performer in their hands but they can’t bring themselves to cast against type? I remember reading Monica Mason interview in the FT in which she recalled a meeting with Ashton where he told her that he did not see her as an Aurora or a Giselle. So is it simply the RB tradition to not cast adventurously?

In any case, I shall be looking forward to seeing this new production!

It's a Hochhauser arrangement and doesn't come under the Friends' advance booking system. Public booking only - and presumably it's up to the Hochhauser organisation to arrange publicity.

Absolutely agree with you, Robert!

Incidentally, phone & personal booking for The Soldier's Tale has now opened

Jane

Secondly, I notice that "Faust" is mentioned in the newspaper booking adverts (*so* useful, no indication of cast or anything) as having "*very* limited availability". Now, I know it's the starry cast to beat all starry casts, but since the ROH is supposed to keep 20% of tickets back for public booking, either all the Financial Times readers have got in first (I couldn't get tickets on FT booking, myself) or I'd have expected to read "*limited* availability". Hmm ...