Here is the RB press release in its entrity - easier to discuss this way I think. A good year I think!
THE ROYAL BALLET 2004/5 SEASON
Telephone, personal and on-line booking on http://www.royaloperahouse.org opens 14 July 2004. Supported by the Arts Council England
Monica Mason Director of The Royal Ballet
People often ask, 'what is the English style and where did it come from?' Without doubt the foundation of this style was laid down by Frederick Ashton and this Season, in honour of his Centenary year, we'll be paying homage to Ashton and celebrating his work.
Ashton was a genius who knew what pleased him and how he wanted his dancers to look. Glamour, romance, instinctive musicality, speed and lyricism are probably the qualities that best define his choreography. He also loved expressive footwork; he would use the movement of a foot to signify the quickening of a heart. He couldn't bear anybody to be wooden or upright and insisted on the bending of the upper body almost to the point of exaggeration. Also, put simply, he liked women to be women and men to be men.
We start the season with a mixed programme that includes one of his earliest ballets, A Wedding Bouquet, a wonderful work that has elements of farce but is also gentle and subtle. It's pure Ashton; a delicious piece about a husband who leaves a series of broken hearts scattered about him on his wedding day. The programme opens with Kenneth MacMillan's Requiem, a ballet made in 1976 as a memorial to John Cranko and here given as a paean from one great choreographer to another. The programme finishes with Bronislava Nijinska's Les Noces, a monumental work which Ashton acquired for the Company during his period as Director.
In November, we revive Sylvia, a full-length ballet Ashton made in 1952 to Delibes' enchanting score. Painstakingly researched by Christopher Newton for this new production, it will be seen for the first time in its entirety since 1965, in its original designs by Robin and Christopher Ironside.
The next mixed programme is devoted entirely to Ashton. It opens with Scènes de ballet, a work that Ashton himself regarded as one of his finest. The centre of the programme is a series of his Divertissements which include a recently reconstructed pas de deux from Devil's Holiday, a ballet made for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1939 and first performed in New York. Daphnis and Chloë, to Ravel's symphonic score, concludes the programme.
This Season's Christmas productions are Anthony Dowell's Swan Lake and last Season's new production of Cinderella. They are followed by the ever-delightful La Fille mal gardée, one of Ashton's best-loved and most characteristic works, famously described by Marie Rambert as 'the first great English classic'.
Kenneth MacMillan's Manon, now firmly established as a 20th century classic, returns in February to be followed by a programme which includes the first new work of the Season, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. The influence of Ashton and Balanchine on Wheeldon's career is abundantly apparent. His new work will form the centrepiece between Ashton's Rhapsody, originally created in 1980 for Lesley Collier and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Balanchine's Symphony in C, a glittering finish to the evening. At three performances the programme will conclude with Ashton's Marguerite and Armand.
Our next programme brings together Tombeaux, Enigma Variations and The Rite of Spring. David Bintley's Tombeaux was made for the Company in 1993 to music by William Walton, a close friend of Ashton's, with handsome designs by Jasper Conran. In choreographing Enigma Variations, Ashton was, I think, nervous of illustrating on stage the real-life characters on whom Elgar's music is based, in case he misrepresented them in some way. But when Sir Adrian Boult, who had known Elgar, came to conduct some performances in 1975, he declared the ballet wonderfully sympathetic to the composer¹s vision. The Rite of Spring was made for me by Kenneth MacMillan in 1962 and was a hugely important moment in my life. Ashton really liked the work and there were a couple of steps in it that he absolutely adored, in odd moments; he'd often ask me to do these steps for him.
The second new work of the Season comes from internationally acclaimed choreographer Christopher Bruce, until recently Director of Rambert Dance Company. This will be his first time working with the Company, and I'm delighted that he and Wheeldon, who are both so firmly rooted in the traditions of British choreography, are able to make new works for us. Ashton's The Dream, which sealed the great partnership of Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell, is also part of this programme, which concludes with three further performances of The Rite of Spring and three performances of Balanchine's Symphony in C.
Someone said to me recently, 'Ashton must be the only choreographer who could possibly have found a way to choreograph water.' They were referring of course to Ondine, his last three-act ballet, which he created for his muse, Margot Fonteyn, and which returns to the repertory in April. In June, as part of ROHToo we'll present another programme of new choreography in the Linbury Studio Theatre. 2005 also marks the Centenary of conductor and composer Constant Lambert, who with Ashton and de Valois was one of the chief architects of the Company's early repertory. I'll be inviting the participating choreographers to look to Ashton or to Lambert's music for their inspiration.
The season closes with a mixed programme of Nijinska's Les Biches and two works by Ashton, Symphonic Variations and A Month in the Country. Ashton always said that Nijinska was his greatest influence. Les Biches, set at a French house party in the 1920s, is full of intrigue and innuendo and the challenge now is to convey the subtleties of the period to the dancers of today. With A Month in the Country and Enigma Variations, we will pay tribute to Julia Trevelyan Oman, the designer of both these ballets, who died last year. Lastly, we come to Symphonic Variations, a masterwork and a true distillation of Ashton's choreographic genius.This ballet rightly occupies a unique place in both his and the Company's choreographic history.
Monica Mason,
6 April 2004.
THE ROYAL BALLET 2004/5 SEASON....
MIXED PROGRAMME – as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations A WEDDING BOUQUET/ REQUIEM/ LES NOCES 22, 27, 30 October, 2, 8 November at 7.30pm / 23 October at 1pm
A WEDDING BOUQUET
Music Lord Berners
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Lord Berners
1st performance of this production Sadler's Wells 1937
Kobborg*, Cojocaru*, Rojo*, Yanowsky*, Dowell 22, 23(mat), 30 October, 8 November
Howells*, Marquez*, Galeazzi*, Arestis*, Dowell 27 October, 2 November
REQUIEM
Supported by the Dalriada Trust (Benefactors' Circle 2004)
Music Gabriel Fauré
Choreography Kenneth MacMillan
Designs Yolanda Sonnabend
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 3 March 1983
22, 23 (mat), 30 October, 8 November
Benjamin*, Cope*, Bussell, Acosta*, Putrov*
27 October, 2 November
Rojo*, Urlezaga*, Tapper*, Bonelli*, Samodurov*
LES NOCES
Music Igor Stravinsky
Choreography Bronislava Nijinska
Designs Natalia Gontcharova
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 23 March 1966
Arestis*, Hristov* 22, 23 (mat), 30 October, 8 November
Yanowsky, Pickering 27 October, 2 November
Conductor Barry Wordsworth
To begin the celebration of Frederick Ashton's Centenary, A Wedding Bouquet returns after an absence of 15 years. This one-act gently humorous ballet, created in 1937, is based on a French provincial wedding in the 1900s. Despite the age of the ballet, it is as relevant to any wedding today with its eccentric characters involved in flirtation, excessive drinking and family squabbling. Lord Berners originally planned this as a choral work set to the words of Gertrude Stein's play They Must. Be Wedded. To Their Wife. However, after consulting Constant Lambert and Ashton, A Wedding Bouquet became a ballet with music and designs by Berners and a narration performed by Lambert.
Bronislava Nijinska's 1923 masterpiece Les Noces combines Igor Stravinsky's exhilarating score and song text with Nijinska's depiction of the rituals that take place at a Russian peasant wedding. Although it illustrates the social and religious construct of Holy Russia, Nijinska herself claimed that the ballet was more connected to the experiences of the proletariat of new Russia. Where the ballet is most remarkable is its break from tradition in the sense that the two principal characters, the Bride and Groom, are no more important than the presence of the corps de ballet. As a testament to its success, Les Noces has been revived many times around the globe using the original designs by Natalia Gontcharova.
Kenneth MacMillan's Requiem, which he dedicated to the memory of John Cranko, is seen as one of his most profound abstract ballets. First created for Stuttgart Ballet in 1976, Requiem was restaged by MacMillan for The Royal Ballet in 1983 using Yolanda Sonnabend's stark designs. With a large cast of dancers MacMillan set out to define Fauré's much loved 1886 score through movement. This choral work is seen here as an act of fond remembrance to Ashton.
SYLVIA – a ballet in three acts - as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 16, 24, 29 November, 1, 3 December at 7.30pm / 20 November at 1pm
SYLVIA
Supported by Phil and Caroline Swallow (Benefactors' Circle 2004)
Music Léo Delibes
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Robin and Christopher Ironside
Lighting Mark Jonathan
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 3 September 1952
Bussell*, Cope*, Soares* 4, 10, 16 November, 3 December
Yanowsky*, Makhateli*, Avis* 5, 11, 24, 29 November
Nuñez*, Urlezaga*, Samodurov* 9, 20 November, 1 December
Conductor Paul Murphy
Ashton's second full-length ballet Sylvia was created in 1952 and has not been seen since the late 1960's. More recently performed as a one-act ballet, this tale of Greek mythology has been recreated by former Company member Christopher Newton from his notes, archive film and the original designs of Robin and Christopher Ironside. The narrative follows Sylvia, one of Diana's nymphs who, having taken a vow of chastity, rejects the love of Aminta, a shepherd. Eros intervenes and causes her to fall in love with Aminta, but Sylvia is abducted by the evil hunter, Orion. She is rescued by Eros and restored to her lover; Diana forbids their union until she is reminded that she too once loved a mortal, Endymion, at which she relents. This ballet is set to Léo Delibes' wonderful music, which inspired Ashton to create the great choreographic sequences that include the famous Act III pas de deux.
ASHTON MIXED BILL – as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations SCÈNES DE BALLET/DIVERTISSEMENTS/ DAPHNIS AND CHLOË 13 November at 1.30pm 13, 17, 19, 25 November at 7.30pm
ASHTON MIXED BILL
SCÈNES DE BALLET
Music Igor Stravinsky
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs André Beaurepaire
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 11 February 1948
Tapper*, Sasaki* 13 (mat) November
Cojocaru, Kobborg 13, 19 November
Yoshida, Putrov 17, 25 November
DIVERTISSEMENTS
Devil's Holiday and others to be announced
DAPHNIS AND CHLOË
Music Maurice Ravel
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs John Craxton
Lighting Mark Henderson
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 5 April 1951
Cojocaru*, Bonelli*, Nuñez*, Soares* 13 (mat), 17, 25 November
Yoshida, Urlezaga*, Morera*, Harvey* 13, 19 November
Conductor Barry Wordsworth
Frederick Ashton described Scènes de ballet as 'just an exercise in pure dancing'. This one-act ballet, choreographed to Stravinsky's score of the same title, is a complex and lively piece. Choreographed with Euclidian geometry in mind, Ashton intended that this ballet could be viewed from any angle and still 'work'. Scènes de ballet is a homage to 19thcentury classicism with designs by André Beaurepaire. A series of Ashton Divertissements make up the central section of the programme. These include the pas de deux and male solo from Devil's Holiday, a work Ashton made for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo which was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York in October 1939. Due to the outbreak of World War II, Ashton himself never saw the ballet performed, and it is now re-created by original cast member Frederick Franklin. Sergey Diaghilev asked Maurice Ravel to provide a score of rich orchestral colour which reflected the classical antiquity of the setting for Daphnis and Chloë. Frederick Ashton made 6 his version of the ballet using Ravel's shimmering score in 1951. The ballet follows Fokine's original 1912 libretto closely and tells the story of the love of a young shepherd, Daphnis, for Chloë and the adventures that befall them. The production was given a contemporary look by John Craxton's designs.
CINDERELLA – a ballet in three acts - as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations 2, 8, 10, 15, 16, 20, 27, 29, 30 December / 5, 12, 14 January at 7.30pm / 4, 23 December, 8 January at 7pm / 23 December, 8 January at 1.30pm / 27 December at 2pm / 31 December at 5pm
CINDERELLA
Sponsored (2003) by The Dalriada Trust
Music Sergey Prokofiev
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Set Designs Toer van Schayk
Costume Designs Christine Haworth
Production Wendy Ellis Somes
Lighting Mark Jonathan
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 22 December 2003
Cojocaru, Kobborg, Dowell, Sleep 2, 23 December, 5 January
Benjamin, Samodurov, Marriot, Howells 8, 27 December
Rojo, Urlezaga, Dowell, Sleep 10, 15, 27 (mat) December
Tapper, Makhateli, Soares, Mosley 16, 29 December
Marquez*, Putrov*, Marriott, Howells 20, 23 (mat) December
Yoshida, Bonelli, Marriott, Howells 30 December, 8, 12 January
Bussell, Cope, Soares, Mosley 31 December, 14 January
Conductors Boris Gruzin, Brett Morris
Frederick Ashton's Cinderella returns to the repertory this Season. The highly successful new production with set designs by Toer van Schayk and costume designs by Christine Haworth opened in December 2003. Prokofiev's score for this full-length work is wonderfully evocative of its mysterious and magical fantasy world, encompassing the comedy and pantomime of the Ugly Sisters.
Made for the Company in 1948, Cinderella was the first full-length ballet by a British choreographer and a resounding affirmation of Ashton's choreographic abilities. The timeless fairytale follows the down-trodden Cinderella from her domestic imprisonment to freedom through the intervention of her Fairy Godmother. As with all fairytales, the road to happiness does not come without a set of rules to complicate matters.
SWAN LAKE – a ballet in four acts 22, 28 December, 3, 6, 11, 18, 24, 25 January at 7.30pm / 1 January at 7pm 28 December, 3 January at 2pm / 12 January at 12.30pm
SWAN LAKE
Revival sponsored (2002) by The Linbury Trust
Music Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography Marius Petipa after Lev Ivanov
Production Anthony Dowell
Act I Waltz David Bintley
Act III Neapolitan Dance Frederick Ashton
Designs Yolanda Sonnabend
Production Research Roland John Wiley
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 12 March 1987
Conductors Valery Ovsyanikov, Alex Ingram
The enduring love story of a princess turned into a swan by an evil magician is danced to one of Tchaikovsky's most memorable scores, with timeless choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write Swan Lake for the Bolshoi Ballet in 1875, and the first version of the ballet, choreographed by Wenzel Reisinger, had its premiere in 1877. Thus began a rather chequered history. Joseph Hansen revised the ballet shortly after, only to be dropped completely six years later. In 1895, a new version choreographed by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa was danced by the Kirov Ballet and this is now considered the definitive version. Over time, there have been countless new versions created both in the tradition of the original and as wildly abstract approaches. Anthony Dowell's production, set in Russia at the turn of the 20th-century, was created reinstating rarely performed choreography based on notations made in St. Petersburg before the 1917 revolution. Swan Lake is a ballet filled with spectacle and virtuosity, performed against Yolanda Sonnabend's Fabergé-inspired designs.
LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE – a ballet in two acts - as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations 19, 21, 27, 28 January, 2 February, 7, 8, 10, 16, 17 March at 7.30pm / 27 February at 3pm
LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE
Sponsored (2004) by the Friends of Covent Garden
Music Ferdinand Hérold
Arranged by John Lanchbery
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Osbert Lancaster
Scenario Jean Dauberval
Lighting John B. Read
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 28 January 1960
First performed in 1960, Frederick Ashton's version of La Fille mal gardée returns to the Royal Opera House. The affectionately mocking rural designs by Osbert Lancaster set the scene at the beginning of the ballet with the spirited young girl Lise about to be married off by her Mother, Widow Simone. Not wishing to marry the idiot son of the local wealthy farmer, Lise makes several attempts to run off with her true love, the less wealthy farmer Colas. Will true love win through? This charming romantic comedy is danced to a delightful score by Ferdinand Hérold arranged by John Lanchbery. Some of Ashton's wittiest choreography is combined with an equal measure of his most radiant writing in the pas de deux for the lovers Lise and Colas and clever references to traditional English dances.
MANON – a ballet in three acts 3, 17, 18, 19, 22, 25 February, 1 March at 7.30pm / 5 February at 12.30pm
MANON
Sponsored (1974) by The Linbury Trust
Revival Supported (2003) by the Friends of Covent Garden
Music Jules Massenet
Orchestration and arrangement Leighton Lucas
with the collaboration of Hilda Gaunt
Choreography Kenneth MacMillan
Designs Nicholas Georgiadis
Lighting John B. Read
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 7 March 1974
Kenneth MacMillan's Manon has been one of the Company's signature works since its creation in 1974. Based on Abbé Prévost's L'Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut this magnificent ballet follows the fall of the central character, Manon, from Parisian courtesan to a fugitive in the Louisiana swamps. Despite falling in love with a young student, Des Grieux, Manon agrees to a financial arrangement that her brother Lescaut has made with a wealthy but elderly gentleman, Monsieur G.M. A victim of her own avarice, she persuades Des Grieux to cheat Monsieur G.M. out of more money at a card game. When they are discovered, she is arrested as a prostitute and deported to America, followed by her lover. Emotionally charged, Jules Massenet's music, arranged by Leighton Lucas, from songs, piano pieces and arias (though none from his opera Manon) follows the protagonists through soaring heights of ecstasy to the depths of despair, all portrayed against Nicholas Georgiadis's sumptuous designs.
MIXED PROGRAMME – as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations RHAPSODY/ NEW WHEELDON/ SYMPHONY IN C 11, 14, 18 March at 7.30pm RHAPSODY/NEW WHEELDON/MARGUERITE AND ARMAND 1, 5 April at 7.30pm/ 2 April at 7pm
RHAPSODY
Music Sergey Rachmaninov
Choreography Frederick Ashton
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 4 August 1980
NEW WHEELDON
Supported by Marco Campagnoni (Benefactors' Circle 2005)
Choreography Christopher Wheeldon
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 11 March 2005
SYMPHONY IN C
Music Georges Bizet
Choreography George Balanchine
Designs Anthony Dowell
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 19 March 1992
MARGUERITE AND ARMAND
Sponsored by The Dalriada Trust
Music Franz Liszt
Orchestrated by Dudley Simpson
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Cecil Beaton
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 12 March 1963
Conductor Valery Ovsyanikov
Frederick Ashton's Rhapsody, opens the programme. This pure dance work is set to Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and provides a stunning showcase of virtuosity and supreme technical ability for two principals and six accompanying couples.
Christopher Wheeldon has now established himself as one of the greatest choreographers of his generation. Choreographing works for Broadway and the West End, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet, he never fails to enthral and please audience and critics alike. His new work for the Company comes hot on the heels of Tryst and Polyphonia and promises to be another core work in The Royal Ballet's repertory. 10 Symphony in C is a vivid example of Balanchine's ability to portray the very essence of his chosen music, as the varying melodies, rhythms and textures of Bizet's youthful score are reflected magically in dance. Contrasting movements introduce in turn the various performers who spectacularly come together for the exuberant finale.
Completing the programme is Frederick Ashton's Marguerite and Armand, an adaptation of Dumas' La Dame aux camélias, the story of the doomed, turbulent passion between a courtesan and her young, idealistic lover. Ashton created this ballet for Fonteyn and Nureyev, but for today's audience it has become one of Sylvie Guillem's signature roles with The Royal Ballet.
MIXED BILL - as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations TOMBEAUX/ ENIGMA VARIATIONS/THE RITE OF SPRING 26 March, 9, 16 April at 7pm / 30 March, 6, 7 April at 7.30pm
TOMBEAUX
Music William Walton
Choreography David Bintley
Designs Jasper Conran
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 11 February 1993
ENIGMA VARIATIONS
Music Edward Elgar
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Julia Trevelyan Oman
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 25 October 1968
THE RITE OF SPRING
Sponsored (2004) by the Friends of Covent Garden
Music Igor Stravinsky
Choreography Kenneth MacMillan
Designs Sidney Nolan
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 3 May 1962
David Bintley created Tombeaux partly as tribute to his mentor Frederick Ashton. The choreography is rich in the traditions of English ballet. The score, Variations on a Theme by Hindemith, by Ashton's friend William Walton, sets the fundamentals for Bintley's choreography by providing nine short variations and a fugal finale, perfect for a showcase of pure ballet. Tombeaux uses Jasper Conran's vibrant designs which add a contemporary flavour that allows the ballet to look both forward and back into the philosophy of The Royal Ballet.
Enigma Variations is a masterpiece of Ashton's carefully crafted characterisations. Set to Elgar's much loved score it presents us with Ashton's interpretations of the composer's friends. These performances are dedicated to its late designer, Julia Trevelyan Oman, whose beautifully and meticulously constructed design place the action at home in 'Worcestershire in 1898'. Enigma Variations radiates pathos, nostalgia and affection performed through a rarely seen naturalism.
Completing the programme is MacMillan's The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky's landmark masterpiece that caused rioting in the streets of Paris when it was first performed. The pulsating rhythms of the score were matched by Nijinsky's choreography in 1913 and have been attempted by many choreographers since but few as successfully as MacMillan. Created on Monica Mason, the ordeal of the Chosen Maiden throughout the ritual remains as fresh and vivid as the designs by Sidney Nolan.
ONDINE - a ballet in three acts - as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations Frederick Ashton 19, 22, 28 April, 4, 5, 9, 10 May at 7.30pm / 7 May at 7pm / 2 May at 1pm
ONDINE
Revival sponsored (1988) by The Jean Sainsbury Royal Opera House Fund
Music Hans Werner Henze
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Lila de Nobili
Lighting John B. Read
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 27 October 1958
This love story, based on Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's novel, is set in a mythical, medieval kingdom by the sea. Imbued with the supernatural, the ballet tells the story of the playful and mischievous water sprite Ondine, who falls in love with a mortal and, finally, at the command of the Lord of the Sea, is sent to destroy him. Hans Werner Henze's score for Ondine was Ashton's first commissioned score for what turned out to be his last full-length ballet and also marked the climax of Ashton and Fonteyn's creative partnership. Lila de Nobili's gothic designs skilfully interpret the nautical feel of the ballet.
MIXED PROGRAMME - as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations THE DREAM / NEW BRUCE BALLET / THE RITE OF SPRING 12, 13, 17 May at 7.30pm THE DREAM / NEW BRUCE BALLET / SYMPHONY IN C 18, 23, 26 May at 7.30pm
THE DREAM
Music Felix Bartholdy-Mendelssohn
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs David Walker
Staging Anthony Dowell
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 5 June 1986
NEW BRUCE BALLET
Choreography Christopher Bruce
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 12 May 2005
THE RITE OF SPRING
Music Igor Stravinsky
Choreography Kenneth MacMillan
Designs Sidney Nolan
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 3 May 1962
SYMPHONY IN C
Music Georges Bizet
Choreography George Balanchine
Designs Anthony Dowell
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 19 March 1992
The Dream is a narrative ballet based on Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, set to Mendelssohn's much-loved incidental music, arranged by John Lanchbery. The ballet was originally created as a part of the 400th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Shakespeare and is a much reduced reading of the text. Presenting the wicked games that Oberon and Titania play on hapless mortals and ill-behaved Puck's mischievous interventions, Ashton once again shows that his ability as a comic choreographer is unsurpassed.
Ex-Rambert Director, Christopher Bruce will create his first new work for The Royal Ballet. Bruce is recognised as the last major choreographer to have been nurtured by Marie Rambert and has, through his career, created works for Nederlands Dans Theater, Houston Ballet, Cullberg Ballet and English National Ballet.
MIXED BILL - as part of the ASHTON 100 celebrations LES BICHES / SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS / A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY 2, 8 June at 7.30pm / 4, 18 June at 7pm / 4, 17 June at 2pm
LES BICHES
Music Francis Poulenc
Choreography Bronislava Nijinska
Designs Marie Laurençin
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 2 December 1964
SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS
Music César Franck
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Sophie Fedorovitch
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 24 April 1946
A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY
Music Frédéric Chopin
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Designs Julia Trevelyan Oman
1st performance of this production Royal Opera House 12 February 1976
Conductor Emmanuel Plasson
Bronislava Nijinska's Les Biches is an ambivalent portrait of the Riviera smart set in the 1920s. The title is a French colloquialism for 'little darlings'. The narrative of the ballet follows tittering girls, muscle-bound men and the sexually ambiguous, all present at a very chic house party.
Symphonic Variations is undoubtedly one of Ashton's greatest masterpieces. With music by César Franck and luminous designs by Sophie Fedorovitch, this ballet is notoriously difficult to dance with its precise choreography and unyielding pace. Symphonic Variations was the first work that Ashton choreographed for The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and the change from Sadler's Wells is very evident in his exploitation of the significantly larger stage space.
Frederick Ashton's A Month in the Country is a distillation of Turgenev's deeply poignant play which focuses on the central love-triangle between Natalia Pertrovna, her ward Vera, and the newly arrived tutor Beliaev. Danced to a score by Chopin, this initially restrained yet increasingly eloquent ballet offers great opportunities for dramatic dancers.
ROYAL BALLET - COMPANY NEWS
The Royal Ballet would like to take this opportunity to welcome the following dancers who will join the Company in September: as Principal, Roberta Marquez from Municipal Theatre Ballet, Rio de Janeiro, as First Soloist, Sarah Lamb from Boston Ballet and Gary Avis from English National Ballet, re-joins the Company as a Soloist.
Roberta Marquez was born in Brazil and trained at the Maria Olenewa State Dance School, then in 1994 joined the Municipal Theatre Ballet, Rio de Janeiro, becoming a Principal in 2002. Her awards include Best Dancer of the Year in the Rio de Janeiro Dance Awards 2001, and Silver Medal and Best Couple in the Moscow International Dance Competition 2000. Her repertory includes Aurora in Makarova's and Lormeau's The Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile in Makarova's Swan Lake, Nikiya in Makarova's La Bayadère, Swanilda in Martinez's Coppélia, Juliet in Vassiliev's Romeo and Juliet, Katerina in Cranko's Taming of the Shrew, Chloé in Skibine's Daphnis et Chloé, Sugar Plum Fairy in Achcar's The Nutcracker and Floresta Amazônica, Balanchine's Serenade, Lifar's Suite in Blanc and Peter Wright's production of Giselle. Most recently she has danced as a guest artist with American Ballet Theatre and The Royal Ballet.
Sarah Lamb was born in Boston and trained at Boston Ballet School with Tatiana Nicolaevna Legat on full a scholarship from 1993 to 1998. After joining Boston Ballet she was promoted to soloist in 2001, and to principal in 2003. She was awarded a Level 1 Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, and a Presidential Scholarship in the Arts in 1998. Her extensive training with Legat enabled her to win three silver medals; from the Third International Ballet Competition in Nagoya, Japan in 1999, the Sixth USA IBC in New York City in 2000, and the USA IBC in 2002. She premiered with Carlos Acosta in Ashton's La Fille mal gardée and danced the role of Juliet in Rudi van Danztig's Romeo and Juliet in 2003.
Gary Avis was born in Ipswich and joined The Royal Ballet in September 1989. He was promoted to First Artist in September 1993 and Soloist in September 1995. In 1999 he joined Tetsuya Kumakawa's K Ballet as a Principal Dancer. He has danced leading roles in a wide variety of ballets including Giselle, The Prince of the Pagodas, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Tales of Beatrix Potter, The Sleeping Beauty and La Valse. Other roles include the Tsar Nicholas II and Anna's Husband in Anastasia, Monsieur GM in Manon and Von Rothbart in Swan Lake. His created roles include Andre Prozorov in MacMillan's Winter Dreams and many roles for Ashley Page's ballets Sleeping with Audrey, When We Stop Talking, Two Part Invention (part II) and Cheating, Lying, Stealing. Other created roles include William Tuckett's Desirable Hostilities and Adam Cooper's The Nature of Touch and the Second Movement in Six Faces. Gary joined English National Ballet as Guest Artist and later as a First Soloist in 2002.
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