Aristocrats of the dance return to Covent Garden

Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet
Homage to Balanchine - Rubies
Photo : Natasha Razina

The Mariinsky Ballet will be in temporary Summer residence at the Royal Opera House this summer. Here are the details of the repertory and casting. All casting is subject to change so please keep an eye on these pages as the dates draw nearer.

THE MARIINSKY BALLET (formerly The Kirov Ballet)
Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre

ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, LONDON
Monday 3 August – Saturday 15 August 2009

Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty
Homage to Balanchine: Serenade / Rubies (Jewels) / Symphony in C

One of the world’s great ballet companies, the Mariinsky Ballet, formerly known as the Kirov, comes to the Royal Opera House with an eagerly awaited two week season (3-15 August 2009) presented by Victor Hochhauser.

Returning to Covent Garden, the two hundred strong company, under the direction of Yuri Fateev, brings a programme of classic works: Leonid Lavrovsky’s powerful Romeo and Juliet; Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty in versions created by the great Russian choreographer Konstantin Sergeyev; and a homage to the incomparable George Balanchine.

ROMEO AND JULIET (3,4,5,6 August at 7.30pm)
This Mariinsky Ballet season opens with the return of one of the most cherished and admired Russian ballets of the twentieth century: Lavrovsky’s celebrated realisation of Romeo and Juliet to Prokofiev’s music, created at the Mariinsky Theatre in January 1940. Guided by the dramatic force and lyric power of Prokofiev’s score, Lavrovsky’s choreography draws a grandly moving portrait of the star-crossed lovers and the Renaissance society which frames their tragedy.

3 Aug Alina Somova – Vladimir Shklyarov
4 Aug Ekaterina Osmolkina – Evgeny Ivanchenko
5 Aug Viktoria Tereshkina – Denis Matvienko
6 Aug Evgenya Obraztsova – Igor Kolb


Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet : Swan Lake
Uliana Lopatkina (Odette), Danilla Korsuntsev
Photo : Valentin Baranovsky
SWAN LAKE (7,8,10,11 August at 7.30pm; 8 August at 2pm)
Swan Lake has been treasured in St. Petersburg ever since Marius Petipa and his assistant Lev Ivanov created the first performances there in the 1890s. Konstantin Sergeyev, one of the great dancers of the Mariinsky’s Soviet years, and a celebrated choreographer and producer, created this definitive version of Swan Lake in 1950 for the Mariinsky Ballet. It remains a superlative realisation of Tchaikovsky’s score and of Petipa and Ivanov’s choreography, with its mysterious inner world, its romantic atmosphere and the brilliance of its court dances. Generations of St. Petersburg ballerinas have aspired to the double role of Odette the Swan Princess, and Odile the evil enchantress. The outstanding ballerinas cast in the role for the Mariinsky Ballet’s London season are the incomparable Uliana Lopatkina, Viktoria Tereshkina, Anastasia Kolegova and Alina Somova.

7 Aug - Uliana Lopatkina – Daniil Korsuntsev Rothbart – Ilya Kuznetsov
8 Aug - 14.00 Ekaterina Kondaurova - Igor Kolb Rothbart – Konstantin Zverev
19.30 Viktoria Tereshkina – Evgeny Ivanchenko - Rothbart – Ivan Sitnikov
10 Aug Alina Somova – Denis Matvienko - Rothbart – Konstantin Sverev
11 Aug Ekaterina Osmolkina – Vladimir Shklyarov - Rothbart – Ilya Kuznetsov


Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet
Homage to Balanchine - Serenade
Ekaterina Kondaurova
Photo : Natasha Razina

HOMAGE TO BALANCHINE: Serenade / Rubies (Jewels) / Symphony in C(12,13 August at 7.30pm)
The Mariinsky Ballet pays tribute to George Balanchine, one of the greatest choreographers in the history of ballet, in an exhilarating evening which displays the company’s greatest stars in three inspirational works: Serenade is a milestone in the history of dance, a magical fusion of Balanchine’s choreographic genius with Tchaikovsky’s dramatic music. Rubies, the witty central section of Balanchine’s sparkling three-act ballet Jewels, was inspired by the brilliance of the gemstone and by Stravinsky’s vibrant, jazzy score for piano and orchestra. Symphony in C is a superlative realisation of Georges Bizet’s youthful, effervescent symphony, where the dance, like the score, is filled with light and a joyous assurance.

12 Aug Balanchine Serenade - Ekaterina Kondaurova – Evgeny Ivanchenko - Ekaterina Osmolkina - Daria Vasnetsova - Denis Firsov
Rubies Alina Somova - Vladimir Shklyarov - Ekaterina Kondaurova
Symphony in C 1.Viktoria Tereshkina – Denis Matvienko
2.Uliana Lopatkina – Daniil Korsuntsev
3.Nadejda Gonchar- Phillip Stepin
4.Evgenya Obraztsova – Alexey Timofeev

13 Aug Balanchine Serenade - Viktoria Tereshkina – Danila Korsuntsev - Irina Golub
Yulianna Shereshkevicth - Denis Firsov
Rubies Irina Golub - Denis Matvienko - Yulianna Chereshevich (unconfirmed)
Symphony in C 1.Alina Somova – Maksim Zyuzin
2.Ekaterina Kondaurova – Evgeny Ivanchenko
3.Ekaterina Osmolkina - Vladimir Shklyarov
4.Anastasia Nikitina – Kirill Saffin (both unconfirmed)

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (14,15 August at 7.30pm; 15 August at 2pm)
The Sleeping Beauty is hailed as the greatest of all ballets - and nowhere more so than at the Mariinsky Theatre, where it was created in1890 by Marius Petipa, delighting audiences with its spectacular effects, its sublime dances and Tchaikovsky’s grandly unfolding score. The production that the Mariinsky Ballet brings to London is by Konstantin Sergeyev, with softly romantic sets and costumes by Simon Virsaladze. Created in 1952, it is much loved for its stylistic purity. Its interpreters this season include Uliana Lopatkina, Viktoria Tereshkina, Alina Somova and Leonid Sarafanov.

14 Aug - Evgenya Obraztsova – Igor Kolb - Lilac Fairy - Ekaterina Kondaurova
15 Aug - Viktoria Tereshkina – Vladimir Shklyarov - Lilac Fairy – Daria Vasnetsova
Alina Somova – Leonid Sarafanov - Lilac Fairy - Ekaterina Kondaurova