Sleeping Beauty ballet. Music by Tchaikovsky. Directed and choreographed in 2022 by Christian Spuck at Opernhaus Zürich. Stars Michelle Willems (Aurora), Esteban Berlanga (Prince Désiré), Lucas Valente (King), Inna Bilash (Queen), William Moore (Carabosse), Jan Casier (Lilac Fairy), Cohen Aitchison-Dugas, Matthew Bates, Dominik White Slavkovshý, Wei Chen, and Mark Geilings (Faries) as well as many other dancers from Ballett Zürich and the Junior Ballett. Robertos Šervenikas conducts the Philharmonia Zürich. Set design by Rufus Didwiszus; costume design by Buki Shiff; lighting design by Martin Gebhardt; dramaturgy by Michael Küster and Christian Spuck. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2023, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A- with the ‽ designation.
Spuck has been an important choreographer, primarily in Stuttgart and Zürich, since 1996. We have reviewed 5 ballet HDVDs from Spuck on this website mostly from his productions for Ballet Zürich. His Sleeping Beauty premiered in 2020, but closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The show on this disc was recorded in June 2022. Spuck recently became artistic director of the Staatsballett Berlin for the 2023/24 season, where he will serve the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Komische Oper Berlin, and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
Spuck likes to inject classical ballet and music titles with jarring psychological twists. A bizarre twist here is his creation of 3 mother/father time characters who are always available as the set turns. They have long hair and skirts like women but have beards. They do little other than sit, appear weird, and sometimes slowly look at their oversize watches . . .
Read MoreAnna Karenina ballet. Choreographed 2017 by John Neumeier to music from Tchaikovsky, Alfred Schnittke, and Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam. Inspired by the Tolstoy novel but set in modern times. Recorded 2022 at the Hamburg State Opera. Stars Anna Laudere (Anna Karenina); Edvin Revazov (Alexie Vronski); Ivan Urban (Alexie Karenin); Aleix Martínez (Levin); Emilie Mazoń (Kitty); Marià Huguet (Seryozha); Karen Azatyan (A Muzhik); Patricia Friza (Dolly); and Florian Pohl (Stiva). Nathan Brock conducts the Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra. Staging, sets, costumes, and lighting by John Neumeier; Anna Karenina dressed by Akris-Albert Kriemler; video and graphic designs by Kiran West; assistant set designer was Heinrich Tröger. Directed for TV by Myriam Hoyer. Especially good bonus feature. Ballet runs 225 minutes and Bonus runs 67 minutes. Released 2023, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+.
Forget about our usual desire to see long ballet clips showing the whole stage and whole bodies of the dancers. Here Neumeier and film director Myriam Hoyer set out to make a motion picture to be shown first on TV. This show has many details that will please those who know Tolstoy’s novel or do their homework. If you get this under control, you can take reading Anna off your bucket list and move on to something like Brothers Karamazov . . .
Read MoreThe Taming of the Shrew ballet inspired by the Shakespeare play. Music by Kurt-Heinz Stolze after Domenico Scarlatti. John Cranko choreography (created 1969) performed 2022 by the Stuttgart Ballet at the Stuttgart State Theatre. Stars Elisa Badenes (Katherina), Jason Reilly (Petruchio), Veronika Verterich (Bianca), Martí Fernández Paixà (Lucentio), Alessandro Giaquinto (Gremio), Fabio Adorisio (Hortensio), Angelina Zuccarini and Daiana Ruiz (Two Ladies of the Street), Rolando D’Alesio (Battista), and Matteo Crockard-Villa (Innkeeper/Priest). Wolfgang Heinz conducts the Orchestra of the State Theatre Stuttgart. Set and costume design by Elizabeth Dalton; artistic supervision by Reid Anderson. Disc includes an especially nice bonus extra with helpful discussion by members of the production team. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer. Released 2023, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
This is a sparkingly new production of one of the rarest creatures in the garden of the arts—a comic classical ballet. It follows closely the basic structure of Shakespeare’s war of wits and barbed tongues. But how do you do this with artists who don’t speak and women on point? Well, with brilliant acting, clever staging and props, vaudeville-style physical comedy, and every other trick in the book including even a juggling act with a lute . . .
Read MoreThe Dante Project ballet. Original music by Thomas Adès. Book and choreography by Wayne McGregor. Stars Edward Watson (Dante); Gary Avis (Virgil), and Sarah Lamb (Beatrice) supported by many dancers of the Royal Ballet. Stage and costume designs by Tacita Dean; lighting by Lucy Carter and Simon Bennison; staging and assistant choreography by Amanda Eyles, Jenny Tattersall, and Mikaela Polley. Koen Kessels conducts the London Symphony Orchestra (Sergey Levitin concertmaster), Simon Halsey conducts the London Symphony Chorus. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2023, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C-
Every great ballet starts with great music. The music here was composed by Thomas Adès specifically for this production. It is all appropriate for the action taking place on the stage. But it is uniformly acerbic and dissonant with lots of percussion, brass, and noise. If you are a fan of Adès or of this style of music, you will be pleased. I don’t like his style. An hour and 45 minutes of Adès is a strain for me no matter how good the dancing is.
The best thing about this show is . . .
Read MorePaquita ballet. Music by Édouard Deldevez and Ludwig Minkus, recomposed by Yuri Krasavin. Choreography by Marius Petipa revived by Sergei Vikharev and Slava Samodurov. Libretto by Paul Fouché and Joseph Mazilier. Conception by Pavel Gershenzon; musical direction by Fyodor Lednyov. Directed 2021 by Slava Samodurov at the Ural Opera Theatre, Ekaterinburg. Stars Ekaterina Malkovich (Paquita), Arsenti Lazarev (Lucien d’Hervilly), Maxim Klekovkin (Iñigo), Victor Mekhanoshin (Don Lopez de Mendoza), Kamila Beknazarova (Seraphine), Anton Guzeev (Count d’Hervilly), Nadezhda Shamshurina (Countess d’Hervilly), and dancers from the Ural Opera Ballet. Pavel Klinichev conducts the Orchestra of the Ural Opera Ballet. Set design by Alyona Pikalova; costumes by Elena Zaytseva; lighting by Aleksander Naumov; choreography assistant was Klara Dovzhik. Produced by François Duplat. Directed for TV by Bertrand Normand. Released in 2022, disc has 2.0 PCM stereo sound. Grade: A -
Paquita was the first full ballet staged by Petipa in Russia (1846). The plot is simple: The governor of Spain in the Napoleon era is trying to get a Gypsy King to kill Lucien, a young French army officer. Paquita, a gypsy girl, saves Lucien’s life. What reward can the poor Gypsy girl get for this? Turns out she was . . .
Read More💓 Romeo and Juliet ballet. Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Libretto by Leonid Lavrovsky and Sergei Prokofiev. Choreography by Kenneth MacMillian. Staged 2019 at the Royal Opera House by Julie Lincoln and Christopher Saunders.
Stars Yasmine Naghdi (Juliet), Matthew Ball (Romeo), Valentino Zucchetti (Mercutio), Gary Avis (Tybalt), Benjamin Ella (Benvolio), Nicol Edmonds (Paris), Christopher Saunders (Lord Capulet), Christina Arestis (Lady Capulet), Kristen McNally (Nurse), Lord Montague (Jonathan Howells), Lady Montague (Tara-Brigitte Bhavnani), Frair Laurence (Jonathan Howells), Escalus (Thomas Whitehead), Rosaline (Fumi Kaneko).
Also stars Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Mica Bradbury, and Romany Pajdak (Three Harlots), Leticia Dias, Isabella Gasparini, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Chisato Katsura, Ana Rose O’Sullivan, and Gemma Pitchley-Gale (Juliet’s Friends), as well as Marcelino Sambé, Luca Acri, Téo Dubreuil, Paul Kay, and Tomas Mock (Mandolin Dance).
Pavel Sorokin conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Sergey Levitin Concert Master). Designs by Nicholas Georgiadis; lighting design by John B. Read; staging by Julie Lincoln and Christopher Saunders. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
Read MoreSchubert’s Winterreise song cycle ballet. Music is Hans Zender’s 1993 Winterreise for tenor and small orchestra, which is an interpretation of the Schubert song cycle for solo voice and piano. Choreographed and performed 2021 by Christian Spuck at the Ballett Zürich. Mauro Peter sings tenor. Benjamin Schneider conducts forces from the Philharmonia Zürich. Set by Rufus Didwiszus; costumes by Emma Ryott; lighting by Martin Gebhardt; dramaturgy by Christian Spuck and Michael Küster. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. Sung in German. Subtitles in German and English. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A
Here we enjoy the product of 5 geniuses: (1) Wilhelm Müller, who wrote the Winterreise poetry, (2) Schubert, who published the original song cycle in 1828, (3) Hans Zender, who composed his interpretation of the music in 1993, (4) Christian Spuck, who put all this on the ballet stage in 2019, and (5) Mauro Peter, seen below, who sings the entire cycle for Zender’s composition by memory standing in the pit or wandering about the stage . . .
Read MoreEin Sommernachtstraum (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) ballet. Recorded music of Mendelssohn, Ligeti, and traditional tunes for organ grinder. Staged and choreographed 2021 by John Neumeier at the Hamburg Ballet. Stars Anna Laudere (Hippolyta/Titania), Edvin Revazov (Theseus/Oberon), Alexandr Trusch (Philostrate/Puck), Hélène Bouchet (Helena), Madoka Sugai (Hermia), Karen Azatyan (Demetrius), Jacopo Bellussi (Lysander), and Marc Jubete (Bottom/Pyramus) as well as many other dancers in the Hamburg Ballet. Stage design and costumes by Jürgen Rose; lighting by John Neumeier. Directed for TV by Myriam Hoyer. Incudes The Artist’s Privilege, an interview with Neumeier about this production. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the most famous stage comedy in the Western tradition. Artists of every ilk have tried to adapt it including—believe it or not—synchronized swimmers. It’s a complicated play. To turn Shakespeare’s play with many interwoven plots lines into a ballet, Neumeier had to simplify and add his own twists . . .
Read MoreLike Water for Chocolate ballet. Music by Joby Talbot. Book and choreography 2022 by Christopher Wheeldon after the novel by Laura Esquivel. Stars Francesca Hayward (Tita), Laura Morera (Mama Elena), Mayara Magri (Rosaura), Meaghan Grace Hinkis (Gertrudis), Marcelino Sambé (Pedro), Matthew Ball (Dr. John Brown), Christina Arestis (Nacha), Cesar Corrales (Juan Alejandrez), Gary Avis (Don Pasqual), and Isabella Gasparini (Chencha). Alondra de la Parra conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Valsko Vassilev). Solo guitar Tomás Barreiro; guest singer Siān Griffiths. Designs by Bob Crowley; lighting by Natasha Katz; video designs by Luke Halls. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2023, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
As I write, this new production has been seen only a few times in London at The Royal Opera and in New York at the American Ballet Theater. It’s pretty impressive to see how quickly this has been published in Blu-ray for the rest of us to enjoy…
Read MoreMythologies modern classical dance production for 20 dancers. Original music for symphony orchestra by Thomas Bangalter (previous of Daft Punk fame). Choreographed and directed 2020 by Angelin Preljocaj at the Grand-Théâtre de Bordeaux, France. Stars 10 dancers from the Ballet Preljocaj and 10 dancers from the Ballet de l'Opéra de Bordeaux. Romain Dumas conducts the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Scenography by Adrien Chalgard; costumes by Adeline André; lighting by Èric Soyer; video projections by Nicolas Clauss; assistant director was Youri Aharon Van den Bosch. This was shown extensively on the French TV channel culturbox. It was published in 2023 in an 89 minute YouTube file. Directed for TV by Thomas Pascal. Grade: A+ (for a YouTube video).
This is one of the very best new ballet productions to be staged in recent years. As I said before, Preljocaj has a refreshing style that mixes modern dance with military precision in larger formations with unusual props and concepts, here including even a magic trick. Above all, he is a genius at displaying feminine sexuality in a slick, tasteful way.
This abstract production has no through-story. It treats 23 ancient and modern myths in separate scenes without a break: (1) Premiers Mouvements, (2) Le Catch . . .
Read MoreLa mégère apprivoisée (The Taming of the Shrew) ballet. Music by Dmitri Shostakovich. Choreographed and directed 2020 by Jean-Christophe Maillot (with faithful assistant Bernice Coppieters) at Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Stars Ekaterina Petina (Katherine), Matèj Urban (Petruchio), Katrin Schrader (Bianca), Jaeyong An (Lucentio), April Ball (The Housekeeper), Daniele Delvecchio (Gremio), Anna Blackwell (The Widow), Simone Tribuna (Hortensio), Christian Tworzyanski (Baptista), and Adam Reist (Grumio). The Maids are Ksenia Abbazova, Portia Soleil Adams, Chelsea Adomaitis, Taisha Barton-Rowledge, Anissa Bruley, Candela Ebbesen, Juliette Klein, Gaëlle Riou, Anne-Laure Seillan, Kaori Tajima, and Hannah Wilcox. The Servants are Jaat Benoot, Koen Havenith, Alexandre Joaquim, Artjom Maksakov, Zino Merckx, Roger Neves, Christian Oliveri, Lennart Radtke, Francesco Resch, Alessio Scognamiglio, and Benjamin Stone. Igor Dronov conducts the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. Scenography by Ernest Pignon-Ernest; lighting design by Dominique Drillot; dramaturgy by Jean Rouaud; costumes by Augustin Maillot assisted by Jean-Michel Lainé. Directed for TV by Louise Narboni. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A
This show premiered 2014 at the Bolshoi and became a hot ticket. It’s modern dance based on classic steps with the women on point.
Read MorePablo Picasso at Pompeii. Features two ballets: Parade, with pre-recorded music by Satie, runs about 24 minutes; Pulcinella, with pre-recorded music by Stravinsky, runs about 36 minutes. Directed 2017 by Eleonara Abbagnato at the ancient outdoor Roman Theater at Pompeii. Choreography by Léonide Massine (father) revived by Lorca Massine (son). Stars the Corps de Ballet of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Set designs by Pablo Picasso reconstructed by Maurizio Varamo. Costumes by Picasso reconstructed by Anna Biagiotti. Lighting by Mario De Amicis. Directed for TV by Paolo Santioni. No keepcase booklet. Stravinsky’s score for Pulcinella includes parts for soprano, tenor, and bass. Subtitles selected by remote control (not a menu). Released 2021, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: A
This show harks back to World War I when Picasso and Jean Cocteau visited Italy to work on the Parade ballet for impresario Diaghilev of the famed Ballet Russes. Parade premiered in Paris in 1917. Far ahead of its time, the original created scandal. Undaunted, Diaghilev premiered Pulcinella in Rome in 1920 with similar forces.
I get the impression that neither Parade nor Pulcinella has been regularly performed. But in 2017, the Italian Ministry of Culture decided . . .
Read MoreThe Cellist and Dances at a Gathering ballet program performed 2020 at the Royal Opera House:
The Cellist. Choreography by Cathy Marston. Music by Philip Feeney. Stars Lauren Cuthbertson (The Cellist), Marcelino Sambé (The Instrument), Matthew Ball (The Conductor), Emma Lucano (Cellist as Child), Lauren Godfrey (Sister as Child), Kirsten McNally (Mother), Thomas Whitehead (Father), Anna Rose O’Sullivan (Sister), Gary Avis, Nicol Edmonds and Benjamin Ella (Cello Teachers), Luca Acri, Paul Kay, and Joseph Sissens (Musical Friends). Scenario by Cathy Marston and Edward Kemp. Set by Hildegard Bechtler; costumes by Bregje van Balen; lighting by Jon Clark; dramaturgy by Edward Kemp.
Dances at a Gathering. Choreography by Jerome Robbins. Music by Chopin. Stars Marianela Nuñez, Francesca Hayward, Yasmine Naghdi, Laura Morera, Fumi Kaneko, Alexander Campbell, Federico Bonelli, William Bracewell, Luca Acri, and Valentino Zucchetti. Costumes by Joe Eula; lighting by Jennifer Tipton; staging by Ben Huys.
Andrea Molino conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House . . .
Read MoreThe Art of Vadim Muntagirov 4 Disc Box Set released 2022 by the Royal Opera Ballet. Below are the four ballets in the box that star Muntagirov.
The Sleeping Beauty. Tchaikovsky. 2018. Grade: A+
Manon. Massenet. 2019. Grade: A+
Coppélia. Delibes. 2020. Grade: A-
Giselle. Adam. 2017. Grade: A
Read MoreLe Corsaire ballet. Choreographed by Anna-Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev. Music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo, and Peter von Oldenburg—all orchestrated by Kevin Galiè. Staged 2018 at La Scala. Stars Nicoletta Manni (Medora); Martina Arduino (Gulnare); Timofej Andrijashenko (Conrad); Marco Agostino (Lankendem); Antonino Sutera (Birbanto); Mattia Semberboni (Ali, the slave); Antonella Albano (Zulmea); Virna Toppi, Maria Celeste Losa, and Alessandra Vassallo (Three Odalisques); Alessandro Grillo (Pasha); Emanuela Montanari, Mariafrancesca Garritano, Christian Fagetti, and Massimo Garon (Two Corsair couples); as well as dancers from the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala and the Ballet Academy Teatro alla Scala. Patrick Fournillier conducts the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala. Assistant to the choreographer was Natalia Akhmarova; sets and costumes by Luisa Spinatelli with assistant Monia Torchia; lighting by Marco Filibeck. Directed for TV by Arnalda Canali. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+
Le Coursaire is not considered a great ballet, but it’s popular because it has a fun story with lots of action and tons of characters and opportunities to get everybody in the corps out on the stage. And there are lots of slave girls and concubines for the men . . .
Read More