Today| Date | Event | Composers, Works, Performers |
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| Monday 20-May-13 07:30pm |
 Opernhaus, ZürichLeonce and Lena |
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| Opernhaus, Zürich, Opernhaus Falkenstrasse 1, Zürich 8008, Switzerland Monday 20-May-13 07:30pm Leonce and Lena Leonce und Lena Music by Strauss II, Johann (1825-1899) / Zimmermann, Bernd Alois (1918-1970) / Donner, Martin / Schnittke, Alfred (1934-1998) Choreography by Christian Spuck BALLET by CHRISTIAN SPUCK
After the comedy by Georg Büchner
Music by Johann Strauss, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Amilcare Ponchielli,
Alfred Schnittke and Martin Donner
Swiss première
Christian Spuck has long been fascinated by the works of the German playwright Georg Büchner, whose work stands between German Romanticism and the emerging Modern Age. Taking a coolly analytical view, the author performed autopsies of the human soul, as it were, and as the poet Durs Grünbein put it, “registered the fissures that pass through the individual at an early stage, and certainly not coldly.” From 1836, Georg Büchner lectured in medicine in Zurich, and died here at the age of only 23. Christian Spuck created the full-length narrative ballet Leonce and Lena for the Aalto Ballet Essen in 2008. Zurich Ballet will now perform the piece for the first time in Switzerland – only a few weeks before Büchner’s 200th birthday.
The royal children Leonce and Lena have been betrothed without knowing one another. Both decide to escape the wedding. Leonce, who is tormented by boredom, intends to go to Italy with his companion Valerio and live there in indolence; Lena is persuaded to escape by her governess. The two encounter one another en route – and fall in love. Ignorant of one another’s identity, they appear masked at the court of Leonce’s father and are married.
Christian Spuck transforms Büchner’s subtly sarcastic comedy into a high-spirited, fast-paced and imaginative farce of automata, at the same time providing the danced caricature of the small German state. The airy, at times grotesque pieces of the king of waltz, Johann Strauss, inspire the tragicomic story and underline its burlesque elements, as do the modern sounds of Alfred Schnittke and Bernd Alois Zimmermann. | ||
| Monday 20-May-13 07:30pm |
Staatsoper at Schiller Theater, Berlin Tschaikowsky |
Staatsballett Berlin |
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| Staatsoper at Schiller Theater, Berlin, Bismarckstraße 110, 10625 Berlin, Germany Monday 20-May-13 07:30pm Tschaikowsky Boris Eifman is considered one of the most high profile and interesting contemporary Russian choreographers. He is famous for his biographical and lengthy narrative ballets, which he usually presents with his own company, the Eifman Ballet St. Petersburg, on extended guest performance trips. He has long since taken the American theatre public by storm, and Boris Eifman rarely lets one of his choreographies out of his grasp.
His ballets are distinguished by their psychological persona studies, which are embedded in dramatic and emotionally charged scenes. In „Tschaikowsky“, the multi-faceted personality of the great composer provides the focus. Peter I. Tchaikovsky decided to give up his secure, bourgeois position in order to dedicate himself entirely to the creation of the music by which he was so passionately driven. However, a feeling of deeply felt internal unrest and homelessness haunted him for the rest of his life. His emotional strife finds expression in his compositions; reason enough for Boris Eifman to trace the emotional world of the great Russian composer in choreography.
Boris Eifman is dedicated to a passionate „ballet theatre“, in which the dramatic will to expression forms the basis for the dancing. Eifman thereby remains committed to classical dance, but with his choreographies he pursues the goal of „not only presenting people with a feast for the eyes, but much more than this, addressing their impressions and feelings in order to initiate a shared and living ritual.“
45 minutes before each performance (except premieres), there is an introduction in the opera house (in German).
It is prepared and moderated by students of the institute of dance studies (Institut für Tanzwissenschaft) of Freie Universität Berlin. | ||
| Monday 20-May-13 07:30pm |
Sadler's Wells, London Sylvie Guillem — 6000 miles away |
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| Sadler's Wells, London, Rosebery Avenue,, London EC1R 4TN, United Kingdom Monday 20-May-13 07:30pm Sylvie Guillem — 6000 miles away Following its successful international tour, Sadler’s Wells is delighted to present the return of 6000 miles away, devised and performed by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sylvie Guillem.Widely recognised as one of the world’s greatest dancers, Guillem stars in this critically lauded evening of work by three of today’s most important choreographers: Mats Ek, William Forsythe and Jiří Kylián.The evening features William Forsythe’s “profoundly beautiful” duet (The Observer), Rearray and acclaimed Swedish choreographer Mats Ek’s solo for Guillem, Bye. Jiří Kylián’s duet 27’52” completes the bill, performed by Aurélie Cayla and Lukas Timulak.In 2012, Sylvie Guillem won the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for 6000 miles away. | ||
