St Petersburg
Bankruptcy won't stop the balletMonday, 28 January 2013
The Mikhailovsky Ballet's general director, Russia's fruit tycoon Vladimir Kekhman, may just have been declared bankrupt, but the company is pressing ahead with its star-studded London trip in March. Fraud investigators last week raided the... Read more... |
Anna Karenina, Eifman Ballet of St Petersburg, London ColiseumWednesday, 04 April 2012
An apocryphal story tells of an awful theatrical adaptation of the story of Anne Frank. When the Nazis arrive to search the house where the family are in hiding, an enraged theatre-goer shouts, “She’s in the attic!” Well, I didn’t quite point Anna... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Russian Choreographer Boris EifmanSaturday, 17 March 2012
No choreographer so divides American and British critics as Russia's only international dancemaker, Boris Eifman. He's "an amazing magician of the theatre", according to the late, great US critic Clive Barnes. He "flaunts all the worst clichés of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bartók, Tchaikovsky, Edwards, Sibelius, John WilsonSaturday, 03 December 2011
Bartók: Violin Concerto No 2, Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Valeriy Sokolov Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich/David Zinman (Virgin)Bartók’s 1938 Violin Concerto No 2 seems to have garnered more respect than affection; it’s been overtaken in the 20th-... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Moscow: Nikolai Ge at the Tretyakov GallerySunday, 06 November 2011
The Nikolai Ge retrospective at Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery marks the 180th anniversary of the artist’s birth – not the kind of round centenary or bicentenary landmark that often brings such projects to fruition. But the show is literally a... Read more... |
La Bayadère, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera HouseSunday, 14 August 2011
The bayadere bears on her shoulder a vase of holy water, and the story of the ballet La bayadère is of her refusal to compromise. She could better her life in two political deals: become the high priest’s mistress, or later, when bitten by a... Read more... |
Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House: The HighlightsSunday, 14 August 2011
The Mariinsky Ballet has just completed a three-week season, with terrific highs (and the odd low). This was the 50th anniversary of the Mariinsky's (then Kirov's) first London visit, in 1961, and it is worth highlighting the role impresarios Victor... Read more... |
Scotch Symphony/ In the Night/ Ballet Imperial, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera HouseFriday, 05 August 2011
Great Mariinsky ballerinas are a breed apart, even from Bolshoi women. They take the stage with a consciousness of entitlement that’s thrilling to watch, and when this almost sacred sense of mystique and grace instilled in St Petersburg comes with... Read more... |
50 years since Nureyev defected and Kirov Ballet debuted in LondonFriday, 15 July 2011
It's 50 years since the mighty Kirov Ballet made their debut London tour - reeling from Nureyev's defection days before at the Paris airport. The tour was promoted by the unique impresarios of Soviet culture, Victor and Lilian Hochhauser. Half a... Read more... |
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi, Usher Hall, EdinburghSaturday, 26 March 2011
White-knuckle crescendos loom large in that greater-than-ever conductor Neeme Järvi's spruce Indian summer. Short-term bursts were the chief payoff in tackling Dvořák's deceptively simple-seeming Serenade for Strings with a huge department on all... Read more... |
Anna Karenina still leads Mariinsky Ballet's tourTuesday, 14 December 2010
True to form the Mariinsky Ballet has already made programme changes for its Covent Garden visit next summer, not a fortnight after announcing its tour on 3 December. But we're used to it and it's all to the good. Substituting Don Quixote for the... Read more... |
Confirmation: Nacho Duato to lead St Petersburg ballet companyWednesday, 28 July 2010Confirmation today of the astonishing news from Russia - Nacho Duato will indeed become the new director of the Mikhailovsky Ballet, St Petersburg’s second company, from the New Year. The Spanish contemporary choreographer will be the first... Read more... |
