News

09.11.2021

The Joy of Theatre This December

At a time when sunlight and warmth may seem like a distant memory, the wonderful opera and ballet performances on offer this December are sure to warm the soul. The Mikhailovsky Theatre is launching into December with performances of the Russian ballet, Swan Lake, which still holds mysteries yet to be revealed.

Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato recently offered audiences his own take on the famous ballet. The Spanish maestro’s respect for Russian classics, acquired over the course of many years spent working in St. Petersburg, compels him to remain faithful to the style of Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa. However, Duato created the suite of national dances — like ballets within a ballet — from scratch. “Here, Duato’s talent is made fully manifest,” the newspaper Izvestia noted, “and the dance of the Polish couple, an elegant lady who tames an arrogant gentleman, is simply a masterpiece. You won’t be able to take your eyes off the stage.”

Another premiere this autumn, Rodion Shchedrin’s The Little Humpbacked Horse, also takes pride of place on the playbill. This fabulous production woos spectators with its good humour, slyness, and an aesthetic organically melding the tradition of Palekh paintings and the visual delights of the digital era. Of course, classical dance still reigns supreme — and with a distinct Russian flavour. The Little Humpbacked Horse is an ideal production for the whole family to enjoy, as are other popular ballets on the December playbill: Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, and Spartacus. However, in the period around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, these will all respectfully make way for The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s ballet, based on Hoffmann’s fairy tale, has become an obligatory feature of the winter programme.

December is also when our prima ballerina Angelina Vorontsova will celebrate her birthday on the stage of the Mikhailovsky Theatre. At her “Angelina.Friends. Gala” evening, Vorontsova will bring celebrity guests together on the stage, and will herself perform extracts from the audience’s favourite ballets.

The opera playbill for December includes the recently premiered production of Tchaikovsky’s The Oprichnik. The opera has already been touring in Moscow, and is terra incognita so far as many of our audience are concerned. Though unfamiliar territory, the production has proved extremely alluring to audiences, and in its six months on the stage has garnered a wealth of enthusiastic reviews. “Those behind the production have not only presented the audience with a magnificent spectacle, but have also recaptured a sense of the authenticity of Russian opera,” wrote the newspaper Literaturnaya Gazeta of the Moscow performance. Fans of The Queen of Spades, which has been performed on our stage for several decades and will appear again in December, must undoubtedly add this performance to their list of must-see shows, displaying as it does the musical richness of this early opera by a great Russian composer. Four classic works of Italian opera give the programme volume and emotional depth. First, Puccini’s Tosca emanates passions that will make your heart jump. Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera is a grand spectacle of political conspiracy and the friendship of two men divided by their love for the same woman. La Traviata is considered the most understated and intimate musical and psychological drama of all of Verdi’s works. Finally, The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini proves that tender emotions are a fine accompaniment for resourcefulness and enterprise.