(Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra)

One-act ballet

Choreography by George Balanchine

First staged in 1967. This version was first performed in Perm in 2014. Running time: 19 minutes

Rubies, a well-known movement of the three-act ballet Jewels, today adorns the repertoires of leading theatres across the world.  George Balanchine came up with the idea of creating a triple-bill evening, in which dancers represent jewels when he visited Claude Arpels' jewellery boutique in New York. He was captivated by the idea of putting the feelings and emotions, which people experience at the sight of emeralds, rubies and diamonds, in choreography. For rubies, which, according to legends, contain an incredible power of attraction and fascination, Balanchine chose Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1929). The piano concert, written as a fantasy in which alternating and varying musical movements create a feeling of capriciousness, is well-suited for a dance about a precious symbol of passion — a passion for life, power and love.

The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique

One-act ballet using musical themes from Vincenzo Bellini’s operas

The ballet was first staged in 1946. This version was first performed in Perm in 2001. 

The main enigma of this romantic ballet–melodrama is how the fragile ballerina, who plays the role ofLa Sonnambula, manages to lift the dead Poet and hide with his body in the night-time shadow of an arch. The great ballet master George Balanchine created this rare example (for him) of a ballet with a plot for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in 1946. The music was written by Italian composer Vittorio Rieti, who used themes from Bellini’s operas. 

Among the characters at a ball, whose faces are concealed by black half-masks, a new guest appears: a Poet, who is instantly captivated by the beauty of a Coquette, the favourite of the Baron hosting the ball.

However, the Poet’s happiness is short-lived, as after the ball, the Baron takes the girl away with him, leaving her lover in solitude. At that very minute a girl with closed eyes holding a burning candle appears in the ruined park... 

Balanchine’s ballet harks back to two of the earliest ballets in history – La Sylphide and Giselle – and the part of La Sonnambula is one of the most difficult in the repertoire. The original title of the ballet was Night Shadow; it was only in 1960 at the New York City Ballet that it came to be known as La Sonnambula. 

The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique 

The project is staged with financial support from the Pearl of the Urals Foundation