Ballets by George Balanchine: Apollo, Rubies, Serenade
Age category: 12+
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
Ballet in two tableaux. Libretto by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by George Balanchine
First staged in 1928. This version was first performed in Perm in 2014. Running time: 33 minutes
The idea of creating an allegorical ballet based on Greek mythology belongs to Igor Stravinsky who wrote both the music and the libretto. The story involves the birth of Apollon Musagète, his consecration of Polyhymnia, Calliope and Terpsichore, the muses of mimicry, poetry and dance, and his ascent together with the muses to Mount Parnassus. Whilst still working on the score, Stravinsky had already planned on handing the visualization of his dream over to Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. His attention was then caught by 23-year-old choreographer George Balanchine who impressed the maestro with his inventiveness and musicality. Later, George Balanchine himself acknowledged that Apollo was his favourite and most successful work. This production marked the moment that his life as the greatest choreographer of the 20th century began, and also the beginning of his long creative partnership with Igor Stravinsky.
The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique
directors
Artistic Director:
Alexey Miroshnichenko
Musical Director and Conductor:
Valery Platonov
Ballet Master-Producer: Ben Huys
Lighting Designer: Igor Zinn
Lighting Designer: Igor Zinn
Age category: 12+
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
(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
directors
Artistic Director:
Alexey Miroshnichenko
Musical Director and Conductor:
Valery Platonov
Costume Designer: Barbara Karinska
Ballet Master-Producer: Paul Boos
Set Designer: Andrey Voitenko
Lighting Designer: Igor Zinn
Ballet Master-Producer: Paul Boos
Set Designer: Andrey Voitenko
Lighting Designer: Igor Zinn
Age category: 12+
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
One-act ballet in four scenes to the music of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings
The ballet was first staged in 1934. This version was first performed in Perm in 2004. Running time: 32 minutes
“The ballet’s only plot is the music of the serenade — a dance under the moon, if you like” was how George Balanchine described his Serenade to Tchaikovsky’s music, tired of the endless questions from journalists trying to find a hidden meaning behind the outward simplicity of the ballet. Serenade was his first production in the USA after his emigration in 1933, when he agreed to a proposal by Lincoln Kirstein, who had a burning desire to create a school of American ballet. The choreography of Serenade was revised five times, from the original version for the School of American Ballet to the production that became part of the repertoire of the newly-formed New York City Ballet, and Balanchine subsequently rewrote the choreography on several occasions. In its current form the ballet consists of four parts: Sonatina, Waltz, Russian Dance, and Elegy.
The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique
Revival Sponsor — Alexey Miroshnichenko Perm Ballet Support Foundation
directors
Conductor:
Valentin Uryupin
Set Designer:
Elena Solovyova
Ballet Master-Producer: Bart Cook
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