Baroque Concerto

One-act ballet to the music of Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra

The ballet was first staged in 1941. This version was first performed in Perm in 1996. 

The great twentieth-century choreographer George Balanchine created Baroque Concerto, one of his most famous ballets, to the music of Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra, for a tour of Latin America by the American Ballet Caravan in 1941. On the stage, the two violins and string orchestra in Bach’s concerto are represented by two ballerinas and a corps de ballet of eight female dancers. This ballet is considered to include all the characteristic features of Balanchine’s style: a lack of plot, the exquisite geometric pattern of the dance, the leading role of one or several ballerinas, the auxiliary male role, and the emphasis on the female corps de ballet. In Baroque Concerto, Balanchine sent his dancers on stage in modest, light dresses resembling rehearsal shifts for the first time. This subsequently became a distinctive feature of his productions. In December 1948, Baroque Concerto, along with two other ballets, featured in the ceremonial opening of Balanchine’s principal brainchild: the New York City Ballet. 

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 

Age category: 12+