La Scala Ballet returns to Paris with Ratmansky’s Swan Lake
After the success in Milan before the summer, La Scala now takes Alexei Ratmansky’s Swan Lake to Paris for six performances at the Palais des Congrès. The production was coproduced with the Opernhaus in Zurich, where it had its premiere in February of this year.
Casting is the same as in Milan, with Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko (5, 10 and 13 November); Vittoria Valerio and Claudio Coviello (9 and 12 November) and the exciting new teenage talent Martina Arduino who will dance again with Nicola Del Freo for the matinee performance on 12 November. Rothbart will be played by Mick Zeni and Alessandro Grillo, and the dancing role of Siegfried’s friend, Benno, will be taken on by Christrian Fagetti, Marco Agostino and Walter Madau.
Last year, the company took Giselle to Paris to great acclaim – Le Figaro: “Le Ballet de la Scala embrasse Giselle” – and if there is an audience who can fully appreciate Ratmansky’s work on Swan Lake, it is the French.
La Scala’s own orchestra will be playing for the opera in Milan, so the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Miskolc will accompany the dancers in Paris, conducted by Rossen Milanov.
Palais des Congrès, Paris
5, 9, 10, 12 (2 perfs), 13 November 2016
Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala
Director
Frédéric Olivieri
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake
Choreography
Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Reconstructed by
Alexei Ratmansky
Assistant choreographers
Laura Contardi, Jean-Philippe Halnaut,Tatiana Ratmansky and Jean-Franҫois Boisnon
Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Miskolc
Conductor
Rossen Milanov
Sets and costumes
Jérôme Kaplan
Lighting
Martin Gebhardt
END
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
