La Scala Ballet returns to Paris with Ratmansky’s Swan Lake

Nicoletta Manni as Odette with Timofej Andrijashenko – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

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.

Nicoletta Manni as Odette with Timofej Andrijashenko – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016 2

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.

Swan Lake – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

Swan Lake – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

Marta Gerani, Emanuela Montanari, Ricccardo Massimi and Massimo Garon – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

Swan Lake – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

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

Nicoletta Manni as Odile with Timofej Andrijashenko – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

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

Nicoletta Manni, Timofej Andrijashenko, and Christian Fagetti as Benno – photo by Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

END

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.