First look: Stravinsky ballet evening at La Scala conducted by Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta will be conducting La Scala‘s orchestra for a Stravinsky double-bill with the theatre’s ballet company: Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.
Michel Fokine‘s choreography and Alexandre Benois’ costumes and sets were created for the original production in 1911 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. This original version was last seen at La Scala twenty years ago.
Glen Tetley’s Le Sacre du printemps was the first of his works to be presented by the La Scala Ballet, back in 1981, seven years after its creation. This outing marks the tenth anniversary of Tetley’s passing.
The double-bill opens this evening for a run of seven performances. The first night cast sees Maurizio Licitra (replacing an indisposed Claudio Coviello) as Petrushka, the role created for Nijinsky. Nicoletta Manni is the Ballerina and Mick Zeni plays the Moor.
Antonino Sutera, Virna Toppi and Gabriele Corrado lead the cast of The Rite of Spring.
Photographs by Brescia and Amisano © Teatro alla Scala.
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.
Swoon……………. beautiful colourful costumes ….
Wow! The costumes look rich, vibrant and a celebration of color. I prefer minimal sets but the costumes are always important . Beautiful!
That’s the joy of there being such a selection of styles and ideas isn’t it? I revel in colourful costumes and sumptuously painted sets, but for others there are the earth tones and minimalism of say Pina Bausch… our personal reactions are visceral really.
Delphine Greenaway well said- opera needs sumptuous sets. Ballets like Swanlake beg rich sets like Nureyev did – ballets like Jewels need only those beautiful three colors and elegant costumes. I’ve been at some ballets where people raved about the sets and couldn’t tell you anything about the choreography – art lovers like you and I can balance both( most of the time!)
What kind words – thank you! I imagine when mr b created “jewels” he had the minimalist approach firmly in mind! I enjoy a great deal of non classical ballet having had the ridiculous good fortune of being around a lot of it while growing up and learned to really enjoy Pilobulus, Tharp, Limon, Nederland d.t. Alvin Ailey etc. However, there are royal ballet productions that leave me more than cold. Not to mention sections of people that actually got up and walked out during the performance! I would never do that.
Delphine Greenaway good lord, me too – What an insult to the performers, musicians and production staff. I remember when I took ballet in college 10 years ago and it was my first “production”, I would have died if people walked out. Toi, toi, toi!
When you consider just how hard the entire group of people work to bring a creation to the stage, at least have the decency to wait for the interval before you go! I know it is annoying if you’ve spent £100 plus for a seat and it turns out to be something that makes your head hurt, but it isn’t often this happens…. There are certain choreographers who I now accept I have to give up on (yes, I am sure they will survive!) I really don’t like a minimally dressed performance; some things I saw over the last two years could have been a bunch of strippers in a pub in Stepney, but that would just cost five quid and a couple of glasses of wine! (I think anyway) I go to so many ballets (lucky lucky me), most I enjoy and sometimes – sometimes there is real magic… and what a fabulous thing that is….
Peter Alexander Thinking on it, Ieft to my own devices, I would move into Mr Nureyev’s Paris apartment, (n.b. without Mr N living in it) would be extremely demanding about set design, colour, fabrics, etc etc and eschew any minimalist designs other than for contemporary ballet! In reality, I live in a quite modernist apartment in central London, go to all types of ballet and generally find something to love in everything! As long as sometimes one finds the magic….
I would rob numerous banks to be able to go to this!