Photo album of tonight’s Royal Ballet programme with Zenaida Yanowsky and Roberto Bolle as Marguerite and Armand

In a few minutes, the curtain goes up at The Royal Opera house of a mixed programme of Frederick Ashton gems. It is a special evening because this will be the last role that Zenaida Yanowsky dances on the Covent Garden stage before she retires. She will be dancing with Roberto Bolle in Marguerite and Armand, and again June 7 for the live cinema relay. In yesterday's Times, Yanowsky said of her co-star:

He is a superb and committed partner and dancer, who allows me to feel free in my dancing and explore the movement and the character. Dancing with him has become like a beautiful conversation. Also, he is flipping handsome with a godlike body. Is there anything he fails on?

Who could ask for anything more!

The Dream and Symphonic Variations make up the programme with the habitual starry casting from The Royal Ballet.

The Dream

Frederick Ashton's delightful interpretation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a classic of The Royal Ballet's repertory.

The Dream. Steven McRae as Oberon. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton

The Dream. Steven McRae as Oberon and Akane Takada as Titania. ©ROH, 2017. Photo by Tristram Kenton

Bennet Gartside as Bottom and Akane Takada as Titania. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton 2

The Dream. Akane Takada as Titania. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton

CREDITS
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Music Felix Mendelssohn
Musical arrangement John Lanchbery
Designer David Walker
Lighting designer John B. Read

PERFORMERS
Conductor Emmanuel Plasson
Titania Akane Takada
Oberon Steven McRae
Choir London Oratory Junior Choir
Concert Master Vasko Vassilev
Orchestra Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Symphonic Variations

Ashton's seminal masterpiece celebrates the pure beauty of movement.

Symphonic Variations. Artists of The Royal Ballet. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton

Symphonic Variations. Artists of The Royal Ballet. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton. 2

Symphonic Variations. Artists of The Royal Ballet. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton. 3

CREDITS
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Music César Franck
Designer Sophie Fedorovitch
Lighting designer John B. Read

PERFORMERS
Conductor Emmanuel Plasson
Dancers Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov
Piano Paul Stobart
Concert Master Vasko Vassilev
Orchestra Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Marguerite and Armand

Frederick Ashton created this passionate ballet for the celebrated partnership of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, to Liszt's tempestuous Piano Sonata.

Zenaida Yanowsky as Marguerite. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton

Zenaida Yanowsky as Marguerite and Roberto Bolle as Armand. ©ROH, 2017. Photographed by Tristram Kenton 2

CREDITS
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Music Franz Liszt
Orchestration Dudley Simpson
Designer Cecil Beaton
Lighting designer John B. Read

PERFORMERS
Conductor Emmanuel Plasson
Marguerite Zenaida Yanowsky
Armand Roberto Bolle
Piano Robert Clark
Concert Master Vasko Vassilev
Orchestra Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

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.