Photo Album: first look at The Royal Ballet’s new triple bill

The Firebird / A Month in the Country / Symphony in C

The curtain has just gone up on The Royal Ballet's latest triple bill and here are the first photos.

The flash of a firebird, a family sent into a spin and a classical ballet explosion. Michel Fokine's The Firebird with Igor Stravinsky's music is a ground-breaking classic of the early 20th-century that draws on the story, sound and look of Russian folk art. Ivan Turgenev's play A Month in the Country inspired Frederick Ashton's study of the emotional chaos a young tutor brings to household routine. Ashton created dazzling and fast footwork alongside expressive character portraits to music by Fryderyk Chopin. Symphony in C is pure dance with Russian-born George Balanchine's brilliant edge. His choreography draws from the classical Imperial ballet of his youth and matches it to the music of Georges Bizet's exuberant and inventive symphony.

The Firebird

Good confronts evil in Mikhail Fokine's classic ballet about a magical Firebird, a powerful magician and a noble Prince.

Choreography: Mikhail Fokine

Music: Igor Stravinsky

Designer: Natalia Goncharova

Performers

Conductor: Emmanuel Plasson
The Firebird: Yasmine Naghdi
Ivan Tsarevich: Edward Watson
Tsarevna: Christina Arestis
Kostchei: Gary Avis
Concert Master: Vasko Vassilev
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

A Month in the Country

Frederick Ashton's poignant ballet captures the essence of Turgenev's play about family and unrequited love.

Choreography: Frederick Ashton

Music: Fryderyk Chopin

Musical arrangement: John Lanchbery

Designer: Julia Trevelyan Oman

Original lighting designer: William Bundy

Performers

Conductor: Emmanuel Plasson
Natalia: Marianela Nuñez
Beliaev: Matthew Ball
Concert Master: Vasko Vassilev
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Symphony in C

Balanchine's dazzling neoclassical ballet, set to Bizet's Symphony no.1 is a joyful showcase for the whole Company.

Choreography: George Balanchine

Music: Georges Bizet

Designer: Anthony Dowell

Performers

Conductor: Emmanuel Plasson

Dancers:
Natalia Osipova
Sarah Lamb
Yuhui Choe
Francesca Hayward
Vadim Muntagirov
Nicol Edmonds
Alexander Campbell
James Hay
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.