La Scala announces its opening gala programme
La Scala has announced the programme, though not with full casting, of its Ballet Gala which marks the return of the company to the stage after the cancellation of the theatre’s programming in March due to the coronavirus.
The four-evening run begins on 23 September and stars the company’s étoiles Svetlana Zakharova and Roberto Bolle, guests Alessandra Ferri and Federico Bonelli, as well as the company’s principal dancers.
Mauro Bigonzetti is creating a new work for the programme for two women called Do a duet on music from Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G minor; Ferri and Bonelli will perform a duet from Angelin Preljocaj’s Le Parc; Zakharova will dance The Dying Swan; and Bolle will return to Maurice Béjart‘s red table for Boléro.
The (quite short) evening will also see the pas de trois from the pirate’s cave scene of Anna-Marie Holmes’ production of Le Corsaire and will feature company members as Medora, Conrad and the slave Alì; the idiosyncratic Prince’s solo from Rudolf Nureyev‘s The Sleeping Beauty; and as a tribute to Zizi Jeanmaire, an extract from Roland Petit‘s Carmen with Carmen and Don José.
Tickets are still available from the online ticket office: 23, 24, 26 September (with Zakharova) and 2 October at 8pm.
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.
I can imagine the frustration of the young dancers of the company, principals, soloist and corps too of seeing only the old successful stars as the main artists in the show. Anyway La Scala must have its own reasons to offer such program… We would like to see Arduino, Semperboni, Agostino, Andrijashenko just to name a few of the young talented dancers, in the front line!
I think Arduino and Semperboni will dance the pas de trois and Andrijashenko the Prince’s solo, but casting and dates for the company haven’t been announced. They’ll be there.