As the theatres in Bavaria will remain closed until the end of April, the Bavarian State Ballet will broadcast its programming on staatsoper.tv.
The Bayerisches Staatsballett is adapting its April programme to a digital Ballet Festival Week. It consists of the world premiere of Andrey Kaidanovskiy's new work, The Blizzard, on 17 April followed by a daily streaming programme between 18 and 25 April including a documentary celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Munich company.
The programmes will be broadcast free of charge at 7.30 pm CET. In addition to the world premiere of The Blizzard on 17 April and the film premiere on 25 April, the digital Ballet Festival Week includes the following productions:
17 April, 7:30 pm, The Blizzard
18 April, 7:30 pm, Paradigma
19 April, 7:30 pm, Portrait Wayne McGregor
20 April, 7:30 pm, Jewels
21 April, 7:30 pm, Bavarian Junior Ballett
22 April, 7:30 pm, Swan Lake
23 April, 7:30 pm, Video on demand The Blizzard
24 April,7:30 pm, Le Corsaire
25 April, 7:30 pm, film documentary & Blake Cake
The Staatsballett's Resident Choreographer Andrey Kaidanovskiy has created a modern two-act piece based on Alexander Pushkin's short story.
The young, aristocratic Marja falls in love with the poor young officer Vladimir, to her parents' annoyance. The couple's decision to marry in secret is prevented by fate, as on the way to the church at night the two sweethearts miss each other in a blizzard. Plagued by a sense of having failed, Vladimir joins the army, goes to war, and is killed. Marja's life, and that of her family, takes a completely different turn as the force of the snowstorm continues to have an effect.
The existential questions about fate and planning a life included in the ballet libretto is also reflected in Lorenz Dangel's score. Milanese fashion designer Arthur Arbesser has designed the costumes.
In the main roles are Ksenia Ryzhkova as Marja and Jonah Cook and Jinhao Zhang as her lovers Vladimir and Burmin.
After the free performance on 17 April, a video-on-demand for €9.90 will be provided from 23 April 2021 until 23 May 2021.
On 25 April, a documentary covering three decades of the Bavarian State Ballet with be broadcast for the first time. 30 years ago the Bayerische Staatsoper's ballet company became the independent Bayerisches Staatsballett in the 1990/91 season. To celebrate this anniversary the company has produced a film that looks back at the last three dancing decades of the company.
After the 30-minute film, dramaturg Serge Honegger and people featured in the documentary will share all the most interesting information about the film work and impart a few anecdotes from their time with the company.
Afterwards, a recording of Hans van Manen's Blake Cake from 1997 will be shown.
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.
