World Premiere by Wayne McGregor
Christopher Wheeldon's Corybantic Games
Kenneth MacMillan's Anastasia Act III
This June, The Royal Ballet presents a programme of one-act ballets featuring works by the company's associated choreographers past and present – Kenneth MacMillan, Wayne McGregor, and Christopher Wheeldon.
Wayne McGregor, Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, premieres his latest work – as yet untitled –for the company, with costume designs by Burberry. This new one-act work is set to a score by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, with lighting by Lucy Carter and set design by the late Cuban-born American artist Carmen Herrera. The set design by the abstract minimalist painter was one of her last commissions before she died last year aged 106. Daniel Lee, Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, has designed the costumes, his first for McGregor and the first time Burberry have collaborated with The Royal Ballet.
This will be McGregor's 20th work for The Royal Ballet, following on the heels of the revival of Woolf Works in March 2023. His The Dante Project, which premiered in 2021, will return to the Royal Opera House for its first revival in November 2023.
The mixed programme also includes the first revival of Christopher Wheeldon's Corybantic Games, Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet. Corybantic Games premiered in 2018 with a set design by Jean-Marc Puissant, costumes by fashion designer Erdem Moralıoğlu, and lighting design by Peter Mumford. Wheeldon set his ballet to Leonard Bernstein's Serenade, after Plato: Symposium, a violin concerto written in 1954 drawing inspiration from Plato's Symposium, a dialogue in praise of love. The revival features debut performances from Fumi Kaneko, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Melissa Hamilton.
The programme concludes with Kenneth MacMillan's Anastasia Act III, inspired by the true story of Anna Anderson who believed she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov. The painful story of memory and the elusiveness of identity is recounted through MacMillan's experimental choreography, providing a rich interpretative opportunity for the company.
Royal Ballet principals Natalia Osipova and Laura Morera share the lead role of Anastasia across the run with Laura Morera making her final performance on the Royal Opera House main stage on 17 June after a career spanning 27 years.
New Wayne McGregor / Corybantic Games / Anastasia Act II
9 – 17 June, The Royal Ballet at The Royal Opera House
www.roh.org.uk
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.
