La Scala Ballet returns to China – on tour to Hong Kong and Shanghai
La Scala Ballet returns to China with eight performances of two ballets from 15 to 24 March
La Scala Ballet will perform in China from 15 to 24 March, with Manuel Legris’s Le Corsaire at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and Yvette Chauviré‘s Giselle at the Grand Theatre in Shanghai.
It will be the company’s sixth tour in China: in 2006 with performances in Hong Kong, Tianjin, Beijing, and Shanghai; 2014 in Hong Kong; 2016 in Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou; 2018 in Shanghai and Tianjin and two new cities, Xi’an and Macau; and in 2019 at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing.
The first tour in La Scala’s history was to Paris in 1878 for the Opéra’s centenary. Since then, there have been 170 tours bringing 906 performances (344 opera, 366 ballet and 196 concerts) to 43 countries.
Le Corsaire, in a version that La Scala’s director created for the company in 2016, will open the performances in Hong Kong from 15 to 17 March. Nicoletta Manni and Alice Mariani will alternate as Medora; Timofej Andrijashenko and Mattia Semperboni as Conrad; Martina Arduino and Maria Celeste Losa (Gulnare), Marco Agostino and Nicola Del Freo (Lankedem), Claudio Coviello, Rinaldo Venuti and Domenico Di Cristo (Birbanto); Linda Giubelli and Alessandra Vassallo (Zulmea), Gabriele Corrado and Edoardo Caporaletti (Pasha Seyd).
Then the company’s calling card ballet, Giselle, will be performed in Shanghai from 21 to 24 March, with Nicoletta Manni on stage with Timofej Andrijashenko; then Martina Arduino with Nicola Del Freo; and Vittoria Valerio with Claudio Coviello in the roles of Giselle and Albrecht. Maria Celeste Losa and Alice Mariani will dance Myrtha.
Valery Ovsyanikov will conduct the Hankyung arte Philharmonic.
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.
