Three years ago, Jacopo Tissi left La Scala to join the Bolshoi Company in Moscow. Makhar Vaziev, the Company’s current director, was previously the director at La Scala and had seen Tissi’s work. It was Vaziev (on having to find a substitute for Sergei Polunin, who was himself a substitute for David Hallberg), who chose […]
Makhar Vaziev
Bolshoi Ballet’s Vladislav Lantratov on the cancelling of Nureyev: There is nothing worse for an artist…
On 8 July, after the dress rehearsal of the Bolshoi Ballet’s ambitious new ballet on the life of Rudolf Nureyev, the premiere was cancelled. Vladislav Lantratov was to have played Nureyev and, stunned by the announcement, wrote on Instagram, Нет слов…… понимание что ты только полюбил роль, начал вживаться в спектакль, всё начало складываться… и […]
Bolshoi Ballet’s Italian dancer, Jacopo Tissi, on his first year in Moscow and dancing Diamonds at the Lincoln Center
Last August, young ballet dancer Jacopo Tissi, resigned from the La Scala Ballet to accept the offer a contract with the Bolshoi Company. As I wrote last September, it’s not something that happens every day. Like all Russian companies, the Bolshoi has few dancers from outside the ex-Soviet borders in its ranks. However, Makhar Vaziev, […]
Good news… Frédéric Olivieri’s back to head the La Scala Ballet
Frédéric Olivieri has been named as the next director of the La Scala Ballet Company. His contract will run for the next three years. La Scala’s Intendant, Alexander Pereira, told the corps de ballet of his decision this morning, and the announcement was greeted with long applause. Olivieri was the company’s Director from 2002 until […]
La Scala Ballet’s programme change for the US – with Bolle, Nuñez and Copeland
The previously announced ballet to be performed at California’s Segerstrom Center by La Scala’s Ballet Company was Mauro Bigonzetti’s Cinderella, a ballet created for the opening of La Scala’s ballet season in 2015. Bigonzetti had a short-lived tenure at the helm of the La Scala company: less than ten months, in 2016. His departure because of […]
Mauro Bigonzetti resigns as director of La Scala Ballet Company
Mauro Bigonzetti, who was appointed as head of the La Scala Ballet at the beginning of this year, has been forced to step down. A severe back problem has persisted since the beginning of the summer and his doctors have said that he mustn’t use any force in the foreseeable future. This means that he […]
Berlin dancers say ‘Save Staatsballett Berlin!’ with a Change.org petition
You may remember dancers from the La Scala Ballet Company objecting at the decision to appoint Mauro Bigonzetti as it’s new boss and to his programming for his first season? Now dancers at Berlin have initiated a ‘Save Staatsballett Berlin!’ campaign. Although Bigonzetti was confirmed as the new director, the Berlin troupe are hoping to be […]
La Scala dancer Jacopo Tissi joins the Bolshoi
Jacopo Tissi, the young Italian dancer who is starting to make waves, has been offered a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet Company. That’s not something that happens every day. The Moscow company, like all Russian companies, has almost no dancers from outside the ex-Soviet borders. Tissi arrives via the Makhar Vaziev connection, the ex-director of […]
Makhar Vaziev leaves La Scala to head the Bolshoi Ballet Company
Makhar Vaziev will leave his position as head of the La Scala Ballet Company and take over at the Bolshoi Ballet on 18 March 2016. The Director of the Bolshoi Theatre, Vladimir Urin, had already announced last July that the current director, Sergei Filin, would not have his contract renewed, which expires on 17 March. […]
Cello Suites at La Scala: the good news and the bad news…
First the good news… The La Scala ballet company is in formidable shape. Makhar Vaziev and his team have nurtured many interesting talents and a piece to show off some of their qualities is surely Heinz Spoerli’s Cello Suites, wherefourteen dancers can showcase their abilities. It is choreographed to Bach’s Cello Suites No. 2, 3, […]
