Five different programmes make up Rome Opera Ballet’s new season, 2019-2020. Benjamin Pech’s successful Swan Lake will be remounted to open the season. This will be followed by an evening dedicated to Jerome Robbins; a new work by José Carlos Martínez telling the tale of Lord Byron’s Il Corsaro (The Corsair); a triple bill featuring […]
Notre-Dame de Paris
At La Scala: Tamara Rojo and Claudio Coviello in a winning Don Quixote
What an extraordinary dancer Tamara Rojo is. Here she was, fabulous at forty, able to toss off the fiendishly difficult – and long – role of Kitri in Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote. No balance is missed, and some are held for an improbable length of time, usually interrupted only by the demands of the music, […]
Ivan Vasiliev writes from his hospital bed
Ivan Vasiliev has been forced to pull out of the Don Quixote performances at La Scala with Tamara Rojo. The casting has already suffered some upsets as The Vasiliev-Osipova coupling was to share performances with Leonid Sarafanov and Svetlana Zakharova. When Zakharova withdrew for unknown motives requiring her to be in Moscow during this period, […]
Partner-swapping at La Scala: Osipova/Sarafanov, Rojo/Vasiliev – Zakharova/Matvienko out
Intriguing casting changes at La Scala. In September, Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote was to have have four guest artists: Svetlana Zakharova paired with Denis Matvienko and Natalia Osipova with Ivan Vasiliev. As we know, Matvienko has been injured and had to cancel his American Ballet Theatre dates, and it has now been announced that he will not […]
Stepping in for Vasiliev & Osipova: Vittoria Valerio’s turn
Natalia Osipova, down to dance with Ivan Vssiliev in Rubies at Teatro alla Scala, was indisposed for the dress rehearsal, the first night, and has now been replaced for the run by Vittoria Valerio. Just last season, Vasiliev’s last minute injury before a performance of Roland Petit’s Notre-Dame de Paris, gave the unknown Claudio Coviello the […]
Claudio Coviello is promoted to primo ballerino at La Scala
21-year-old Claudio Coviello, who famously stepped in at the last minute to replace Ivan Vasiliev, has been named primo ballerino (principal) after yesterday’s performance as Albrecht in Giselle. Born in Potenza, Coviello received his ballet training at the school of the Rome Opera Ballet and was quickly snapped up by the company at Milan’s La Scala in 2010. […]
Ivan Vasiliev drives Milan wild in his La Scala début
Ivan Vasiliev’s scheduled début with the ballet company at Milan’s La Scala, and also in the role of Quasimodo in Roland Petit’s ballet Notre-Dame de Paris, was delayed from Saturday due to a last minute injury. Yesterday, however, he went on and scored a success that a loggionista described as one of the supreme ballet evenings […]
Ivan Vasiliev’s injury gives unknown Claudio Coviello a chance to shine
While it wasn’t exactly a case of ‘A Star is Born’, 21-year-old Claudio Coviello was certainly given a golden opportunity when Ivan Vasiliev couldn’t go on at La Scala last night. Coviello had learnt the role of Quasimodo in Roland Petit’s Notre-Dame de Paris for just a single matinée performance. The evening spots were taken […]
Ivan Vasiliev is forced to cancel début at the last minute
Ivan Vasiliev, who has been suffering from back pains for a few days, was forced to bow out of his début at Teatro alla Scala in Milan at the last minute. He was already in make-up for his role as the Hunchback in Roland Petit’s Notre-Dame de Paris, when half-an-hour before curtain up he realised […]
Triumph in Milan for Natalia Osipova and Roberto Bolle in Notre-Dame de Paris
The main curiosity surrounding the return to La Scala of Roland Petit’s ballet Notre-Dame de Paris was how cover-boy-ballerino Roberto Bolle could handle the role of the hunchback Quasimodo; as he said himself “it’s the first time I haven’t played il bello“. Well, he comes out of it very well, maybe he’s not a dancer-actor like […]
