Marguerite and Armand
Choreography Frederick Ashton Music Franz Liszt
Cast Alessandra Ferri, Roberto Bolle
Marguerite and Armand is a one-act ballet based on La Dame aux camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. Frederick Ashton created it for Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in 1963. The ballet had particularly associated with the legendary pairing for a long time. It was only in 2000 that it was revived by The Royal Ballet with Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas Le Riche. Ashton concentrates the novel's tragic essence in five scenes, portraing through flashback of the dying Marguerite Gautier.
Caravaggio
Choreography Mauro Bigonzetti Music Bruno Moretti based on Claudio Monteverdi
Cast Melissa Hamilton, Roberto Bolle
One of the masterpieces by Italy's leading choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti. It was created for the Staatsballett Berlin of the then artistic director Vladimir Malakhov to open the 2008/09 season. Caravaggio is one of the most prominent Italian painters. In his ballet, Bigonzetti does not retell the story of the painter's life but shows him as a controversial person and his innermost by depicting his seven masterpieces including The Cardsharps and The Calling of Saint Matthew. The music was orchestrated by Bigonzetti's regular collaborator Bruno Moretti from the work of Claudio Monteverdi who was contemporary with the painter.
Qualia
Choreography Wayne McGregor Music Scanner
Cast Melissa Hamilton, Roberto Bolle
Qualia, meaning a raw and sensory experience, marked Wayne McGregor's debut on The Royal Opera House stage. Featuring a sensorial pas de deux that was originally created for Edward Watson and Leanne Benjamin. McGregor's choreography stands out due to the unique quality of his vocabulary and his ability to register movement with peculiar sharpness and speed. He naturally embraces new technology and incorporates cyber world into his choreography.
*Qualia was originally commissioned by The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden.
Pas de deux
Cast Silvia Azzoni, Mizuka Ueno, Marcelo Gomes, Alexandre Riabko
Fratres from Duse
Choreography John Neumeier Music Arvo Pärt
Cast Alessandra Ferri, Karen Azatyan, Carsten Jung, Alexandr Trusch, Marc Jubete
Fratres was premiered in 1986, as a one-act ballet choreographed by John Neumeier for Marcia Haydée. Set to music by Arvo Pärt, this abstract work focused on the emotional interaction of a woman and four men.
Later, Neumeier created a ballet for Alessandra Ferri, to depict the life of actress Eleonora Duse, an Italian star of the 20th century who developed a new style of acting that later became known as "Method Acting". It was premiered in December 2015 as Duse, in which Fratres was inserted as the Second Part to portray Duse and the posthumous relationships between her and four men--three lovers including The Womanizer (Gabriele D'Annunzio), The Soldier (Luciano Nicastro) and The Mentor (Arrigo Boito), and one man representing the audience members.
Opus 100 - for Maurice
Choreography John Neumeier Music Simon & Garfunkel
Cast Roberto Bolle, Alexandre Riabko
Opus 100 - for Maurice was premiered at the Gala for the 70th birthday of Maurice Béjart in Lausanne, on December 20, 1996, with the Hamburg Ballet's dancers Kevin Haigen and Ivan Liska. It was a present from John Neumeier to his long-time friend Béjart. Beautiful male pas de deux is set to the music by Simon & Garfunkel. The ballet is literally the 100th work by John Neumeier.
TWO
Choreography Russel Maliphant Music Andy Cowton
Cast Roberto Bolle
TWO was created by Russel Maliphant in 2001 for his wife - the former Royal Ballet dancer, Dana Fouras, with his collaborator and lighting designer Michael Hulls. The solo is heavily lighting inspired piece reflecting the close creative partnership between Maliphant and Hulls. In 2004, it was reworked for Sylvie Guillem as the tenth birthday present for the Maliphant/Hulls team.
Pas de deux
Cast Silvia Azzoni, Mizuka Ueno, Marcelo Gomes, Alexandre Riabko
*Casting and programs as of 18 March 2019 are subject to change.
