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Matthew Ball (dancer)
Matthew Ball (born 14 December 1993) is an English ballet dancer and is currently a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. Early life Ball was born in December 1993 in Liverpool. His mother is a GCSE dance teacher and his father works in arts education. He started dancing at the age of 6, entered the Royal Ballet Lower School at 11 and moved to the Upper School at 16. He graduated in 2013, but was unable to take part in the graduation performance because of knee surgery. Career Ball joined The Royal Ballet in the 2013/14 season, became a First Artist in 2015, Soloist in 2016 and First Soloist in 2017. In March 2018, he was tasked with replacing an injured David Hallberg mid-show as Albrecht in '' Giselle'', even though he had only danced the role once, and had never danced in a full-length ballet before with Natalia Osipova, the ballerina playing the title role. Ball's performance was given an ovation by the audience and praised in the review by ''The Times''. Ball was pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.24 million. On the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207, a city in 1880, and a county borough independent of the newly-created Lancashire County Council in 1889. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, and raw materials such as coal and cotton, merchants were involved in the slave trade. In the 19th century, Liverpool was a major port of departure for English and Irish emigrants to North America. It was also home to both the Cunard and White Star Lines, and was the port of registry of the ocean li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, mak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Two Pigeons (ballet)
''Les Deux Pigeons'' is a ballet originally choreographed in two acts by Louis Mérante to music by André Messager. The libretto by Mérante and Henri de Régnier is based on the fable ''The Two Pigeons'' by Jean de La Fontaine. The work was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 18 October 1886.Noel E & Stoullig E. ''Les Annales du Théâtre et de la Musique, 12eme édition, 1886.'' G Charpentier et Cie, Paris, 1887. The premiere cast included Rosita Mauri as Gourouli and Marie Sanlaville as Pépio. Frederick Ashton later created a new ballet to Messager's music under the title ''The Two Pigeons''. Background The score is dedicated to Camille Saint-Saëns, whose influence helped gain Messager the commission for the ballet, following three ballets which the younger composer had written for the Folies Bergère, ''Fleur d’oranger'', ''Vins de France'' and ''Odeurs et Parfums''. ''Les Deux pigeons'' was first performed on the same evening as a performance of ''La Favorite''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Onegin (Cranko)
''Onegin'' is a ballet created by John Cranko for the Stuttgart Ballet, premiered on 13 April 1965 at Staatstheater Stuttgart. The ballet was based on Alexander Pushkin's 1825-1832 novel ''Eugene Onegin'', to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and arrangements by Kurt-Heinz Stolze. The ballet had since been in the repertoires of The Australian Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre and The Royal Ballet. Background and production Cranko first discovered Alexander Pushkin's verse-novel ''Eugene Onegin'' when he choreographed the dances for Tchaikovsky's opera of the same name in 1952. He first proposed a ballet based on Pushkin's story to the Royal Opera House board in the 1960s, but it was turned down, and he pursued the idea when he moved to Stuttgart. The Stuttgart Ballet premiered the work in 1965. The Royal Ballet did not present the work until 2001. The choreography for his ballet includes a wide range of styles, including folk, modern, ballroom and acrob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romeo And Juliet (ballet)
''Romeo and Juliet'' (russian: Ромео и Джульетта, Romeo i Dzhulyetta), Op. 64, is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet''. First composed in 1935, it was substantially revised for its Soviet premiere in early 1940. Prokofiev reused music from the ballet in three suites for orchestra and a solo piano work. Background and premiere Based on a synopsis created by Adrian Piotrovsky (who first suggested the subject to Prokofiev) and Sergey Radlov, the ballet was composed by Prokofiev in September 1935 to their scenario which followed the precepts of "drambalet" (dramatised ballet, officially promoted at the Kirov Ballet to replace works based primarily on choreographic display and innovation). Following Radlov's acrimonious resignation from the Kirov in June 1934, a new agreement was signed with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on the understanding that Piotrovsky would remain involved. However, the ballet's original happy en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Month In The Country (ballet)
''A Month in the Country'' is a narrative ballet created in 1976 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, to the music of Frédéric Chopin (three works for piano and orchestra) arranged by John Lanchbery. It is based on the play by Ivan Turgenev of the same name, and lasts for about 40 minutes.Vaughan D. ''Frederick Ashton and his Ballets.'' A & C Black Ltd, London, 1977. History Ashton had had the idea of a ballet based on ''A Month in the Country'' since seeing the play in the 1930s at the Westminster Theatre, but a meeting with Isaiah Berlin in the late 1960s helped him decide on the subject, and he took up Berlin's suggestion of using the music of Chopin. During the preparation of the ballet, Ashton encouraged the dancers to see the play in London with Dorothy Tutin as Natalia.Kavanagh J. ''Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton.'' Faber & Faber Ltd, London, 1996. Ashton also credited Michael Somes "who brought the music used in the ballet to my notice" and Martyn Thomas who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dream (ballet)
''The Dream'' is a one-act ballet adapted from Shakespeare's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', with choreography by Frederick Ashton to music by Mendelssohn arranged by John Lanchbery. It was premiered by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 2 April 1964 in a triple bill with Kenneth MacMillan's ''Images of Love'' and Robert Helpmann's ''Hamlet''. Background The ballet was presented to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. Ashton drastically trimmed Shakespeare's plot, discarding Theseus and Hippolyta and the play-within-a-play, ''Pyramus and Thisbe''. The focus of the ballet is on the fairies and the four lovers from Athens lost in the wood. Lanchbery adapted the overture and incidental music Mendelssohn had written for the play in 1826 and 1842. Ashton and his designers, Henry Bardon and David Walker, set the action in or about the 1840s. Plot In the forest outside Athens, Oberon, king of the fairies, fights furiously with his wife Titani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anastasia (ballet)
''Anastasia'' is a ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan. The first version in one act was premiered in 1967 by the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Ballet. In 1971 MacMillan expanded the work to three acts for the Royal Ballet; the original one-act version became the final act of the 1971 work."Anastasia (three acts)" Royal Opera House Collections Online, retrieved 10 October 2014 The 1967 version uses Bohuslav Martinů's Symphony No. 6 (Martinů), Symphony No. 6 (1953) and untitled electronic music by Fritz Winckel and Rüdiger Rüfer. The three-act version also used Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1 (Tchaikovsky), Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 3 (Tchaikovsky), Symphony No. 3. The ballet is based on the story of Anna Anderson, who purported to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sleeping Beauty (ballet)
''The Sleeping Beauty'' ( rus, Спящая красавица, Spyashchaya krasavitsa ) is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, first performed in 1890. The music was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Opus 66). The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets. The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and is based on Charles Perrault's '' La Belle au bois dormant''. The choreographer of the original production was Marius Petipa. The premiere performance took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1890. The work has become one of the classical repertoire's most famous ballets. History Tchaikovsky was approached by the Director of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky on 25 May 1888 about a possible ballet adaptation on the subject of the story of ''Undine''. It was later decided that Charles Perrault's '' La Belle au bois dormant'' would be the story for which Tchaikovsky would co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nutcracker
''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. The complete ''Nutcracker'' has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of ''The Nutcracker''. The ballet's score has been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann's story. Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history The present day Clapham High Street is on the route of a Roman road. The road is recorded on a Roman monumental stone found nearby. According to its inscription, the stone was erected by a man named Vitus Ticinius Ascanius. It is estimated to date from the 1st century. (The stone was discovered during building works at Clapham Common South Side in 1912. It is now placed by the entrance of the former Clapham Library, in the Old Town.) According to the history of the Clapham family, maintained by the College of Heralds, in 965 King Edgar of England gave a grant of land at Clapham to Jonas, son of the Duke of Lorraine, and Jonas was thenceforth known as Jonas "de fClapham". The family remained in possession of the land until Jonas's great- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Within The Golden Hour
''Within the Golden Hour'' is a one-act contemporary ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, composed by Ezio Bosso and featured music by Antonio Vivaldi. The ballet premiered in 2008 at the War Memorial Opera House, danced by the San Francisco Ballet. Production ''Within the Golden Hour'' was created as part of San Francisco Ballet's New Work Festival, which commissioned 10 choreographers to create works for the company. It is performed by 14 dancers, including three main couples, originated by Sarah Van Patten, Pierre-François Vilanoba, Maria Kochetkova, Joan Boada, Katita Waldo and Damian Smith. In 2016, The Royal Ballet in London performed ''Within the Golden Hour'' for the first time, featuring Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Vadim Muntagirov, Lauren Cuthbertson, Matthew Golding, Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae. A 2019 revival, also danced by The Royal Ballet, was filmed and released on a DVD, with Stix-Brunell, Muntagirov, Lamb, Francesca Hayward, Valentino Zucchetti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
