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Mara Galeazzi
Mara Galeazzi (born 1973) is an Italian ballet dancer. She was a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet. Early life Galeazzi was born in Brescia, Italy. At age 10, she started ballet training at La Scala Theatre Ballet School, where she graduated full marks. Career In 1992, at age 18, Galeazzi joined The Royal Ballet as an Artist. At the time, she didn't speak any English or know anyone in the company. The following year, while the company was on tour, she replaced an injured Gillian Revie as Mary Vetsera in ''Mayerling'', with the approval of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan. She was promoted to First Artist in 1995, Soloist in 1998 and Principal in 2003. Her most notable roles in the company include Juliet in '' Romeo and Juliet'', the title role in ''Anastasia'', Tatiana in '' Onegin'', the title role in ''The Firebird'' and the title role in '' Giselle''. She has worked with choreographer such as Cathy Marston, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Mats Ek, Jiri Kylian and W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. With a population of more than 200,000, it is the second largest city in the administrative region and the fourth largest in northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 672,822, while over 1.5 million people live in its metropolitan area. The city is the administrative capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy, with over 1,200,000 inhabitants. Founded over 3,200 years ago, Brescia (in antiquity Brixia) has been an important regional centre since pre-Roman times. Its old town contains the best-preserved Roman public buildings in northern Italy and numerous monuments, among these the medieval castle, the Old and New cathedral, the Renaissance ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mats Ek
Mats Ek (born 18 April 1945) is a Swedish dance and ballet choreographer, dancer and stage director. He was the manager of the Cullberg Ballet from 1985 to 1993. Life and career Ek was born in Malmö in 1945, the son of the Royal Dramatic Theatre actor Anders Ek and choreographer Birgit Cullberg. At 17, he followed a summer dance course (modern) taught by Donya Feuer. He pursued theatrical studies at the Marieborg Folks College in Sweden. From 1966 until 1973, he acted as the director for the Marionett Theater as well as the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. In 1972, Ek joined the Cullberg Ballet. In 1975, he formed part of the corps de ballet for the Ballett der Deutschen Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. And in 1976, he made his first choreography titled ''The Officer's Servant'' for the Cullberg Ballet. In 1978, Ek became, together with Birgit Cullberg, artistic director of the Cullberg Ballet, until 1985 when the responsibility became his entirely. This position he fulfille ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Méditation (Thaïs)
"Méditation" () is a symphonic intermezzo from the opera ''Thaïs'' by French composer Jules Massenet. The piece is written for solo violin and orchestra. The opera premiered at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on March 16, 1894. Description The Méditation is an instrumental '' entr'acte'' performed between the scenes of Act II in the opera ''Thaïs'' ; a wordless chorus joins in for the last reprise. In the first scene of Act II, Athanaël, a Cenobite monk, confronts Thaïs, a beautiful and hedonistic courtesan and devotée of Venus, and attempts to persuade her to leave her life of luxury and pleasure and find salvation through God. It is during a time of reflection following the encounter that the ''Méditation'' occurs. In the second scene of Act II, following the ''Méditation'', Thaïs tells Athanaël that she let him take her to a cloister near the desert. Ernest Newman commented that the "solo is almost invariably made far more sickly than it need be or should be", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Fille Mal Gardée (Ashton)
''La fille mal gardée'' (English: ''The Wayward Daughter'', literal translation: "The Poorly Guarded Girl"), Frederick Ashton's Royal Ballet production, began in 1959 when British choreographer Frederick Ashton created a new version of ''La fille mal gardée'' for the Royal Ballet of London. This production premiered on 28 January 1960, with Nadia Nerina as Lise, David Blair as Colas, Stanley Holden as the Widow Simone, and Alexander Grant as Alain. Since its inception Ashton's staging has become a celebrated classic of the ballet repertory. Background Originally Ashton intended to use the 1864 score of Peter Ludwig Hertel, as it had been used for nearly every revival of the ballet since the late 19th century, but after close inspection of this music Ashton decided it would not suit his plans for the revival. At the suggestion of the ballet historian and musicologist Ivor Guest, Ashton studied the 1828 score by Ferdinand Hérold, and found the light, simple music more su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alessandra Ferri
Alessandra Ferri OMRI (born 6 May 1963) is an Italian prima ballerina. She danced with the Royal Ballet (1980–1984), American Ballet Theatre (1985–2007) and La Scala Theatre Ballet (1992–2007) and as an international guest artist, before temporally retiring on 10 August 2007, aged 44, then returning in 2013. She was eventually granted the rank of ''prima ballerina assoluta''. Career Alessandra Ferri was born in Milan, Italy. She began studying ballet at the La Scala Theatre Ballet School, later transferring to the upper school of the Royal Ballet School. She represented the Royal Ballet School in the 1980 Prix de Lausanne, winning a scholarship which enabled her to continue studying at the school. Royal Ballet Ferri joined the Royal Ballet in 1980, and in 1982, for her first major role in the ballet Mayerling, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for ''Outstanding First Achievement of the Year in Ballet''. In 1983, she was nominated for and won the Laurence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woolf Works
''Woolf Works'' is a full-length contemporary ballet choreographed by Wayne McGregor, composed by Max Richter, and inspired by Virginia Woolf's novels, letters, essays and diaries. The premiere took place on 11 May 2015 at the Royal Opera House. It was McGregor's first full-length ballet for The Royal Ballet, and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production. Production In the ballet, each act represent one of Woolf's novels. The three acts, titled "I now, I then", "Becomings" and "Tuesday" are inspired by '' Mrs. Dalloway'', ''Orlando'' and ''The Waves'' respectively. Alessandra Ferri, who was 52, was invited by McGregor to star in ''Woolf Works'', as he believed her age was suitable for the role. Mara Galeazzi, a former principal dancer who left the company in 2013, was asked to cover for Ferri, though Galeazzi did not perform the role until 2017. The music, composed by McGregor's frequent collaborator Max Richter, featured both classical and electronic sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manon (ballet)
''L'histoire de Manon'', generally referred to as ''Manon'', is a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to music by Jules Massenet and based on the 1731 novel '' Manon Lescaut'' by Abbé Prévost. The ballet was first performed by The Royal Ballet in London in 1974 with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell in the leading roles. It continues to be performed and recognised internationally. Background Kenneth MacMillan had been thinking about choreographing a ballet about the story of Manon Lescaut for some time. Three years into his artistic directorship of The Royal Ballet, he wanted to create a large-scale operatic ballet that would provide exciting roles both for the company's principal dancers and the ''corps de ballet''.Parry, p. 428 On the last night of the company's summer season in 1973, MacMillan left a copy of Prévost's novel in Antoinette Sibley's dressing room, with a note informing her that it would "come in handy for March 7, '74". As the copy of ''Manon Lesca ... [...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, makin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Watson (dancer)
Edward Watson MBE (born 21 May 1976) is a British ballet dancer. He is a principal dancer and coach with the Royal Ballet in London. Early years Edward Watson was born in Bromley, Kent and was brought up in Dartford with his twin sister, Liz. He first attended dance classes at the age of 3, and was later accepted as a student at the Royal Ballet School, eventually joining the full-time school at White Lodge, Richmond Park. Whilst at the school, he trained with Anatoly Grigoriev, a former dancer of the Kirov Ballet and was one of six male students who graduated into the Upper School at the age of 16. At the Upper School his teachers included German Zammel and Julie Lincoln. Whilst training at the Upper School, Watson danced a number of roles: *''Checkmate'' by Ninette de Valois, 1993 (Role: Black Castle) *''Simple Symphony'' by Matthew Hart, 1993 *''Monotones No. 2'' by Frederick Ashton, 1994 *''Napoli'' by August Bournonville, 2004 (Role: Pas de Six) Career Watson graduat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetsuya Kumakawa
is a Japanese ballet dancer and a former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. Early life Tetsuya Kumakawa was born on 5 March 1972 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. He began studying Ballet at 10 years old; aged 15, he moved to the UK and trained at the Royal Ballet School, before joining The Royal Ballet in 1989 and becoming the youngest soloist in their history. He was promoted to first soloist in 1991, and principal dancer in 1993. Career Kumakawa won the gold medal and the then newly established Prince Takamado Prize at the 1989 Prix de Lausanne and returned as a jury member in 2013. With The Royal Ballet, Kumakawa has danced roles such as 'Lead Mandolin Player' in Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan), Act 1 pas de trois in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, The bronze Idol in La Bayadère and 'The Fool' in the premiere of Kenneth Macmillan's The Prince of the Pagodas. In 1998, Kumakawa and five other leading male dancers from the Royal Ballet, Stuart Cassidy, Gary Avis, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlos Acosta
Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada (born 2 June 1973) is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He danced with many companies including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. He was a permanent member of The Royal Ballet from 1998 to 2015. In 2003, he was promoted to principal guest artist, a rank which reduced his commitment, enabling him to concentrate on a growing schedule of international guest appearances and tours. He celebrated his farewell after 17 years at The Royal Ballet, dancing his last performance in November 2015 in '' Carmen'', which he both choreographed and starred in. In January 2020, Acosta was appointed as director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, succeeding David Bintley. In February, he announced the plans for his inaugural season, including a 'Curated by Carlos' festival, and special performances with Alessandra Ferri. Early life and educ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irek Mukhamedov
Irek Dzhavdatovich Mukhamedov OBE (russian: Ирек Джавдатович Мухамедов: tt-Cyrl, Ирек Җәүдәт улы Мөхәммәтев; born 8 March 1960), is a Soviet-born British ballet dancer of Tatar origin who has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Royal Ballet. Born in Kazan, he trained at the Moscow Choreographic Institute under the guidance of Alexander Prokofiev between 1970 and 1978. Upon graduation, he joined the Classical Ballet Company, where he spent three years touring around the world. It was with this company that he first danced Romeo, a role that was to become one of his most acclaimed. In 1981 he won the Grand Prix and gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow and was immediately invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer, where he not only became Grigorovich's favourite danseur but went to become the youngest man ever to dance the leading role in ''Spartacus''. After defecting from the Soviet Union ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
