Nureyev Festival 2019: premiere of Le Corsaire, granddaughter of Irek Mukhamedov and soloists of Covent Garden
May, as always, is going to be marked by classical ballet
From 13 to 30 May, Kazan is hosting the next International Classical Ballet Festival named after Rudolf Nureyev. What performances oe should pay attention to and which of the interesting performers will come to Kazan — read in the review of Realnoe Vremya.
While tickets are available
The festival opens on May 13 with the premiere of Adolphe Adam's ballet Le Corsaire. This production holds the stage of the Kazan Opera Theatre becasue of the twisted love-adventurous line, beautiful music and beautiful choreography — what makes the ballet popular among a wide range of audience.
This time, the audience will be offered a slightly updated version of Le Corsaire with new decorations and costumes. The performance will be shown during two festival nights.
Another performance that is worth paying attention to is the eternal Giselle, perhaps one of the most attractive ballets in the world choreography. The audience will see Giselle on the festival stage on May 15. In addition to it, the festival poster tell about classic productions of Swan Lake (May 26) and La Bayadère (May 27).
It should be said separately about La Bayadère. During Rudolf Nureyev's visit to Kazan in May 1992, when he was conducting The Nutcracker at a nameless festival of classical ballet, the great dancer expressed his wish to stage this ballet by Ludwig Minkus at the Kazan theatre.
His plan could not be realized, but Nureyev managed to stage La Bayadère in the autumn of 1992 in the Palais Garnier in Paris, and this was his last visit to the theatre where he had served for many years. An interesting detail: in the West La Bayadère was without the last scene before Nureyev, without The Kingdom of the Shades scene, and the action ended in the death of dancer Nikiya. For the first time, Nureyev staged the ballet in full for his partner Margot Fontaine, and he was one of the best performers of Solor the warrior's role.
The national ballet will also be presented at the festival — Shurale by Farid Yarullin, which has long been included in the Golden Fund of the Russian academic ballet. In Kazan, the play is in the classical choreography of Leonid Yakobson. By the way, in the coming months the ballet Shurale, being shown on the stage of the Kazan theatre, will be recorded on the French TV channel Mezzo — the main music channel in the world. Shurale is staged on the festival programme on May 16.
The ballet to music by Valery Gavrilin Anyuta staged by Vladimir Vasilyev appeared in the Kazan programme in the late '80s of the last century, survived the ''renovation'' and always sold-out. Anyuta is on May 21.
Naturally, it is worth paying attention to Spartacus in the production of George Kovtun, a performance far from the canonical version, to which everyone is accustomed. Kazan Spartacus, which stands in the poster on May 18, is not a story about the uprising of slaves.
''The saddest story in the world'' — Romeo and Juliet to tragic music of Sergei Prokofiev is on May 20.
On May 24 and 25, on the festival stage there will reign modern choreography. The performance of Radio&Juliet and Quatro is a show-ballet, poignant love story, expressed with the help of ballet and rock music by Slovenian Director Edward Clug. Kazan will get acquainted with such action for the first time, but it is organically included in the festival programme because we remember that Nureyev was not alien to experiments and modern choreography.
The festival finishes with two traditional gala concerts, when ''all stars'' appear on the scene. This will happen on May 29 and 30.
From Mariinsky Theatre to Covent Garden
The cast invited to Nureyev Festival is quite interesting. Good news for fans of David Zaleev, who once served in Kazan, and now one of the leading dancers of the Mariinsky Theatre. Zaleev has been invited to the festival and will appear in the title role in the ballet Shurale.
In Swan Lake, the main parties will be performed by soloists of Covent Garden — Lauren Cuberdon and Vadim Muntagirov. The role of Romeo in Sergei Prokofiev's ballet will be performed by English national ballet soloist Isaac Hernández. Brilliant soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre Ekaterina Kondaurova will appear at the festival as the temple dancer Nikiya in La Bayadère.
Among the soloists invited to the festival, there are premiers of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi ballet companies and the National Opera of Belarus. And — the cherry on the cake — the party of Kitri in Don Quixote will be performed by the granddaughter of our countryman, outstanding dancer Irek Mukhamedov, who danced at the Bolshoi Theater, and then for many years in Covent Garden. The young lady's name is Sasha Mukhamedova, and she is a soloist of the ballet in Amsterdam.