Arts writer
THE world-renowned St Petersburg Ballet Theatre will return to Cape Town after eight years early next year with Swan Lake.
The classical ballet, complete with sumptuous sets and costumes, will be accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra at Artscape Opera House from May 19 to 23 at 8pm, with a matinee on May 23 at 2pm.
Having already performed in Singapore, Perth and Melbourne, following the Cape Town performances, the company will embark on a major UK season at the London Coliseum.
“The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre offers truly traditional Russian classical ballet at its very best. Konstantin Tachkin’s St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, with prima ballerina Irina Kolesnikova, has won profound global acclaim and tours widely to rave reviews,” says international producer Andrew Guild.
“We are delighted to be able to put Cape Town back on the schedule, as we were not able to fit the city into our 2013 tour and they have not had a chance to see world-class, Russian classical ballet since we last toured Cape Town eight years ago.”
First performed in St Petersburg in 1895, Swan Lake, with its unrivalled “white acts”, its dramatic ballroom scene, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s music and deeply moving story, has become one of the world’s best-loved ballets.
It tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer’s curse.
The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger. The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
Although it has been presented in many versions, the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre bases its staging, both choreographically and musically, on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on January 15, 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.
For this revival, Tchaikovsky’s score was revised by the St Petersburg Imperial Theatre’s chief conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo.
l Tickets are from R285. To book, call Artscape Dial-a-Seat at 021 421 7695.