November, 1 1 2014 Feel like a king Some gallant games were played at the Bolshoi Theatre Guest performances of the ensemble "Les Arts Florissants" took place on the Bolshoi Theatre's New Stage. The French guests brought to Moscow the program "Rameau - MaГ®tre Г  Danser". These are "ballets with singing" created by the composer Jean- Philippe Rameau during the baroque epoch. The baroque music ensemble "Les Arts Florissants" was founded by William Christie, a harpsichordist and a conductor; the name was inspired by the same-name opera of M.-A. Charpentier. The orchestra was founded in 1979; the musicians have played baroque instruments ever since. "Les Arts Florissants" is considered to be the model of authentic performance. Maestro Christie is not a very young person, but he is still extremely excited about immersing into ancient music and authentic performance. This is something that has won him tons of followers, although he has opponents as well; they say that we cannot know for certain how our ancestors played music three hundred years ago. But the point is that authentic performance is not about the imitation of something that ceased to exist a long time ago. But there is a dif ferent story. An authentic orchestra is like a utopia that came true. It is a modern masquerade in ancient costumes, the joy of discoveries, a happy cult of the past that is still interesting nowadays. There is no bigotry and formal archeology; there is rather a charming cultural game. Still, it demands precise knowledge of historical styles and approaches. Christie said two things: "A trip to the Bolshoi Theatre is like a trip to the Moon", and "W e will be watching music". Those two things determined the level and the aesthetics of the concert. "Les Arts Florissants" presented two pieces by Rameau that are performed rarely; the conductor revived them for the general public after they had been forgotten for a long time. The soprano and the tenor altino take simple props from wooden boxes as they declare their love to each other Rameau composed virtuoso trifles to entertain Louis XV in his hunting lodge, the Palace of Fontainebleau. Choreographic period pieces "Daphnis et Eglé" and "La naissance d'Osiris" were performed in intimate surroundings without the official royal protocol and for a narrow circle, the royal court. Both the author of the music and the listeners perceived those pieces as a disguised glorification of the authorities. The heroic pastoral of 1753 ("La naissance d'Osiris") celebrated the birth of a royal child, the future king Louis XVI; the opera-ballet "Daphnis et Eglé" (1754) was an allegory that praised the passion of Louis XV and Marquise de Pompadour. However, the director Sophie Daneman did not really care about the royal details. The choreographer Françoise Denieau did not care much whether the dances that she staged really complied with Rameau's times; the costume designer Alain Blanchot did not care either whether his light lower-class dresses were similar to the heavy, wide and long dresses worn by women who danced in royal ballets. The rest of the production team did not support Christie's strict authenticity; they created their own image of the 18th century that turned out not to be baroque but rather a realistic and free one. The production was tied with the orchestra that was sitting right there on the stage. Just like the music by Rameau, the production was filled with a solemn and yet innocent and naГЇve voluptuousness. Daneman took two stories, one about Osiris and one about Daphnis, and created a kind of duology. In "Daphnis et Eglé" the strolling company acts out a story about ideal lovers who did not know they were not just friends until a Cupid with paper wings made the couple open their eyes. The soprano and the tenor altino take simple props from wooden boxes as they declare their love to each other, while the thrilled crowd is dancing a sarabande, a jig and a gavotte. In the second ballet the same artists are singing but the heroine has a big belly and gives birth to Osiris in the finale; the God Jupiter comes from the theatre box and announces that Osiris was born. The Cupid and the Graces are elated again while the simple shepherds and shepherdesses can feel a little sad and uneasy. The mythological note does not interfere with the humaneness; after all, everyone - kings, peasants from the pastoral and members of the modern audience - understands the happiness of mutual love or the birth of a child. The choreographer Françoise Denieau created a dance that sometimes was very far from baroque. Of course, she read and used ancient choreographic tractates, where all pas were notes; such tractates were published in France in abundance while the Bourbons were ruling the country. Of course, the choreographer was guided by the main artistic thesis of that era - "grace as a virtue". But it feels like the combinations of movements in minuets and contradances come from a later era (perhaps the romantic ballet of the 19th century) and the part of the barefoot Cupid is rather about neoclassical dance. This is understandable: gods cannot move in the same manner as people. Christie's orchestra, which came to Russia for the fourth time, left the audience happy, as usual. There was the silver sound of the harpsichord, the noise of the metal sheet representing thunder, the tender sound of the baroque bassoon, the melodious charm of viola da gamba (baroque cello) and the baroque musette, a French instrument, which has the same sound as a Scottish bagpipe. Idyll is something that can rarely be found in modern art. This really is a royal luxury. With the help of music Christie and his "Les Arts Florissants" provided the audience with an opportunity to feel like royalty. Y ou know, this was a nice feeling. Bolshoi Theatre's prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova will help the Kiev State Ballet School Svetlana Zakharova was born in Lutsk; naturally, she studied at the Kiev State Ballet School, which is the best ballet school in Ukraine. Today she is Bolshoi Theatre's prima ballerina and La Scala Ballet's etoile. She is a world-famous star! Last year Svetlana Zakharova, together with her colleague, Bolshoi Theatre's soloist Y uri Baranov, who studied in Kiev as well, visited her pedagogues; the ballerina was shocked when she saw the poor condition of her native ballet school. It was then that she had an idea to organize a charity concert (it will take place on the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage on December 7th); all money raised will be donated to the renovation of the Kiev State Ballet School. Other ballet stars who also used to study at this School and nowadays perform on the best stages around the world supported Svetlana Zakharova's idea. The list includes Ivan Putrov, who was named Britain's best young classical dancers by British ballet critics, and Sergei Volobuyev, a soloist of the Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg. Newsletter

November, 1 1 2014 A ballerina talked about the revival of "A Legend of Love" "A Legend of Love", one of Yuri Grigorovich's most famous ballets, which has become a classic of the 20th century, returned to the Bolshoi Theatre. The production premiered 50 years ago but the choreographer still continues to improve his masterpiece. The ninth version of the ballet premiered on the main stage of the country. Bolshoi's leading soloist Anna Nikulina, who performed the part of Shireen, talked about the premiere. - "A Legend of Love" is an eastern story. How did you master your eastern style? Did you watch oriental dances, did you learn anything about the culture? - I mostly watched an old recording of this particular ballet; I used this recording to learn how the ballerinas who performed my part held their hands, what their positions were and where they turned the head. But I also wanted to create my own Shireen who would be different from all others. I wanted to find my own colors for her, so that she would not be a mere copy, - Nikulina said. The Discreet Charm of Ballet Photo: Irina Buzhor/Kommersant Perhaps the most sophisticated premiere performance of the ballet "A Legend of Love", choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich, took place at the Bolshoi Theatre Historic Stage (for details please refer to "Kommersant" issue of October 25th). The company Guerlain, Bolshoi Theatre's official sponsor, organized their own premiere that evening: the fashionable society was presented with a new fragrance of the perfume house. Perhaps the creation of the limited perfume fragrance "Bolshoi" was the highlight of the theatre's and the company's cooperation. 400 bottles filled with perfume, which was created using a formula of Jean-Paul Guerlain, went on sale when the Historic Stage was opening after the reconstruction. However, this time it was about a more mass product; the newest and the freshest fragrance appeared in the "La Petite Robe Noire" fragrance line. To mark this event, Guerlain invited to the Bolshoi people from glossy magazines, as well as Moscow beauties who work in various other spheres. There was the producer Yana Rudkovskaya, the cinematographer Renata Litvinova (in the middle of the picture), the owner of the club Chateau De Fantomas Snezhana Georgieva, the owner of the brand Arctic Explorer Ksenia Chilingarova, the Olympic champion Anzhelika Timanina and the owner of the brand Masterpiece Evgenia Linovich. It is not considered polite in the Moscow society to ignore an invitation to the Bolshoi Theatre. According to the owner of the agency Lunar Hare Alexander Perepelkin, because of fluctuations of the foreign currency exchange rate tickets to the Bolshoi and the Metropolitan Opera can cost the same amount of money during a certain period of time, if we calculate the price in dollars: "It used to be cheaper to watch a performance in New York". By the way, the foreign currency exchange rate was the second most popular topic for discussion during the intermission; a certain confusion that Maria Allash demonstrated in her performance was the first thing to discuss. Y oung opera singers gave a concert in the Italian Embassy in Moscow The concert of young opera singers from the La Scala Academy, the Bolshoi Theatre Y oung Artists Opera Program and the Mirella Freni Academy for Opera Singers took place at the Villa Berg, where the Italian Embassy in Moscow is located. Arias from operas by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Massenet were performed to mark the 5th anniversary of the Exchange Program for young singers. At first it will work for singers from the La Scala Academy and the Bolshoi Theatre but other theatres and colleges of both countries hope to participate in this program as well later. The concert at the Embassy also marked the first guest performances of La Scala at the Bolshoi that took place half a century ago. Elena Obraztsova also presented the Russian translation of the book about Renata Tebaldi whom Obraztsova met at the Bolshoi when the Russian singer performed the part of Carmen. "Crescendo" festival closed in Moscow The jubilee Music Festival "Crescendo" closed in Moscow. Information about the Festival program and participants can be found in many various sources. Mass media paid particular attention to the final gala-concert that took place at the Bolshoi Theatre. The concert brought together on one stage famous musicians and very young artists. The concert will be broadcast on Sunday, November 16th, at 10.20 p.m. (Moscow time). Discovering new talents can be considered the main outcome of the 10-years music marathon. A hundred concerts were given in five countries of the world. The list of cities where the Festival takes place changes every year. "Crescendo" is called a "wandering" Festival and it is not for nothing. This festival opened in summer in Sochi and then moved to Pskov and Saint Petersburg; it closed in Moscow. For articles published 7-9 November 2014 The New York Times writes about the performance of the Mikhailovsky Ballet at the Lincoln Center and says: "When we think about Russian ballet, our minds inevitably drift to two companies, the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky. They represent a kind of yin and yang of Russian aesthetics, the cold elegance of St. Petersburg reflected in the extraordinary refinement of the Mariinsky ballerinas, the dynamism and bluster of Moscow in the large-scale dancing of the Bolshoi. But they do not exist in a vacuum". The New York Times is announcing the tour of the Mikhailovsky Ballet to New York in the compiled section Dance Listings and writes that "Natalia Osipova and Ivan V asiliev were the golden couple of the Bolshoi until they defected to this St. Petersburg troupe in 201 1 in search of more artistic freedom. They join the Mikhailovsky in its United States debut at Lincoln Center with a caravan of classics and some newer works". International media continue to write about broadcasted performances of the Bolshoi Ballet Moscow, for example which says http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com that the Phoenix Art Museum has a new partnership with the Bolshoi Ballet designed to integrate dance and theatre into the visual art world. The monthly screenings will start on 23 November 2014. The Gleaner ( ) from Jamaica announces a new season http://jamaica-gleaner.com of the Bolshoi Ballet "arguably the greatest ballet company in the world (…) unrivalled in its rich history as one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of classical ballet in the world, and its international acclaim as one of the foremost ballet companies". Les Échos (France) publishes a big article about ballet stars and is quoting Luke Jennings, dance critic for The Observer saying: "Historically, there has been a rivalry between the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky, but it was accentuated when it came to Newsletter

, 7 November, 1 1 2014 attract young dancers out of prestigious schools. There were bidding wars with troops a little less prestigious as the Stanislavsky Music Theatre or, especially, the Mikhailovsky, supported by the oligarch Vladimir Kekhman. The dancers who joined this company, like Natalia Osipova, now in London and the United States, and Ivan V asiliev, her companion, earned more than the stars of the Bolshoi". Cubasi.cu writes about the 24th Havana Ballet Festival and says that this year the festival lacked dancers and choreographers from the Royal London, the Paris Opera and the Bolshoi. El Dia (Argentina) publishes a story about "two prominent figures of Russian dance", Daniil Simkin and Maí­a Kochetkova who will perform in Don Quixote at Teatro Coliseo from Buenos Aires. Maí­a Kochetkova trained with the Bolshoi Ballet School since she was 8. http://.informazione.it announces the screening of the Pharaoh's Daughter starring Svetlana Zakharova in the programme Cinema Ballet at Cinema Tiberius in Rimini on 18 November 2014. Paris-normandie.fr publishes a story about the Mercure cinema from Elbef which will screen The Pharaoh's Daughter from the Bolshoi Ballet on 23 November 2014. Mercure will screen live and recorded ballet shows from the Bolshoi. .adnkronos.com announces an exhibition about Ekaterina Maximova at Casa dei Teatri from 6 November 2014. "The exhibition runs through the highlights of the life and career of the artist through a chronological biography, photographs, costumes, playbills, posters and testimonies from Bakrushin State Theatre Museum". Hamburger Abendblatt (Germany) announces the tour of the Russian National Ballet Moscow with Swan Lake and says that the company has star soloists from the Bolshoi Ballet. Its founder and artistic director is Sergei Radchenkow, principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet and stage partner of Maya Plisetskaya for many years. Aleksandra Pakhmutova celebrated her 85th birthday! Aleksandra Pakhmutova, a Soviet and Russian composer and a People's Artist of the USSR, celebrated her 85th birthday on November 9th. Her songs have been popular with several generations. She has worked in various genres for all her life. She has written pieces for symphony orchestra (the Russian suite, the Concert for a trumpet and an orchestra, the overture "Youth", Concert for orchestra, Ode on Lighting of Fire and Music for Bells Ensemble and Orchestra Ave Vita), compositions of cantata and oratorial genres (Vasiliy Terkin, A Country Fine As Youth, cantatas for a children's choir and a symphony orchestra Red Pathfinders, Otryadnye songs). The ballet "Illumination" to the music by Pakhmutova was staged at the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre and the Odessa State Opera and Ballet Theatre. /.../
In brief