Ballet gala streamed live from Munich, Sunday, January 15

[volcanohunter]

The Bavarian State Ballet will livestream a "gala" program from the Prinzregententheater on Sunday, January 15 at 6 pm CET. That translates to 12 pm Eastern and 9 am Pacific. The program will be available live only.
http://www.operlive.de

 

Scheduled program:
The Nutcracker pas de deux (Vainonen)
Tatiana Tiliguzova, Dmitrii Vyskubenko

 

World premiere: Creation Modern (Maria Daniela Gonzalez Muñoz)
Maria Daniela Gonzalez Muñoz, Osiel Gouneo

 

Parting (Smekalov)
Maria Shirinkina, Vladimir Shklyarov

 

Grand Pas Classique
Prisca Zeisel, Alexey Popov

"White Swan" pas de deux
Prisca Zeisel, Erik Murzagaliyev

 

The Flames of Paris pas de deux
Elizaveta Kruteleva, Tigran Mikayelyan Adam Zvonař
 

Raymonda grand pas
Ksenia Ryzhkova, Alexander Omelchenko
Luiza Bernardes Bertho, Antonia McAuley, Vera Segova, Freya Thomas
Vladislav Dolgikh, Konstantin Ivkin, Wentao Li, Dmitrii Vyskubenko
 

Scheherazade pas de deux
Prisca Zeisel, Erik Murzagaliyev

 

Spartacus, duet for Aegina and Crassus
Prisca Zeisel, Erik Murzagaliyev

 

Voices of Spring
Mai Kono, Javier Amo

Le Corsaire pas de deux
Maria Shirinkina, Vladimir Shklyarov

Romeo & Juliet, balcony scene (Cranko)
Ksenia Ryzhkova, Jonah Cook

 

Don Quixote grand pas
Ivy Amista, Osiel Gouneo
Luiza Bernardes Bertho, Evgenia Dolmatova, Shuai Li, Antonia McAuley, Mia Rudic, Vera Segova, Freya Thomas

 

Sadly, it's the sole ballet program scheduled for Munich's streaming season.

Edited January 15, 2017 by volcanohunter

[MadameP]

Thank you for this link!  Interesting programme!  

[volcanohunter]

The performance, with a revised program, is just starting.

[California]

Thank you. Excellent video quality coming through in Denver!

[Kaysta]

Yes, the video quality has been fantastic!  I'm enjoying it, although I don't get Spartacus at all.  It's one ballet I have no desire to see.  Even the costumes annoy me.  How tacky is Aegena's red jeweled nipple? 

[Kaysta]

Wow, Ksenia Ryzhkova is fantastic.  I loved that Balcony Pas.  Wish I could see the whole performance from both of them, just stunning.

[angelica]

Osiel Gouneo is the embodiment of every great male dancer I've ever seen, all in one package: Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Hallberg, Stiefel, Corella, Carreno. 

[California]

We saw the famous torchlift twice -- in Spartacus, where he actually turned several times while holding her overhead. The big surprise was that it appeared at the very beginning and very end of Ashton's Voices of Spring (to Strauss). I don't recall anyone other than the Russians choreographing that move and I wonder where he got the idea.

 

Shklyarov had an interesting moment: at the end of one turning variation, he wobbled a little, ended on one knee -- but he was facing the back of the stage, arms outstretched to nothing. He immediately went into a very deep backbend so the audience could see his face. Nice save, I thought! Then, at the end of his next variation, he ended in the same position, facing the audience - and again did that deep backbend, perhaps to camouflage the first goof? Or is that the way he always does that?

 

I thought the ladies were smart not to go overboard in embellishing the fouettes. In Corsair, just clean singles, which was fine. In Don Q, a few slight touches, like holding her fan to her waist a few times, but nothing extravagant.

 

Kaysta: I saw the complete Spartacus once when the Bolshoi was in New York a couple of years ago. Never again! What a tasteless, over-the-top monstrosity. From the intermission notes, it sounds like the company is preparing to do the whole thing themselves. But it was a strange selection for this gala -- not much of the fireworks you see in the whole thing.

 

Angelica: Yes, Gounea was spectacular. Love to see more of him.

 

Overall, it was fun to see these warhorse gala excerpts by dancers we don't see here in the US.

Edited January 15, 2017 by California

[sandik]

1 hour ago, California said:

We saw the famous torchlift twice -- in Spartacus, where he actually turned several times while holding her overhead. The big surprise was that it appeared at the very beginning and very end of Ashton's Voices of Spring (to Strauss). I don't recall anyone other than the Russians choreographing that move and I wonder where he got the idea.

 

 

As I understand it, Ashton saw the torchlift when Russian dancers first started coming to London, and incorporated it in Voices, which was a kind of party piece.  Several dancers with the Royal Ballet at that time have mentioned how impressed they were with the virtuoso nature of the Russian dancers, and their attempts to emulate that bravura aspect.

[MadameP]

OK, well since many are commenting, so will I!  I watched the whole of the gala.  There were highs and lows.  I don't want to be a party pooper, but I am British and have seen Voices of Spring so many times, and this performances in the gala was appalling.  It was pedestrian, lacking in sparkle, lacking in joy.  This was atrocious Ashton.  There is more to it than just whether the lifts are performed adequately.  Shirinkina and Shklyarov were excellent in Parting - intense, sexy, musical - this was probably the highlight of the gala for me.  Loved it.  Although Osiel can jump and turn and I love his sunny charm, he does have a tendency to walk nonchalantly around the stage in DQ and his arms are dire.  But ... he does have great technique and partnering.  Yes, Shklyarov messed up the ending of his Corsaire variation and ended up facing the wrong way, but he saved it. Tonight he was jumping well, and he is an excellent technician with stage presence.   Shirinkina unfortunately did not end her fouettes well, but the rest of her Medora was beautiful, technically accurate and musical.  Very happy to see her in this and she looks wonderful after so many years under the Fateev skeleton regime.  Congratulations to her and Shklyarov for great performances this evening.  Swan Lake ballerina had poor adagio and rudimentary arms. Personally I love Spartacus, but tonight's excerpt was not worthy Grigorovich.   Kruteleva in Flammes de Paris had fabulous elevation, fouettes and turns in general - she is strong ballerina and with more pizazz than her partner.  Some nice dancers among the corps - particularly Konstantin Ivkin, whose elevation is stunning and has great personality on stage.  All in all, I think Zelensky has a mixed bunch, and, as I said, in my opinion there were highs and VERY lows.    

[California]

I don't disagree with MadameP, but I'm so pleased that a company would share their gala with the world on-line, it's hard to complain. I wondered if they were mainly working on the technique in all these pieces, but hadn't progressed to mastering the distinct style of each. E.g., one that struck me in this regard was Raymonda. Their movements were too pretty, too classical -- I didn't pick up the accented Slavic feel one does when NYCB or Mariinsky does their version of this. But I was still happy to see it. Can you imagine any major American companies sharing their galas with the world on-line? Dream on!

[volcanohunter]

The Bavarian State Ballet recently added the complete Spartacus to its repertoire, hence its inclusion in the program. I hated Smekalov's Parting. I thought it was trash, almost as bad as the duet from Spartacus. Adam Zvonař performed with blissful disregard for the music, but since Igor Zelensky was among the least musical dancers I ever laid eyes on, I'm not surprised he wouldn't care about this in his dancers. For the most part I was underwhelmed. Most of the "classical" pieces looked about the on the level of a graduation performance from one of the big ballet schools, so not terrible, but not impressive by professional standards. Dmitrii Vyskubenko, who is about six months out of ballet school, has potential.

[MadameP]

14 hours ago, California said:

I don't disagree with MadameP, but I'm so pleased that a company would share their gala with the world on-line, it's hard to complain. I wondered if they were mainly working on the technique in all these pieces, but hadn't progressed to mastering the distinct style of each. E.g., one that struck me in this regard was Raymonda. Their movements were too pretty, too classical -- I didn't pick up the accented Slavic feel one does when NYCB or Mariinsky does their version of this. But I was still happy to see it. Can you imagine any major American companies sharing their galas with the world on-line? Dream on!

California - I do stand by my comments, but yes, I agree that it is great that this company shared a gala online with people all over the world who might never have seen them in that repertoire.   (Whether or not they should have been dancing half of it is another thing!)  So - yes, I am grateful to them for that!  

Edited January 16, 2017 by MadameP
wanted to add something

[mnacenani]

If I can be allowed, as a newcomer to classical ballet, to post a few comments : video livestream quality from Munich and

Vienna has improved drastically over the past year - just a year ago we were switching off the streams we had purchased

from Staatsoper Wien to save our eyesight !  I enjoyed the major part of the performance, though I will miss Lacarra for

ever. I hold "Masha and Volodya" (aka Shirinkina and hubby Shklyarov) in high regard - saw them a couple of times at

Mariinsky last season. The rest of the cast imho not of the same caliber but I liked Ivy Amista and Prisca Zeisel whom I

saw first time, and thought Ryjkova was a good Juliet. In Moscow Zelensky has a negative reputation for treating his

dancers badly. I was told when he took up Stasik 20+ dancers left immediately, and seems the same thing happened

when he took up Munich last summer. As you would know he was given the axe recently at Stasik and Hilaire brought in.

[Kaysta]

I enjoyed the Romeo and Juliet balcony pas and Le Corsaire with Shkylarov and Shirinkina.  While very different from the classical ballet that I'm used to watching, I enjoyed Parting (mostly because of the insane chemistry between Shyklarov and Shirinkina).  Everything else was just ok in my opinion.

 

And like others, I'm thankful for the chance to see a company I wouldn't otherwise get to see.