mnacenani Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 (edited) The premiere of the new Rome Opera Ballet Don Q was livecast on Italian cultural channel Rai5 on 15th November which we had missed. I finally caught and recorded one of the repeats yesterday and would like to post some info in case it may be of interest - some photos and the trailer to follow below. This new production is a French concoction : Eleonora Abbagnato ballet director, Laurent Hilaire choreographer and Patricia Ruanne assistant to LH, all ex-POB. This staging is said to be inspired by Baryshnikov's staging for ABT which followed the classic Petipa-Gorsky staging. The previous staging of Don Q at Rome was by Mixail Messerer for the 2012-13 season. I had seen the Baryshnikov staging for ABT a couple of times on dvd but could not remember whether the sequence of the music was slightly rehashed, will have to refresh. Also could not remember whether it had pirates transplanted from Corsaire, but clearly remember it had no Commedia dell'Arte characters as in this one - adds local colour I suppose. When the curtain opened the scenery turned me off and I was about to zap to another channel when I remembered that the Italian government had slashed funding for the arts. The opening cast of this new staging was Yana Salenko (Berlin) and Isaac Hernandez (ENB). If you are not looking for Natasha jumps and Zaharova extensions Yana is a good solid dancer, and quite radiant when partnered by more accomplished dancers than her husband (imho) and was quite acceptable as Kitri. Now Isaac Hernandez I had not seen at all before and thought he was excellent - would not look out of place at the Bolshoy - his cabrioles, tournes excellent, timing impeccable. The CdB in my view is so-so, not very impressive if one is used to seeing the Bolshoy. However, two other dancers whose name I never ever heard also would not look out of place at the Bolshoy : Arianna Tiberi as the Queen of Dryads, and Rebecca Bianchi as Amore. Anyway, have a look at the trailer and photos : Edited February 13, 2018 by mnacenani Link to comment
mnacenani Posted February 12, 2018 Author Share Posted February 12, 2018 More pix at gallery at theatre's production info : https://www.operaroma.it/en/shows/don-chisciotte/ Link to comment
miliosr Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 The scenery suggests a distant cousin of Parade. Link to comment
Dreamer Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Thanks for this thread, mnacenani. On the first video, which I assume is a promotional trailer, the roles of Kitri and Basilio are danced by Rebecca Bianchi (principal of Rome Opera Ballet) and Angelo Greco (principal at San Francisco Ballet). Did the broadcast on Rai5 include a different cast? Yana Salenko must have been an excellent Kitri. She combines great technical skills, musicality and comedic abilities—the qualities that two other ballerinas you mentioned do not necessarily always demonstrate. Isaac Hernandez, on the other hand, can be a boring dancer despite of his jaw dropping technique. I wonder if these two were able to create equally high energy characters on stage. Link to comment
mnacenani Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 21 minutes ago, Dreamer said: Did the broadcast on Rai5 include a different cast? The first three performances were danced by Salenko-Hernandez and Rai5 telecast the premiere. I found a video of Amore Rebecca Bianchi from Rome Ballet's current Nutcracker which is below but I could not find any video for QoD Arianna Tiberi who I was quite impressed with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBCNrLOp6kY Link to comment
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