volcanohunter

Is it really Gelb? I'm no longer a resident of New York so perhaps I'm misinformed, but it seems to me that apart from the Bolshoi and Mariinsky, there haven't been any visiting ballet companies at the Met for years. I'd have to go back to my childhood and teen years to recall visits from the Royal, POB, RDB and others.

The second disc includes a 53-minute documentary. There is no rehearsal footage, but as with the POB's previous releases of Jewels and Cinderella, interviews are interspersed with clips from the performance. In this case the interviewees are John Neumeier, Brigitte Lefèvre, Agnès Letestu, Stéphane Bullion, Delphine Moussin, José Martinez, Dorothée Gilbert, pianist Emmanuel Strosser and wardrobe manager Dominique Gay. Subtitles are available in English (excluding Neumeier), French (Neumeier only), German, Spanish and Italian.

It's hardly new, but the Pacific Northwest Ballet's A Midsummer Night's Dream will be screening at Canadian cinemas on Saturday, August 15. It will screen at Empire Theatres in Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, St. John's, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Bolton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Mississauga, North York, Ottawa, Richmond Hill, St. Catharines, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, North Vancouver and Victoria at 11:00 a.m. local time. It will also be screened at Landmark Cinemas in Winnipeg, Calgary, Kelowna and Nanaimo at 11:00 a.m. local time, at the Princess Twin in Waterloo at 1:00 p.m., and at the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver at 10:00 a.m. July 25 & 26 - The Last Night of the Proms 2008 (BBC Symphony Orchestra) August 15 - A Midsummer Night's Dream (Pacific Northwest Ballet) August 29 & 30 - La traviata (Royal Opera)

It was produced eleven years ago, but Classical TV has posted this BBC profile of Darcey Bussell. It's about an hour long and is divided into two parts. At the conclusion of the first part, you should get a station ID, followed by the second half of the program. http://www.classicaltv.com/video/166/darce...ssell-a-profile Apropos the BT discussion about the glamour ladies of ballet, the program brings up all sorts of issues about ballerina image.

This is a link to a brief television interview with Mathias Heymann, including some performance footage from La Fille mal gardée. http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/culture/0,,4464318...s-heymann-.html

Is she going to be a sit-down guest or will she be performing a piece? For example, three years ago Peter Mattei, Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Florez, John Del Carlo and Samuel Ramey performed an abbreviated version of the Act 1 finale from 'The Barber of Seville' on the Letterman show. http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archive...t.w?xCID=351638

The Hamburg Ballet has posted a trailer for its 'Hommage aux Ballets Russes' program. It includes clips from Balanchine's Prodigal Son, featuring 20-year-old corps member Alexandr Trusch as the Prodigal and Hélène Bouchet as the Siren, John Neumeier's new Le Pavillon d'Armide, and Millicent Hodson's reconstruction of Nijinsky's Rite of Spring, with Silvia Azzoni as the Chosen One. http://www.hamburgballett.de/video/hommage.html To my mind, Alexandre Riabko's resemblance to John Singer Sargent's charcoal drawing of Nijinsky in Pavillon is eerie. http://cgfa.dotsrc.org/sargent/sargen29.jpg

This DVD has been off the American market for some time. If you're dying to see it, but don't want to pay $250 for a new copy via Amazon, it's just appeared on site of the Berkshire Record Outlet for $20. The BRO code number is 142202. Or search for 'Swan Lake' and it should be the first title to pop up. http://www.berkshirerecordoutlet.com/searc...&filter=all

Fortunately, this particular opera isn't that long, only 90 minutes or so, followed by a few minutes of ovations for the singers--and

It seems to be working right now, at least on my computer. I have a feeling the old system kicks in when the new interface is overloaded.

Until August 20 you can watch the new Paris Opera production of Karol Szymanowski's Król Roger, starring Mariusz Kwiecien, Olga Pasichnyk and Eric Cutler, on the Internet at no charge. If you're expecting Byzantine opulence, the production is disappointing, but the music, of course, is gorgeous. http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/live/onp/...ION=SELECT_NEWS Since the opera is shown without subtitles, those unfamiliar with it may find the following background information and synopsis helpful. http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_revie...anguage=English This is the second complete opera I've watched on the net from the Paris Opera. I wonder whether we'll ever get a chance to watch the POB this way.

Decca will be releasing MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, starring Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta, on DVD and Blu-ray on August 25. Amazon is taking pre-orders. Juliet - Tamara Rojo Romeo - Carlos Acosta Mercutio - José Martín Tybalt - Thiago Soares Benvolio - Yohei Sasaki Paris - David Pickering Lord Capulet - Christopher Saunders Lady Capulet - Elizabeth McGorian Escalus - Gary Avis Rosaline - Christina Arestis Nurse - Sandra Conley Friar Laurence - Alastair Marriott Lord Montague - Alastair Marriott Lady Montague - Francesca Filpi Harlots - Laura Morera, Isabel McMeekan, Sian Murphy Mandolin Dance - Steven McRae Well, it's about time. Decca has been sitting on this for quite a while. http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=27035

Funny, I never thought of "good feet" as being particularly related to aesthetics. I always thought of certain dancers being able to achieve a level of technical mastery, particularly in jumps, because they had good feet, that is, feet that work efficiently, inevitably in combination with a well-aligned skeleton. Sometimes these feet also happen to be beautiful, but not necessarily. If a dancer has aesthetically pleasing feet, but he or she is not able to land jumps quietly, I wouldn't describe those feet as "good."

Surely you don't mean that the POB is loaded with foreign virtuosos. The company is still overwhelmingly French, and even foreign nationals like José Martinez and Eleonora Abbagnato were trained in France. In the top ranks only Alessio Carbone could be identified as a "foreign virtuoso."

I'd be curious to know exactly what this means. As far as I can tell, at least 60 cinemas in Canada will be screening it in two waves of tape delays to accommodate multiple time zones. http://www.cineplex.com/Movies/MovieDetail...efinition_.aspx Here are the participating cinemas in the U.S. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/47486/ve...ted-states.html As bart mentioned, the trailer promises that this is to be the first in a series. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive In Canada, ballets are shown in cinemas as part of the Royal Opera/Opus Arte series, but these are taped far in advance. ABT would be a logical candidate to broadcast live since the Met is already equipped for live transmission and evening-length narrative ballets are probably an easier sell than mixed bills of plotless works. I assume ABT hasn't done so already because movie houses are reluctant to cede screens to arty-farty programming on Saturday afternoons during the summer blockbuster season.

I'm sure you're right, but I wonder whether the Met doesn't think of potential DVD releases when choosing what to broadcast in HD, and the Chéreau production is already available on DVD. Of course by that reasoning they shouldn't have bothered with the Laurent Pelly production of La Fille du régiment or the Caurier/Leiser production of Hamlet, but maybe different rules apply when Natalie Dessay is involved.

Natalia had previously reported that a DVD of the Mariinsky's Firebird and (apparently rather pallid) Rite of Spring is available in Europe. I haven't yet seen it on Amazon.com, but the DVD is available for pre-order on Canadian Amazon, and the release date is listed as July 21. http://www.amazon.ca/Stravinsky-and-the-Ba...s/dp/B0023T9ZR0 These are the same performances that are presently showing at cinemas around the U.S., though for some reason the DVD doesn't include Les Noces. http://www.emergingpictures.com/stravinsky...lets_russes.htm http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=29419

I agree. I found Michael Popkin's analysis exceedingly silly. Sometimes a ballet romance is just a ballet romance. Even when its protagonists are not terribly sympathetic.

My feelings were more mixed about the performance. I agree that Saveliev was magnificent, both in his dancing and his mime. But I couldn't squeeze out any applause for Murphy. I'm not a fan, and yesterday reminded me why I avoid her performances. I understand her wanting to make a strong contrast with Giselle, but her movements are abrupt to the point of being herky-jerky. This is supposed to be an incorporeal being? I would have been much happier with Isabella Boylston in the role. Gomes is commanding, but overbearing and certainly not aristocratic. His dancing is powerful, but lacking in romanticism. His broad-chested bravura might work well for Conrad, and it worked last week in On the Dnieper, but not for Albrecht. I don't think the corps of wilis deserved quite the raptuous reception they received. I've seen better, even on the Met stage. Ananiashvili, on the other hand, deserved every last cheer she got. Her second act was stupendous--boneless, weightless, pure poetry. Definitely go see her while you still have the chance.

Natalia, if you type 'Don Quixote' into the Amazon search box and narrow the results to the 46 DVDs with that title, it should pop up. I just tried it and the DVD turns up in 13th position, in other words, the first title on the second page of results. The ASIN is B00274SIA6, but apparently plugging this number into the box won't give BT a commission, so better to search by title.

The DVD can now be pre-ordered at Amazon.com. http://www.deccaclassics.com/music/dvd/0743235.htm

After watching New York City Ballet's Romeo and Juliet debacle, I'd vote for Rudi van Dantzig's version. Among other things, Toer van Schayk's uniset design is much more successful. Photos of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet production http://www.rwb.org/whats_on/wpg3_gallery.html

Scroll down to 1985/86. http://www.ballet.ca/thecompany/archives/1981-1990.php It was also filmed by the CBC, but never released commercially. If I'm not mistaken, the cast consisted of Kimberly Glasco as Young Alice, Karen Kain as Alice Hargreaves, Rex Harrington as Lewis Carroll, Peter Ottmann as Reginald Hargreaves and Owen Montague as the White Rabbit. [Edited to add:] I found an old program note.

I'm tempted to steal that one.

Especially when it was her sister, Olivia de Haviland. People always confuse the two.