Hamburg Ballet to dance Neumeier's A Midsummer Night’s Dream

[pherank]

http://www.sfballet.org/tickets/production/overview/hamburg-2014?utm_source=mail2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=14SubscriberHamburgBalletPriorityAccessMKTNG

[sandik]

Oregon Ballet Theater is performing Christopher Stowell's Midsummer in Portland in October and Pacific Northwest Ballet is doing the Balanchine versionr in April up in Seattle -- it's a Midsummer dance season on the West Coast this year!

[Jayne]

Just when the everlasting gobstopper of ballet finally ended its Cetennial year (Rite of Spring) we can look forward to Mendelsohn all next late spring / early summer!

[PeggyR]

Has anyone seen this? Opinions?

While I very much admired aspects of Neumeier's ‘The Little Mermaid’, I still think it could be cut in half without damage to the story telling. Last season I missed ‘Nijinsky’, but the local reviews were not very favorable.

Just wondering if it’s worth giving up a ‘Giselle’ to see this one.

[sandik]

Just when the everlasting gobstopper of ballet finally ended its Cetennial year (Rite of Spring) we can look forward to Mendelsohn all next late spring / early summer!

Yes, but we get another version of Sacre at PNB this spring.

[Jayne]

Is that the Alejandro Cerruto World Premier in March 2014? Holy Dance Gods! How many times can they reinvent the wheel? Might as well make yet another reinvention of Swan Lake.

[sandik]

They're reviving the Molissa Fenley solo to the Stravinsky, State of Darkness, in the March program.

[pherank]

Has anyone seen this? Opinions?

While I very much admired aspects of Neumeier's ‘The Little Mermaid’, I still think it could be cut in half without damage to the story telling. Last season I missed ‘Nijinsky’, but the local reviews were not very favorable.

Just wondering if it’s worth giving up a ‘Giselle’ to see this one.

Note that Hamburg Ballet will also appear at Segerstrom Arts Center in Southern Cal to perform Liliom (known to Americans as Carousel) - 2/7/2014 - 2/9/2014

http://www.scfta.org/home/Events/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1475&NavID=91

Neumeier ballets do tend to be overlong, but they are almost always great spectacles (and there are only so many choreographers and companies that can put on this kind of grand ballet).

[volcanohunter]

The Hamburg Ballet has posted casting for the San Francisco run of A Midsummer Night's Dream (and also for Liliom in Costa Mesa). Subject to change, of course.

February 12, 2014
Hippolyta/Titania: Hélène Bouchet

Theseus/Oberon: Thiago Bordin
Helena: Silvia Azzoni

Demetrius: Otto Bubeníček
Hermia: Anna Laudere

Lysander: Edvin Revazov
Philostrat/Puck: Alexandr Trusch
Bottom/Pyramus: Carsten Jung

Flute/Thisbe: Konstantin Tselikov

February 13, 2014
Hippolyta/Titania: Alina Cojocaru

Theseus/Oberon: Alexandre Riabko
Helena: Carolina Agüero

Demetrius: Silvano Ballone
Hermia: Florencia Chinellato

Lysander: Alexandr Trusch
Philostrat/Puck: Konstantin Tselikov
Bottom/Pyramus: Dario Franconi

Flute/Thisbe: Thomas Stuhrmann

http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/gastspiel.htm

[Josette]

Thanks, volcanohunter, for the casting! I am going Thursday night and also to Liliom twice in Orange County. I was wondering whether Cojocaru would be on the tour, since she left the Royal Ballet.

[pherank]

Thanks, volcanohunter, for the casting! I am going Thursday night and also to Liliom twice in Orange County. I was wondering whether Cojocaru would be on the tour, since she left the Royal Ballet.

Cojocaru is supposedly with the English National Ballet these days. This comes as a suprise to me - how did she come around to working with Neumeier's company?

EDIT: Looks like she's also dancing in the Hamburg Ballet's Nutcracker during December.

[naomikage]

Cojocaru is announced to be performing 23 times at Hamburg Ballet this season, so she is like a permanent guest there. Neumeier created the role of Julie in Liliom for her, and she has participated in their tour to Brisbane last summer too.

[pherank]

Cojocaru is announced to be performing 23 times at Hamburg Ballet this season, so she is like a permanent guest there. Neumeier created the role of Julie in Liliom for her, and she has participated in their tour to Brisbane last summer too.

Hello Naomikage - Do the seasons for ENB and Hamburg differ? Allowing Cojocaru to dance two seasons?!!

[volcanohunter]

Cojocaru has been appearing as a guest with the Hamburg Ballet for a number of years, initially to dance parts like Marguerite in The Lady of the Camellias that were not in the Royal Ballet's repertoire. As naomikage noted, Neumeier made the part of Julie in Liliom for her, and at the time she expressed her sadness that no one had created a major ballet for her at the Royal. (But then Neumeier is one of the very few choreographers who mounts evening-length narrative ballets with regularity.) Most recently she danced in Hamburg as Neumeier's Juliet. Obviously, the English National Ballet gives her a sufficiently flexible schedule that allows her to be a pretty much permanent guest principal in Hamburg, not unlike the way that ABT has a number of principals who fly in for occasional performances, and Hamburg is much closer to London than New York is to Milan or St. Petersburg.

[pherank]

Cojocaru has been appearing as a guest with the Hamburg Ballet for a number of years, initially to dance parts like Marguerite in The Lady of the Camellias that were not in the Royal Ballet's repertoire. As naomikage noted, Neumeier made the part of Julie in Liliom for her, and at the time she expressed her sadness that no one had created a major ballet for her at the Royal. (But then Neumeier is one of the very few choreographers who mounts evening-length narrative ballets with regularity.) Most recently she danced in Hamburg as Neumeier's Juliet. Obviously, the English National Ballet gives her a sufficiently flexible schedule that allows her to be a pretty much permanent guest principal in Hamburg, not unlike the way that ABT has a number of principals who fly in for occasional performances, and Hamburg is much closer to London than New York is to Milan or St. Petersburg.

Thanks Volcanohunter - I'm obvioulsy unfamiliar with the ENB's schedule, but 23 dates with Hamburg ballet (and on tour) would seem to keep her away from ENB for a good amount of time. Not to mention her gala appearances and other guest appearances. It's certanly true that the flight from London to Hamburg is not such a big deal though.

Well this should bring some people into the War Memorial this February.

"she expressed her sadness that no one had created a major ballet for her at the Royal"

--it would seem that many soloists don't understand that it is rather rare to have a ballet created on you. Easier to dance one, than to create on.

[volcanohunter]

Yes, and the Royal Ballet, despite its reputation for dramatic ballets, had undergone a fallow period in that regard. When Christopher Wheeldon staged Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 2011, it was noted that the RB hadn't produced a new full-length story ballet in 16 years, and in that case the female leads went to Lauren Cuthbertson and Zenaida Yanowsky. Perhaps if Cojocaru had remained with the Royal Ballet she may have danced in Wheeldon's new The Winter's Tale, but I guess we'll never know. On the other hand, Neumeier produces a new evening-length narrative ballet practically every season, and his works typically have a large number of leading roles. No doubt this goes a long way toward keeping his dancers happy and motivated, and presumably Cojocaru's own experiences of working with the Hamburg Ballet over the past couple of years convinced her that she wanted to be part of its creative atmosphere, even if she wished to keep London as her home base.

[naomikage]

Sorry this press release is in German, but Hamburg Ballet has announced the guesting of Aina Cojocaru this season.

http://www.hamburgballett.de/presse/131009_alina_cojocaru.pdf

She calls Hamburg Ballet "her second home" in this release. I think she hasn't even danced 23 times in her recent years at RB.

I am not sure yet but Neumeier will be creating a new full length "Tatiana" based on Pushkin's Evgeni Onegin this season so Cojocaru might be in the creation.

[Helene]

She calls Hamburg Ballet "her second home" in this release. I think she hasn't even danced 23 times in her recent years at RB.

No wonder she's not there anymore.

[volcanohunter]

The Hamburg Ballet has posted a video of some young people getting a hands-on introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream, including watching rehearsals and trying out some of the moves themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWeEdBSQ9Jw

[pherank]

Just announced: "Thursday evening (Feb 13, 8pm) includes the apperance of international ballet sensation Alina Cojocaru."

[volcanohunter]

I am not sure yet but Neumeier will be creating a new full length "Tatiana" based on Pushkin's Evgeni Onegin this season so Cojocaru might be in the creation.

Tatiana is being created on Hélène Bouchet, Edvin Revazov, Leslie Heylmann, Alexandr Trusch and Carsten Jung. For now there is no alternate cast.

[Josette]

I hope the Hamburg Ballet brings Tatiana to Orange County in a couple of years.