Dance, La Scala makes its debut at the Les Chorégies d’Orange Festival

2023-07-12 17:25:46

The first international appointment after the years of the pandemic, the Balletto della Scala will make its debut on 15 July at the Festival Les Chorégies d’Orange which last year saw the triumph of the concert of Verdi choirs with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala conducted by Riccardo Chailly. Les Chorégies d’Orange is the oldest French festival, dating back to 1869. But over the years they have managed to keep all their originality starting with the venue where it takes place every summer. A perfectly preserved Roman theater dating back to the 1st century BC, with a capacity of 8300 seats.

In the setting of the Ancient Theater, the Balletto della Scala presents a program which, between novelties and repertoire, will introduce the talents of the Company, ‘Verdi Suite’ by Manuel Legris, ‘Blake Works I’ by William Forsythe to conclude with the ballet blanc, in the second act of ‘Swan Lake’ by Rudolf Nureyev. The trip, supported by Allianz, partner of the Teatro alla Scala tours, will also see the involvement of the Scala Orchestra, which in fact recorded the music of ‘Verdi Suite’ and ‘Swan Lake’ used in the show.

Fifty-five dancers away, many protagonists, from the first dancers Martina Arduino, Nicoletta Manni, Alice Mariani, Marco Agostino, Timofej Andrijashenko, Claudio Coviello, Nicola Del Freo, to the soloists Gaia Andreanò, Caterina Bianchi, Agnese Di Clemente, Linda Giubelli, Maria Celeste Losa, Alessandra Vassallo, Domenico Di Cristo, Christian Fagetti, Federico Fresi, Mattia Semperboni, Navrin Turnbull, and the corps de ballet artists, engaged in the lively ensembles of the ‘Verdi Suite’, in the choreographic constructions of William Forsythe and in the iconic figurations of white swans.

‘Verdi Suite’ is the creation of Manuel Legris signed in December 2020 for the Balletto della Scala of which he had recently taken over the direction. The show was conceived as a divertissement in homage to Italian dance and music, and to the technique of the Scala artists. The choreography came to life on some passages from the music that Giuseppe Verdi wrote for the dances in his operas I vespri siciliani, Jérusalem and the French version of Il Trovatore, chosen to create a musical texture full of panache and energy. A musical texture that was then expanded with further movements for the corps de ballet on extracts from the Queen’s Dance (La Peregrina) from Don Carlos.

On stage in Orange Martina Arduino, Maria Celeste Losa, Claudio Coviello, Marco Agostino, Mattia Semperboni in the pas de five, next to Caterina Bianchi and Navrin Turnbull and the corps de ballet. Interpreted for the first time by the artists of the Scaliger ballet last May, on seven tracks from the album The Color in Anything by composer James Blake, ‘Blake Works I’ refers, in the costumes, to the academic tradition and explores the many angles of this tradition , which underlies all ballet technique, but on the other hand, as the choreographer points out, “celebrates the delicious tension that arises from introducing a choreographic exception to the conventional rules of ballet”.

With ‘Blake Works I’ created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2016 William Forsythe began a project of exploration into the music of James Blake, a seven-year project which at La Scala, with Blake Works V, saw its crowning and premiere complete version. At Orange for ‘Blake Works I’ some of the protagonist artists of that debut will emerge Martina Arduino, Alice Mariani, Alessandra Vassallo, Linda Giubelli, Benedetta Montefiore, Marco Agostino, Claudio Coviello, Nicola Del Freo, Christian Fagetti, Navrin Turnbull, Edward Cooper, Alessandro Paoloni, Andrea Risso, Rinaldo Venuti.

2023 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Rudolf Nureyev, and La Scala remembers him by bringing back to the stage, in the historic Scala productions, two of his most loved and most performed ballets. After The Nutcracker, which opened the season, in September the Lago di lui will also be resumed, absent since 2014 and an extract of which is anticipated in Orange. When ‘his’ Lago arrives at La Scala in 1990, Nureyev keeps to himself the key, equivocal, specular role of Wolfgang / Rothbart. But it is for the Prince that Nureyev creates difficult variations, placing him at the center of all dramaturgical lines. In Rudolf Nureyev’s reading, the absolute protagonist is Siegfried, a romantic prince with a melancholy rather than heroic, contemplative and meditative soul.

The culmination of this evening in Orange is therefore with history, tradition, the great repertoire, with the ballet blanc of the second act and its white swans. Nicoletta Manni will embody the role of Odette and Timofej Andrijashenko the role of Siegfried, Christian Fagetti will be Rothbart and next to them Alessandra Vassallo, Gaia Andreanò, Maria Celeste Losa, Caterina Bianchi (Four big swans) Agnese Di Clemente, Giordana Granata, Linda Giubelli, Marta Gerani (Four small swans) and the ballet company of the Teatro alla Scala.