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Home , A Fairy Tale, Bluebeard (ballet), Ivan Vsevolozhsky, La Sylphide, Pas de trois, Russian ballet

RUSSIAN NATIONAL : Wednesday, January 22, 2020; 7:30 pm THE SLEEPING BEAUTY: Thursday, January 23, 2020; 2 & 7:30 pm Media Sponsor

A Columbia Artists Production Direct from , RUSSIAN NATIONAL OF 50

Artistic Director: Elena Radchenko

Company Biography

The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s, when many of the great dancers and choreographers of the ’s ballet institutions were exercising their new- found creative freedom by starting new, vibrant companies dedicated not only to the timeless tradition of classical but to invigorate this tradition as the Russians began to accept new developments in the dance from around the world.

The company, then titled the Soviet National Ballet, was founded by and incorporated graduates from the great Russian choreographic schools of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Perm. The principal dancers SWAN LAKE Photo: Alexander Daev of the company came from the upper ranks of the great ballet companies and academies of Russia, and the companies of Riga, Kiev and even Warsaw. Today, the Russian National Ballet Theatre SWAN LAKE is its own institution, with over 50 dancers of singular instruction and vast experience, many of whom have been with the company Full-length Ballet in Four Acts since its inception. Music by Choreography by , and Yuri Grigorovich In 1994, the legendary Bolshoi Elena Radchenko Restaging by Elena Radchenko, assistant Alexander Daev was selected by Presidential decree to assume the first permanent Synopsis by Vladimir Begichev and Vasily Geltser artistic directorship of the company. Ms. Radchenko is the founder Sets and costumes by Kirill Andreev, Sergei and Elena Radchenko of the Russian National Ballet Theatre, and she has focused the Lighting by Marina Borodina Company on upholding the grand national tradition of the major Premiere: March 4, 1877 , Moscow Russian ballet works and developing new talents throughout Rus- sia, with a repertory of virtually all of the great full works of Peti- ACT I pa: , La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Ray- The Garden of Prince Siegfried’s Castle monda, , Coppelia and , as well as productions of, among others, , Sylvia, and La Fille Mal Gardee. ACT II A Lakeside

— Intermission —

ACT III The Great Hall of Siegfried’s Castle

ACT IV TOUR BOOKED AND PRODUCED BY COLUMBIA ARTISTS The Lakeside

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Program Notes

ACT I The Garden of Prince Siegfried’s Castle

Odette ...... Hanna Zimovchenko Prince Siegfried has come of age and entered upon a new world of Maria Klueva Maria Sokolnikova affairs of war and the burdens of manhood. It is the day for leaving behind the whims and caprice of youth. A happy day for the Prince, Odylle ...... Hanna Zimovchenko though touched by anxiety. The kindly jester and tutor who have Maria Klueva been the Prince’s loving companions since his childhood are the Alexandra Krukova first to congratulate him. He greets his companions and joyfully Maria Sokolnikova accepts the congratulations of all the residents of the Castle.

Queen Mother ...... Natalia Ivanova The Prince’s subjects come from far and wide to take part in the festivities. They confer upon him the sword and scepter of authority Prince Siegfried ...... Nurlan Kinerbaev and swear allegiance to their new ruler. His mother, the Queen

Mother of the Realm, presents him with an arbalest as a gift and Dmitriy Sitkevich ...... Evgeniy Ermakov reminds him that the time has come to choose a bride and that he Prince’s Tutor ...... Victor Zabelin must make the fateful decision at tomorrow’s ball. He is eager to contemplate this life change in silence. The festivities continue, Von Rothbart ...... Alexander Daev but the Prince is overcome by a desire to be alone, far from his guests. As he begins to search the contents of his heart he notices Jester ...... Vladimir Tapkharov a flight of white swans heading toward the nearby lake. He is Erkinbek Aubakirov inspired and follows them there, disappearing into the night.

Hungarian Bride ...... Azhar Ergesheva ACT II A Lakeside Italian Bride ...... Elena Halushka

Polish Bride ...... Daria Lednikova The voyage to the lake takes the Prince into the depths of the forest. He approaches the Swans quietly and as he nears he sees Russian Bride ...... Elena Khorosheva something quite out of the ordinary. The Swans have stepped ashore and assumed human form! Siegfried lowers the crossbow, Spanish Dance ...... Milena Stashina astonished with their striking beauty. He gathers his courage and reveals himself. Odette, the swan’s Queen tells him of their terrible ...... Elena Galushka curse. They are all at the mercy of the wicked sorcerer Rotbart Alexandra Krukova and only by finding true love can the evil spell be lifted. Siegfried, Vladimir Tapkharov overcome with love at first sight, swears to her an everlasting love. Evgeniy Ermakov As the sun begins to dawn, Odette warns him that if he breaks his

oath, nothing will be able to help them. The Prince is completely Cygnets ...... Alexandra Krukova Daria Lednikova overcome by the incomparable and exquisite delicacy of Odette, Lidia Vasileva and swears that he will return and free her from the evil spell. Elena Halushka As the sunlight touches them, the women transform back into Swans, cloaked in silence.

Plus the — Intermission —

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ACT III The Great Hall of Prince Siegfried’s Castle

The castle resounds to the clamor of festivities. Renowned Princesses from Hungary, Russia, Spain, Italy and Poland are presented to the Prince. He must choose one of them as his bride, in order to strengthen his authority and consolidate his power. However, in none of these royal heiresses does he find a maiden comparable to Odette, to whom he has given his heart. He rejects them all.

With an overwhelming blare of trumpets, a couple of new guests are announced. The evil sorcerer, Rotbart, enters in the guise of a noble knight, and following close behind is his daughter, Odylle, who looks remarkably like Odette. The similarity is so close, in fact, that Siegfried believes, if only for a split second, that it is Odette standing there before him. Odylle seizes the brief moment of illusion as an opportunity and will not allow him to find his senses. She becomes a bewitching temptress, luring him, hypnotizing him, and tricking him into confessing his undying love to her! In this hypnotic stupor, he proclaims that Odylle is to be his bride. Rotbard has triumphed! Siegfried has broken his oath to Odette, betraying her by professing love to another, thereby dooming Odette and the others to an eternity under Rotbart’s evil power. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Suddenly a vision of the Swan Lake appears before Siegfried’s Photo: Alexander Daev eyes, snapping him back into reality. He realizes the terrible mistake he has made. In despair he leaves the palace and hurries THE SLEEPING BEAUTY to Odette at the Lake. Ballet in two acts with prologue and apotheosis ACT IV The Lakeside Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography by Elena Radchenko after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov Night falls again on the Lake. The swan maidens are anxious, for Synopsis by Marius Petipa and if the Prince does not fulfill his vow to set them free, they will after ’s fairytale La belle au bois dormant be doomed to everlasting captivity. The sorcerer raises a raging Stage version by Elena Radchenko storm to conceal the Swan Lake behind a screen of dark clouds, Sets by Lev Solodovnikov But the Prince rushes headlong through the storm to Odette. The Costumes by Simon Virsaladze Additional choreography and staging by Iryna Kovalova sorcerer attempts to conceal her from him, but no power can stop Premiere: January 16, 1890 Marinski Theatre, St. Petersburg the young man whose heart is so full of love. PROLOGUE The Prince overcomes all obstacles, and the spell cast by the evil sorcerer is dashed forever on the rock of true love. ACT I The Spell

— Intermission —

ACT II, Scene One The Vision

ACT II, Scene Two The Awakening

ACT III The Wedding

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Princess Aurora ...... Alexandra Krukova Program Notes Maria Kluyeva Hanna Zimovchenko The Sleeping Beauty, a crowning jewel of Marius Petipa’s career, is often considered the finest achievement of the . Prince Désiré ...... Vladimir Tapkharov It is a grandiose and refined blending of the traditional mime, Dmitriy Sitkevich Nurlan Kinerbayev expressive pas d’action and spectacular in a lavish theatrical setting. Tchaikovsky was delighted with the King Florestan ...... Anton Sigidin invitation to write the music for a ballet based on Charles Perrault’s well-known fairy tale. A baby princess, condemned at her Queen ...... Natalia Ivanova or christening by an evil fairy to prick her finger and die on her 16th Veronika Ermakova birthday, is saved by the gift of the good Lilac Fairy, who declares the princess will only sleep until awakened by the kiss of a prince. Master of Ceremonies ...... Victor Zabelin The fairytale, replete with a king and queen, fairies both good and

evil, a beautiful princess and dream prince, magical stage effects, Fairy Carabosse ...... Evgeniy Rudakov and courtly splendor, lent itself perfectly to the full evening ballet Lilac Fairy ...... Elena Khorosheva that was Petipa’s pride.

Fairy Tenderness ...... Daria Lednikova Although different productions have cast the kingdom of King Florestan and his Queen in varying centuries, it is really a storybook Fairy Boldness ...... Elena Galushka kingdom set in the realm of the imagination. In the Prologue, the hall of the palace where the christening is about to take place is Fairy Generosity ...... Azhar Ergesheva resplendent with color, and imposing with its high ceilings and

great stone archways. The master of ceremonies, pages, heralds, Fairy Carelessness ...... Milena Stashina ladies in waiting, and finally the King and Queen all promenade Fairy Canary ...... Sabina Omorova or into the royal setting, looking most distinguished in their elaborate Lidia Vasileva dress. Next, the fairies of the kingdom join the scene of courtly pageantry with the Lilac Fairy, six cavaliers and maids of honor 4 qavalers ...... Evgenii Ermakov entering last. All dance in honor of the King and Queen and baby Nurlan Kinerbaev Aurora, about to be christened. Each of the fairies dances her Artem Deberdeev own solo, presenting a gift to the Princess. Just as the Lilac Fairy Oleg Pichugin finishes her dance a strange and frightening rumble is heard. Its meaning soon becomes clear: the master of ceremonies has Princess Florine ...... Maria Sokolnikova Daria Lednikova forgotten to invite the evil Fairy Carabosse! The grotesque woman, her face a white mask, her long dress black and tattered, enters in Blue Bird ...... Evgenii Ermakov a huge black coach drawn by four ugly rats. Stepping down, she Emil Makarichev gesticulates with her hand and threatens with her stick that they will have to pay the price for their omission. In mime, she delivers the White Cat ...... Sabina Omorova ominous curse that the Princess will prick her finger on a spindle and die. The master of ceremonies is in disgrace, the King and Puss-in-Boots ...... Pavel Bochkovskiy Queen are in despair. But the Lilac Fairy has not given her the

gift. She steps forward and assures the royal court that on her Little Red Riding Hood ...... Daria Lednikova Tatiana Iakovleva 16th Birthday the princess will indeed prick her finger, but then fall asleep for 100 years. Carabosse speeds off in a rage while Wolf ...... Emil Makarichev the others surround the infant’s cradle as if to protect her from further harm. Plus the Corps de Ballet

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The Sleeping Beauty was the first of Petipa’s classics to be seen declares her curse on Princess Aurora: she will prick her finger in Western Europe. Under the title The Sleeping Princess, it was on her sixteenth birthday and die. But all is not lost: the Lilac Fairy, presented by Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929) in London in 1921. In fortunately, has not yet granted her gift to the Princess. She 1939, it was remounted in Great Britain and has been considered acknowledges that Carabosse’s power is immense and she the foundation of the Classical ballet repertory in that country cannot completely reverse the curse. However, she declares, ever since. It has now been adopted worldwide, and performance though the Princess shall indeed prick her finger, she will not die, of the leading role remains a kind of initiation rite for aspiring but instead sleep for 100 years until she is awakened by the kiss ballerinas. of a prince. Carabosse departs, and the curtain falls as the good fairies surround the cradle. The Sleeping Beauty is a supreme demonstration of the challenge of Petipa’s style — steel point work, sharply accented spinning ACT I turns, soaring leaps, high extensions, brilliant battery (beats in The Spell the air), daring lifts and, in addition, it gives plot lavish stage treatment. However, its production actually checked a Act I opens at Aurora’s 16th birthday party. Brightly clad peasant growing tendency toward shapeless extravaganza in 19th century girls dance a with flower garlands. Holding the ballet, adhering closely to the principle of choreographic symphonism arched garlands overhead, they dance in multiple circles, weaving — like the composition of a symphony, it had a certain formal structure. in and out to a waltz tempo. All await the arrival of the Princess The Sleeping Beauty was choreographed in strict association with Aurora. The ballerina princess bursts onto the scene, dancing a Tchaikovsky’s music. There are themes developed and re- brief and vivacious solo in the manner of a carefree young girl. sumed throughout the ballet, and each act is a unity unto itself. She is then ceremoniously introduced to the four princes who Tchaikovsky willingly took instruction from Petipa as to the length have come to seek her hand. The Rose Adagio, the famous pas tempo and character of each musical sequence (as he would also d’action expressing a young girl’s blossoming into womanhood, do in The Nutcracker). The themes — a young girl’s coming of age is about to start. Aurora begins the adagio with one leg raised and the triumph of good over evil are developed dramatically and and bent behind her, one curved arm raised overhead. Some have musically during the course of the ballet. Each of the three acts read in this “attitude” pose, which Aurora repeats often, a kind of includes an Adagio for Princess Aurora, the first celebrating her gentle questioning or youthful uncertainty. One after the other, girlhood, the second her falling in love, and the third her marriage. each of the suitors turns and displays her while she maintains In these pas d’actions, Petipa makes fuller use than previous her pose. She releases the hand of the suitor supporting her, and choreographers of the dramatic potential of the Classical ballet, raising both of her arms overhead, balances momentarily, as if as when Aurora’s curved (questioning) attitudes become sharp tentatively testing her abilities. She then takes the arm of the (exclamatory) arabesques and her balances grow steadily surer. next prince and begins the sequence again. After a brief interlude in which the princess dances alone, she returns to accept a rose PROLOGUE from each of the suitors (hence the title, Rose Adagio). She pirouettes slowly and accepts each rose; one prince supports her while the King Florestan the XIVth declares a grand christening ceremony next offers his flower. At the end of the Adagio, she returns to to be held in honor of the birth of his daughter, Princess Aurora her attitude position, and supported in turn by each prince, she named after the dawn. An entourage of six fairies are invited to again releases her hand and balances for a little longer each time. the Christening to be godmothers to the child. They are the Finally, as she frees her hand from the clasp of the fourth prince, Candide Fairy, the Coulante Fairy, the Miettes Fairy, the Canari she again releases her hand and balances for a little longer each Fairy, the Violente Fairy and — most importantly — the Lilac Fairy, time. Finally as she frees her hand from the clasp of the fourth who is the last to arrive. As the fairies are happily granting gifts of prince, the curved attitude straightens into a sharp, arabesque ex- honesty, grace, prosperity, song and generosity, they are suddenly tension. She retains her balance poised confidently on one toe, as interrupted by the arrival of the wicked fairy Carabosse, who is if she has visibly come of age before the eyes of the adoring suitors. furious at the King’s failure to invite her to the ceremony. The King The Princess continues dancing a joyful solo until her attention is and Queen begin to remonstrate, and the Master of Ceremonies, suddenly distracted by a strange woman dressed in black who Catallabutte, intervenes to take responsibility, whereupon offers her an unfamiliar object. Before anyone can stop her, Carabosse rips off her wig, laughing. With spite and rage, Carabosse Aurora seizes the dreaded spindle. The unwary Princess pricks her finger, grows weaker, and falls to the floor in a swoon. Just as

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those assembled lapse into despair, the Lilac Fairy steps forward. ACT III Waving her wand soothingly, she reminds them that the Princess The Wedding will only sleep and she casts everyone into deep slumber along with her. The Lilac Fairy summons a forest of thorns, thickets, and The final act ushers us into a sumptuous hall, graced with enormous shrubbery to grow around the sleeping court. statuesque columns and a circular gold staircase crowned by a blue sky. It is here that the Royal Wedding of Prince Charming — Intermission — and Princess Aurora will take place. A full series of celebratory divertissements is performed by the inhabitants of fairyland. ACT II Puss ‘n Boots, and his wife, Goldilocks and a Bear, Scene One: The Vision Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf all dance. A highlight is the of the soaring Blue Bird and his Princess. First dancing Act II takes us to a neighboring kingdom 100 years later. Prince together and then separately, they compete with each other Charming and his lord and lady friends are out for a hunt. The spinning and fluttering in sparkling flight, sometimes jumping cheerful retinue amuse themselves with dances and games, but so high they seem virtually suspended in the air. The man’s the Prince is tired of everyday diversions and stays behind to in particular, which features many beating jumps while wander about alone. Suddenly the Lilac Fairy floats in on a boat he arches his body backwards and forward (brises voles) is one with gossamer sails. She offers to show the melancholy Prince a of the most famous and demanding in the international repertory. vision of Aurora. The Prince is utterly enchanted by the sight of The Bluebird’s Dance ends with the female lifted on the male’s the Princess dancing lyrically and romantically amidst a tableau shoulder. The celebration then climaxes with the de of fairies and nymphs, bathed in a bluish light. He pursues her but Deux danced by the Prince and Princess. They are regal, formal and can only hold the Princess in his arms for a moment before she confident dancing together. Prince Charming supports his bride’s eludes him and disappears. She is after all only a spectral image pirouettes and displays her long extensions and secure balances. conjured up by the Lilac Fairy. The Fairy offers to take the Prince The Prince jumps and spins during his solo and the Princess spins across the lake, through the dense and tangled forest, to the on pointe with even surer mastery than she showed in the Rose castle where the real Princess lies asleep. Adagio. Finally, Aurora whirls into the Prince’s arms and dives toward the floor; the Prince catches her around the waist and sup- ACT II ports her in the famous inverted pose known as the fish dive. All Scene Two: The Awakening join the bride and groom for a spirited mazurka and the Lilac Fairy, standing in their midst, bestows her blessing on the happy couple. The Prince approaches the canopied bed set on a high platform and, as the music heightens, he plants the awakening kiss. Aurora greets him. The King and Queen appear from either side of the stage and welcome the awakened Aurora and her Prince with joy.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Photo: Alexander Daev

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