program notes

Jane Pritchard, Curator for Dance at the V&A discusses the early career of ballet choreographer Frederick Ashton. 

The Insight event examined Ashton's early career including his admiration for Anna Pavlova and being taught by Marie Rambert. It also examined some of the choreographer's works that were performed during the 2012/13 Season such as La valse, the first production of which by Bronislava Nijinska featured Ashton performing on stage. Ashton's use of dancers and the stage.

Frederick Ashton Insight

The Royal Ballet Principal talks in detail about his love for MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet.

Award-winning and internationally-acclaimed Royal Ballet Principal Steven McRae, is a delightfully versatile performer. Whether cast as the love-struck Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake or the tap dancing Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Sydney-born dancer raises up to and excels in every challenge. But if there is one role he confesses is ‘in my blood and in my bones’, it’s the title character of Romeo and Juliet, which the ballet star learnt and first performed on very short notice.

‘I was at home on a Saturday evening and at midnight I got this phone call from [Royal Ballet Principal] Roberta Marquez,’ McRae recalls of his early years as a Soloist at the Company. ‘She said: "I’m in Paris, and I’ve just done Don Quixote, but I have to do it again tomorrow, and my partner just hurt himself. Can you come and do it?"' He accepted instantly.

Despite having never danced with the ballerina, and arriving at the theatre with just under an hour to spare before curtain call, his performance was so well received that, upon his return to London, he was asked to understudy the part of Romeo. It didn’t take long for him to debut in that role: ‘The next day [former Principal] Johan Kobborg hurt himself, so that’s when my chance appeared’.

For McRae, Romeo was not just a turning point in his life and career, but also a role he feels he has made his own. ‘I had watched every single show since joining the Company, so when it came to actually doing it, I guess I knew it.’ But he recognises that much of his success with the ballet is down to Kenneth MacMillan’s amazing choreography: ‘The man was a genius. If you let the steps do the talking, it works.’

Steven McRae on Romeo and Juliet (Full interview)

Known for his pristine technique and princely grace, Matthew Golding joined The Royal Ballet as a Principal earlier this year. ‘It’s a dream [come true], really nice to finally be here,’ he told the audience at a recent Insight event at the Royal Opera House. ‘I was a fan of the Company, watching Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo give the best shows, thinking that maybe one day it could be me,’ the Canadian dancer reveals. ‘You watch these videos on YouTube of Carlos doing these roles, and now I have a chance to do them!’

Golding will soon dance as the barber Basilio, a lead role that Acosta himself performed last year in his own, acclaimed production of Don Quixote. There are different versions of this ballet classic – Golding himself recently danced in one in Hong Kong – but he confesses he prefers the Acosta choreography: ‘He’s really talented as a choreographer as well [as a dancer] – he knows what he wants in his productions – I’d never heard flamenco music at the opera house!’

Starring alongside him will be Principal Natalia Osipova, who’s been cast as Basilio’s lover, Kitri. International fans and critics alike have long admired the Russian ballerina’s dazzling versatility and technical abilities. ‘She is special,’ Golding says resoundingly. ‘Her energy is endless… she does not get tired! All that experience at all those theatres that she’s sold out – she cares a lot!’

But no challenge is too big for Golding either: ‘I’ve always felt it inside that I wanted to express myself [through dance]. It felt right to move.’ And now, even with the demands of his busy schedule of rehearsals and shows, for him dancing continues to feel that way. ‘When you go on stage here and you see the Opera House, [you know] there’s a reason why the show is tonight.’

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Matthew Golding on Don Quixote, dancing with Natalia Osipova and ballet as a calling

Among Bach’s most beloved and celebrated works, his six Brandenburg Concertos demonstrate some of the most daring and innovative instrumental scoring in the entire Baroque repertoire. Whether the ground-breaking blend of hunting horns and oboes with strings of No. 1, the bright piccolo trumpet of No. 2 (which inspired Paul McCartney’s Penny Lane) or the remarkable No. 5 in which the harpsichord strikes out alone above the orchestra for virtuosic glory, this flawless collection of gems is pure delight.

CSO Program Note: Bach Brandenburg Concertos

Although The Nutcracker is the work that introduces Tchaikovsky to many music lovers, the composer didn’t have high hopes for its future. 

CSO Program Notes: The Nutcracker and Petrushka

Manfred Honeck returns to Chicago to conduct three masterpieces from the Austro-German tradition. The lilting dance-rhythms of Haydn’s Symphony No. 93 and rambunctious rhythms of Beethoven’s Seventh, described by Wagner as “the apotheosis of the dance,” frame Richard Strauss’ Don Juan. In Strauss’ depiction of the legendary lover, a brazen horn call announces a swaggering Don Juan, whose numerous romantic conquests lead to a tragic finale.

CSO Program Notes: Beethoven 7

Paul Lewis returns to the CSO for Beethoven’s most beloved and charming piano concerto. Vasily Petrenko has equally been acclaimed for his performances of 20th-century Russian repertoire, and this performance of Rachmanino's wryly apocalyptic Symphonic Dances is sure to be a roof-raiser.

CSO Program Notes: Lewis Plays Beethoven Emperor

When he died at only 35 years of age, Mozart left his Requiem uncompleted, yet it is undoubtedly among his most magnificent achievements. Who can forget the fiery “Confutatis,” which alternates between male voices damning the wicked and ethereal women’s voices invoking the Lord to take innocent souls to heaven? Or the poignant “Lacrimosa”? Pianist Rudolf Buchbinder opens the program with Mozart’s turbulent Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor.

CSO Program Notes: Mozart Requiem

Royal Ballet’s Director Kevin O'Hare gives the inside track on a national dance scene with a plethora of young talent.

For decades, Britain has undoubtedly been one of the most exciting places to be a dancer and a choreographer. The British style is world-renowned, built on the rich heritage of Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan as well as iconic ballerinas like Margot Fonteyn and Darcey Bussell. But ballet training in Britain today looks forwards as well as backwards. For The Royal Ballet’s Director Kevin O’Hare, ‘British dance is having a renaissance.’

Kevin O'Hare on the UK ballet scene

Tchaikovsky's soul-stirring masterpiece, the Sixth Symphony, is among the greatest landmarks in the symphonic repertoire. The first movement's tender love theme for strings and the scherzo's electrifying march are just two highlights in a work of deep emotion. Scriabin's Second Symphony presents an enticing mix of drama and lyricism that leads to a spectacularly triumphant ending.

CSO Program Notes: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6

In his Tchaikovsky symphonic series, Riccardo Muti reaches perhaps the most lively: Symphony No. 2, with its light-hearted opening, swaggering second movement processional and joyous finale. Beethoven's noble Triple Concerto artfully showcases the lyrical expressiveness of the violin and cello, beautifully played here by CSO members Stephanie Jeong and Kenneth Olsen and pianist Jonathan Biss.

CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Beethoven

Charles Dutoit leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program brimming with Gallic charm, color and variety. Canadian pianist Louis Lortie is the soloist in Franck's beguiling Symphonic Variations and D'Indy's delightful Symphony on a French Mountain Air. Bookending these works are two of Ravel's most ravishing scores: the sensuous Rapsodie espagnole and the Second Suite from his ballet, Daphnis et Chloe, with its glorious opening dawn music.

CSO Program Notes: Dutoit Conducts Ravel

Revered cellist and CSO Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Yo-Yo Ma joins Concertmaster Robert Chen for a touching and tender duet in Saint-Saens' La muse et le poete, then returns as soloist in Lalo's noble and lyrical Cello Concerto. In the first half of this program, Charles Dutoit conducts Debussy's otherworldly The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Ravel's poignant Valses nobles et sentimentales.

CSO Program Notes: Charles Dutoit and Yo-Yo Ma

"Mitsuko Uchida's annual visit to Orchestra Hall rank among the most life-affirming experiences granted to local concertgoers" (Chicago Tribune). The Japanese pianist, renowned for her Mozart interpretations, returns to play and conduct two of Mozart's most beautiful and uplifting concertos. Uchida also accompanies soprano Dorothea Röschmann in a Schumann song cycle, which movingly traces the intimate thoughts of a woman about her beloved.

CSO Program Notes: Uchida Plays Mozart

Russian dancer Vadim Muntagirov joined The Royal Ballet as a Principal in 2014, having danced with English National Ballet as a principal after training at The Royal Ballet School. At this ROH Insight, he talks about his career in ballet so far.

Aged seven, Muntagirov began dancing in his home city of Chelyabinsk before moving to Perm State Choreographic College two years later, an overnight train journey away. It was tough living far from home, he recalls, but like many children in Russia, ‘we didn’t really have a choice because [ballet] was such a typical Russian discipline. Crazy, angry teachers were smacking you and you had to work 200%’.

Moving to London to study at The Royal Ballet School was a big change. ‘It was completely different compared to Russia,’ he says, ‘because in Russia we would have bigger jumps and concentrated on turning, but in England it’s more about the small technique’. The English tradition, built on the rich heritage of Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan, is known for its sharp and intricate footwork. ‘Russia is very famous for classical ballets, when you do pirouettes and jumps. But I think for every Russian dancer it’s a dream to dance MacMillan and Ashton ballets.’

Royal Ballet Principal Vadim Muntagirov: 'It's a dream to dance MacMillan and Ashton ballets'

English dancer Matthew Ball was born in Liverpool and trained at The Royal Ballet School. He graduated into The Royal Ballet in 2013 and has quickly made a name for himself, dancing roles including Romeo in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, and creating a role in Christopher Wheeldon's new ballet Strapless. In 2016 he was named Best Emerging Artist (Classical) at the Critics' Circle Award. He speaks to BBC Merseyside about his career so far.

Ball began ballet at the age of six, encouraged by his mum: 'She danced herself and she took all of me and my siblings to dance class – my sister did it until she was 16, my brother did it for two weeks and I just took to it'. Moving away from home aged 11 to study at The Royal Ballet School was hard but 'I was quite insistent that this is what I wanted to do and had to do'.

On his feelings about winning Best Emerging Artist Ball admits 'I was so happy to be nominated for it even. To have that kind of recognition… it's a real confidence boost'.

English dancer Matthew Ball on what it takes to dance with The Royal Ballet

‘In Trovatore you feel a man with endless imagination and endless inspiration, endless power’, says conductor Gianandrea Noseda, who leads The Royal Opera's current performances http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/il-trovatore-by-david-bosch.

Noseda is acclaimed around the world for his performances in opera houses and concert halls, but remarkably makes his Royal Opera debut in July 2016. For these long-overdue appearances he is conducting a key work by Giuseppe Verdi – someone Noseda considers ‘one of the greatest geniuses in the history of music’.

Il trovatore has become notorious for its dark and fiery plot, which sees one of the largest body counts in Italian opera – and that’s saying something. For Noseda, Verdi draws on this energy and passion to produce music that pushes opera to its limits:

‘Where is the limit I can go without destroying the operatic form? Where is the limit? If I go over, there is no opera. It’s like he wanted to make an atomic explosion underground and to try to control it, you know, “poom!”. He liked to take risks.'

For Noseda, the integrity of Verdi’s music means it will always have a contemporary relevance:

‘Verdi never composed a note of music without a wider picture. He didn’t write music for the sake of beautiful music. For instance, what is strong about Trovatore? We have two different worlds: the conservative; the revolutionary. It’s the typical story of the world. Verdi’s a bit like that in all his stories. It’s like he puts a mirror in front of us; the mirror is the stage. That’s why I think opera is still very vital in our society.'

‘The kind of music that arrives directly to your heart’ – Conductor Gianandrea Noseda on Verdi

Michael Tilson Thomas returns to conduct seminal Russian works including Tchaikovsky’s profound and beloved Sixth Symphony. Nicola Benedetti brings her “pure and gleaming,” (The New York Times) sound to Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto.

CSO Program Notes: Tilson Thomas Conducts Tchaikovsky 6

Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado leads a program of Russian masterworks including Tchaikovsky's First Symphony, which showcases the composer's sense of drama, orchestral color and melody. Simon Trpčeski brings his “electrifying virtuosity” (The London Times) to Rachmaninov’s formidable Third Piano Concerto.

CSO Program Notes: Rachmaninov Tchaikovsky

David Afkham makes his highly anticipated return to conduct the CSO in Beethoven’s noble Emperor Concerto and Dvořák’s dramatic Seventh Symphony. “Afkham rocked Orchestra Hall with an exciting debut. The audience was up on its feet in an instant, roaring for more” (Chicago Tribune).

program notes

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