program notes

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

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'

Coppelia 2019-20 Audio Intro - Part 1

The Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden is home to The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet.

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

The Royal Ballet and Opera

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