The Mikhailovsky Theatre’s 182nd season will open on 8 September with a programme of three one-act ballets, including the first premire of the season, Class Concert. Over the course of the evening, the audience will see Marius Petipa’s Le Halte de cavalerie, one of the gems of the classical tradition, as well as Nacho Duato’s White Darkness, the final ballet premire of last season.
Asaf Messerer’s celebrated choreographic composition, Class Concert, is a dense and imaginative transcription of the ballet dancer’s journey from beginner’s exercises to the heights of virtuosity. Class Concert, which was originally produced in the late 1950s for the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, continues the tradition for stage compositions with a ballet lesson theme. In the history of choreography, the work stands alongside renowned compositions such as August Bournonville’s Le Conservatoire (1848), and Harald Lander’s tudes (1948).
The entire arsenal of classical technique is represented in this short production as the theatre’s Ballet Master in Chief, Mikhail Messerer, recreates his uncle’s production for the Mikhailovsky company. For the ballet stars he has chosen to enact it, Class Concert gives their individual talents the opportunity to shine. At the premire, the audience will see performances by Natalia Osipova, Ekaterina Borchenko, Angelina Vorontsova, Anastasiya Soboleva, Ivan Vasiliev, Leonid Sarafanov, Friedemann Vogel, Victor Lebedev, and Ivan Zaytsev. Students from the Vaganova Ballet Academy will be performing alongside the professionals.
This performance of Class Concert at the Mikhailovsky Theatre is sponsored by construction company LenSpetsStroy. The producer, academic Dmitry Astafiev, considers Class Concert to be “among the works of the Soviet period that should be considered national treasures.” In his words, he considers it “a great honour to contribute to the recreation of this piece for the stars of the Mikhailovsky company.”

News source: Mikhailovsky Theatre
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