Details

Originally called Chopiniana, Les Sylphides, seen this Season in a new staging my Monica Mason, is set to a sequence of Frederic Chopin's polonaises, mazurkas and waltzes for piano. Mikhail Fokine's choreography recreates the soft lines and lilting ballon of the Romantic style as a poet dances with a group of winged forest sprites or "sylphides". British choreographer Alastair Marriott who has enjoyed critical and audience acclaim with new work Sensorium created for The Royal Ballet's First Drafts in the Clore and Being and Having Been as part of the Inspired by Diaghilev Programme in the Linbury 2004 makes his third main stage work for the Company. His two previous main stage ballets are Tanglewood (2005) and Children of Adam (2007). The Firebird was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for Ballet Russes in 1910 and has subsequently been reworked by many choreographers, including both George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. In 1926 Diaghilev commissioned Natalia Gontcharova to redesign The Firebird after deterioration of the original Golovine designs. She produced a dazzling array of vibrant costumes and one of the most glorious and memorable backcloths used in ballet. The narrative, based on various Russian folk tales, follows Prince Ivan as he captures a magical firebird while out hunting and, in exchange for her freedom, he is given one of her feathers. Ivan then encounters a group of young women, led by the beautiful Tsarevna with whom he instantly falls in love only to be captured by the evil Kostchei's slaves and monsters. He summons the Firebird with her feather and she destroys Kostchei, freeing both Prince Ivan and the Tsarevna who marry in the ballet's magnificent final tableau.

Cast/Performers

Sarah Lamb, Marianela Nunez, Alexandra Ansanelli, Lauren Cuthbertson, Isabel McMeekan, Mara Galeazzi, Rupert Pennefather, David Makhateli, Yohei Sasaki, Valeri Hristov, Leanne Benjamin, Alina Cojocaru, Emma Maguire, Mellissa Hamilton, Federico Bonelli, Steven McRea, Ludovic Ondiviela, Steven McRae, Edward Watson, Tamara Rojo, Johan Kobborg

Creatives/Company

Producer: Royal Ballet
Conductor: Barry Wordsworth
Music(s): Frederic Chopin (Les Sylphides), Debussy (Sensorium), Colin Matthews (Sensorium - orchestations), Igor Stravinsky (The Firebird)
Choreographer(s): Mikhail Fokine (Les Sylphides), Alastair Marriott (Sensorium), Mikhail Fokine (The Firebird)
Design(s): Alexandre Benois (Les Sylphides), Adam Wiltshire (Sensorium), Natalia Gontcharova (The Firebird)
Other(s): Monica Mason (Les Sylphides), Sergey Grigoriev (original staging - The Firebird), Lubov Tchernicheva (original staging - The Firebird), Christopher Carr (The staging - Firebird)
Lighting: John B Read (Sensorium)