Schedule

A classic French ballet, Coppélia was choreographed in 1870 at the Opera de Paris, drawing inspiration from the evolution of society and the choreographer’s imagination. Featuring 40 dancers, the action takes place in the America of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Jérôme Robbins and echoes the style and spirit of Broadway musicals and Hollywood fantasies. This modern and fast-paced version was performed by Ballet de l'Opéra national de Bordeaux at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 2010.

The Prague Ballet Gala is an exclusive dance event at the beautiful Prague State Opera featuring performances by leading ballet stars. Among these stunning dancers are Dmitri and Daniil Simkin, Maria Alexandrova and Sergey Filine, Jean Jacques Herment, and Viviana Franciosi. They present their favourite classical and modern pieces from legendary choreographers such as George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, José Limón and John Neumeier.

'La Bayadère' is a three-act ballet by the French choreographer Marius Petipa. Set in 19th-century India, 'La Bayadère' tells the sad love story of the noble warrior Solor and his Nikia, a temple dancer or 'bayadère', who is poisoned by her rival, Gamzatti. The ballet features one of the most celebrated scenes of classical ballet, namely 'The Kingdom of the Shades'. In this iconic scene, Solor dreams, under the influence of opium, of reuniting with his beloved Nikia. This production of the ballet features the revised choreography by Vladimir Ponomarev and Vakhtang Chabukiani (1941), and includes dances by Konstantin Sergeyev and Nikolai Zubkovsky. The ballet’s music, composed by Ludwig Minkus, is performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra under the direction of Boris Gruzin. Among the performers are Viktoria Tereshkina, Anastasia Matvienko, Vladimir Shklyarov, and Vladimir Ponomarev. This performance was recorded at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, in July 2014.

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker is one of the best known and most beloved pieces from the composer. The music has inspired many choreographers to the tell the colourful Christmas fairy-tale of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Alexandre Dumas senior in the language of dance. Ben Stevenson is to this day considered one of the most important influencers of the American ballet art. For almost thirty years, he has been the art director of the Houston Ballet, and under his leadership the company has grown into an internationally acknowledged ballet theatre. Since the year 2003 he’s held the position of Artistic Director of the Texas Ballet. His stage productions have earned several awards and praise from the critics, and have been staged at Opéra de Paris, Canadian National Ballet, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, London City Ballet etc. This performance of the Nutcracker is recorded at the Teatro La Fenice (Venice) in 2012. With the Estonian National Ballet and star dancers Vladislav Lantratov and Galina Laush.