The ballet of the Sofia Opera presents on 28 JANUARY, at 16:00 h, the famous ballets “Carmen Suite” and “Rhapsody in Blue” – two one act ballets, which are demanded and awaited by the spectators.
The music of the ballet “Carmen Suite” was written by the composer Rodion Shchedrin – a marvellous interpretation of Georges Bizet’s music of genius.
The ballet “Carmen Suite” was created specially for the great Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, choreographer and director is Alberto Alonso, and the premiere was at the Bolshoi Theatre in April 1967. More than forty years ago, this spectacle was shown also on the Sofia stage, at the guest-performance of the Cuban National Ballet. The role of Carmen was recreated by another great ballerina – Alicia Alonso.
What is the story of this ballet?
One evening the Cuban National Ballet had a guest-performance in Moscow. When Maya Plisetskaya saw the staging of “El Salar” by Alberto Alonso, she understood right away that this was the choreographer, able to stage “Carmen” in a different way, untraditionally, escaping the mawkish pseudo Spanish style of the ballet classics.
She found herself behind the curtain, very eager to meet the maestro. She saw Alberto and turned directly to him with the words: “Would you like to make “Carmen”? For me.” He cried out: “How did you read my thoughts? This is my dream!” About Maya Plisetskaya Alberto Alonso said that she was the 100% Carmen – a real embodiment of rebelliousness and irreconcilability. Maya Plisetskaya herself in more than one or two interviews shared that for her this was the role of her life; something more, in it she put a political message: the main character is a symbol of the free personality, leading a fatal fight with the authorities of that time. Not less difficult than the fight with the Soviet culture bearers was also the searching for music. After the refusal of Shostakovich and Khachaturian, the composer Rodion Shchedrin (husband of Maya Plisetskaya) created the orchestration, inspired by the rehearsals.
This way Mérimée’s moving plot and the depth of feelings in Bizet’s opera acquired a philosophical touch in the ballet suite. “Carmen” is an amazing quintessence of passionate emotions and strong characters, expressed through the content of the novella and the music of the composers.
The ballet “Rhapsody in Blue”
The unforgettable “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin will be shown again in the Opera. It will be presented in the conquering interpretation of the choreographer and director of this production Riolina Topalova.
In full harmony with the symbolic and the messages of the evergreen rhapsody are the sets and the multimedia vision. They present to us a lovely blue background of heavenly images, an ethereal flight through loving phantasms and a pale, big moon, which becomes witness of the filled with love dance of life.
About “Rhapsody in Blue” the choreographer Riolina Topalova tells: “Gershwin’s music provoked me itself, because till now everything which I staged was to classical music. Gershwin gave me the possibility to search for a new symbolic and plastics of the classical movements. I set a high bar not only in front of myself, but also in front of the entire ballet company – for synchronization of many technical elements with the artistic appearances. For me “Rhapsody in Blue” is a supreme experience. It is such also for our artists. It will be a strong emotion for the audience too.”
CARMEN
Characters and cast:
Carmen Katerina Petrova
José Emil Yordanov
Escamillo Tsetso Ivanov
Zuniga Elenko Ivanov
Fate Venera Hristova
Soloists and ensemble of the ballet of the Sofia Opera
Assistant Choreographer Sonia Alonso
Set Designer Boryan Belchev
Costume Designer Hristiana Mihaleva-Zorbalieva
Assistant Director and Stage Manager Riolina Topalova
Répétiteurs Maria Ilieva, Yasen Valchanov
The spectacle is performed with the special authorization of
Musikverlag Hans Sikorski GmbH&Co. KG, Hamburg
RHAPSODY IN BLUE
Ballet on music by George Gershwin
Choreographer and Director Riolina Topalova
Soloists and ensemble of the ballet of the Sofia Opera
The spectacle is performed to recorded music.
Stage: Main Hall
Duration – 2:20
