HCMC – A Night of Ballet “Suite Ballet Carmen”

Fri 19 Jan 2018, 8 pm
HCMC Opera House

From the organizer:

In the 60’s, the ballet diva Maya Plisetskaya of Bolshoi requested Alberto Alonso to create for her a ballet based upon Bizet’s opera “Carmen”, and Alberto Alonso took it as an opportunity to experiment with the dancers of his Nacional de Cuba with moves taken from Cuban dances. Upon seeing the first rehearsals with Maya Plisetskaya, Rodion Shchedrin agreed to compose the music for his wife’s ballet, by restructuring the instrumental parts and employing new themes from Bizet’s “L’Arlesienne” and Massenet’s “Le Cid”, “Carmen Suite” the ballet was born.

Using the instrumentation for string and percussion, the music was “a meeting of creative minds” according to Shchedrin, in which Bizet’s melodies are dressed anew by means of fresh instruments and new rhythms. The ballet becomes Shchedrin’s most popular work and is still performed nowadays in the West.

“Carmen” re-appears in a fascinating light thanks to Alberto Alonso’s creativity. The Carmen Suite has conquered millions of art-loving hearts, simply with a focus on love, the relationships, the characters, the nature of love, uncompromising and genuine and lastly, the willingness to die in freedom.

For reference: Arias “Habanera” from the Suite Ballet Carmen, performed by Russian ballerina Diana Vishneva and other artists from Mariinsky Ballet:

The two other dance pieces, in the same program, is a nod to neoclassical ballet, choreographed respectively by Julien Guérin and Nguyen Phuc Hung.

‘Dépaysement’, the French word depicting the feeling of not being at home, of disorientation, being a stranger to the surroundings. The girl protagonist in the dance choreographed by Julien Guérin, starred by Hoang Yen, a forlorn soul, trying to find solace in others in her dreams only to eventually find herself in solitude. The music is very much modern, employing excerpts from Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in C Minor, Satie & Company Gnossienne No. 1, Gabriel Faure Huit Pièces Brèves Op.84, V. Improvisation, Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No.14 “Moonlight”, I. Adagio sostenuto, and Tomaso Albinoni & Remo Giazotto Adagio in G Minor; melancholic, sometimes rigorously, making the sorrows only more beautiful.

“Falling Angels” by Nguyen Phuc Hung is a new composition performed by two young talents Sung A Lung and Do Hoang Khang Ninh.

See the full program here.

Tickets

Admissions: 550.000 – 400.000 – 350.000 – 200.000 – 80.000VNĐ (for students, limited offer)
Booking and delivery: 028 38237419, Ms. Ngoc: 0903604539
At HCMC Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square
Online Booking: www.ticketbox.vn