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Egypt Independent
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Egypt Independent
Coppelia at Cairo Opera House in 5 performances starting Thursday
The Cairo Opera Ballet Company is presenting the world-class classical ballet Coppelia, accompanied by Cairo Opera Orchestra conducted by Maestro Mohamed Saad Pasha, in five performances across this week. The performances will begin at 9:00 pm on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday, May 8, 11, and 12, in addition to a gala performance at 2:00 pm on Friday, May 9, on the Grand Theater. Directed by Artistic Director Armenia Kamel, the ballet Coppelia is choreographed by Valentin Barty, with set design by Mohamed al-Gharbawy, lighting by Yasser Shalaan, costumes by Gianluca Saito, and music by French composer Léo Delibes. The Coppelia is a ballet inspired by the story of the famous German writer Ernst Hoffmann. The events take place in three acts in a village located between Hungary and Poland. It revolves around the beautiful wooden puppet Coppelia, created by the genius inventor Dr. Coppelius. The young Frans falls in love with her, believing her to be a real person. However, his lively fiancee, Solinda, carries out a clever trick with the help of the villagers to rid him of his illusions. Coppelia is a world-class ballet, first performed at the Paris Opera in 1870. It is a fantasy show characterized by dazzling visuals and the integration of artistic elements, including lighting, set design, and costumes. It has been performed on various stages worldwide and has been adapted in several artistic forms. This ballet aims to convey to the audience a dreamy, imaginative atmosphere sometimes characterized by joy and humor, and at other times by sadness, jealousy, and defiance. The Cairo Opera Ballet Company was founded in 1966 and was affiliated with the Higher Institute of Ballet. It presented its first performances in the same year, and it also presented its performances in many countries around the world, including Russia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germany, France and Tunisia. It became one of the troupes affiliated with the Opera House in 1991. Its repertoire includes several renowed international classical performances, including Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Don Quixote, The Rite of Spring, Hamlet, Lorcan, Carmina Burana, Bolero, Cinderella, Dances We Meet, and In Spite of Everything.
Washington Post
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
At the Met, an unsettling new vision of ‘Salome' unfolds like a dream
Describing the new Metropolitan Opera production of 'Salome' feels a bit like recounting the details of a dream — the lines start to blur, the colors begin to drain, the details dissolve in the telling. This, it seems, is by design. German director Claus Guth made his Met debut on Tuesday with a gripping vision of Richard Strauss's 1905 thriller that expands beyond the bounds of its single act into a surreal study of one of opera's most unhinged antiheroines. Strauss's built his 'Salome' upon a libretto by Hedwig Lachmann, itself a German translation of Oscar Wilde's scandalous 1893 play of the same name, which first plumbed the dark psychological potential of the biblical tale — like the lecherous gaze of Salome's stepfather King Herod, the erotic power of her 'Dance of the Seven Veils,' or her own lurid fascination with the body of the imprisoned Jochanaan (most notably his head). Guth's version feels fully situated in these subconscious levels. The setting is shifted from the first century A.D. to the waning years of the Victorian era — at times the monochromatic palace designed by Etienne Pluss (also making his Met debut) could be a model of Wilde's own dark imagination. This is especially so when the entire palace elevates to reveal a spindly staircase to the cavernous cistern below, where Jochanaan wastes away in chains. Guth's black-and-white treatment might suggest a minimalist approach, but the creative team maximizes possibilities without excess conceptual clutter. This includes Ursula Kudrna's costumes — like the animal masked revelers engaged in a pursuit out of 'Eyes Wide Shut'; Olaf Freese's lighting design, which destabilized the set with its shifting shadows; and Roland Horvath's projections, which conjured a sinister fizz of white dust rising from the palace floor — an insistent reminder of the cruelty below. But above the crisp conceptualization and clean execution of Guth's vision, 'Salome' soars thanks to a stellar cast of singers. Soprano Elza van den Heever debuted her Salome in Lydia Steier's 2022 production for Paris Opera, and her grip on the character was tight enough to leave marks. She brought the perfect balance of winsome innocence and iridescent rage to her performance, which highlighted the heat and heft of her instrument, but also her keen dramatic sensibilities. In addition to van den Heever, there are six other Salomes — ghostly iterations of the princess as she matures. They hang around the palace, lurk around the dungeon, and, one by one, perform a 'Dance of the Seven Veils' that sheds garish light on her unstable state. Baritone Peter Mattei, who recently sung Starbuck in the Met's 'Moby Dick,' was a magnificent Jochanaan. He was powerful enough bellowing from the offstage depths of the cistern, but was most moving in the flesh — his big voice in defiance of the pale, gaunt body coiled in the corner. Tenor Gerhard Siegel offered a dynamic and devilish Herod, his voice well-suited to the king's swings between power and impotence — especially as he tries to win his stepdaughter's affections ('Salome komm trink Wein mit mir'). Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung brought sharp intensity to her crimson-gowned Herodias. And tenor Piotr Buszewski sung a sympathetic Narraboth, whose departure in Guth's telling is a bit less self-imposed. The night's other big star was Met music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who ably steered the nonstop ride through Strauss's whirlwind score, including its cache of sound effects (like the rising winds in the strings, or those ugly pinched notes on double bass that anticipate Jochanaan's beheading). And he ensured that Strauss's orchestral palette burst with all of the colors forgone onstage by Guth — the music bristles with xylophone, harmonium, castanets and a lowing heckelphone (an oboe of sorts first deployed in 'Salome'). While Guth's 'Salome' is pulled between extremes — the unrelenting black of the palace and the chalk-white walls of the prison, for instance — the magic of this production is the way it illuminates the gray area in between, the unresolved traumas and unanswered questions. Guth sheds just enough light on the opera for us to see it anew, but smartly, not enough to wake us from the dream. 'Salome' runs at the Metropolitan Opera through May 24,
Boston Globe
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, sinuous ballet dancer and choreographer, dies at 82
He had worked briefly with George Balanchine, the co-founder and principal choreographer of City Ballet, at the Paris Opera in 1963, when the company performed Balanchine's 'The Four Temperaments.' Six years later, Balanchine asked Mr. Bonnefoux to replace an injured dancer in the title role of 'Apollo,' which he was staging at the German Opera Ballet in Berlin. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The four days Mr. Bonnefoux spent with Balanchine, who coached him in the role, were life-changing. 'It gave me the strength to go through 10 more years of dancing,' he told Barbara Newman in an interview for her 1982 book, 'Striking a Balance: Dancers Talk About Dancing.' Advertisement Knowing that 'someone like that exists somewhere,' he said, gave him a goal: 'You need to be amazed all the time, to be fresh, to be interested always.' Mr. Bonnefoux had an additional reason for wanting to join City Ballet. During a guest appearance at a gala with the Eglevsky Ballet on Long Island in 1968, he had fallen for McBride. It was 'love at first sight,' McBride said. 'I had never met anyone like him.' They married in 1973. Advertisement Over his 10-year career with City Ballet, Mr. Bonnefoux performed in a wide range of works, by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and other choreographers, which showcased his pure classical technique as well as his aptitude for contemporary movement. 'He was so beautiful physically,' Jean-Pierre Frohlich, a former dancer and a repertory director at City Ballet, said in an interview. 'He had a look that was very different to the dancers here, very sophisticated and elegant.' Although not considered a virtuoso dancer, Mr. Bonnefoux brought a sinuous grace and power to his roles, as well as a sharp theatrical intelligence. 'Mr. Bonnefous shaped the role with a cursive styling that suggested a Japanese woodcut,' Don McDonagh of The New York Times wrote of his performance in Balanchine's 'Bugaku' in 1975. 'He was powerful, but with the litheness of a large cat rather than a blunt muscularity.' Balanchine created roles for Mr. Bonnefoux in 'Stravinsky Violin Concerto' (1972), 'Cortège Hongrois' (1973), 'Sonatine' (1975), 'Union Jack' (1976), 'Étude for Piano' (1977), 'Vienna Waltzes' (1977), and 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' (1979); Robbins created roles for him in 'A Beethoven Pas de Deux' (1973), later known as 'Four Bagatelles,' and 'An Evening's Waltzes' (1973). In 1977, after noticing that there were no dedicated classes for young boys at the School of American Ballet, Mr. Bonnefoux approached Balanchine about teaching there. 'I wanted the young ones here to feel right away like male dancers and understand the technical differences,' he told the Times. That same year, he tore all the ligaments in an ankle while performing. During the enforced rest period that followed, encouraged by Balanchine, he began to choreograph. Advertisement In 1978, he created 'Pas Degas' as part of City Ballet's French-themed evening 'Tricolore.' That year, he also created 'Quadrille' for students at the School of American Ballet and 'Une Nuit a Lisbonne' for the Syracuse Ballet. 'This strange time, when it was supposed to be the end for me,' Mr. Bonnefoux told the Times, 'was finally maybe the richest part of my life.' Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and his twin sister, Dominique, were born April 9, 1943, in Bourg-en-Bresse, in eastern France, to Marie Therèse (Bouhy) Bonnefoux and Laurent Bonnefoux, a tax adviser. A few years later, the family moved to Paris, where the twins began to take dance classes. Jean-Pierre's teacher suggested that he audition for the Paris Opera Ballet School. While studying there, he also pursued acting, appearing in 'Les Fruits Sauvages' (1954), 'Les Diaboliques' (1955), 'Les Carottes Sont Cuites' (1956) and other films. In 1957, at 14, he joined the Paris Opera Ballet. He moved quickly through the ranks of the company, performing lead roles in 19th-century classics 'Swan Lake,' 'Giselle,' and 'Sleeping Beauty,' as well as in ballets by Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. Mr. Bonnefoux danced as a guest artist with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Kirov Ballet. He also befriended Rudolf Nureyev and played a part in the Russian dancer's dramatic defection at Paris' Le Bourget airport in 1961. (He telephoned Nureyev's friend Clara Saint to warn her ahead of time that Nureyev was being sent back to Moscow, rather than going on to London with the rest of the Kirov company.) Advertisement But, frustrated by mediocre ballets and infrequent performances at the Paris Opera -- and inspired by Balanchine -- Mr. Bonnefoux decided to leave for City Ballet. Gradually, he absorbed City Ballet style. It was not, he told Newman, 'so much a way of moving; it was more about the contact with the music, how you almost precede the music.' Mr. Bonnefoux retired from City Ballet in 1980. He took the position of ballet master and choreographer at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and then moved to Bloomington to become head of the dance department at Indiana University. In 1983, he began to run a summer ballet program at the Chautauqua Institution, a gated arts community in the northwestern corner of New York state and the site of the oldest summer arts festival in North America. He brought in prestigious City Ballet alumni including McBride and Violette Verdy to stage Balanchine pieces, formed a professional summer company, and invited a broad variety of choreographers to work with the dancers. 'He was such a good teacher, and he and Patti were a formidable team in Chautauqua,' said Christine Redpath, a former dancer and a repertory director at City Ballet. 'That beautiful French training really fed into his teaching.' By the time he stepped down in 2021, Mr. Bonnefoux had transformed the summer program into one of the country's most coveted destinations for aspiring dancers. 'He had a quiet presence, but behind his soft accent there was clarity, detail, precision and, always, encouragement,' said Daniel Ulbricht, a City Ballet principal. In 1996, Mr. Bonnefoux became the artistic director of what was then called North Carolina Dance Theater, in Charlotte, with McBride as associate artistic director. He remained there until 2017, and the couple transformed the company into a strong classical troupe that was also a vibrant home for contemporary choreography, adding works by Dwight Rhoden, Alonzo King, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, and William Forsythe to the repertoire. Advertisement Mr. Bonnefoux choreographed, too: His ballets included 'Carmina Burana' and versions of 'Sleeping Beauty,' 'Cinderella,' and 'The Nutcracker.' In 2010, the company opened the Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux Center for Dance, housing its rehearsal and administrative spaces as well as a 200-seat theater. Four years later, the company was renamed Charlotte Ballet. McBride and Mr. Bonnefoux divorced in 2018, but remained close. He leaves their children, Christopher and Melanie (Bonnefoux) DeCoudres, and three grandchildren. Mr. Bonnefoux's qualities as a director and a teacher were transformative, said Sasha Janes, a former Charlotte Ballet dancer who succeeded him as director of the School of Dance at Chautauqua. 'He could see things in people they couldn't see in themselves,' Janes said. 'He wasn't interested in cookie-cutter perfect dancers; he wanted to see humanity on stage.' This article originally appeared in
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Irish Composer Michael Gallen wins world's top new opera prize
Irish composer Michael Gallen has been awarded the 2025 FEDORA Opera Prize, the world's largest award for new opera, for his work The Curing Line. Presented at a ceremony at the Vienna State Opera on Saturday April 26th, the prize of €100,000 is the world's largest award for opera. Awarded bi-annually for the best new opera in Europe, the winner is selected by an international jury of leading opera producers including the directors of the Paris Opera, Dutch National Opera, Danish National Theatre and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and presented in partnership with Opera Europa, which represents over 170 opera houses and festivals across 43 countries. The Curing Line, co-directed by Gallen and American choreographer Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, explores themes of healing, cultural loss, and environmental collapse. Drawing on ethnographic research into Ireland's folk healing traditions, the opera tells the story of a woman who inherits a life-saving ancestral power but loses her ability to use it. The work aims to question the separation between humans and the natural world, and what is lost in that divide. New Irish opera "The Curing Line" was awarded the prestigious FEDORA Opera Prize at a special ceremony in Vienna at the weekend. Congratulations to Michael Gallen and everyone at the Straymaker company for their brilliant achievement @dfatirl @FEDORA_Platform — Embassy of Ireland, Vienna (@IrlEmbVienna) April 28, 2025 Jury Chair Birgitta Svendén praised the opera as a "deeply immersive and multisensory" experience that "resonates with the audience of tomorrow." Fedora President Stéphane Argyropoulos added that the project "redefines the operatic genre by fusing tradition with multimedia innovation." Speaking at the ceremony, Michael Gallen said that "...for our independent, artist-led work to be selected as the winner of the award gives us a huge rush of affirmation that will carry us forward not just with this project but with all of our future plans and ambitions" Originally from Monaghan and now based in County Mayo, Gallen has earned acclaim for blending contemporary classical music with multidisciplinary performance. His 2021 opera Elsewhere was also nominated for the FEDORA Prize. The Curing Line, featuring a bilingual libretto by Gallen and poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin, is slated to premiere at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in August 2026 before embarking on an international tour.
Irish Times
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Fedora Prize 2025: Irish composer Michael Gallen wins €100,000 award for new opera
The Curing Line, by the Irish composer Michael Gallen , has won the €100,000 Fedora Prize, the world's largest award for new opera. The biannual prize, which was presented at Vienna State Opera on Saturday, was awarded by a jury that included the directors of the Paris Opera, Dutch National Opera, Danish National Theatre and Aix-en-Provence Festival. Fedora is a European circle of philanthropists who support opera and ballet. In presenting the award to Gallen, to the American choreographer Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern – who also directed the work with Gallen – and to the producer Maura O'Keeffe , the president of Fedora, Stéphane Argyropoulos, said that The Curing Line 'redefines the operatic genre by fusing tradition with multimedia innovation'. The opera, which draws on research into the Irish tradition of 'making cures', tells the story of a woman who loses the capacity to use her life-saving ancestral healing power. It asks whether, in regarding the human and the environment as separate, we are failing to acknowledge that fundamental parts of ourselves and our culture are becoming extinct. READ MORE The Swedish mezzo-soprano Birgitta Svendén, who chaired the jury, said, 'Here and now, the world is experiencing a turbulent and rather chaotic time. The theme for The Curing Line is more relevant than ever. What can we do as individuals, as communities, what can we learn from history and inherited traditions, how can we acknowledge the change we have to go through without losing hope for the future generations? 'The Curing Line will address many of the questions that we as human beings are faced with and do not have the answers for. This project is deeply immersive and multisensorial, which gives the possibility to expand the boundaries of opera. The narrative, the musical language and the staging will resonate to the audience of tomorrow.' Gallen, whose opera Elsewhere was nominated for the Fedora Prize in 2021, said at the ceremony that 'for our independent, artist-led work to be selected as the winner of the award gives us a huge rush of affirmation that will carry us forward not just with this project but with all of our future plans and ambitions'. [ Elsewhere review: Agitprop opera combines the serious and the comic Opens in new window ] Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan said, 'We are all very proud that Straymaker , a small company from the west of Ireland led by Michael Gallen, has been awarded this honour. I want to sincerely congratulate all involved.' The director of the Arts Council , Maureen Kennelly, also congratulated Gallen and his collaborators. 'In recent years we have been honoured to support his work in many ways, and we are delighted that this award will bring an even wider audience to his ground-breaking work. Opera in Ireland is going through a very exciting period as exemplified by Michael's visionary work.' Gallen, who was born in Monaghan and now lives in Co Mayo with his wife and son, wrote the libretto for The Curing Line, which is in Irish and English, with the poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin . The opera is produced by Straymaker in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival , the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris, Miroirs Étendus, Once Off Productions and Copenhagen Opera Festival. Its development has been supported by the Arts Council and Creative Monaghan, and the premiere is planned for Kilkenny Arts Festival in August 2026. Gallen's other recent commissions include new work for Radio France, the National Orchestra of Brittany, the Irish National Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra. A new album of his songs, Sudden Wells, is due for release in 2026.
