Latest news with #Prokofiev
Scotsman
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
María Dueñas and Alexander Malofeev
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... MUSIC NYO2 Prokofiev 5 Usher Hall ★★★★☆ Kickstarting their festival residency with a meaty programme, Carnegie Hall's NYO2 orchestra for 14- to 17-year-olds oozed confidence and dynamism under the baton of conductor Rafael Payare. Jimmy López's Perú Negro with its vibrant modern framing of Afro-Peruvian music was an ideal opener to showcase this 100+ strong orchestra. A lively brass fanfare set things going but eventually gave way to drum-driven rhythms that swept the music along in a giddy wake of boisterous climaxes. A graduate of Venezuela's El Sistema project, Payare impressed with his meticulous attention to detail especially in Prokofiev's fifth symphony. Premiered in 1945, the work was conceived during the horrors of world war two, and there was plenty of suitable bite to the strings and fiery salvos from the brass and percussion. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad However in Shostakovich's first cello concerto there were times when the orchestra were often out of step with soloist Alisa Weilerstein. The opening movement was rushed leaving the cellist with little room for artistic nuances and in the more exposed passages of the allegro marcato the orchestra tended to overwhelm Weilerstein's quieter, reflective tone. There was a better balance in the busy finale with the musicians revelling in its exuberance. SUSAN NICKALLS Make sure you keep up to date with Arts and Culture news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here. MUSIC María Dueñas and Alexander Malofeev Queen's Hall ★★★★☆ While Storm Floris was whipping up winds outside the Queen's Hall, there was no shortage of tempestuousness inside courtesy of the whirlwind of a recital from Spanish violinist María Dueñas and Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev Szymanowski. Debussy and Franck didn't make for the friendliest of programmes, my neighbour remarked. Maybe not, but these were clearly pieces both musicians felt passionately about, and their performances – not so much demanding to be heard as shouting from the rooftops – were big, bold, loud and forthright as a result. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Especially so in their opening Szymanowski Sonata, which they attacked with quite astonishing vigour and determination, though Dueñas reined in her vehemence somewhat for the Debussy Sonata that followed, more limpid and mercurial, even if she somewhat passed over the final movement's euphoric outbursts in her desire to surge ever forward. Calmer still – though still simmering on quite a high gas – was the pair's closing Franck Sonata, whose finale felt like the concert's first expression of joy and buoyancy. Though Malofeev's strongly defined playing could occasionally verge on the clangorous, Dueñas is a phenomenal performer with a fiery technique to match her deeply passionate interpretations – both evident in the duo's brilliant encore, Piazzolla's appropriately named Yo soy María.
Boston Globe
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Boston Ballet takes a leap of faith with Jean-Christophe Maillot's ‘Roméo et Juliette'
Boston has seen many versions of Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet' ballet. The Kirov brought Leonid Lavrovsky's 1940 Soviet première staging to the Wang Center in 1992. Over the past 40 years, Boston Ballet has offered versions by Choo San Goh, Daniel Pelzig, Rudi van Dantzig, and John Cranko. Now, as its 2024–25 season closer, the Ballet is presenting the stripped-down, streamlined creation that Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo director Jean-Christophe Maillot devised in 1996, and it's safe to say Boston has never seen a 'Romeo and Juliet' like this one. Thursday's opening night at the Citizens Opera House slid off the rails from time to time, but stupendous performances from Advertisement Prokofiev's score is a literal evocation of Shakespeare's play; that's why, regardless of choreography, stagings of the ballet tend to the traditional, with sumptuous Renaissance costumes and sets, a carnival atmosphere in the town square, and lots of swordplay. 'Roméo et Juliette' goes its own way. Ernest Pignon-Ernest's sliding white panels and ramps and blocks conjure the backdrop for a dream sequence; Dominique Drillot's atmospheric lighting sets the emotional tone for each scene. Jérôme Kaplan dresses the Montagues in pale tones and the Capulets in darker shades, everything long and flowing and floppy, no two outfits quite alike. Ernest Pignon-Ernest's sliding white backdrop and Dominique Drillot's atmospheric lighting provide emotion and contrast in each scene. Rosalie O'Connor The Prince, Lord Capulet, and Lord and Lady Montague have been eliminated from the cast, along with the Gypsies, the market wares, and anything resembling a sword or dagger. The full score can last close to 150 minutes; here, about a half hour has been removed, mostly ensemble numbers. Thursday's performance, with an intermission after act one and a pause between acts two and three, ran a reasonable 2½ hours. The Boston Ballet Orchestra under music director Mischa Santora was in top form; the erotic Knights' Dance in particular had the weight and accent it needs and doesn't always get. Advertisement 'Roméo et Juliette' opens with the credits — including the performance's principal cast — projected on a scrim while the orchestra plays the Introduction, a nice touch. When the curtain rises, we see Friar Laurence being hoisted aloft, in a crucified position, by two 'acolytes.' Maillot's conceit is that the story is being narrated by the friar, who's racked by regret at having failed the star-crossed lovers. It's a bold idea, given that he's a very minor presence in the score, but it's not a good one. Wearing a clerical collar and acting more like the Revivalist in Martha Graham's 'Appalachian Spring' than Shakespeare's humble Franciscan, this Friar Laurence stalks the action in one-dimensional anguish, his silent screams powerless to affect the outcome. It would be the same ballet, only better, without him. Maillot's contemporary choreography adds to a "Romeo and Juliet" unlike any other performed in Boston before. Rosalie O'Connor Maillot's version still has much to recommend it. His contemporary choreography is, like the costuming, flowing and floppy, but it has an angular quality that suits the music. His Romeo and Juliet are giddy, dizzy, frolicking teenagers; one moment she's backing off when he tries to kiss her, the next she's kissing him. In the balcony scene Thursday, Chae and Cirio were all speed and spontaneity, and their nuances made conventional ballet partnering seem generic. Advertisement A slinky, slit-skirted Rosaline (Emma Topalova on Thursday), who like Juliet is a Capulet, shines as Romeo's first love before a spiky Tybalt (Yue Shi) intervenes. Maillot's jittery, overworked Nurse (Courtney Nitting) is comic but not ridiculous; a sassy Mercutio (Sun Woo Lee) and a peacemaking Benvolio (Daniel R. Durrett) get room to ramble in the 'Masks' prelude to the Capulet party. Lady Capulet ( The delivery of the tragedies in the ballet's second and third acts occasionally feels out of place and uneven. Rosalie O'Connor Acts two and three are less rewarding. A slapstick puppet show in the square anticipates the deaths to come. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, slapstick Mercutio's prolonged death agony, a highlight of the score and a showpiece for the dancer, is cut. Romeo's pursuit of Tybalt is enacted in slow motion, a neat counterpoint to the lickety-split music, but the eventual brutal strangling seems out of place. Maillot is, again, at his best with Romeo and Juliet in the lovers' farewell, where she slaps him for killing Tybalt before falling into his arms and coaxing him back to bed. By now, though, the Nurse's idiosyncrasies and Lady Capulet's histrionics have begun to wear thin. An underused Paris exits the reluctant Juliet's bedroom and is never seen again. After a perplexing sequence with Friar Laurence and the acolytes that has nothing to do with the all-important potion, Juliet in bed becomes Juliet in the tomb. Romeo appears and rams his head into the base of the bier; Juliet wakes and, with Friar Laurence looking on helplessly, strangles herself with a long red rope of sheet that she seems to have pulled from Romeo's body. No Capulets or Montagues arrive to reconcile. Watching this bleak dénouement, you could sympathize with Prokofiev's original impulse to rewrite Shakespeare and give the ballet a happy ending. Advertisement ROMÉO ET JULIETTE Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot. Sets by Ernest Pignon-Ernest. Costumes by Jérôme Kaplan. Lighting by Dominique Drillot. Presented by Boston Ballet. With the Boston Ballet Orchestra conducted by Mischa Santora. At Citizens Opera House, through June 8. Tickets $32-$232. 617-695-6955, Jeffrey Gantz can be reached at Jeffrey Gantz can be reached at
Free Malaysia Today
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Free Malaysia Today
Russian ballet patriarch Yuri Grigorovich dies at 98
Yuri Grigorovich presided over various ballet competitions, including the French Benоis de la Danse. (EPA Images pic) MOSCOW : Legendary Russian ballet figure Yuri Grigorovich, who was for three decades the lead choreographer at Moscow's famed Bolshoi Theatre, has died aged 98. Born in the Soviet city of Leningrad to a ballet family, Grigorovich's career – as a dancer then choreographer – spanned 80 years. For much of it, he was the artistic powerhouse behind the Bolshoi, which he was said to have run with an iron fist. 'Yuri Grigorovich, one of the key figures in the world of ballet in the second half of the 20th century, has died,' the Bolshoi said on social media. 'An entire era has come to an end,' St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, where he started his career, posted online. Grigorovich made his name staging classics such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Stone Flower. The latter was his most famous piece, based on a series of folk tales from the Urals accompanied by composer Sergei Prokofiev's music. Top choreographer Boris Akimov, 78, told AFP he was 'proud to have been Grigorovich's student'. He 'especially revitalised male dance, introducing male roles into ballet, which had previously been dominated by female roles', Akimov said, also defending his strict leadership style. 'He was criticised for authoritarianism and was even called a dictator – but to lead a team, one has to be rigid,' Akimov said. Grigorovich was the choreographer for performances at Moscow's 1980 summer Olympics opening ceremony and presided over various ballet competitions, including the French Benоis de la Danse, known as the 'ballet Oscars'. In 1995, the ballet patriarch had to part ways with the Bolshoi over allegations the theatre had become artistically stagnant during the last decade of his 30-year tenure. He returned in 2008 to serve as a choreographer, and insiders and ballet critics said his presence over Russia's most famed stage remained formidable. 'It is an era without which much would not have happened. It is a greatness that cannot be overcome. It was a life that will be remembered… Genius,' Russian-Georgian ballet dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze wrote on social media.
South China Morning Post
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Yuri Grigorovich, patriarch of Russian ballet whose career spanned 8 decades, dies aged 98
Legendary Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Yuri Grigorovich has died aged 98. Advertisement Born in the Soviet city of Leningrad to a ballet family, Grigorovich's career – as a dancer, then choreographer – spanned 80 years. He was for three decades the lead choreographer at Moscow's famed Bolshoi Theatre and its artistic powerhouse, running it with an iron fist, it was said. 'Yuri Grigorovich, one of the key figures in the world of ballet in the second half of the 20th century, has died,' the Bolshoi said on social media. Russian ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova during a rehearsal at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2008 with her husband, choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, who has died aged 98. Photo: AFP 'An entire era has come to an end,' Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, where he started his career, posted online. Advertisement Grigorovich made his name staging classics such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Stone Flower. The latter was his most famous piece, based on a series of folk tales from the Ural Mountains accompanied by composer Sergei Prokofiev's music.
NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Auckland Philharmonia shine with unforgettable Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev performances
Back in 2011, the Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski stressed to me that Prokofiev's Third Concerto was not all steel-like energy, but full of joy and humour, being written in a more or less happy period of the composer's life. On this night, Alexander Gavrylyuk might well have been in total accord with him, delivering a performance of single-minded immersion, hovering over the keys, engendering expectation and exuding exhilaration, all with palpable delight. Sung's insistence on impeccable orchestral clarity was the perfect inspiration for the soloist's rushing toccatas and marching chords; and, in amongst the glitter, could one almost sense a playful wink in his cheeky grace notes? And what a thrill it was when an innocent clarinet theme returned, in full and stirring orchestral garb. In the second movement, Gavrylyuk proved himself a skilled alchemist when he took on the orchestra's perky march theme, most memorably recasting it as a moody melancholic nocturne. Sung's remarkably cohesive finale brought all the musicians together to enjoy the diverse panorama of Prokofiev's music, followed by Gavrylyuk's encore, a passionate account of the very first etude by a teenage Scriabin. It is always daunting for a critic to assess yet another performance of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. Yet on the night, Sung drew a rare vibrancy from familiar pages, laying out a compulsive journey from the Russian's doom-laden introduction to the triumphant glow of its final apotheosis.
