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East County News Service
September 11, 2019 (Escondido) -- The Russian Ballet Theatre brings a new production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to Escondido and San Diego on Sept. 19 and 20. Tickets for the performances are on sale now at www.russianballettheatre.com.
The performance schedule for Swan Lake is as follows: Thursday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido and Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego.
Swan Lake, which has mesmerized audiences for over a century, is based on a German fairy tale. Tchaikovsky’s score tells the tragic love story of Prince Siegfried and Swan Princess, Odette, who is cursed to be a swan by day but a young woman at night. The Russian Ballet Theatre’s new production will captivate audiences with time-honored Russian traditions while adding new choreography, hand painted sets, radiant hand sewn costumes, artistic hair designs and special effects makeup.
Pyotr Ilyick Tchaikovsky was commissioned to compose Swan Lake in 1875 by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, the intendant of Moscow’s Russian Imperial Theatres. Based on a folk tale, Swan Lake tells the tragic love story of Prince Siegfriend and Swan Princess, Odette, who is cursed to be a swan by day but a young woman at night. It was the first ballet Tchaikovsky scored and like The Nutcracker, the original production was unsuccessful as critics deemed the music was too complicated and the original choreography by Julius Reisinger uninspired. Swan Lake was revived in 1895 with new choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov for the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, at which time it was very well received and became one of the most frequently revived works in the classical ballet cannon. The dual role of Odette/Odile, with its signature 32 fouettés en tournant, has been performed by most of the world’s leading ballerinas.
The Russian Ballet Theatre has pulled together an outstanding company of dancers for the 2019 tour of Swan Lake. The company features Olga Kifyak as “Odette,” EvgenySvetlitsa as “Prince Siegfried,” Mikhail Ovcharov as the “Jester” and Vasili Bogdan as “Rothbart.”
The Russian Ballet Theatre’s production of Swan Lake is choreographed by Nadezhda Kalinina with Sergey Novikov serving as production designer and Irina Strukova as special effects makeup designer.
Nadezhda Kalinina has choreographed and staged more than sixty operas, operettas, musicals, and ballets with her works performed in various theatres across the world including the prestigious Mariinsky Theater (Saint Petersburg, Russia) and the Lyric Theater of Cagliari (Cagliari, Italy). Kalinina is the chief choreographer of the Omsk State Musical Theater, winner of the eighth International Theatre Forum’s Golden Knight (The Overcoat, 2011), recipient of the Silver Award at the first Federal Festival Theatrical Olympus (The Overcoat, 2011), and winner of the fourth Russian festival Volga Theater Seasons in the category of “Best Choreography” (The Idiot, 2018).
Sergey Novikov has worked on more than 70 theatrical productions in Russia including at the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg and throughout Europe. Novikov is referred to as, “a young, advanced artist” with scenery and costumes that “surprise and delight.” He is the recipient of the “Golden Sofit,” St. Petersburg’s most prestigious theater prize in the category of “Best Work by a Designer” for his set designs for the production of Andrei Ivanovich Comes Home, as well as the recipient of the Governor of the Omsk Region’s prize for “Merit in the Development of Culture and the Arts.”
Irina Strukova graduated from the Academy of Architecture and Design in her native city of Almaty and started by designing and curating large-scale fashion and entertainment events. In Moscow, she began to focus on film and TV drama makeup and soon became the head of the makeup department in one of the best-known filmand TV companies in Russia. Strukova is the recipient of various international awards in art and makeup, including the Grand Pix in the World International Makeup Championship in Dusseldorf. Her credits include such projects as Book of Legends: Mysterious Forest (2012), Zhat (2015), Marco Polo (Netflix 2014-2016) and most recently, Crazy Rich Asians (2018).
The Russian Ballet Theatre will donate a portion of ticket sales from its 2019 tour to local public schools through a collaboration with the Plus1 initiative. The ballet is partnering with DonorsChoose.org, an online platform where organizations can choose the school they are donating to, and $1 per ticket sold will go local teachers in or around each city of the tour. For more information, please visit, www.DonorsChoose.org.
For tickets or more information, visit www.RussianBalletTheatre.com.
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