Tag: Ballet

Edwaard Liang: Artistic Director @ BalletMet

It’s a great pleasure to share the announcement that Edwaard Liang (above) will assume the position of Artistic Director of BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio starting in July 2013.

Edwaard danced at New York City Ballet from 1993 til 2007, taking a break for a couple of years (starting 2001) to dance in FOSSE on Broadway. I interviewed Edwaard in 2007 when he was dancing with and choreographing for MORPHOSES: The Wheeldon Company.

In August 2009, Kokyat photographed Edwaard and NYC Ballet principal ballerina Maria Kowroski dancing a pas de deux from Wheeldon’s FOOL’S PARADISE in Central Park: an unforgettable experience. Not long after, Edwaard stopped dancing and began to concentrate all his energies on choreography.

Please join me in wishing Edwaard all the best at BalletMet!

February 25, 2013
Martha Graham: Myth & Transformation I

Above: Miki Orihara in the original costume for Graham’s ERRAND INTO THE MAZE; photo by John Deane.

Saturday evening February 22, 2013 – The Martha Graham Dance Company are at The Joyce thru March 3rd with three programmes centering on themes of myth and transformation, as well as a special gala. Details of the performances and ticket information here.

Tonight’s bill consisted of three Graham masterworks, each with an iconic principal female role – and each of those roles performed by one of the Graham goddesses of the 21st century: Blakeley White-McGuire as Medea in CAVE OF THE HEART, Miki Orihara as Ariadne in ERRAND, and Katherine Crockett as Jocasta in NIGHT JOURNEY. The musical scores are by three of the 20th century’s leading composers: Samuel Barber, Gian Carlo Menotti, and William Schuman.

In Martha Graham’s CAVE OF THE HEART, the choreographer distills the story of Medea, her betrayal by Jason, and her subsequent destruction of Jason’s young bride into a powerfully compact dancework. As Medea, Blakeley White-McGuire, a brilliant red-haired sorceress, gave a compelling performance – whether moving about the space with restless passion or laying in utter stillness waiting to play out her revenge, Blakeley is a riveting presence. Her marvelously spastic solo as the piece moves towards its inevitable denouement was something to behold. Tadej Brdnik’s boyish handsomeness underscored Jason’s ambitious heartlessness, and his striking musculature propelled him boldly thru the athletics of the choreography and the demands of the partnering. Xiaochuan Xie was a vision of loveliness as the Princess, her dancing spacious and light-filled, blissfully unaware of her impending doom. Powerful presence and physical suppleness marked the performance of Natasha Diamond-Walker as the Chorus, majestic in her black and red striped gown.

The collaboration between Martha Graham and sculptor/designer Isamu Noguchi created the look we associate with these Graham ballets. In both CAVE OF THE HEART and NIGHT JOURNEY, Noguchi’s set pieces evoke a feeling of familiarity – of being in a space we have been in before. But the damage to the Company’s sets and costumes caused by Storm Sandy left the decor for ERRAND INTO THE MAZE beyond repair. The sets will be re-created in time, but for the current season an alternative solution for presenting this important Graham work was needed. Choreographer Luca Veggetti, working with Miki Orihara, devised a stripped-down version of the piece, now referred to as ERRAND. Martha Graham’s original choreography remains intact, but the work is presented on a bare stage, reaching to the exposed brick wall at the rear of the space. Miki, as the heroine, wears a long plain white skirt with a ‘nude’ leotard white Ben Schultz as the Minotaur wears only his tattoos and white briefs. The effect is absolutely stunning.

Graham’s choreography feels utterfly fresh, and Miki’s vulnerable qualities have never seemed so touching as here, menaced by the ominous man-bull of Ben’s splendid physique. The illusions of near-nudity gave the piece a timeless, mythic quality. Miki was ravishing, the poetic expressiveness of her body illuminating the smallest nuances of gesture and movement. Ben stalked about the set like a gladiator awaiting his chances in the arena; even standing still, he posed a threat. At the end, having conquered the monstrous symbol of her fear, Miki’s stance of quiet victory and her feeling of wonderment were poignantly expressed.

During the intermission I caught bits of several conversations among the crowd; people seemed to be saying that this new look at ERRAND had lifted the piece out of a somewhat dated context they’d experienced in CAVE OF THE HEART. Much as I admire Noguchi’s work – and if you haven’t been to the Noguchi museum in Queens you owe it to yourself – and the Graham-designed costumes, I have to say that Mr. Veggetti’s take on ERRAND is a revelation. I’ve often wondered how Balanchine’s ORPHEUS, for which Noguchi designed both sets and costumes, would look as an unadorned black-and-white ballet. In presenting this ERRAND, the Graham Company took a chance – and in my view it paid off handsomely.

In its full Noguchi-Graham decor, NIGHT JOURNEY is theatrically satisfying, yet I did find myself thinking it would hold up very well in a bare-stage-and-leotard configuration. The choreography, especially for the female ensemble (led by the beauteous and triumphant Mariya Dashkina Maddux) is striking in any event. And it did cross my mind how forceful the athletic movements of the blind seer Tiresias – a marvelous role for Abdiel Cedric Jacobsen – would seem if he was to be divested of his bulky garments. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves here: NIGHT JOURNEY is perfect as it stands, and Katherine Crockett is beyond perfect in the role of the devastated Jocasta who strangles herself on discovering she has been married to her own son, the man who killed her first husband. (“The killer of the King is a King.”) Ms. Crockett, a luminous gift to the world of dance, is thrilling to behold – as much for her beauty and intensity as for her exalting extension and the evocative flow of her arms and hands. Ben Schultz polished off his demanding, two-ballet evening with a majestically tragic portrayal of the ill-fated Oedipus, the dancer’s godlike physique taking on an assailable aspect as his world collapsed.

And how does the Graham repertory strike a young person today who has never experienced any of it, except for tidbits on YouTube? My twenty-something dancer-friend Alejandro was quite taken with the evening, with a special affinity for ERRAND. I’ll be seeing the other two programmes of the current season, each with a “Graham virgin” as my companion. It will be interesting to see what they think.

February 22, 2013
At NYC Ballet

“I’m sure everyone will have heard this by now,
but we have new principals at New York City Ballet: Ask LaCour, Adrian
Danchig-Waring, and Chase Finlay, as well as a very nice group of new
soloists: Ashley Laracey, Brittany Pollack, Megan LeCrone, Lauren King,
Georgina Pazcoguin, Lauren Lovette, Justin Peck and Taylor Stanley.”

Congratulations to all!

February 21, 2013
Images from NYCB’s SLEEPING BEAUTY

Photos by Paul Kolnik from the New York City Ballet‘s performances of the Peter Martins production of SLEEPING BEAUTY, Winter 2013 season. Above: Marika Anderson as Carabosse. Click on the image to enlarge.

Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette

Robert Fairchild, Rebecca Krohn and Sterling Hyltin…click on the image to enlarge.

Gonzalo Garcia and Ana Sophia Scheller

I think this production should become an annual Wiinter-season tradition at NYCB: full houses, beautiful sets and costumes, a great score and…wonderful dancers.

Henning Rubsam reflects on the performances he saw here.

My thanks to Mr. Kolnik and the NYCB press department for providing these photographs.

February 21, 2013
NYCB Tchaikovsky Festival 2013 #6

Saturday evening January 26, 2013 – This evening’s performance at New York City Ballet was filled with wonderful dancing (and playing from the pit) and went a long way to compensate for the previous evening’s late-seating debacle.

The programme was the same as the night before, but what a difference! Tonight we were able to fullly enjoy the delicate mysteries of BAISER DE LA FEE, led by Andrews Sill. I have a special fondness for this ballet since it was the first work I ever saw at NYCB lo! these many decades ago. My ‘premiere’ cast featured Patricia McBride and Helgi Tomasson and it is pleasing to report that Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette made just as fine an effect in the ballet as ther illustrious predecessors. Megan and Andrew caught the quality of rhapsodic youthfulness right from the start, abetted by the very nice dancing of the corps ensemble. Andrew’s solo had a dreamy feeling, but it’s one of those restless dreams (we’ve all had them) where you are seeking something that seems to elude you; his dancing was so expressive, making me want to see him as Jerome Robbins’ Dreamer in OPUS 19. Megan’s solo, set to the birdlike song of the flutes, was fetchingly spun off by the ballerina. The couple then brought a lovely feeling of quiet ecstacy to the magical backing-away which brings this Balanchine jewel to a close. Erica Pereira and Mary Elizabeth Sell led the corps to charming effect.

Tiler Peck and Joaquin de Luz then went to town, pulling out all the stops for an exciting Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux in which Tiler scintillated with her magical pirouettes whilst also capturing the warm lyricism of the adagio. Joaquin fills the stage and the theatre with his generous dancing and genial smile; if there’s a dancer with a bigger heart than Joaquin de Luz I haven’t met him. The two dancers swept thru the bravura fireworks of the coda to the audience’s delight, and if the fish dives took on a risky quality tonight, that’s part of the fun. They swept off as the curtain fell, igniting a full-house ovation which made them smile all the more as they stepped out to take their bows.

Now being in a really good mood, I even decided to give BAL DE COUTURE another try and strangely enough I liked a lot of it tonight, or maybe I should say that I saw where it might – with a few alterations – become something to enjoy. The music’s wonderful for one thing, but my first change would be getting rid of the women’s bizarre, fanciful costumes. And since the costumes are the whole point of the piece my other ‘fixes’ wouldn’t matter. It’s nice to see all that star-power onstage even though – as a friend pointed out – turning principals into a corps tends to make them anonymous. Despite its drawbacks, I found I could sit thru it, and could again – if the need ever arises.

In the concluding DIAMONDS, Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle were elegant, and they seemed to filter the melodies of the score directly into their dancing. Maria’s magical way of sculpting her long limbs into the regal poses of the adagio was finely echoed in Tyler’s handsome and ardent partnering. There’s a lovely simpatico quality between these two dancers and it was shining brightly tonight. The demi-solistes and corps filled the stage with Mr. B’s grand patterns in the finale; the audience loved it.

Andrews Sill conducted the first two ballets tonight, then passed the baton to Daniel Capps for the rest of the evening. The NYCB musicians played the entire programme very appealingly and they well-deserved the audience’s warm cheers as they took a spot-lit collective bow at the end. The players were recently chided in the press for playing too many wrong notes. Yes, musicians – even the finest ones – do sometimes hit wrong notes, especially the wind players. Anyone who has ever played a musical instrument knows that the best intentions and plenty of rehearsal can still be undone by fatigue or plain old bad luck. It’s nothing to write home about since it tends to happen randomly, even among the excellent players of at the NY Phil or the Metropolitan Opera (where the orchestra is considered one of the best ‘pit bands’ in the world). For myself, having played piano, guitar and French horn, I always have a sympathetic ear and am grateful when things go as well as they do on a given night. The NYCB musicians work hard and it’s nice when the audience acknowledges their nightly contributions to the success of the ballet.

Heading home on the A train, I met the three people who’d been sitting behind
me at the performance. Students at Columbia, they drew out a season brochure and began asking me questions about what they should see next. “Who was that woman with the long legs in the last ballet?” the girl asked. “She was awesome!” I could only agree.

DIVERTIMENTO FROM ‘LE BAISER DE LA FÉE’: M. Fairchild, Veyette, Pereira, Sell

TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX: T. Peck, De Luz

BAL DE COUTURE: Lowery, Reichlen, Krohn, Scheller, Hyltin, A. Stafford, T. Peck, M. Fairchild, Bouder, Taylor, J. Angle, la Cour, Danchig-Waring), Veyette, R. Fairchild, Ramasar, Finlay, De Luz, Carmena, Marcovici

DIAMONDS from JEWELS: Kowroski, T. Angle

January 26, 2013
NYCB Tchaikovsky Festival 2013 #4

Tuesday January 22, 2013 – Where better to be on January 22nd than in the house that Philip Johnson built for George Balanchine? Today we celebrate the great choreographer’s birthday and New York City Ballet saluted their founding father with a beautiful evening of Balanchine ballets set to the music of Tchaikovsky.

Conductor Gerry Cornelius and the NYCB musicians mined all the melodic gold to be found in these three marvel-filled Tchaikovsky scores. Six principal ballerinas appeared (including our newest two) along with four of the Company’s most impressive and unique cavaliers; two handsome boys from the corps de ballet assumed major roles, and two girls who should be soloists led the ensemble passages in SWAN LAKE.

No one who was there will ever forget the performance of Peter Martins’ SWAN LAKE in 2006 in which Sara Mearns – then a young unknown from the corps de ballet – stepped into the role of Odette/Odile and took her first leap to stardom. Tonight she re-created her Odette in the Balanchine setting and danced radiantly and with a quiet intensity that was enhanced by the nobly responsive presence of Jared Angle as her cavalier. Both the partnering and the poetry of this pairing made the familiar ballet seem fresh and ever-resonant. Megan LeCrone leading the Pas de Neuf has her own brand of magic – a truly intriguing dancer – while Lauren King, always a pleasure to watch, seemed particularly ravishing tonight as she embraced the full-bodied lyricism of the Valse Bluette. Scanning the ranks of the black-clad corps de ballet, faces and forms both familiar and new to me continually seized my imagination.

Megan Fairchild’s plush technique finds a perfect expression in ALLEGRO BRILLANTE; she begins in a rather serious mode but as the ballet sweeps onward her smile illuminates the stage just as her silky-smooth pirouettes illuminate the music. Amar Ramasar’s space-filling dance, his deft partnering and sheer magnetism all add up to a top-notch performance in this ballet. The ensemble of King, Laracey, LeCrone, Gretchen Smith, Laurent, Peiffer, Tworzyanski and Andrew Scordato (stepping in unannounced) added nicely to this charming classic-style ballet all underscored by Elaine Chelton’s playing from the pit.

Rebecca Krohn appeared in the haunted ballroom of TCHAIKOVSKY SUITE #3 to dance the Elegie, which has over the years become one of my great favorites among all of Balanchine’s works. Bare-footed and beauteous, Rebecca seemed so Farrellesque to me tonight. Zachary Catazaro, his pale and handsome face recalling the great matinee-idols of the silver screen era, made a wonderful impression as the lonely lover who momentarily finds his ideal. As Rebecca wafted her gorgeous gown and hair thru the music, Zachary was an ardent dream-cavalier; yet when the moment of their parting came his downcast expression of resignation was so moving: his fingers brushed the spot on his face where her hand had caressed him – did her perfume linger there? – and then he looked at his hands which had held his beloved and which were now empty. A frisson swept thru me at that moment.

In the Valse Melanconique, Abi Stafford looked so angel-like and lovely with her hair down and clad in diaphanous white; as she swept about the ballroom amidst the bevy of beautiful corps ballerinas, Abi constantly kept us aware of the pulsing nuances of the waltz tempo. Justin Peck was excellent in the cavalier role here. And it’s always a real pleasure to see Faye Arthurs onstage.

Beauty and brilliance combine in Ana Sophia Scheller’s superb dancing of the Scherzo; she brings a touch of prima ballerina elegance to everything she does and she puts her own gracious signature on every ballet in which she appears. Viva Ana!! Antonio Carmena’s vivid leaps and the handsome polish of his dancing matched up so well with the remarkable Scheller as they flew about the space in high style.

Costume note: could we get rid of the blouse-like Pagliaccio tops for the men in this ballet’s first three movements?

Ashley Bouder whipped up a delicious frosting for this evening’s Balanchine birthday cake with her brilliant dancing in Theme and Variations. In total contrast to her wonderfully lyrical performance of SERENADE‘s Russian Girl last week, here was Bouder in full ballerina tutu-and-tiara mode and dancing with regal aplomb. Andrew Veyette’s dynamic series of stupefying air turns won the crowd’s cheers, and his partnering was strong and sincere. The demi-solistes Mlles. Hankes, Sell, Muller and Pollack were finely shown-off by their handsome cavaliers: Devin Alberda (welcome back), Cameron Dieck, Daniel Applebaum and David Prottas.

In recent seasons they’ve taken away the lyre and re-branded the Company
(like cattle?), changed the name on the theater’s facade, carved aisles
in the seating where Balanchine/Johnson wanted none, arranged an
alienating ticket-pricing scheme, scattered the faithful of the 4th Ring
Society, put butt-ugly furniture on the wonderful wide-open space of
the Promenade – where they have also (currently) piled up a useless
tower of mediocre MoMA PS-1-type artwork – and all for what? But it
doesn’t matter in the end because all that really matters is the dancers
and the dance, the music and the movement. And in those essential
elements, the Company stays strong.

There was no Balanchine Birthday Vodka Toast this year but I’d rather be intoxicated by the dancers than by any beverage that might be served up. Happy Birthday Mr. B !!

SWAN LAKE: Mearns, J. Angle, LeCrone, King, Dieck

ALLEGRO BRILLANTE: M. Fairchild, Ramasar

TCHAIKOVSKY SUITE NO. 3: ELEGIE: Krohn, Catazaro; WALTZ: A. Stafford, J. Peck; SCHERZO: Scheller, Carmena; THEME & VARIATIONS: Bouder, Veyette

January 22, 2013
Preview of Justin Peck’s New Ballet

Watch a brief video preview of Justin Peck’s new ballet for New York City Ballet here. Entitled PAZ DE LA JOLLA, the ballet is set to Bohuslav Martinu‘s Sinfonietta La Jolla and will premiere on January 31st, 2013 with additional performances February 2nd, 6th and 8th. Justin talks about the work and his choreographic career in a Time Out New York interview here.

Photo of Justin by NYCB‘s Paul Kolnik.

January 22, 2013
My Only 2012 NYCB NUTRACKER

Sunday December 23, 2012 matinee – Due to the rise in ticket prices at New York City Ballet, I’ve had to adopt strict budgeting rules: for the first time since moving to NYC, I found myself forced to skip NUTCRACKER season altogether. I’d been in the habit of going as many as eight times each year, seeing debuts and covering interesting casting combinations for my blog with genuine enthusiasm. I came to really love and admire the entire Balanchine NUTCRACKER experience, always finding fresh details in the thrice-familiar production.

But this year, with prices really out of my reach and with the Tchaikovsky Festival looming ahead (I want to go every single night!), I was forced to forego NUTCRACKER; I’ve looked at the casting each week, wishing I could be there but simply unable to deal with the monetary situation. Fortunately, my friend Monica very kindly offered me a ticket to today’s matinee.

The cast this afternoon included some debuts, and there wasn’t a principal dancer to be seen onstage. But the soloist and corps de ballet did the Company proud, stepping into the leading roles with confidence and charm. Clothilde Otranto led a lively performance, and special kudos to concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen for his ravishing playing of the Interlude, replete with shimmeringly subtle trills in the highest register.

Lauren Lovette’s debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy was a major point of appeal in the casting today. This young ballerina has been doing excellent work in the corps, and she always makes a beautiful impression when she’s cast in a prominent role; her debut recently in Christopher Wheeldon’s POLYPHONIA was a real eye-opener, for she held the stage in mesmerizing fashion in her mysterious solo, danced to one of Ligeti’s most trance-like works. Her Sugar Plum today was lyrical and light in the opening solo, and showed the confident radiance of a seasoned star-ballerina in the pas de deux where her cavalier, the story-book-prince Chase Finlay, showed off his ballerina with élan. Together they sailed smoothly thru the duet’s many difficulties: difficulties that have been known to undo the most seasoned dancers. Lauren and Chase drew the audience in with their youth and poise, winning a particularly warm reception.

I met Mary Elizabeth Sell shortly after she joined the Company in 2006, and have kept an eye on her ever since. She and I share a birthday; I took the above picture of her one day a couple years ago when I ran into her on a rehearsal break. Always a dancer to draw the eye in any ballet because of her vivid presence and perfect smile (she was one of the few dancers to make an impact in the leaden OCEAN’S KINGDOM), her performances stand out in a way that have always made me think she could do well in major roles. This Winter the opportunity came her way – she had debuted yesterday as Dewdrop – and, just as I suspected she would, she seized the opportunity and gave a really exciting performance. Her Dewdrop was on the grand scale, able to make her own musical statement in the role by playing ever so subtly with the timing: holding an arabesque one moment, then swirling forward in a flurry of pirouettes. Her jeté was effortlessly brilliant, her extension regally unfurled, her attitude turns silky, her fouettés gracefully swift and sure. To all of this she added her dark eyes and gracious smile. Her performance had amplitude and (rare commodity:) glamour; in short, she put me in mind very much of one of my all-time-favorite Dewdrops, Colleen Neary. There’s no better compliment, in my book.

Other notable newcomers were Cameron Dieck (handsomely squiring the marvelous Gwyneth Muller in Spanish), Claire Kretzschmar (leggy and cool as Arabian), and Joseph Gordon (bouncing high in Chinese). Sara Adams was pretty, precise and perfectly pleasing as Marzipan; Anthony Huxley – he of the fabulous feet – a stellar Candy Cane (I was hoping he’d jump thru his hoop on his exit in the finale, as he did when he first danced the role); Andrew Scordato an amusing Mother Ginger; Lauren King and Ashley Laracey led the Waltz of the Flowers with distinction…two of my favorite ballerinas.

In Act I, Sean Suozzi replaced David Prottas as Drosselmeyer; the change was unannounced. Sean was superb, as we could expect from one of the Company’s most intriguing personalities; he even gave the grandmother a startlingly emphatic kiss. Amanda Hankes and Christian Tworzyanski were the appealing Stahlbaums, Kristen Segin and the very pretty Claire von Enck danced charmingly as Harlequin and Columbine, and Giovanni Villabos neatly executed the Soldier Doll’s solo.

It’s kind of amazing that there are now dancers in the Company I cannot
identify onstage; things seem to be changing more rapidly that ever in
terms of the roster. During 2012 some of my favorite dancers left the
Company unexpectedly; others are currently injured (an ongoing problem).
The total complement of dancers stands at 85, the smallest number in my
years of attending,; apprentices and (sometimes) senior SAB students
seem to be filling the ranks in the big ensembles.

SUGARPLUM: *Lovette; CAVALIER: Finlay; DEWDROP: Sell; HERR DROSSELMEIER: Suozzi; MARZIPAN: Adams; HOT CHOCOLATE: Muller, *Dieck; COFFEE: *Kretzschmar; TEA: *Gordon; CANDY CANE: Huxley; MOTHER GINGER: Scordato; FLOWERS: King, Laracey; DOLLS: Von Enck, Segin; SOLDIER: Villalobos, MOUSE KING: J. Peck; DR & FRAU STAHLBAUM: Hankes, Tworzyanski

The house seemed nearly full, and so nice to run into some of the Company’s most ardent supporters during intermission.

Thanks so much, Monica!

December 22, 2012
Atlanta Symphony @ Carnegie Hall
Above: baritone Brett Polegato, one of tonight’s soloists at Carnegie Hall

Saturday October 27th, 2012 -The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra brought three 20th century works to Carnegie Hall in a wonderfully crafted evening under the baton of Robert Spano. My front row seat put me right at the heart of things, beneath a row of lovely cellists that I could have reached out and touched. This was my third evening at Carnegie in a week’s time, and I felt so at home there.

I chose this programme because I wanted to hear the Canadian baritone Brett Polegato; his voice intrigued me when I first heard him singing on a tape of the 1995 Cardiff Competition which my friend Mollie had so kindly sent me. It’s taken me all this time to hear him ‘in person’ and it was well worth the wait; my impressions of him from that tape proved totally valid: he’s a first-rate singer.

But to start at the beginning, Mr. Spano opened the programme with Copland’s APPALACHIAN SPRING, by far the best-known of the evening’s three weeks. In classical music, familiarity can breed not so much contempt as a taking for granted of certain works. If you say ‘NUTCRACKER‘ or “Eine kleine nachtmusik‘, people will shrug and smirk and say “Again?” But these pieces are popular for a reason.

Listening to the Atlanta players in the Copland, I realized again how really original and purely enjoyable this score is. And it put me so much in mind of my recent links with the Martha Graham Dance Comany and with the Japanese artist Isamu Noguchi who designed the sets for Graham’s iconic ballet. Tonight APPALACHIAN SPRING felt like the masterpiece that it is, so lovingly played.

CHICHESTER PSALMS is one of the few Leonard Bernstein works that I admire, and possibly the only one that truly enjoy. I actually came to know this music thru Peter Martins’ ritualistc setting at New York City Ballet. Its rhythmic freshness and its heartfelt melodic strands make it so appealing, and tonight we had an adult male soprano rather than a boy treble; John Holiday’s gorgeous tone stole gleamingly into the huge Hall. His voice gave the music an erotic/exotic throb that a boy singer could never produce. The audience gave Mr. Holiday a rousing cheer as he bowed, and he very much deserved it.

William Walton’s BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST was an early success for the composer and it sounded magnificent last night as played and sung by the musicians and chorus of the Atlanta Symphony. The work tells the story of the proverbial writing on the wall, and of Belshazzar’s demise and the triumph of godliness. It plays out strikingly, though it does seem to me that Walton became just a shade long-winded in the final pages of the score: he doesn’t seem to know when to stop. Be that as it may, it was an inspired performance all round.

Brett Polegato’s noble tone sailed out into the Hall with warmth, focus and power, his exemplary clarity of diction making reference to the printed texts unnecessary. In the unaccompanied passage ‘Babylon was a great city…’ the singer forged a direct link with the audience, his voice speaking to us with remarkable directness and emotional force.

The evening posed the question, why isn’t Brett Polegato at The Met? And why, for that matter, isn’t Mr. Spano there as well? They are both masters of their respective crafts.

You can experience their work on the Grammy Award-winning recording of Vaughan-Williams SEA SYMPHONY.

Tonight’s concert:

Performers
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
  Robert Spano, Music Director and Conductor
- John Holiday, Countertenor
- Brett Polegato, Baritone
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus
  Norman Mackenzie, Director of Choruses
Program
- COPLAND
  Appalachian Spring
- BERNSTEIN
  Chichester Psalms
- WALTON
  Belshazzar’s Feast
October 27, 2012
Upcoming: Pontus Lidberg for MORPHOSES

Above: MORPHOSES rehearsal director Reid Bartelme and ABT’s Isabella Boylston in rehearsal for Pontus Lidberg’s WITHIN; photo by Jade Young. MORPHOSES will present Pontus’s evening of dance and film entitled WITHIN (Labyrinth Within) at The Joyce from November 7th thru 11th. Information and tickets here.

The performances will open with the newly-staged ballet which has evolved from Pontus’s haunting film LABYRINTH WITHIN. Watch a brief trailer for the film – which features New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan, Pontus Lidberg and Giovanni Bucchieri – here. Following the ballet, the film will be shown.

A couple of weeks ago, Jade and I went to a rehearsal of the ballet at the Gibney Dance Center. It happened to be Isabella Boylston’s (above) first rehearsal of the work;, and indeed it fell on a day of firsts since I had earlier watched the New York City Ballet‘s compelling soloist Adrian Danchig-Waing in his first-ever APOLLO rehearsal. Adrian is Isabella’s partner in the Pontus Lidberg work, so I felt like a bit of a stalker following him from one studio to another.

Isabella Boylston and Adrian Danchig-Waring, photo by Jade Young.

Isabella worked with Reid Bartelme, Pontus’s rehearsal director, while Adrian perfected the partnering with Laura Mead, a lovely dancer I’d met earlier this year when she danced for Cherylyn Lavagnino. Laura will alternate with Isabella at The Joyce performances.

Laura Mead, photographed by Kokyat.

I was curious to find that a second couple are also involved in the ballet, since in the film it is definitely a romantic triangle (real or illusory). But Gabrielle Lamb – a favorite dancer of mine – and the handsome Berlin-born danseur Jens Weber were working on another pas de deux, Gabrielle wearing the stiletto pumps that Wendy Whelan wears in the film.

Gabrielle and Jens, photo by Jade Young

Now I’m very curious to see how the two couples will be woven into the story once the ballet takes the stage, and also to find how the staged dance dovetails with the film.

As the appointed studio time seemed about to run out, Pontus let the other dancers go but he stayed behind to work on his solo passages with Reid. Evening was falling outside, and the studio took on a very dreamlike atmosphere.

If you have seen the film, you will recall the striking image of flowers growing thru the floorboards of the mysterious old castle where the film was shot; that’s a Wendy Whelan photo, above.

For today’s rehearsal, Pontus had brought his own flower. His dancing is so poetic, and in these last lingering moments of the rehearsal the outside world seemed to vanish and the beautiful dancer drew us into his dreamworld.

Click on Jade’s images to enlarge.

October 25, 2012