Odessa National Ballet
The Ballet of the Odessa National Opera, is situated within the building of the prestigious Opera Theater, where the greatest divas of Russian ballet performed on stage, from Anna Pavlova to Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya.
Since 2009 the ballet manager has been Yuri Vasyuchenko, an Honorary Artist of Russia and exclusive soloist for Bolshoi in its glorious era under the tutelage of Yuri Grigorovich. The Odessa company is recognized as one of the most prestigious institutions of classical ballet in Russia and can boast an extremely varied repertoire, carrying the honor and the task to preserve the precious heritage of the great Russian ballets.
A part of the company’s repertoire has always been the great masterpieces of classic ballet, from “Sylphide” by Bournonville, to “Giselle” by Adam, “Don Quixote” and “La bayadère” by Minkus, „Sleeping Beauty”, „The Nutcracker” and „Swan Lake” by Tchaikovsky, to the various twentieth century ballets by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Falla and Shchedrin.
The ballet company consists of the best performers, graduates of prestigious Ukrainian and Russian choreography schools. Many talented artists have danced with the Odessa National Opera company in its different periods and many of them have been soloists in major international companies.
Over the years, due to the many tours all over the globe, the National Opera of Odessa ballet has earned its first-class international reputation.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW:
The year 1923 marks an important date in the history of the Odessa Opera Theater; it is the year when the first ballet was staged by the theater’s ballet company: “Swan Lake”, followed by others, starting with “Little Horse”, and following with “Coppélia” and “Le Corsaire”.
In 1926 the great innovator Kasyan Goleizovsky arrived in Odessa, a choreographer who greatly influenced the fate of the Odessa ballet. His ballets “Joseph the Beautiful”, “In the Sun” and mostly the famous “Polovtsian Dances” from Borodin’s opera “Prince Igor” enchanted the audience, and the press celebrated the success of these performances by pronouncing the Odessa ballet “a modern factory for new dance”. Since the end of the twenties and the entire following decade, the repertoire quickly broadened to include new titles such as “Don Quixote” and “Giselle”, accompanied by works of contemporary authors such as Paul Virsky, Alexander Terekhov and Mikhail Moiseev.
From 1940 on, the ballet had been managed by Vakhtang Vronskij – Nadiradze, who succeeds to add “Esmeralda” to the repertoire, before war forced the theater to slow its growth and the company to relocate temporarily to Krasnoyarsk, where they had been forced to work in difficult conditions until Odessa would be finally liberated in April 1944. After the war, a period of genuine prosperity began for the company, with the arrival of ballet stars such as Marina Semyonova and Galina Ulanova in 1949, and especially the great Maya Plisetskaya, who was at the pinnacle of her glory.
During the next two decades the company and its repertoire continued their constant growth, adding other important works, such as “Laurencia”, “Peer Gynt” by Edvard Grieg (1959), “Spartacus” by Khachaturian (1962), “The Great Waltz” by Johann Strauss (1958). During the ’70s and ’80s, due to the work of choreographers such as Natalia Ryzhenko and Victor Smirnov-Golovanov, the company’s repertoire is augmented by new ballets such as “Anna Karenina” by Rodion Shchedrin (choreography by Maya Plisetskaya) (1976), “Masquerade” by Aram Khachaturian (1982).
During the ’90s, under the tutelage of Vladimir Troshchenko, the great classics were staged once more, such as “Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker” and “La Bayadère”.
Since 2009, as we already mentioned, the ballet company has been managed by the Honorary Artist of Russia Yuri Vasyuchenko, who staged “Don Quixote” again and added to the repertoire other important titles, such as “Paquita”, “Walpurgis Night”, as well as the dances in the operas “Turandot”, “Don Juan”, “Aida”, “Prince Igor” and others.
SWAN LAKE
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Ballet in 2 acts
Libretto is based on the scenario by Vladimir BEGICHEV and Vasiliy GELTSER
The scenes of choreography by Marius PETIPA, Alexander GORSKY, Konstantin SERGEYEV, Lev IVANOV, Yury GRIGOROVICH are used in the production New choreographic version – Honoured Artist of Russia Yury VASYUCHENKO
Theatre designer – Honoured Artist of Ukraine Evgeny GURENKO
Chief designer – Honoured Artist of Ukraine Natalia BEVZENKO-ZINKINA
Dress designer – SERGEY VASILIEV
Running time: 2 hours 30 min
THE NUTCRACKER
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Ballet-fèerie in 2 acts with a prologue
Based on E. T. A. Hoffmann’s novella “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”
Libretto by Marius Petipa, version by Vladimir Troshchenko
Choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky, Vasily Vanonen, Honoured Artist of Russia and Anatoly Yemelyanov, the Knight of A.E. Dyagilev
Order:
Choreographer – Vladimir TROSHCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Chuvash Republic
Set designer – Olena GAVDZINSKAYA
Costume designer – Nadya SHVETS, Honoured Painter of Ukraine
Running time with an interval: 2 hours
SLEEPING BEAUTY
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Ballet in 2 acts with a prologue
Libretto by Ivan VSEVOLOZHSKY and Marius PETIPA
After fairy tales by Charles PERRAULT
Choreography by Marius PETIPA
Chief Choreographer – Yury VASYUCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Russia
Producing Ballet Master – Volodymir TROSHCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Chuvash Republic
Stage Designer – Natalia BEVZENKO-ZINKINA, Honoured Painter of Ukraine
Running time with intervals: 2 hours 40 min
GISELLE
Music: Adolphe Charles Adam
Ballet in 2 acts
Libretto by Theophile Gautier and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges
Choreography by Jules PERROT, Jean Coralli, Marius PETIPA
Leonid LAVROVSKY version
Running time – 2 hours
DON QUIXOTE
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Ballet in 3 acts with a prologue
Libretto by Marius Petipa
Based on an episode from the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes
Choreography by Marius PETIPA, Alexander GORSKY, Kas’yan GOLEYZOVSKY
New choreographic version by Yury VASYUCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Russia
Musical Director and Conductor – Oksana LYNIV
Chief Designer – Natalia BEVZENKO-ZINKINA, Honoured Painter of Ukraine
Running time with intervals: 2 hours 30 min
LA BAYADERE
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Ballet in 3 acts
Scenario by Sergey KHUDYAKOV and Marius PETIPA
Choreography by Marius PETIPA
Choreographers contributed to the production:
Mykola ZUBKOVSKY, Honoured Artist of Russia
Konstantin SERGEYEV, People’s Artist of the USSR
Vakhtang CHABUKIANI, People’s Artist of the USSR
Principal Choreographer – Yury VASYUCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Russia
Running time: 2 hours
LES SYLPHIDES
Music: Fryderyk Chopin
Choreography by Mikhail Fokin
Renewal by Nadiya FEDOROVA
Chief designer – Honoured Painter of Ukraine Nataliya BEVZENKO-ZINKINA
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
CARMEN SUITE
Music: Georges Bizet – Rodion Shchedrin
Ballet in 1 act
Libretto by Alberto Alonso after Prosper Merimee’s novel
Choreography by Alberto ALONSO
Renewal by Honoured Artist of Russia Azariy PLISETSKY, Aleksandr LISETSKY
Art Producer – People’s Artist of Russia Boris MESSERER
Art Producer – Honoured Artist of Ukraine Nataliya BEVZENKO-ZINKINA
DR. AYBOLIT XXI
Music: Nino Rota
Ballet-fantasy in 2 acts
Libretto by Alla Rubina based on fairy tales by Korney Chukovsky The conductor – IGOR CHERNETSKY
Choreographer – Honoured Artist of Ukraine ALLA RUBINA Set designer – IRINA DAVYDENKO
Running time – 2 hours
MYSTERY OF THE VIENNA WOOD
Music: Gustav Mahler and Johann Strauss II
Ballet in 2 acts
Libretto by Yury Vasyuchenko, Honoured Artist of Russia
Chief Choreographer — Yury VASYUCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Russia
The author of music concept and conductor – Oksana LYNIV
Chief designer – Natalia BEVZENKO-ZINKINA, Honoured Painter of Ukraine
Costume Designer – Natalya BADANINA
Running time with an interval: 1 hour 30 min
THE FIREBIRD AND THE RITE OF SPRING
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Ballet in one act
Music Director and Conductor – Aleksandru SAMOILA, Chief Conductor of the Odessa Opera House, People’s Artist of the Republic of Moldova
Choreographer – Georgy KOVTUN, People’s Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, Honoured Art Worker of Russia
Set Designer – Stanislav ZAITSEV, Honoured Painter of Ukraine
Costume Designers – Elena LESNIKOVA, Zlata TSIRTSENS
Lighting Designer – Vyacheslav USHERENKO
Running time with an interval: 1 hour 40 min
PAQUITA
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Ballet in 1 act
Based on the novel The Gypsy Girl by Miguel de Cervantes Choreography by Marius PETIPA
New Version and Production by Honoured Artist of Russia Yuri VASYUCHENKO
Chief designer – Honoured Artist of Ukraine Natalia BEVZENKO-ZINKINA
Costumes by NATALIA BADANINA
WALPURGIS NIGHT
Music: Charles Gounod
Ballet in 1 act
Based on the tragedy Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Choreography by Leonid LAVROVSKIY
New Version and Production by Honoured Artist of Russia Yury VASYUCHENKO
Chief designer – Honoured Artist of Ukraine Natalia BEVZENKO-ZINKINA
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
PEARLS OF WORLD BALLET
The Evening of Choreographic Miniatures
Cesare Pugni. “Pas de Quatre”
Choreography by A. Dolina
D. Auber. “Grand pas classique”
Choreography by V. Gsovsky
Cesare Pugni. Pas de six from the ballet “Markitenka”
Choreography by P. Lakotta after A. Saint-Leon
Cesare Pugni. Pas de deux “Carnival of Venice” from the ballet “Satanella”.
Choreography by M. Petipa
C. M. von Weber
“Le Spectre de la rose ”
Choreography by M. Fokin
A. Ponchielli
Dance of the Hours from the opera “La Gioconda”
Choreography by M. Petipa
The main ballet master – the Honoured Artist of Russia Yury VASYUCHENKO
Running time: 2 hours
NUREYEV FOREVER
Ballet Gala in 2 acts with a prologue and epilogue
Choreography by Marius PETIPA, August BOURNONVILLE, Rostislav ZAKHAROV, Konstantin BOYARSKY, Renato ZANELLI, Boris EIFMAN, Yury VASYUCHENKO
Idea, story, stage direction and choreography by Vackil USMANOV (Austria)
Video-art by Roman TOPILOV
Costumes by Natalia BADANINA
Chief Choreographer – Yury VASYUCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Russia
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes
YELL («KRIK»)
Music: Serge Houppin, Gerard Vandenbroucque, Erwan Mellec, Giovanni Sollima, Henri Torgue, Max Richter, Peteris Vasks, Richard Wagner
Ballet in two acts
Based on the novel by Alexander ZINOVIEV Go to Golgotha
Choreography by Andrey MERKURIEV, Honoured Artist of Russia and Honoured Artist of the Russian Republic of North Ossetia-Alania
Libretto by Polina ZINOVIEVA (France – Germany) and Andrey MERKURIEV
Stage designer and painter Polina ZINOVIEVA
Costume Design by Ursula BURGER (Germany)
Project supervisor – Yury VASYUCHENKO, Honoured Artist of Russia
Running time: 1 hour 30 min
