THE EVENT FEATURING SERGEI POLUNIN HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO 2021
Pas de deux for toes and fingers by Svetlana Zakharova and Vadim Repin with the Cherubini Orchestra has been announced
Faust rapsodia: the performances of Nov 11 and 14 have been rescheduled for Nov 9 and 10
The world premiere of Metànoia, the new work by and with Sergei Polunin which should have inaugurated the Ravenna Festival’s Autumn Trilogy on the 6th of November, has been postponed to 2021, within the year of the Dante celebrations. Faced with the new restrictions to international travels, the company is unable to guarantee the staging of this complex production, which involves artists from the United Kingdom, Russia, Serbia, Canada, and the United States. The Festival does not renounce to dance and announces the return of a much beloved artist: Svetlana Zakharova will be on stage with her partner, violinist Vadim Repin, and the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra for Pas de deux for toes and fingers on November 4, 5, and 6 at the Pala De André; in this case the limited stay of the artists is compatible with the current regulations for arrivals from Russia. The new dates of the dance performance make it necessary a schedule change for Faust rapsodia (7, 9, 10 November in the Alighieri Theatre), in order to greatly rationalise the production timetable.
Pas de deux for toes and fingers is a gallery of precious choreographic and musical miniatures, and each of them has been chosen to highlight the talent of Svetlana Zakharova, undisputed queen of the Bolshoi in cosmopolitan Moscow, and of Vadim Repin “the best and most perfect violinist” according to Yehudi Menuhin. At the heart of the programme Mikhail Fokine’s solo The Dying Swan on Camille Saint-Saëns’s score; the other side of Zakharova, an artist who dares to delve into the contemporary, is condensed in Motoko Hirayama’s Revelation, on John Williams’s music. For the adagio from Petipa’s classic Raymonda, in Asami Maki’s revision, Zakharova chooses Denis Rodkin as her partner. Jacopo Tissi, the first Italian dancer at the Bolshoi, is at her side for the chiaroscuro of Mauro Bigonzetti’s Caravaggio on music by Monteverdi adapted by Bruno Moretti. Contested between Mikhail Lobukhin and Denis Medvedev, Zakharova dons a garçonne costume for Johan Kobborg’s La ronde des lutins, on Antonio Bazzini’s Scherzo fantastico Op. 25.
The main character of a rich and varied tale, which originated in Germany in the late Middle Ages, Faust gained universal appeal through Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s writings: along his Dantesque journey between Heaven and Hell, Faust experiences the powers of the evil, and redemption with the help of his beloved. In a brand new visionary production, with the stalls turned into an enlarged pit to host the social-distanced orchestra, and the audience in the boxes, gallery, and balcony, Faust rapsodia is a reasoned selection from Schumann’s secular oratorio combined with scenes from Goethe’s work. Dramaturgical adaptation and direction have been entrusted to Luca Micheletti, while Antonio Greco leads the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini and the Coro Cherubini. Faust is played by baritone Vito Priante and actor Edoardo Siravo; Margherita is soprano Elisa Balbo; in the role of Mephistopheles are bass Riccardo Zanellato and actor Roberto Latini. Set, lightning, and costume design are curated, respectively, by Ezio Antonelli, Fabrizio Ballini, and Anna Biagiotti.
The 9 pm performance in the Alighieri Theatre will be preceded by a 30-minute-long performance, accessible with the same ticket of Faust rapsodia: at 7.30 pm, in the Basilica of San Francesco (“the church of Dante”), Quanto in femmina foco d’amor is a “mystery for voices and pilgrim women”, a meditation on the women in the Commedia, based on an idea by Cristina Muti, written by Francesca Masi, and with Luca Micheletti’s mise en scène. The voices of Francesca, Pia, Sapia, Piccarda, and Cunizza weave a women’s prayer, a litany running from Eve to Maria, beginning and end of the world, sung and danced by the Edenic woman, Matelda.
The Festival’s Ticket Office will get in touch with those who have already purchased a ticket for one of the performances with Sergei Polunin; it will be possible to choose between replacing the ticket with one for one of the Pas de deux for toes and fingers performances, and asking for a refund. In both cases, it will grant a pre-emption right on the sales for the new dates of Metànoia in 2021, which have to be confirmed. The pre-sales for Zakharova-Repin will start for everyone else on Monday, 26 October.
The tickets of Faust rapsodia (Quanto in femmina foco d’amor included) for the 11th of November are valid for the performance of the 9th of November; the tickets for the 14th of November are valid for the performance of the 10th of November. For any inquiry, please contact the Festival’s Ticket Office.
Ravenna Festival Ticket Office
Teatro Alighieri, Via A. Mariani 2, Ravenna – ITALY
Ph. +39 0544 249244 | tickets@ravennafestival.org
Opening times Mon-Sat 9 am – 1 pm
Access to the Ticket Office is granted only on appointment, advanced booking by phone +39 0544 249244