The Far East Music Forum will be launched by so much-loved by St Petersburg audience The Little Humpbacked Horse by Rodion Shchedrin (choreography by Alexei Ratmansky). The Mariinsky Ballet Company will present it three times: on July 15 (19:00) and July 16 (14:00 and 19:00).
The Little Humpbacked Horse is a colorful and joyful performance, with which the Mariinsky Theatre closed its Washington tour in February 2017. The Performance received ecstatic acclaim from American audience, press and critics, who noted its mood and freshness. Carolyn Kelemen, a dance writer for DC Metro Theater, described the performance as follows: “From the start there were lots of chuckles from the audience and, at times, from the characters onstage as the whimsical tale unfolded. Alexei Ratmansky, the hottest choreographer around plus Rodion Shchedrin, who wrote the dance-friendly score, have created a magical melange of music and dance that will leave you smiling”. The Buchtrack reviewer Hilary Stroh also ranked the performance highly, giving it five stars: “From the first jolly fairground music to the last processional apotheosis, Alexei Ratmansky's The Little Humpbacked Horse was the most terrific romp – enormously fun and outrageously charming”.
At the Opening Ceremony of the Mariinsky Festival in Vladivostok the audience will see a part of the cast that won the Americans’ hearts with Maxim Zyuzin (July 15 19:00), Alexander Sergeev (July 16 14:00). as well as the principle of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Bavarian State Ballet Vladimir Shklyarov, about whose performance The New York Times wrote: “In no other role is he so ebulliently, exuberantly fresh”, while Dance Tab commented on the dancer’s abilities: “He is good at everything… - high jumps, accurate fast tight turns, neat footwork, cabrioles that send the top leg soaring…”.
It will be the first time that one of the world’s most famous dancers will perform at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. He will also present a programme of his artistic evening (July 18, 19:00), which will include Ballet 1001 by Eric Gauthier, Gopak (choreography by Rostislav Zakharov) and Yuri Smekalov’s production of Ne me quitte pas featuring the Mariinsky Ballet soloists Anastasia Kolegova and Maxim Zyuzin.
