Photo Album: Nureyev Gala at La Scala – Zakharova, Louvet, Nuñez, Muntagirov and Bolle (and Nureyev at La Scala facts and figures)

May 26, 2018, 8:55 am

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Last night a Gala to celebrate Rudolf Nureyev was had at La Scala. It is the 80th Anniversary of his birth and also 25 years after his death. The Gala was previewed by a benefit audience on Thursday, and opened Friday 25 May, with further performances on 26 and 29 May. La Scala’s Étoiles Svetlana Zakharova and Roberto Bolle were joined by guests Marianela Nuñez, Germain Louvet, and Vadim Muntagirov.

Nureyev first danced at La Scala in 1965 – The Royal Ballet was on tour and he danced Romeo and Juliet and La Bayadère with Margot Fonteyn.

Continue reading Photo Album: Nureyev Gala at La Scala – Zakharova, Louvet, Nuñez, Muntagirov and Bolle (and Nureyev at La Scala facts and figures) at gramilano.

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Ferruccio Soleri – After 60 years and 2,283 performances, Italy’s Arlecchino bows out

June 9, 2018, 10:39 am

≫ Next: Sneak peek of Don Quixote at La Scala – photos from today’s dress rehearsal

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On 13 May, a very important actor took his final bow. Goldoni’s Harlequin, servant to two masters, known in Italy as simply Arlecchino, has seen Ferruccio Soleri in the leading role since 1959. Now, aged 88, he has taken off his chequered costume and black leather commedia dell’arte mask for the last time.

Goldoni’s play is called simply Servitore di due padroni (Servant to Two Masters) and the Harlequin character in it is called Truffaldino (meaning a trickster, a swindler), but legendary Italian director, and founder of Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, Giorgio Strehler, named him Arlecchino, the character he’s based on.

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Sneak peek of Don Quixote at La Scala – photos from today’s dress rehearsal

July 9, 2018, 9:53 am

≫ Next: Photo Album: Don Quixote at La Scala with with Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko

≪ Previous: Ferruccio Soleri – After 60 years and 2,283 performances, Italy’s Arlecchino bows out

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Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote returns again to La Scala with many of the company’s newer Principals and Soloists making role debuts.

Tomorrow night’s cast – and that of this afternoon’s dress rehearsal – will see Timofej Andrijashenko dance Basilio for the first time, and he will be dancing with Nicoletta Manni who is a house favourite in the role of Kitri.

In the first cast Alessandra Vassallo and Caterina Bianchi are Kitri’s friends, Martina Arduino (who will debut as Kitri on 18 July) is the Street Dancer, Marco Agostino (for him, a debut as Basilio also on 18 July) is Espada, Virna Toppi (Kitri debut on 11 July) is the Queen on the Dryades, Antonella Albano is Cupid, Antonino Sutera the Gypsy, and Maria Celeste Losa is the Bridesmaid.

Continue reading Sneak peek of Don Quixote at La Scala – photos from today’s dress rehearsal at gramilano.

Photo Album: Don Quixote at La Scala with with Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko

July 11, 2018, 7:01 am

≫ Next: Luisa Spinatelli – celebrating the life of the Milanese opera and ballet designer

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In 1959, Rudolf Nureyev, with Ninel Kourgapkina as Kitri, danced Basilio for the first time at the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. He was 20.

After he defected to the West in 1961, the role became his calling card around the world, the character suiting his comic talents and mischievous nature.

He restaged the ballet, based on Marius Petipa and Alexandre Gorski, for the Vienna Opera Ballet in 1966. John Lanchbery reorchestrated much of Minkus’ score.

Continue reading Photo Album: Don Quixote at La Scala with with Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko at gramilano.

Luisa Spinatelli – celebrating the life of the Milanese opera and ballet designer

June 26, 2017, 2:27 am

≫ Next: 80 years of opera and ballet costumes from La Scala go on display

≪ Previous: Photo Album: Don Quixote at La Scala with with Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko

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Luisa Spinatelli… taking tasteful to a higher dimension

The Amici della Scala (Friends of La Scala), run by the indefatigable Anna Crespi, gathered together at the association’s spectacular headquarters, a short walk from La Scala, to celebrate one of Italy’s most important theatre designers.

Luisa Spinatelli is one of a tight-knit core of Milanese artists, by birth or adoption. They are actors, singers, dancers and designers and include many of Italy’s greatest talents.

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80 years of opera and ballet costumes from La Scala go on display

October 11, 2017, 3:28 am

≫ Next: Raina Kabaivanska recounts career secrets including La Scala’s fur coat and Pavarotti’s kiss

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The theatrical costume is a paradox: it hides, yet at the same time, communicates revealing aspects of a character; it is made to be seen from afar, yet the designers and costume makers care for the tiniest details, even if invisible. Each costume contains thousands of secrets, from colour combining to decoration, from the choice of a fabric to the technique to create a form. And behind the various techniques that make it possible, the resulting creation has precise aesthetic choices, decisions on taste, hints at the spirit of time, in addition to the imagination and the particular eye of each costume designer.

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Raina Kabaivanska recounts career secrets including La Scala’s fur coat and Pavarotti’s kiss

November 6, 2017, 10:50 am

≫ Next: La Scala ballet school’s Nutcracker in Milan is pure joy

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Latest in a collaboration between Italy’s L’Opera magazine and La Scala to celebrate the careers of singers – both living and deceased – was Saturday’s encounter with the great Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaivanska, still statuesque and glamourous at 82.

Interspersed with audio and video clips of some of her celebrated roles, were well-aimed questions from the extremely knowledgeable director and vice director of L’Opera, Sabino Lenoci and Giancarlo Landini.

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La Scala ballet school’s Nutcracker in Milan is pure joy

December 26, 2017, 9:29 am

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Teatro Strehler in Milan has welcomed the young dancers from La Scala’s Ballet Academy to its stage during the Christmas period for several years. It’s a win-win situation where the theatre sells out its 900 seats for the nine-day run, and the kids get to dance, dance, dance. And dance they do. This isn’t a watered-down version with an end-of-term show feeling, but a full on, thoroughly enjoyable — and professional — Nutcracker, with Frédéric Olivieri’s demanding choreography (based on the Lev Ivanov) telling a clear and charming story in Roberta Guidi di Bagno’s traditional and effective sets.

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Rudolf Nureyev died 25 years ago – La Scala pays tribute to the great dancer

January 6, 2018, 12:41 pm

≫ Next: Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci

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Rudolf Nureyev’s debut at La Scala was on 9 October 1965 when, finally, the Milanese public had the opportunity to see the Russian dancer that all the newspapers were writing about. With him was Margot Fonteyn, and they danced Romeo and Juliet together.

On 16 September 1966 Nureyev and Fonteyn returned with Marguerite and Armand and several days later he danced with another regular partner, Carla Fracci, in his own production of Sleeping Beauty.

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Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci

October 1, 2018, 12:16 pm

≫ Next: Illustrated look at La Scala’s visit to Australia with Don Quixote and Giselle

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Vittoria Crespi Morbio, the writer of an exceptional collection of books produced by the Amici della Scala, has written monographs on important artists who have collaborated with Teatro alla Scala – some celebrated, some largely forgotten. These little gems are precious in the content but lacking in their scale. However, luckily, the Friends of La Scala sometimes bring out glorious coffee-table volumes, and this season there are two.

Incantesimi

Incantesimi (Incantations), celebrates Amici della Scala’s 40th birthday and was tied in with an exhibition at Milan’s Palazzo Reale.

Continue reading Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci at gramilano.

Illustrated look at La Scala’s visit to Australia with Don Quixote and Giselle

November 3, 2018, 9:17 am

≫ Next: Carla Fracci and the Women’s National Volleyball Team

≪ Previous: Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci

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After almost a month touring China, La Scala’s ballet company popped back to Milan for a run of Manon performances, before popping off to Australia for thirteen performances in Brisbane, from 7 to 18 November.

It is the company’s first time in Australia and they are taking two of their most popular productions: Don Quixote and Giselle. Performances are at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane.

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Carla Fracci and the Women’s National Volleyball Team

December 13, 2018, 11:01 am

≫ Next: Roberto Fascilla, former étoile at La Scala, dies at 82

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Carla Fracci, Rosita Missoni (founder, with her husband, of the Missoni fashion house in the 1950s), Marco Tronchetti Provera (Chief Executive of Pirelli), Javier Zanetti (the footballer) and Italy’s Women’s National Volleyball Team were recipients of the prestigious Grande Milano (not to be confused with Gramilano) Award for being Ambassadors for Italy throughout the world.

Footballer Zanetti is from Argentina, but as vice-president of Milan’s Inter football team, and he is also the most capped player in the history of Inter, he has been adopted by the Milanese and, as he said, “My three children are Milanese.”

Daniela Mainini, President of the Centro Studi Grande Milano, and Roberto Poli, The General Director, presented awards between courses of a meal for 500 in Milan’s Marriott Hotel.

Continue reading Carla Fracci and the Women’s National Volleyball Team at Gramilano.

Roberto Fascilla, former étoile at La Scala, dies at 82

January 24, 2019, 11:04 am

≫ Next: Antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome with Russian and Italian ballet stars

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Roberto Fascilla died yesterday morning, 23 January 2019, in Milan after a long illness. He entered the corps de ballet at Teatro alla Scala, before finishing its school, when he was just 13, and graduated from La Scala’s dancing school in 1957. He became a Soloist in 1960, a Principal Dancer in 1963 and was […]

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Antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome with Russian and Italian ballet stars

January 25, 2019, 12:44 pm

≫ Next: Ballerina Jacquelin De Min dies at the age of 76

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As an antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome — this year a sold out two days, next year there will be three — in the luxurious setting of the Hotel de Russie near the Spanish Steps, there was an intimate reception hosted by the hotel, with a Sergei Diaghilev theme. The event […]

Continue reading Antipasto to the annual Les Étoiles gala in Rome with Russian and Italian ballet stars on Gramilano.

Ballerina Jacquelin De Min dies at the age of 76

March 23, 2019, 8:00 am

≫ Next: Interview with Alessandra Ferri: Maturing I find myself smiling more

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Ballerina Jacquelin De Min has died at the age of 76 at her home in Cannes after a long illness. She began dancing with the ballet company at the Opera House in Strasbourg when she was 16, and soon after with the Gran Ballet du Marquise De Cuevas, followed by the ballet companies in Nice […]

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Interview with Alessandra Ferri: Maturing I find myself smiling more

April 6, 2019, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Video: Carla Fracci and Roberto Bolle dance Le Spectre de la rose, 1998

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I’m enjoying a new chapter in my life having the fortune to play women of my age and not romantic roles like the Giselles, Carmens, Juliets, Manons… all wonderful, but enough, they’re part of another Alessandra. Now I’m a 55-year-old with the knowledge of how extraordinary that is. Alessandra Ferri, now in Milan for a […]

Continue reading Interview with Alessandra Ferri: Maturing I find myself smiling more on Gramilano.

Video: Carla Fracci and Roberto Bolle dance Le Spectre de la rose, 1998

May 31, 2019, 9:15 am

≫ Next: In with the old – La Scala returns to Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty

≪ Previous: Interview with Alessandra Ferri: Maturing I find myself smiling more

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Shortly before Carla Fracci’s 62nd birthday, she took the 23-year-old Roberto Bolle to Toyko for the World Ballet Festival. The young star had been promoted to principal dancer at La Scala in 1996 and had already embarked on an international freelance career. On 9 and 10 July 1998 they danced Le Spectre de la rose. […]

Continue reading Video: Carla Fracci and Roberto Bolle dance Le Spectre de la rose, 1998 on Gramilano.

In with the old – La Scala returns to Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty

July 7, 2019, 9:18 am

≫ Next: Alberto Testa – Italian dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer – has died at 96

≪ Previous: Video: Carla Fracci and Roberto Bolle dance Le Spectre de la rose, 1998

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If there is a ballet that belongs to La Scala, it’s Rudolf Nureyev’s production of The Sleeping Beauty, created for the ballet company in 1966 with Carla Fracci and Nureyev in the main roles. It was performed 152 times until 2007, when Tchaikovsky’s score fell silent for eight years until awoken by Alexei Ratmansky when […]

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Alberto Testa – Italian dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer – has died at 96

October 11, 2019, 9:09 am

≫ Next: Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci

≪ Previous: In with the old – La Scala returns to Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty

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Alberto Testa was a walking encyclopedia of dance, always elegantly dressed with never a hair out of place, and was very much of another time recalling Frederick Ashton with his old-school ways. Although he could be childlike and impish in his humour, he commanded great deference from those who collaborated with him and those who […]

Continue reading Alberto Testa – Italian dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer – has died at 96 on Gramilano.

Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci

October 1, 2018, 12:16 pm

≫ Next: Illustrated look at La Scala’s visit to Australia with Don Quixote and Giselle

≪ Previous: Alberto Testa – Italian dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer – has died at 96

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Vittoria Crespi Morbio, the writer of an exceptional collection of books produced by the Amici della Scala, has written monographs on important artists who have collaborated with Teatro alla Scala – some celebrated, some largely forgotten. These little gems are precious in the content but lacking in their scale. However, luckily, the Friends of La […]

Continue reading Two beautiful volumes from Amici della Scala: 80 years of costumes at La Scala and the designer Coltellacci on Gramilano.