» All Posts by Martin West http://www.sfballetblog.org Wed, 02 May 2012 22:04:37 +0000 en hourly 1 “It Perfectly Tells the Story of Onegin…” http://www.sfballetblog.org/2012/01/it-perfectly-tells-the-story-of-onegin/ http://www.sfballetblog.org/2012/01/it-perfectly-tells-the-story-of-onegin/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:28:33 +0000 Martin West http://www.sfballetblog.org/?p=3671 Now that Nutcracker is behind us, my thoughts are turning already to the Repertory Season and to the works new to us this season. First up will be Cranko’s Onegin, a ballet that I have wanted to conduct ever since I first saw it in England at The Royal Ballet. It’s a piece full of wonderful music and challenges. Full-length ballets always have the added extra ingredient of the music telling a story over the whole evening, so I’ll be working hard to pace the drama as well as having to be attentive to all the dancers needs. It’s the sort of ballet where the principals have a lot of freedom in their interpretations and every show will need to be different, I’m sure.  The music is a  compilation/arrangement of music by Tchaikovsky.

It perfectly tells the story of Onegin, which is quite remarkable given that he wrote an opera of the same name–yet none of that music is used! Tchaikovsky wrote so much heartfelt and emotional music that Kurt Heinz Stolze had plenty of music to choose from when he arranged the score for this piece. It’ll definitely be one of my highlights of the season and  I’ll be joined by my great friend David LaMarche from American Ballet Theatre who will help me out by conducting a few of the shows.

 

Yuan Yuan Tan and Ruben Martin Cintas rehearse Cranko's Onegin (Photo © Erik Tomasson)

 

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