"Rigoletto" by G. Verdi premieres at the Bolshoi Theatre Photo: Damir Yusupov The Bolshoi Theatre presents the premiere of the opera "Rigoletto" by G. Verdi. The premiere series of performances takes place on December 14th and December 16th - 21st on the New Stage. The last time the opera "Rigoletto" was staged at the Bolshoi Theatre was in 1989. This time the audience is presented as co-production of the famous Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and four major European opera houses - Opéra National du Rhin, Theatre La Monnaie (Belgium), Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Bolshoi Theatre. The production was staged by Canadian director Robert Carsen. He decided that the action of "Rigoletto" would take place at the circus. On one hand, this is logical because of the Verdi character's real "job", on the other hand, this is a metaphor that has many meanings. An Italian maestro Evelino PidГІ is the music director of the production, presented at the Bolshoi Theatre. Miruna and Radu Boruzescu, theatre designers of Romanian origin, have worked together with Robert Carsen on both opera and drama productions. This was one of Madam Boruzescu's final projects: she passed away in April 2014. The cast stars Dimitris Tiliakos, who made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2010 in the production of "Don Giovanni" by W.A. Mozart, and Valery Alexeyev. The part of the Duke is performed by the young singers Fabrizio Paesano (Italy), Pavel Valuzhin, a p artic ip ant th e B ols h oi T heatr e Y oun g A rtis ts O pe ra P ro gra m a nd S erg e y Romanovsky, who has already performed at the Bolshoi in the production of "Der Rosenkavalier" by R. Strauss. V enera Gimadieva and Nina Minasyan, graduates of the Young Artist Opera Program, as well as Kristina Mkhitaryan, who is a current participant of the Program, and Anne-Catherine Gillet, a singer of Belgium origin, who has achieved major success at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liege, perform the part of Gilda. The Bolshoi Theatre will open the Year of Russia in Monaco with the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew" The ballet was staged by Jean-Christophe Maillot, the chief choreographer of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. This was the first time that a foreign choreographer was invited to stage a full-length, plot-based ballet. The Bolshoi Theatre's Press Office told RIA NOVOSTI that the Bolshoi would present the scandalous premiere of the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew" in Monaco. The ballet was staged by Jean-Christophe Maillot, the chief choreographer of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. This was the first time in 20 years that he worked at a foreign theatre, without his Monte Carlo company. The Bolshoi Ballet will perform at the Grimaldi Forum on December 19th - 21st. Mr. Maillot said: "It is a great joy for us to host the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet Company at the Monaco Dance Forum. The company, which for over two centuries has made a vast contribution to the world history of dance, will present "The Taming of the Shrew" in Monaco. "The Taming of the Shrew", which I recently created for the Bolshoi Theatre and which premiered in Moscow on July 4th, will be shown on the Grimaldi Forum stage. I am proud of the fact that the Year of Russia in Monaco will open with this very ballet." According to the choreographer, the Bolshoi is one of the best companies in the world, or maybe even the best one. The Bolshoi's official website quotes Maillot: "The company is amazing when it comes to classics; what they manage to do is spectacular. I have been a part of the world of the dance for forty years, but the Bolshoi still is a sacred myth". Jean-Christophe Maillot December, 15 2014 Newsletter

, 7 The Bolshoi Ballet will present "The Taming of the Shrew", the first full-length, plot- based ballet that was staged by a guest foreign choreographer. The artists will perform together with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Igor Dronov. The cast stars the Bolshoi Ballet's soloists Ekaterina Krysanova, Kristina K re to va, V la dis la v L an tr a to v, D enis S avin, O lg a S m ir n o va a n d A na sta sia Stashkevich, Semyon Chudin and Artem Ovcharenko. W orld-class stars are invited to the Dance Forum, organized by Les Ballets de Monte Carlo and the Princess Grace Academy of Dance in Monaco from December 13th till December 31st. There will also be premieres of productions by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Belgium) and Maguy Marin (France), performances of the Béjart Ballet and the T okyo Ballet. Les Ballets de Monte Carlo will close the Forum with the ballet "Faust", choreographed by the company's famous director. Monte Carlo is a city with great ballet traditions. It was here that Diaghilev's famous enterprise was based; later Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo was founded by the members of the Ballets Russes. In 1993 Jean-Christophe Maillot became the director of the new company, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. He nurtured this company and created the festival, where ballet companies of the world meet and exchange experience; he also became the head of the school of choreography. Jean- Christophe Maillot marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian ballet and paid tribute to its legacy. The Bolshoi Theatre will perform in Monaco The Ministry of Culture informed The Moscow Post that the Bolshoi Theatre would present the scandalous premiere of the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew" in Monaco. The Ministry of Culture stated that the Bolshoi Theatre would open the Year of Russian in Monaco with the ballet "The Taming of the Shrew". The production was staged by Jean-Christophe Maillot, the chief choreographer of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. The Bolshoi Ballet is expected to perform at the Grimaldi Forum from December 19th till December 21st. Jean-Christophe Maillot told journalists: "It is a great joy for us to host the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet Company at the Monaco Dance Forum. The company, which for over two centuries has made a vast contribution to the world history of dance, will present "The Taming of the Shrew" in Monaco. "The Taming of the Shrew", which I recently created for the Bolshoi Theatre, will be shown on the Grimaldi Forum stage. I am proud of the fact that the Year of Russia in Monaco will open with this very ballet". "The Taming of the Shrew" is a play in five acts by William Shakespeare; it was written in 1593 or 1594. The date of the first production is unknown. The comedy was changed many times and used to be performed under different titles. For articles published 11 December 2014 Broadway World, Les Echos, and many other local and international editions announce the upcoming transmission of the Bolshoi's Nutcracker in cinemas. Ismene Brown the dance critic for The Spectator (UK) writes in her blog based on translations of Russian newspapers about the election of Mikhail Shvydkoi as head of the Bolshoi Theatre's Board of Trustees. The New York Times publishes an article by its dance critic Alastair Macaulay who chooses his top 10 favourite performances by male dancers in 2014. No dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet are on his list. December 21st - the ballet "The Nutcracker" (production of the Stanislavsky a n d N em ir o vic h -D an ch en ko M osco w A ca d em ic M usic T hea tr e ) w ill b e broadcast at cinemas all over the world. Treat yourself to some holiday mood! For tickets and more details please visit: .pathelive.com/fr/sp/spectacles/the-nutcracker

It is planned that an opera festival and a festival of modern choreography will be organized in Moscow in summer 2015 Sergei Kapkov, the head of the Department of Culture, said to the City News Agency "Moscow" that an opera festival and a festival of modern choreography were planned to be organized in Moscow in summer 2015. Mr. Kapkov added: "The opera festival will be organized at open venues, around the Bolshoi Theatre, at ponds and other water basins. There also will be a jazz festival that we plan to organize in Kolomenskoye in summer". He also said that a festival of modern choreography might be organized in the capital as well. December, 15 2014 Bolshoi Theatre in the Internet
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