The Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam is getting ready to celebrate its 50th birthday. Director Robert Carsen and conductor Marc Albrecht are preparing a special concert to mark the occassion, featuring such singers as: Eva Maria Westbroek, Violeta Urmana, Sabine Devieilhe, Eleonora Buratto, and Luca Pisaroni. The Dutch National Ballet will also pay tribute to its sister with a new choreography by Krzysztof Pastor to be performed by Igone de Jongh, Casey Herd, Artur Shesterikov, and Sébastien Galtier. The gala will be attended by HRH Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.
Krzysztof Pastor, director of the Polish National Ballet and choreographer-in-residence of the Dutch National Ballet, is working on a choreography set to Crisantemi for a string quartet by Giacomo Puccini, which the composer quoted later in his opera Manon Lescaut. Pastor choreographs this melodic elegy for four dancers, drawing inspiration from the relationship between the opera's protagonists: Manon, her brother, her beloved Chevalier des Grieux, and her admirer Geronte.
Photo: Krzysztof Pastor and Igone de Jongh in rehearsal for Crisantemi, Amserdam, by Altin Kaftira
