18 February
The Nutcracker ballet in Germany
The International Festival Ballet & Festival Orchestra will present in Germany the most famous Christmas story about love and the ability to sacrifice for it. Lev Ivanov's classical choreography to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was performed on December 18, 1892, and since then The Nutcracker has become one of the most performed ballets in the world. This year, before Christmas, you too will have the opportunity to see the magnificent choreography and enjoy the immortal music.
Basel, Musical – Theater
The Nutcracker ballet in Germany
The International Festival Ballet & Festival Orchestra will present in Germany the most famous Christmas story about love and the ability to sacrifice for it. Lev Ivanov's classical choreography to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was performed on December 18, 1892, and since then The Nutcracker has become one of the most performed ballets in the world. This year, before Christmas, you too will have the opportunity to see the magnificent choreography and enjoy the immortal music.
In 1816, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann wrote the fairy tale story The Nutcracker or the Mouse King, which was destined to become the most famous Christmas fairy tale.
Marie and Fritz receive the Nutcracker as a gift from their godfather Drosselmeyer. Marie's sensitive and kind heart helps them to see behind the Nutcracker's ugly appearance his beautiful soul, and helps him defeat the Mouse King.
The fairy-tale Christmas atmosphere on stage was created by the wonderful theater artist Vyacheslav Okunev, who has worked at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and at La Scala in Milan.
International Festival Ballet, under the direction of Alexey Bogutsky, will receive its new name in the summer of 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the St. Petersburg Festival Ballet company to change its name to International Festival Ballet. The artists openly expressed their anti-war stance through numerous protests. The ballet company has many Ukrainian dancers who are graduates of the Kiev Choreographic Academy, but also includes graduates of the St. Petersburg Vaganova Academy, the Moscow Academy of Choreography, the Ufa Ballet School and the Perm Ballet Academy.
The dancers dance to live music by the Festival Orchestra under the baton of conductor Normunds Vaitzis. In addition to classical ballets such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and Don Quixote, the orchestra's repertoire includes works by Ravel, Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Massenet, Fauré and Albegis, Gounod and many others.
