The Mikhailovsky Company isn't alone in visiting London this summer as the Bolshoi will also be appearing.

Here is the schedule:

Spartacus 19/20/21/31 July (mat & eve)

Coppelia (new production) July 22/23/24 (mat & eve)

Serenade & Giselle July 26/27/28

Triple Bill: Saisons Russes (Ratmansky) / Petrouchka / Paquita July 29/30

Le Corsaire August 2/3/4/5

Don Quichotte August 6/7 (mat & eve) 8 (matinée only)


There is some over-lap with the Mikhailovsky company making it an expensive summer. I'm disappointed they aren't bringing Esmeralda but looking forward to the new productions of Coppelia and Paquita. It will also be fascinating to see the company dance Ratmansky's Saison Russes, I imagine it will look rather different from when danced by NYCB.

Bolshoi in London - Summer 2010
Casting

Mon 19 July (7.30pm)
Spartacus
Ivan Vasiliev - Spartacus
Nina Kaptsova - Phrygia
Svetlana Zakharova - Aegina
Alexander Volchkov - Crassus

Tue 20 July (7.30pm)
Spartacus
Pavel Dmitrichenko - Spartacus
Anna Nikulina - Phrygia
Maria Alexandrova - Aegina
Yuri Baranov - Crassus

Wed 21 July (7.30pm)
Spartacus
Mikhail Lobukhin - Spartacus
Nina Kaptsova - Phrygia
Ekaterina Krysanova - Aegina
Artem Shpilevsky - Crassus

Thu 22 July (7.30pm)
Coppélia
Maria Alexandrova - Swanilda
Ruslan Skvortsov - Franz

Fri 23 July (7.30pm)
Coppélia
Natalia Osipova - Swanilda
Viacheslav Lopatin - Franz

Sat 24 July (2.00pm)
Coppélia
Anastasia Stashkevich - Swanilda
Viacheslav Lopatin - Franz

Sat 24 July (7.30pm)
Coppélia
Natalia Osipova - Swanilda
Ruslan Skvortsov - Franz

Mon 26 July (7.30pm)
Serenade
Ekaterina Krysanova, Anna Leonova, Anastasia Yatsenko, Artem Shpilevsky
Giselle
Svetlana Zakharova - Giselle
Nikolai Tsiskaridze - Count Albrecht
Maria Allash - Myrtha

Tue 27 July (7.30pm)
Serenade
Anastasia Yatsenko, Anna Leonova, Anastasia Stashkevich, Artem Shpilevsky
Giselle
Natalia Osipova - Giselle
Alexander Volchkov - Count Albrecht
Maria - Allash Myrtha

Wed 28 July (7.30pm)
Serenade
Ekaterina Krysanova, Anna Leonova, Anastasia Yatsenko, Artem Shpilevsky
Giselle
Anna Nikulina - Giselle
Ruslan Skvortsov - Count Albrecht
Anna Leonova - Myrtha

Thu 29 July (7.30pm)
Paquita
Maria Alexandrova, Alexander Volchkov
Petrushka
Ivan Vasiliev, Natalia Osipova, Denis Savin
Russian Seasons
Natalia Osipova, Svetlana Zakharova, Andrei Merkuriev

Fri 30 July (7.30pm)
Paquita
Anzhelina Vorontsova, Nikolai Tsiskaridze
Petrushka
Viacheslav Lopatin, Ekaterina Krysanova, Vitaly Biktimirov
Russian Seasons
Natalia Osipova, TBC

Sat 31 July (2.30pm)
Spartacus
Pavel Dmitrichenko - Spartacus
Anna Nikulina - Phrygia
TBC - Aegina
Yuri Baranov - Crassus

Sat 31 July (7.30pm)
Spartacus
Ivan Vasiliev - Spartacus
Nina Kaptsova - Phrygia
Svetlana Zakharova - Aegina
Alexander Volchkov - Crassus

Mon 2 August (7.30pm)
Le Corsaire
Maria Alexandrova - Medora
Nikolai Tsiskaridze - Conrad
Ekaterina Krysanova - Gulnare

Tue 3 August (7.30pm)
Le Corsaire
Natalia Osipova - Medora
Ivan Vasiliev - Conrad
Nina Kaptsova - Gulnare

Wed 4 August (7.30pm)
Le Corsaire
Ekaterina Shipulina - Medora
Ruslan Skvortsov - Conrad
Anastasia Yatsenko - Gulnare

Thu 5 August (7.30pm)
Le Corsaire
Maria Alexandrova - Medora
Nikolai Tsiskaridze - Conrad
Ekaterina Krysanova - Gulnare

Fri 6 August (7.30pm)
Don Quixote
Svetlana Zakharova - Kitri
Mikhail Lobukhin - Basil

Sat 7 August (2.00pm)
Don Quixote
Ekaterina Krysanova - Kitri
Andrei Merkuriev - Basil

Sat 7 August (7.30pm)
Don Quixote
Natalia Osipova - Kitri
Ivan Vasiliev - Basil

Sun 8 August (3.00pm)
Don Quixote
Svetlana Zakharova - Kitri
Mikhail Lobukhin - Basil

Tickets went on sale to the public today.

In the early afternoon I waited in line on my computer for about an hour without being able to get through. No response by telephone either. Around 7pm (London time) I was able to get through with no problem on the internet. I am hoping to see the three "Giselle"s and the mixed bill with "Paquita" the next day.

Very good up front (and expensive) seats seemed to still be abundant for these performances.

It is worth noting that "Giselle" will be accompanied by another ballet, George Balanchine's "Serenade." Very interesting choice. I have read that years ago "Giselle" was always accompanied by another ballet, being such a short full-length work, but this is the first time that I have seen this happen.

Natalia Osipova will certainly be the center of a lot of attention. Her "Giselle" will be particularly interesting. She is dancing quite a wide range of performances as is Svetlana Zakharova. You can see the castings posted by David above.

One new face that I have read nice comments about is Anzhelina Vorontsova. She will be performing the 30th.

Ekaterina Krysanova also seems to be well represented. I would really like to see her in something like "Giselle." She is a wonderfully beautiful light-as-air dancer (which I love) as well as being a 'firecracker.'

There should be some great performances here.

The Bolshoi hasn't given Giselle in London with another work for the best part of twenty years and I can remember it on the same bill as Paquita starring Nina Ananiashvili. The Royal Ballet at one point gave Giselle as a double bill, frequently with Symphonic Variations and more recently English National Ballet has also presented the work as a double bill. Perhaps in these recession hit times, AD's are thinking people want more for their money.

In The Telegraph, Anna Galaida previews the Bolshoi season in London.

The Telegraph

Zoe Anderson extensively previews the Bolshoi's London engagement in The Independent.

The Independent

For new cast changes please refer to this post by Azulynn at "Dansomanie," top of page.

http://www.forum-dansomanie.net/forum/v ... &start=420

Svetlana Zakharova, for one, has been replaced.

Thanks Buddy for posting the changes, people have been ringing me over the weekend expressing their horror over all this. I can understand changes made to cover for Zakharova’s absence, but other changes seem inexplicable. Admirers of the Bolshoi congregate in London from all over the world for these seasons and those with favourite dancers will be bitterly disappointed when they discover they won’t be seeing who they booked for.

On her Arts Desk web site, Ismene Brown has written about the frustration the fans must be feeling at these changes and very interestingly refers to the Moscow ballet goers that aren’t accustomed to the luxury of advance casting. Well, of course in London we get to see the Bolshoi only rarely (their last visit was three years ago), and I for one had booked to see as many cast changes as possible, though as the Mikhailovsky Ballet is in London too, with some performances overlapping, there isn’t the scope to see everything and the careful selection of performances I had chosen to see are now duplicate casts in the same ballet: disastrous when you want to see as much variety as possible. In Moscow the fans have an entire year to see everything and everyone, Londoners, together with the international fans just get a couple of weeks: that’s why advance casting is so crucial.

Here is a link to Ismene Brown's article on the casting changes at the London performances of the Bolshoi.

The Arts Desk

You're welcome, Cassandra, and thanks, Francis, for Ismene Brown's cast listing and interesting article.

If I translated another comment correctly by Paco at "Dansomanie," it is the ROH policy to refund your money for any returned tickets.

I have rarely had to return tickets to the box office as I can usually find someone on the network that needs them, but I think the ROH system is that you return the tickets for resale and they deduct a handling charge, but if they don't sell them you lose what you paid for them. I believe it is possible to exchange, but that isn't an option with the Bolshoi as all the reasonably priced tickets will have been snapped up by now.

A lot of people will be relying on finding returns.

Hi again, Cassandra.

The poster used the words "il *faudra* trouver preneur," -- "it (ROH) *must* find a taker (buyer)," but your information could be more accurate.

Cassandra, this subsequent post at "Dansomanie," in english by "voyageur," supports your explanation about returning tickets to the Royal Opera House.

"The ROH box office will accept tickets for resale (up to 30 minutes before the performance), but only issues a refund (after charging a small fee of 2 GBP) if the ticket is resold (and IIRC [If I Recall/Remember Correctly] they won't even try to resell the returned ticket before that section of the house/price band is sold out). They will exchange tickets for another performance (for the same fee) no later than 3 working days before the performance being exchanged. Of course, the chances of finding equivalent seats this late may not be great, and if there are no seats at the same price available, one must either buy up or, if one buys down, the price difference is usually forfeit."

Yesterday morning Ivan Vasiliev had the dubious honour of sharing the guests' sofa on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show with none other than the 'Prince of Dakness' himself, Peter Mandelson. Peter of course has a book to flog, and Vasiliev is topical with the Bolshoi about to open.

Mr Mandelson is apparently very keen on the ballet and would have liked to have been a dancer himself. After his book tour he is very much looking forward to seeing the Bolshoi - and presumably Ivan.

Andrew Marr himself, didn't seem too clued up on ballet though thinking that Vasiliev was making his London debut. Ivan quickly put him right and the show finished with a clip of a rehearsal on Don Q.

How different the political history of Britain would have been had Peter Mandelson followed a career in dance!

The Bolshoi opened in London last night to huge applause and this morning Ivan Vasiliev has his picture as Spartacus taking up much of the front page of The Guardian with a follow on article about the company in that paper's G2 section.