Romeo and Juliet

The story of Romeo and Juliet has been told and retold, loved and sought after, rediscovered and retold over time. Many composers have responded with their music to the timeless themes of Shakespeare's drama of forbidden youthful love. Tchaikovsky's fantastic Romeo and Juliet Overture is among the supreme set to Shakespeare's classic tragedy. At a time when Tchaikovsky had not yet established himself as a composer, Mily Balakirev, who is described as a mentor to Russian composers, commissioned him to write a symphonic work on this theme. After the premiere performance of the work /1869/ Balakirev advised the composer to revise it. This happened in 1880. In the first version, Tchaikovsky begins with a tender love melody, which is subsequently dropped. In the composer's fantasy, Juliet appears as a little girl, whose image is developed and traced in the musical text. In the revised version, the fantasy overture begins with Padre Lorenzo's prayer and all events seem to have already happened. The choreographer Silvia Tomova draws on this idea. The ballet ROMEO AND JULIET begins with the blessing of Padre Lorenzo, who already knows everything....

As if from a legendary film by Zeffirelli, the characters from Shakespeare's drama are arranged on the stage - the picture is so impressive that for a moment the spectator forgets that he is attending a ballet performance. The soloists in the roles of Romeo and Juliet are like reborn characters from Romanticism - tender, young, so pure in their love. Costume designer Salvatore Russo masterfully recreates the authenticity of the era in every detail. And the dancing is expressive, virtuosic, argumentative in every movement. Silvia Tomova accentuates the psychological development of the characters skillfully and thoroughly. Throughout her conception, she incorporates the philosophical search of rejected young people who do not accept the limitations of prejudice.

"Romeo and Juliet's desire to break free from these norms meets them. Everyone finds something or someone in their escape.... But they are children, still children! Their encounter is a passion, unconscious but real... They are searching for their truth, searching for the love for which they are willing to do anything - even stand in the face of death.... Everyone has the right to choose, even in love! Their rebelliousness and unwillingness to reconcile also overturns the notions of adults, self-absorbed in their artificial ostentation and false virtue... Why should we appreciate love only when we lose it..."

The ballet Romeo and Juliet does not have a sad ending... Everyone can imagine what will happen next.

Duration: 45 min.
Premiere: 28.02.2017