RAMT
Running time: 2 hours Bolshoi Theatre buildings are closed and not available for any visit during the month in July-September 2026 (exact dates will be announced later). While the legendary Bolshoi Theatre closes its doors for summer break, the elegance and brilliance of Russian ballet continue just next door. The Summer Ballet Festival offers magnificent productions featuring artists trained at the same elite ballet academies as the Bolshoi stars. Many of the dancers performing in Esmeralda are current or former members of the Bolshoi Ballet Company. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience world-class ballet in Moscow during the summer season — when the spirit of the Bolshoi lives on, just steps away. The World-Famous Story of Passion from the Square Before Notre-Dame. Esmeralda is a ballet created in the tradition of mid-19th-century Romantic theatre. In the early 1840s, composer Cesare Pugni was commissioned to write a score for a ballet based on Victor Hugo’s renowned novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The libretto was crafted by one of the era’s most celebrated choreographers, Jules Joseph Perrot. While Perrot remained faithful to the novel’s storyline, he shifted the focus from Hugo’s powerful social critique to a deeply personal drama. The world premiere of Esmeralda took place on March 9, 1844, at the Royal Theatre in London. Four years later, it was staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, followed by a Moscow debut two years after that, and eventually a performance in Paris in 1856. In 1886, Marius Petipa created a new four-act version of the ballet, incorporating music by Riccardo Drigo. In 1935, Agrippina Vaganova introduced a revised three-act version featuring music by Reinhold Glière, which was later performed on many major stages throughout the world. Over the 20th century, Esmeralda was reimagined by numerous choreographers and performed across Europe, solidifying its place as a classic of the Romantic ballet repertoire. | |||||||||||
