Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Libretto by Vladimir Begichev and Vasily Geltser
Choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Set and costume design by Vyacheslav Okunev, People's Artist of the Russian Federation
Lighting design by Evgeny Ganzburg, Honoured Cultural Worker of the Russian Federation
The Saint-Petersburg State Academic Leonid Yacobson Ballet Theatre is proud to present a new performance at the Alexandrinsky Theatre: a reworked version of the classical Swan Lake ballet, with choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.
Especially for the Yacobson Theatre, the brilliant designer Vyacheslav Okunev has contributed colourful new scenery and fashioned an intricate set.
People's Artist of the Russian Federation, winner of the Golden Mask and Golden Soffit Theatre Awards, and alumnus of the N.K. Cherkasov State Theatre Arts Academy in Leningrad, Vyacheslav Okunev has designed sets for over 300 theatrical performances in Russia and abroad.
Swan Lake is one of the most enchanting, impeccable, and renowned creations of world art. For a long time, its music choreography has been universally regarded as a world-class ballet masterpiece, and as one of the greatest achievements of Russian national culture.
The history of Swan Lake began in 1875, when Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a young but already famous composer, set out to write a music score commissioned by the Bolshoi Theatre. Tchaikovsky did not give himself a goal of starting a revolution in ballet. He meticulously studied the ballet scores, striving to saturate the basic outlines with a profound new meaning from within. The choreographers — Marius Petipa, who gave the white swan queen Odette a dark double, Odile, and his assistant Lev Ivanov, who staged the famous 'swan scenes' — were the first to sense the innovative character of Tchaikovsky’s ballet music, and its ability to portray the protagonists’ personalities through interaction and character development. This production introduced a new form of the ballet theatre – the so-called symphonic ballet.
Swan Lake is always in demand. And this is precisely why, now that this ballet, one of the most famous works in the Leonid Yacobson Theatre's classical repertoire, has received the exquisite new set by the distinguished and talented Vyacheslav Okunev, the familiar performance will shine in a completely new light, and the audience will get a fresh perspective on the academic ballet that is so well-loved by audiences all across the world.