Mossoveta Theater
Moscow
July 19, 20, 21, 22 & 2, 2010
PROGRAMME
Infinite Garden
Choreography: Nacho Duato
Music: Pedro Alcalde, Sergio Caballero (original music), Alfred Schnitke & Piotr Ilich Chaikovski
Bolshoi Theater
Moscow
July 26, 27, 28, 29 & 3, 2010
PROGRAMME
Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness
Choreography: Nacho Duato
Music: Johan Sebastian Bach
DOSSIER INFINITE GARDEN
Compañía Nacional de Danza
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: NACHO DUATO
Mossoveta Theatre
Moscow
19th , 20th , 21st , 22nd & 23rd July 2010
PROGRAMME
Jardín Infinito/Infinite Garden
Choreography: Nacho Duato
Music: Pedro Alcalde, Sergio Caballero (original music), Alfred Schnitke and Piotr Ilich Chaikovski
Compañía Nacional de Danza
The Compañía Nacional de Danza was founded in 1979 under the name of Ballet Nacional de España Clásico, and its first Director was Víctor Ullate.
In 1983 the Direction of the Ballets Nacionales Español y Clásico was put under the charge of María de Avila who put Ray Barra, a former Northamerican dancer and choreographer living in Spain, in charge of a number of choreographies, and later offered him the post of Assistant Director, which he held until 1990. In December 1987, Maya Plisetskaya was appointed the ballet’s Artistic Director.
The appointment of renowned dancer and choreographer Nacho Duato as Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza in June 1990 has meant an innovative change in the company’s history. It is Duato’s firm intention to transform the Compañía into a ballet with a personality of its own in which, without neglecting the classical precepts, a more contemporary style is adopted. To achieve this, he will include new choreographic work in the Company’s repertoire, created specially for it, together with other works of proven quality, recognised world-wide. Also, Nacho Duato contributes to the Compañía Nacional de Danza with his work as a choreographer, praised by critics all over the world and awarded prizes by the experts.
Nacho Duato
Born in Valencia, Spain. Nacho Duato started professional ballet training with the Rambert School in London at eighteen, expanding studies at Maurice Béjart’s Mudra School in Brussels and completing his dance education at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre in New York.
In 1980 Duato signed his first professional contract with the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm and a year later Jirí Kylián brought him to the Nederlands Dans Theater in Holland, where he was quickly incorporated into company and repertoire.
For his achievements as a dancer he received the VSCD Gouden Dansprijs (Golden Dance Award) for the year 1987. Duato’s natural talent had him soon look beyond the limitations of a dancer and turned towards choreography. His first attempt in 1983 turned into a major succes: Jardí Tancat to Spanish/Catalan music by compatriot Mª del Mar Bonet won him the first prize at the International Choreographic Workshop (Internationaler Choreographischer Wettbewerb) at Cologne.
In 1988 Nacho Duato was named Resident Choreographer for Nederlands Dans Theater next to Hans van Manen and Jirí Kylián.
With the growing demand of international companies requesting a work of his for their repertoire Duato had to take a decisive step towards choosing his future career. His ballets form part of the repertoire of companies like Cullberg Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Deutsche Oper Ballet, Australian Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Finnish Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. The choreography White Darkness forms a part of the repertoire of the Ballet of the Opera of Paris from November, 2006.
In 1995 he received the grade of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres which is annually given by the French Embassy in Spain.
In 1998 the Spanish Gouvernment rewarded him the Golden Medal for the Merit in the Fine Arts.At the Stuttgart Opera he won the Benois de la Danse presented by the International Dance Association for Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness in April of 2000. Duato is National Dance Award 2003 in modality of Creation.
Since June 1990, invited by the Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Nacho Duato is Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza.
Jardín Infinito
(Infinite Garden)
Choreography: Nacho Duato
Music (*): Pedro Alcalde, Sergio Caballero (original music) Alfred Schnitke and Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (fragment)
Set Design: Jaffar Chalabi
Lighting Design: Brad Fields
Costumes: Carral Asociados
Set Production: Odeón Decorados
Costume made by: CND Wardrobe
Dedicated to Chekhov on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
In collaboration with the International Anton Chekhov Theatre Festival
of Moscow, with support by the Government of Russia and the City Council of Moscow
Premiered by Compañía Nacional de Danza at the Teatro Real (Madrid) on 17th February 2010.
“Jardín Infinito (Infinite Garden)” is a homage to Anton P. Chekhov. I have attempted to impregnate myself with the personality of that great writer, of how he lived and what he felt for his fellow men and the world around him. Infinite Garden is not based on any specific work by Chekhov. I did not want situations, references or anecdotes related to them to constitute the basis for my work, which is definitively abstract. I have sought inspiration in his world, his personality and work to obtain a specific, personal vision of it all.
My first choice for the music was four hymns by Alfred Schnitke, both due to their intrinsic beauty, as well as due to considering them in tune with the tone of Chekhov. I also asked Pedro Alcalde and Sergio Caballero to create original music to shelter these hymns and locate them in a sound architecture to provide a backdrop to the overall ballet. To do so, they have produced a work based with words and texts taken from Chekhov’s Notebook, accompanied by non-rhythmic micro-compositions for different percussion instruments. The choreography does not use the words and texts literally, but it does always consider their extreme musical value. In their overall structuring work, they have added a Sacred Hymn by Schnitke for a capella chorus, and a small fragment with sounds from nature, although abstracted from all reference value.
The set, designed by Jaffar Chalabi, may transport us to unending very different sceneries. We may be viewing the skyline of Moscow or the landscape of the steppes. We may imagine the roofs of the houses or also a mountain. When the structure is placed at ground level, it also allows us to remember the space and suggest more intimate ambiances, such as the room where Chekhov wrote, or even an alley from one of his tales. When the structure is raised and suspended at a certain height, we may view open spaces in nature, landscapes and woods. However, it always maintains the abstract nature that this creation has always intended.
Another doctor and writer, Arthur Schnitzler, (a contemporary of Chekhov) defined the human soul as an “ample land”. That is the ample land that Chekhov spent his whole life observing, describing and cultivating with the care with which one cares for a garden. His clear vision of the fragile nature and complexity of human relations has reached us thanks to his work. The title, Infinite Garden, refers to that. I also consider that the work of all great spirits is infinite, that it never ends and will never die.”
Nacho Duato
(*)
INFINITE GARDEN MUSIC
Pedro Alcalde and Sergio Caballero
Original music
Players:
Lev Nikolaiev: words and texts from A. P. Chekhov’s notebook
Percussions de Barcelona (R. Armengol, S. Bel, R. Torramilans and I. Vila)
Alfred Schnitke
Hymns I-IV
(Lazarev/Bolshoi Theatre Soloists Ensemble)
LP Melodiya C10 28753 008
Sacred Hymns Nr.1
(Polyansky/Russian State Symphonic Capella)
(Chandos)
Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
Chanson triste, op. 40, nr, 12 (fragment)
Pedro Alcalde
Composer
Born in Barcelona, he studied piano, flute, violin and composition in his native city, as well as graduating in Philosophy at the University of Barcelona. He studied orchestra conducting at Columbia University, New York, where he was awarded the Master of Arts. He then studied with Professor Karl Österreicher at the Hochschule für Musik, Vienna. In 1984, he obtained the prize of the international conductors’ competition held in Bad-Wiessee (Germany). That same year, he conducted The Soldier’s Tale by Stravinsky at the Horace Mann Auditorium in New York. He studied conducting at the Hochshule für Music in Vienna with proffesro Karl Österreicher. He worked as second conductor at Vienna Opera. In 1990 he was assistant conductor at the Vienna Philharmonic and from 1991 to 1996 at the Berlin Philharmonica with Claudio Abbado.
He has conducted numerous European orchestras, such as those of Madrid, Barcelona, Bolonia, Ferrara, Roma, Nueva York, Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Osaka, etc. In 1996, he began a series of experimental recordings for the SFB of Berlin with Beethoven’s last sonatas and the last works of György Kurtág. Pedro Alcalde has interpreted works by notable contemporary composers such as Sotelo, Goyette, Kurtág, Rihm or Nono, conducting the premiere of their compositions on occasions. He has directed the ballet Self by Alberto Iglesias, with choreography by Nacho Duato, in addition to the music for the John Malkovich film The Dancer Upstairs.
Since 1998, he regularly collaborates with the choreographer Nacho Duato and the National Dance Company (CND), with whom he has worked on diverse projects such as that of Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev, the Symphony of Psalms by Stravinsky or the Wesendonk Lieder by Wagner. He composed the following ballets with Sergio Caballero: Herrumbre (2004), Seventeen (2005), Alas (2006), Hevel (2007) and Cobalto (2009
Sergio Caballero
Composer
Sergio Caballero was born in Barcelona. In 1985 he founded the Los Rinos group with Marcel.lí Antúnez and Pau Nubiola, staging happenings, performance art and theatre with wild, provocative humour and implausible stories as the common denominator.
Caballero is a multi-faceted musician and artist, and in 1987 he founded the musical group Jumo with Enric Les Palau, as well as composing pieces for dance and theatre. In 1989 he staged an exhibition entitled Sergio Caballero Famous Throughout the Whole World, a humoristic and sceptical reflection on authorship of art.
Since 1994 he has been the co-director of the Sónar International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art.
He composed the following ballets with Pedro Alcalde: Herrumbre (2004), Seventeen (2005), Alas (2006), Hevel (2007) and Cobalto (2009)
Jaffar Chalabi
Set Designer
Jaffar Chalabi (Set Designer), an architect based in Vienna/Austria, was born in Bagdad, Iraq. He started studying sculpture and applied arts in Vienna, where he continued his studies at the University of Architecture and at the University of Mchigan, Ann Arbor USA. Chalabi completed his education at Polytechnical University of Vienna. In 1993 he founded together with Talik Chalabi the Chalabi Associates. Since 1996 he has being regularly teaching at the Polytechnic University of Vienna.
He has taken part in many congresses throughout the world and has been awarded various prizes in prestigious international competitions among which he received the Benois de la Danse (2000) for the setting of the ballet Multiplicity, Forms of Silence and Emptiness by Nacho Duato. Chalabi associates is also the 1st prize winner for the congress hall at Darmstadt-Germany. From 1999 he starts a regular collaboration with Nacho Duato for whom he has designed the sets to Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness (1999), Ofrenda de Sombras (2000),Txalaparta (2001), White Darkness (2001), Castrati (2002),Herrumbre (2004) and Hevel (2007).
Brad Fields
Lighting Designer
Born in North Carolina, USA, Brad Fields has worked for the past 20 years in over 20 countries lighting all areas of the performing arts. For Compañía Nacional de Danza, he has designed the lighting for Nacho Duato’s Gilded Goldbergs, Alas, Castrati, Sueños de Éter, Arcangelo, Ofrenda de Sombras, Multiplicidad. Formas de Silencio y Vacío, Without Words, and Remanso.
He is the lighting director for American Ballet Theatre where he has designed the lighting for numerous ballets including Coppelia, La Fille Mal Gardée, and Within You Without You: A tribute to George Harrison . Other credits include Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadére for the Australian Ballet and Bella Lewitzky’s Meta 4 for the Lewitzky Dance Company.
He has designed for Ballet Argentina, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Houston Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theatre, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Los Angeles Chamber Ballet , North Carolina Black Repertory Company and North Carolina Dance Theater.
COMPAÑÍA NACIONAL DE DANZA
Paseo de la Chopera, 4 – 28045 Madrid
91.3545053/91.4740326
http//:cndanza.mcu.es
cnd@inaem.mcu.es
facebook page: Compañía Nacional de Danza, Spain
DOSSIER MULTIPLICITY. FORMS OF SILENCE AND EMPTINESS
