Big Opera and Ballet for Little Cinema
Berkshire Museum Expands Programming
By: Berkshire Museum - Jun 23, 2011
Berkshire Museum’s Little Cinema today offers bi-weekly, high-definition digital broadcasts of world class opera and ballet performances from around the world. These broadcasts feature acclaimed performances by leading performance troupes, from some of the world’s finest theatres and concert halls.
Following the upcoming opera broadcast of The Barber of Seville from the Teatro Regio di Parma in Parma, Italy on Sunday, May 26 at 2pm and Tuesday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m., the additional summer titles are: Swan Lake by the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow (July 10 at 2 p.m. and July 12 at 7:30 p.m.), Verdi’s Macbeth from London’s Royal Opera House (July 24 at 2 p.m. and July 26 at 7:30 p.m.), and Giselle by the Royal Ballet of London (August 7 at 2 p.m. and August 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Little Cinema screens the best in independent cinema daily, with matinees and evening showings complemented by bi-weekly broadcasts of opera and ballet performances. (The film schedule is subject to other museum programming; always confirm show times in advance. The upcoming calendar is available on berkshiremuseum.org and from the museum’s front desk.) Tickets for opera broadcasts are $25 ($20 for museum members); tickets for ballet broadcasts are $20 ($15 for members); tickets for evening films are $8 and $7 for matinees (all screenings are $7 for members). Senior and student rates are available. Berkshire Museum is located at 39 South Street in downtown Pittsfield. Call 413.443.7171 ext 75 to hear a pre-recorded message with full Little Cinema info. Little Cinema is sponsored by Pittsfield Cooperative Bank and Emerging Cinemas.
Following in the tradition of Little Cinema’s film offerings, these opera and ballet performances are carefully selected to offer patrons a discriminating assortment of world-class artistic achievement. Little Cinema, now in its 61st season in the heart of downtown Pittsfield, has long been known for its screenings of the sorts of thought-provoking, independent-minded films that have had difficulty finding a home in the contemporary marketplace. Little Cinema is programmed by Craig Langlois, Berkshire Museum’s Education and Public Program Manager. Upcoming films include Incendies (June 24 and 25 only), Bride Flight (July 1 through July 6), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (July 2 through July 7), The Trip (July 8 through July 14), and a double feature of Invisible Wings and Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child on July 17.
Upcoming opera and ballet screening schedule:
The Barber of Seville
June 26 at 2 p.m. and June 28 at 7:30 p.m.
From Teatro Regio di Parma in Parma, Italy
Rossini’s charming comedy The Barber of Seville is sure to leave you singing “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!” as in just one of this opera’s many memorable tunes. This is a truly Italianate spectacle, performed on the classic stage of the Teatro Regio di Parma in Parma, Italy. Starring Luca Salsi as the rapscallion barber Figaro and Ketevan Kemoklidze as the clever beauty Rosina.
Swan Lake
July 10 at 2 p.m. and July 12 at 7:30 p.m.
From the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow
The battle between white and black swan unfolds with savage grace in this revival of Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky’s haunting music traces the steps of prima ballerina Mariya Aleksandrova as she dances both Odette and Odile in this definitive production from the Bolshoi Ballet.
Cast: Mariya Aleksandrova, Ruslan Skvortsov, Nikolay Tsiskaridze, Olga Suvorova, Ilya Vorontsov, Vyacheslav Lopatin, Anna Tikhomirova, Nastasiya Yatsenko, Alexander Fadeechev, Juliya Grebenshchikova
Macbeth
July 24 at 2 p.m. and July 26 at 7:30 p.m.
From the Royal Opera House, London
Verdi's most evocative music brings Shakespeare's drama to life on the stage of the Royal Opera House. The treacherous and scheming couple at its center make for wonderful operatic villains—the type of strongly drawn characters that Verdi portrays in his music so well. With Simon Keenlyside making his Royal Opera debut in the title role, and with Antonio Pappano, Music Director of the Royal Opera, conducting the opera, this is a revival with an extra thrill. Macbeth's dagger soliloquy and Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene are just two of the play's famous moments that inspired Verdi to wonderfully inventive and atmospheric music. The heroic Macduff, a chorus of witches and the vivid apparition of the eight kings complete an opera that has the composer at his most theatrical.
Cast: Simon Keenlyside (Macbeth), Raymond Aceto (Banquo), Liudmyla Monastyrska (Lady Macbeth), Steven Ebel (Malcolm), Elisabeth Meister (Lady), Dmitri Pittas (Macduff), Lukas Jakobski (Doctor)
With the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Giselle
August 7 at 2pm and August 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Performed by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, London
“Giselle is one of the most influential of all Romantic ballets, and one of the greatest and most popular works of the dance canon and of The Royal Ballet’s repertory. The title role presents the transcendental power of a woman’s love in the face of betrayal and is one of the most technically demanding and emotionally challenging roles in classical dance – not surprisingly, it is here a great showcase for the leading ballerinas of the Company. Peter Wright’s sensitive staging in the atmospheric designs by John Macfarlane heightens the contrast as the story moves between the human and supernatural worlds.” -- Courtesy of Opus Arte
"...The Royal Ballet's revival of Giselle provides the succulent spectacle of a world-class company at the top of its game." -- The Telegraph
Music by Adolphe Adam
Choreographer: Marius Petipa after Jean Coralli and Jules Perro
Additional Choreography: Peter Wright
Conductor: Koen Kessels
Starring Marianela Nuñez as Giselle, Rupert Pennefather as Albrecht, and Artists of The Royal Ballet
A ballet in two acts
150 minutes, including one intermission