Other events at Ballets Russes 2009

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Nina Ananiashvili,
prima ballerina of the
American Ballet Theater
performing Dying Swan
©Allan E. Dines

Yevgeny Yevtushenko
reading his poetry
©Allan E. Dines

Nerijus Juska and
Olga Konosenko-Zariankina
performed a pas de deux
from Pavillon d'Armide
©Allan E. Dines

Yevgeny Yevtushenko
with his portrait painted
by Boris Chaliapin for
the cover of Time magazine
©Allan E. Dines

Andris Liepa of the
Maris Liepa Charitable
Foundation exchanges
observations with Mikko
Nissinen of Boston Ballet

Charitable auction
conducted by Stewart
Whitehurst of Skinner
Auction House

David Campbell, provost of
Boston University, with
Alston Purvis, Art Director
of Ballets Russes 2009
and his wife Susan

Ernst von Metzsch,
board member, Anna
Winestein, associate director
of the Ballets Russes 2009
and Lika Rostorotskaya,
Imperial Porcelain Factory
of Russia

RUSSIAN REVEL A SMASH HIT

Ballets Russes 2009 staged a Russian Revel in Boston on the evening of Thursday, May 22, at the Cutler Majestic Theater to celebrate the Russian roots of Serge Diaghilev's fabled company. It was a prelude to our Ballets Russes 2009 Festival, scheduled for a week in May, 2009, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes. The evening by any standard was an extraordinary cultural event, worthy of Diaghilev, and a thrilling success for all concerned.

Final Bows

It would be hard to miss with a cast of performers like Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the great Russian poet, the bass singer John Macurdy, and Nina Ananiashvili, a legendary prima ballerina, who finished the evening with a performance of Dying Swan. Yet there was more to this evening than these spectacular artists. Two young Lithuanian dancers, Nerijus Juska and Olga Konosenko-Zariankina, performed a pas de deux from Pavillon d'Armide, the first ballet produced by Ballets Russes and originally choreographed by Michel Fokine. This was a world premiere of Jurijus Smoriginas's newly choreographed pas de deux, "charming and flirtatious," in the words of Boston Phoenix critic Jeffrey Gantz (The Phoenix.com). Gantz added, "It was like commedia dell'arte ballet." Yevtushenko was astonishing, "a stand-up stitch," in the words of Gantz. Song provided some of the outstanding moments of the evening. Baritone Anton Belov sang the cavatina from Rachmaninov's Aleko and the folk song "Nochenka," and, to quote Gantz yet again, "Belov has Russian black earth at the bottom of his voice." Gantz also wrote of John Macurdy, who sang the death scene from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, "the vocal power was remarkable." Ananiashvili's Dying Swan "seemed to be Odette reaching out to an absent Siegfried," Gantz concluded. "The audience's applause was evidence that it got what it came for."

Later, at a dinner for sponsors at the Four Seasons Hotel, Dassia Posner, a great granddaughter of Fyodor Chaliapin, the legendary Russian singer who sang for Diaghilev in Paris, presented a portrait to Yevtushenko that Boris Chaliapin, the singer's son, had painted of the poet for the cover of Time Magazine 1961. It was a remarkable moment, for, as the poet observed, it was a portrait that changed his life. The Moscow-based ballet master and producer Andris Liepa, who brought the Pavillon d'Armide pas de deux to Boston, exchanged observations on the podium with Mikko Nissinen of Boston Ballet about the importance of the upcoming Ballets Russes anniversary celebration in Boston as a global event. The evening finished with an auction, conducted by Stewart Whitehurst of Skinner Auction House, of magnificent Ballets Russes porcelain statuettes donated by the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in St. Petersburg. (Imperial Porcelain also donated the evening's gift items: demi-tasse cups and saucers.) Other popular items at the auction included a pair of Ananiashvili's autographed pointe shoes, scarves, and an original Ballets Russes program.

Peter Rand, Director of the Ballets Russes 2009 with
Natalya Batova, the Cutural Attache of the Russian
Embassy in Washington

The Gala attracted a large audience from the Russian community in Boston. Natalya Batova, the Cutural Attache of the Russian Embassy in Washington, flew up to attend the evening. Peter Tcherepnine, grandson of Nicholas Tcherepnine, composer of Le Pavillon d'Armide, was Honorary Chairman of the event. David Campbell, Provost of Boston University, a major sponsor of the event, was Chairman. Also present were members of the Executive Board: Susan W. Paine, Henry Lodge, Ernst von Metzsch, and Micheline de Bievre. Suzanne Massie, author of Firebird, Professor Laurence Senelick, Holt Massey and Diana Paine, Cyril and Elke Geacintov and Peter and Helen Randolph were among the two hundred plus dinner guests.

Andris Liepa and the dancers talking with
Peter Tcherepnine, grandson of Nicholas Tcherepnine,
composer of Le Pavillon d'Armide

The emails keep pouring in. "It was a fabulous night," one guest writes. Another writes, "This was a great evening, enormous activity, great performances, the first time in many events that I did not fall asleep." A third guest writes, "It was a fabulous night. Congratulations! Wasn't Yevtushenko wonderful? Everything was just grand and elegant and a true revel." Please send us your comments, and suggestions. On to 2009!