2024-2025 OPERA AND BALLET SEASON
DON QUIXOTE by Aloisius Ludwig Minkus
Ballet
Choreography DENIS MATVIENKO
Conductor AYRTON DESIMPELAERE
Director RENATO ZANELLA
Set and costume designer NEVEN MIHIĆ
Light designer ANDREJ HAJDNIJAK
Kitri MARIN INO / IANA SALENKO
Basilio FILIP JURIČ/ SOLOMON OSAZUVA
Don Quixote TOMAŽ HORVAT
Sancho Panza ALEXANDRU BARBU
Espada YUJIN MURAISHI / MATTEO MORETTO
The Queen of the Dryads NINA NOČ/EMILIE TASSINARI
Mercedes TJAŠA KMETEC
SOLOISTS AND DANCERS BY SNG OPERA IN BALET OF LJUBLJANA
Orchestra and technicians by Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste
SET AND COSTUMES WORKSHOPS OF THE SNG OPERA IN BALET LJUBLJANA AND SNG DRAMA LJUBLJANA
The romantic, comic and occasionally sad story of Don Quixote comes to life again in one of the most successful and spectacular ballets of all time, from the Tsar’s court to the present day. With Denis Matvienko’s new colourful and spectacular choreography, the performance – directed by Renato Zanella – is a firework of muscular power, elegance and gentle irony that will leave the Trieste audience impressed and surprised, just a few weeks after its overwhelming success in Ljubljana. On the podium of the Verdi Orchestra is the renowned Belgian conductor Ayrton Desimpelaere, already well known and appreciated in Trieste, mastering a score that is full of brilliant impetus and intense lyrical moments.
Loosely based on one of the world’s most famous novels, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, beloved by adults and children alike for its endless interpretations, from comic to metaphorical, this ballet is one of sixteen works by one of the most mysterious composers in the entire history of music, Aloisius Ludwig Minkus, whose nationality and date of death remain unknown. What we do know about him, however, is the brilliant career that took him from Vienna to imperial Russia first as conductor of the private orchestra of Prince Nikolai Yusupov. Yusupov’s culture, wealth and regal lifestyle made him an almost mythical figure and his extraordinary collection of jewellery – now dismembered – can be found among the treasures of all European courts. Minkus was then concert master to the orchestra of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow and ballet composer for the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. It was for the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow that the Don Quixote was created, an immediate and lasting success with its skilful mixture of intense feelings, from romantic love to humour, to the melancholy of the sad hidalgo, eternal dreamer and loser par excellence. However, the work’s fame is also a result of its endless difficulties, making it one of the most challenging and flamboyant ballets in the classical repertoire, a real testing ground for both the protagonists and the whole company. Complementing the popular elements of Don Quixote is also the colourful Spanish background – the triumph of bullfighters, gypsies, warmth and passion traditionally associated with Spanish folklore in nineteenth-century Court art.
The Ljubljana production also has the merit of shortening the ballet, freeing it from those parts that are perhaps too old-fashioned for the taste of today’s audiences, while enhancing its more attractive and understandable features, such as the comic elements, the glitz of costumes, the colourful, fairy-tale sparkle and the spectacularly complex passages requiring the most power, precision, and speed.
The story is centred on the thwarted love between young Kitri and Basilio, with Don Quixote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza acting as the unintentional driving forces and fil rouge of the tale. From a musical point of view, the events unfold through a well-designed pattern of recurring musical motifs accompanying the individual characters and blending the whole performance, which is easily enjoyable even for novices.
The young Ljubljana ballet company includes artists from eleven countries (eight from Italy) and has been created over the years by artistic director Renato Zanella, a key figure in European ballet ever since his long experience in Vienna. The Trieste performance comes immediately after the overwhelming success in Ljubljana, where Don Quixote received thunderous applause in mid-scene and repeated curtain calls at every performance, confirming the modern appeal of this classic piece.
Performances
A Saturday, 30 November 2024 8:00 p.m.
D Sunday, 1 December 2024 4:00 p.m.
B Tuesday, 3 December 2024 8:00 p.m.
C Wednesday, 4 December 2024 8:00 p.m.
E Thursday, 5 December 2024 8 p.m.
S Friday, 6 December 2024 6:00 p.m.