Music Director Cynthia Woods led the CSO in a very special live stream production of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Sleeping Beauty, on Sunday, May 23 at 4 pm. Watch it again above!
Inspired by the plot of Charles Perrault's fairy tale, Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty is a magical story in music and dance first performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890. Tchaikovsky's gorgeous music is fully on display in this score, with a wealth of melodies, great rhythmic vitality, charming character dance pieces, and rich orchestration.
Tchaikovsky was supremely satisfied with his enchanting achievement, writing that "the music from this ballet will be amongst my best works. The subject is so poetical, it is so suited for music, that in composing it I was utterly absorbed, and wrote with a fervor and passion which always result in work of merit.”
The CSO rises to the occasion with an original, virtual production filmed at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Grand Ballroom, with CSO musicians performing the music from their homes in the style of our Holiday Pops 2020 event. The performance featured dancers from City Ballet of Boston, alongside their resident choreographer, Gianni Gino Di Marco, as Production Director, with special appearances from the students of the Young Artist program of Tony Williams Dance Center.
Cast
From City Ballet of Boston
Ruth Whitney - Princess Aurora / Sleeping Beauty
Joe Gonzalez - Prince Florimund
Gianni Gino Di Marco - Carabosse
Betsy Boxberger Khalil as Lilac Fairy
Juliet Brown - Canary Fairy / White Cat
Amane Takaishi - Violente Fairy
Christian D. Gonzalez - Puss in Boots
Avery Saulnier de Reyes - Little Red Riding Hood
Jean Robens Georges - The Wolf
William Whitney - The King
Cynthia Woods - The Queen
Donald Fraser - Narrator
From Tony Williams Dance Academy — Erika Lambe, instructor
Mae Anthony, Ella Moye Gibbons, and Benedicte Saint Pierre Louis as Carabosse’s minions
Anna Lucia Heebner, Maxine Cavallaro, Gabrielle Inniss, Zoe Arnold O’Grady, Avani Shah, Eleni Moulis, Amelia Brown, Greta Gorman as the Garland Dancers
Photography: Gabriel Rizzo / Golden Lion Photography
The CSO 2020-21 season is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. We are grateful to the Cambridge Community Foundation and the City of Cambridge for generously funding this project.
#CSOSleepingBeauty
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