Ingrid Lorentzen about Klassisk Mesteraften 

Russian-born Makarova became one of the leading ballerinas in the Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, known today as the Mariinsky Ballet. By her own account, she had all the roles she could dream oft, but she longed for greater artistic freedom and while on tour in London in 1970, she defected to the West. Fifty-three years later, we’ll be dancing the White Act from her Swan Lake for the first time, after having danced her La Bayadère earlier. In this lake of swans, we find layer upon layer of history and interpretation – and even the very essence of classical ballet.

During the second part of the evening’s performance, we encounter the Swan Queen’s polar opposite in the manipulative and strong sorcerer’s daughter Odile, who dances Makarova’s Black Swan Pas de Deux. We also encounter perhaps the most intensely in love couple in all of literature and ballet. Our former Principal and choreographer behind our Nutcracker, Kaloyan Boyadjiev, has created a new balcony duet for Romeo and Juliet.

Nowadays, human encounters take place more often on the sofa than via a balcony. The new work by our Principal Samantha Lynch revolves around a certain soft piece of furniture and an intense encounter between two people. Lynch debuted as a choreographer on our Main Stage in 2021. This autumn, her work will be performed in Zurich and Berlin, in addition to Oslo.

The evening’s performance concludes with another work from the ballet canon: Raymonda. Like Swan Lake, it was created by Marius Petipa, a Frenchman living in St. Petersburg at the end of the 1800s who choreographed many of what we now consider to be the classical ballets. Xander Parish is a British dancer who was a principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet before joining us in 2022. He has now created his own Raymonda Suite based on the third act of the story ballet that is rarely performed in its entirety. A medieval and fantasy-inspired edge is evident when Martin Dauchez uses the historic backdrop to create his own design, while performing the male role at the same time. What forces we have in the company!

Klassisk Mesteraften is all about layers, history, virtuosity – and grand music by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Glazunov and Bizet performed by the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra under the direction of Vello Pähn. Above all, it is pivoted on our brilliant interpreters – our very own dancers – and our love of ballet.

Welcome!  

Ingrid Lorentzen,

Artistic director