SHEILA CHISHOLM
Cape Town City Ballet fans can expect a special treat when the company’s Spring Season opens at Artscape Opera House from 24 August to 1 September 2018 as Marc Goldberg’s innovative, glamorous and sexy ballet Mozart & Salieri (M&S) returns due to public demand.
Just like overused phrases like “highly acclaimed” or “standing ovations” the term “back by public demand” is bandied around so often its lost its validity. Not so in M&S’s case!
Says an animated Tracy Li, CTCB’s acting executive director: “Every theatre management knows it takes a while before word of mouth spreads the worth – or not – of a new production. That was true when Marc’s M&S two-act ballet premiered. By the time our February season ended, young people, who had heard how exciting the ballet was, but hadn’t booked, were clamouring for seats – but none were to be had. That’s why we’ve brought it back. We are giving those who earlier missed out the opportunity to see this avant-garde 21st century ballet.
“Mozart & Salieri is punctuated with original digitized sets, super glamorous costumes, 3D images, choreography that highlight’s Marc Goldberg’s futuristic style, yet holds onto the classical ballet idiom … dancers en pointe without tutus. In addition to all that, French trained, Maxime Quiroga is guesting as Mozart opposite Laura Bosenberg as Constanze. Martin Milner alternates as Mozart. Daniel Szybkowski and Ivan Boonzaier alternate as Salieri. While Mariette Opperman alternates with Laura as Constanze.”
Mozart & Salieri – a drawcard for all ages
Quiroga wowed local balletomanes in 2012 when he danced Albrecht in Giselle and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. From what I’ve seen in recent rehearsals, he’ll wow again in M&S.
Lithe, with expressive brown eyes, jumps to the rafters, turns like a whizz and blessed by extraordinarily dextrous feet, Quiroga has quickly established a rapport with Bosenberg.
The couple work smoothly together, are musically in tune and carefully build their characters to harmonise with each other.
Young, enthusiastic with a full successful career behind him and a long promising one ahead, Quiroga trained under Professor Sergey Soloviev in Paris. He became well acquainted with Cape Town’s internationally renowned choreographer John Cranko’s work while studying at the John Cranko Academy in Stuttgart. He’s danced with Wiener Staatsballett and Royal Ballet of Flanders, and won competitions in Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, and Helsinki.
His principal roles include Albrecht, Gypsy King in Nureyev’s Don Quixote, and the pas de deux in Nureyev’s Raymonda. He holds a Diploma of Academic Ballet Teaching. And, in between his freelance dancing and teaching career, in 2016 and 2017 Quiroga adjudicated at the Art Bridge Competition in Tokyo. He’s also taken well received steps into the choreographic world with his piece Between Two Worlds.
Talking about M&S, Quiora expresses his pleasure at Goldberg’s choreography. “By blending the two rivals’ 18th century music, Marc unfolds the famous Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus story in a way that ‘sits’ it firmly in today. As such, it’s a drawcard for all ages.”
PS. A secret is Quiroga is returning to dance the prince in Veronica Paeper’s revamped Cinderella, which Peter Cazalet is redesigning to bring the fairy tale ballet up-to-date.
For more Cape Town productions: https://weekendspecial.co.za/stage-on-the-boards/
What: Mozart & Salieri M&S
Who: Cape Town City Ballet Spring Season
Choreographer: Marc Goldberg ballet
Where: Artscape Opera House, Foreshore Cape Town
When is Mozart & Salieri: 24 August to 1 September 2018
Mozart Salieri tickets: 021 421 7695, https://online.computicket.com/web/event/mozart_and_salieri/1225129824/0/87650969
Cape Town City Ballet: https://www.capetowncityballet.org.za/
WS
