THE NEXT FESTIVAL WILL OPEN WITH TWO EXCEPTIONAL NIGHTS BY THE MARIINSKY BALLET

On 8 and 9 July, the Ballet of Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, recognised as one of the world’s best dance companies, will once again be at Peralada to open the 36th Castell de Peralada Festival with two programmes.

The Castell de Peralada Festival has again this year chosen dance to open proceedings. The Festival will open on 8 July with the spectacular ballet Carmen Suite with music by Rodion Shchedrin based on Georges Bizet's famous opera and with choreography and libretto by Cuban maestro Alberto Alonso. The ballet was created at the request of Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. A passionate ballet, considered a jewel of the repertoire of one of the best dance companies in the world. Also on 8 July, the company will perform Le Divertissement du roi, a ballet that is rarely performed here. It is a neoclassical fantasy on a Baroque theme, with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and choreography by Maxim Petrov, that transports us to the beginnings of ballet as it developed at the Louvre and Versailles.

The following day, on 9 July, the audience will be able to enjoy three pieces by two of the most important choreographers of our time. A triple bill with Seven Sonatas by Alexei Ratmansky, an emotive, timeless chamber ballet with music from Scarlatti, and Concerto DSCH by the same choreographer. This second piece has music from Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto and will feature Maria Khoreva, the winner of the first Mateu Young Artist European Award awarded by the Castell de Peralada Foundation. The programme is completed by A Flashback by Ilya Jivoy, one of most internationally recognised young choreographers whose acclaimed ballet The Four Seasons, with music by Max Richter, has already graced the stage at Peralada. Jivoy, who specialises in perfect marriages of classical and contemporary dance in creations full of emotivity, returns to the Festival with this new creation with music by Arvo Pärt.

Tickets are on sale on this website.