Swan Lake in Oman for the first time

Yevgeny Ivanchenko and Viktoria Tereshkina
in the ballet Swan Lake

The Mariinsky Ballet will be the first classical dance company in the world to perform at the Royal Opera House in Muscat which opened in October this year. In Muscat the Mariinsky Theatre will be presenting Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s Swan Lake, which will be performed five times. Appearing in the role of Odette-Odile will be Viktoria Tereshkina, Yekaterina Kondaurova and Oxana Skorik; the role of Prince Siegfried will be danced by Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Maxim Zyuzin and Timur Askerov.

On the evening of 31 December at the New Year Gala Concert the dancers will be performing three one-act ballets – Michel Fokine’s Chopiniana to music by Frédéric Chopin, Alberto Alonso’s Carmen Suite to music by Georges Bizet-Rodion Shchedrin and young choreographer Emil Faski’s Simple Things to music by Arvo Pärt.

In terms of scale and possibilities, the Royal Opera House of Oman is a multifunctional theatre complex covering 80 000 square metres. The theatre was the brainchild of Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said and was planned as a major cultural centre for the Persian Gulf region; in terms of technology it can accommodate incredibly diverse international theatre and music companies and highly acclaimed performers. The building itself embodies the basic principles of modern architecture in Oman – solidity, the use of natural building materials and the combination of simple geometric spaces with colonnades, terraces and minarets. The complex includes a Concert Hall, Auditorium and Arts Centre for music, theatre and opera programmes in addition to landscaped gardens, elegant restaurants, coffee shops and an art bazaar. Seating one thousand one hundred people, it is the first opera house in the world where the backs of the seats are equipped with interactive display screens.

For details about the performances please go to the website of the Royal Opera House in Muscat: http://www.rohmuscat.org.om