In celebration of his 10th anniversary as Ballet West artistic director, Adam Sklute is gifting himself and the city a number of firsts. Kicking off the 2017-18 season on Friday, Nov. 3, is a top-to-bottom new production of the most requested non-full-length in the company’s repertoire, “Carmina Burana.”
The reimagining of the iconic work set to Carl Orff’s famous score is BW’s first comprehensive collaboration with Cincinnati Ballet, including shared sets, costumes, ballet mistresses and even Ballet West’s resident choreographer, Nicolo Fonte.
“Ballet West founder Willam Christensen received both high praise and backlash when he presented ‘Carmina Burana’ for the first time in 1974,” Sklute said. “I thought, ‘What better way to begin my 10th anniversary than with a piece that is so often requested?’ I’m interested in inspiring audiences, giving them something they love, but also challenging them. … I hope this production will do all three.”
The history of Orff’s 1936 score, culled from a trove of 13th-century manuscripts found in a Bavarian monastery and interpreted by choreographer John Butler in 1959 for New York City Opera Ballet, is legendary. Audiences were first shocked, then enthralled and finally mesmerized by the gothic melodrama that turns from earthly pleasures to morality tale in five sections.
A cast that includes 18 dancers, 75 chorus singers perched over the stage on a bridgelike set piece, and three soloists who interact with the dancers is only the first of many challenges for Fonte’s vision.
“The potential for disaster is very, very great for this kind of thing,” he said with a smirk. “For example, if casting doesn’t jibe across the two companies’ abilities, or we can’t juggle the rehearsal and performance dates to work out. But it all fell into place and has been very smooth.”
Some of the “falling into place” has been due to flexibility on the part of the staff here and in Cincinnati. Last week in Salt Lake City, at the stunningly beautiful and still-new Quinney Ballet Centre rehearsal studios, ballet mistress Jane Wood held a 4-inch-thick binder of handwritten notes she shares with Cincinnati’s ballet mistress, Johanna Bernstein Wilt. The two have flown between cities, keeping the other up to date on choreographic details, technique and artistry.
Cincinnati Ballet artistic director Victoria Morgan and Sklute had discussed working together in the past, and Morgan had expressed interest in commissioning Fonte.
(Photo courtesy Beau Pearson) Ballet West resident choreographer Nicolo Fonte gives some instruction during a rehearsal of a new production of "Carmina Burana." Fonte was part of Ballet West's collaboration with the Cincinnati Ballet, which also included shared sets, costumes, and ballet mistresses.
“Cincinnati also has a great chorus that wanted to collaborate,” Sklute said. “A new ‘Carmina’ had been a project in the back of my mind for some time, and one of Nicolo’s great gifts is his ability to reimagine the great classics. We’ve done his electrifying ‘Rite of Spring,’ his fascinating ‘Almost Tango,’ his brilliant ‘Bolero.’ ”
According to Sklute, the temptation to create new versions of “Carmina Burana” — and there are many — has fallen out of popularity, inviting the question: Do we need another?
“Well, I don’t know if we need one,” Fonte said. “But it would be kind of nice to want one, so let’s approach it in that way — from the beginning.”
Fonte built his concept first in terms of scale — “It’s a big piece of music.” The “O Fortuna” sections that bookend the episodic score have been embraced by popular culture, pitching and depicting everything from Domino’s Pizza (during Super Bowl XLIX) to battle scenes in the movie “Excalibur.”
“We think of ‘Carmina’ as intense, but there are long passages of delicate, shimmering orchestration that call for a calm human quality before we build up the storm again,” Fonte said. “The ‘O Fortuna’ part is easy, it kinda takes care of itself.”
Fonte said his initial inspiration came from 19th-century sculptor Auguste Rodin’s “Gates of Hell,” whose figures express agony but also, as the Rodin Museum describes it, “poignantly and heart-renderingly evoke universal human emotions and experiences.”
After a recent rehearsal, Sklute’s husband, Christopher Renstrom, described Fonte’s version as looking “like someone took a Gothic etching, ripped it off the wall and said DANCE! But with 21st-century speed.”
The program next weekend opens with George Balanchine’s masterwork “Serenade,” set to Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings.” It’s a pairing often made with “Carmina,” possibly because each score opens with a powerful musical declaration, and Sklute said thematically “Serenade,” with all “its heavenly beauty, is the perfect foil for the very earthly and dramatic world of ‘Carmina Burana.’ ”
(Photo courtesy Luke Isley) "Serenade," shown in a 2010 performance, will feature 28 blue-clad dancers this year in an opening performance for "Carmina Burana." George Balanchine's work became the perfect complement, Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute said, because “its heavenly beauty is the perfect foil for the very earthly and dramatic world of ‘Carmina Burana.’ ”
Wheel of fortune<br>Ballet West presents “Carmina Burana.”<br>When • Nov. 3, 4 and 8-11, at 7:30 p.m.; matinee Saturday, Nov. 11, 2 p.m.<br>Where • Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City<br>Tickets • $29-$87; arttix.org, 801-355-2787<br>Synopsis • The program opens with “Serenade” (1934), the first original ballet George Balanchine created in America. The four movements — “Sonatina,” “Waltz,” “Russian Dance” and “Elegy” — performed by 28 dancers in blue costumes in front of a blue background, are tender and stirring.<br>“Carmina Burana” was first performed in Utah when Ballet West founder Willam Christensen staged John Butler’s version in 1974. Since then, it has been performed more than 100 times, making it one of the most popular titles in the Ballet West repertoire. The “Carmina Burana” is an 11th-century text that was rediscovered in a Bavarian monastery in 1803. In 1936, Carl Orff set 24 of the poems to music, and it quickly became a popular piece of classical repertoire.<br>“Carmina Burana” is a co-production of Ballet West and Cincinnati Ballet, which will perform the production in February. Costumes were built by Cincinnati Ballet and a truss set is being fabricated in Tennessee, which will lift the 76 choir members above the dancers. Decorative set elements have been built by San Diego Opera.
Cantorum Chamber Choir accompanies Ballet West<br>Under the direction of Steven Durtschi, Cantorum Chamber Choir is a group of 30 singers that began at Brigham Young University as an early music ensemble and transformed into one of the premier non-collegiate chamber groups in the Western United States.<br>The award-winning ensemble draws on the rich musical heritage of the region. Many Cantorum singers have solo careers and all have sung with top collegiate ensembles. Many have also sung with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Chamber Artists, and Salt Lake Vocal Artists.<br>The group’s mission is to create outstanding chamber choral music to be shared with local and national audiences. Through performing, recording, and outreach to young musicians, Cantorum seeks to inspire a new generation and foster a high-level of artistry in our community.Under the direction of Steven Durtschi, Cantorum Chamber Choir is a group of 30 singers that began at Brigham Young University as an early-music ensemble and transformed into one of the premier noncollegiate chamber groups in the Western United States.The award-winning ensemble draws on the rich musical heritage of the region. Many Cantorum singers have solo careers and all have sung with top collegiate ensembles. Many have also sung with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Chamber Artists and Salt Lake Vocal Artists.<br>The group’s mission is to create outstanding chamber choral music to be shared with local and national audiences. Through performing, recording and outreach to young musicians, Cantorum seeks to inspire a new generation and foster a high level of artistry in our community.
Ballet West 2017-18 season<br>Dec. 2-30 • “The Nutcracker.” Ballet West’s grand unveiling of new sets, costumes and special effects frames Willam Christensen’s historic and renowned choreography and Tchaikovsky’s famous score. BW’s “The Nutcracker” is the longest-running, full-length production in America.<br>Feb. 9-25 • Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Cinderella,” set to Sergei Prokofiev’s musical score. A classic story filled with spellbinding dance and hilarious hijinks for the entire family.<br>April 13-21 • “The Shakespeare Suite” is a presentation of three contemporary works: Jirí Kylián’s athletic and emotional “Return to a Strange Land,” set to the evocative piano music of Leoš Janácek; modern-dance pioneer Merce Cunningham’s unique “Summerspace” (1958), created in collaboration with composer Morton Feldman and artist Robert Rauschenberg (Ballet West is one of a very few companies to produce this exploration into movement, music, and art); and British choreographer David Bintley’s “The Shakespeare Suite.” At times intense, at times hilariously funny, the ballet is a series of pop-culture vignettes of different Shakespeare plays accompanied by the jazz strains of Duke Ellington.<br>May 18-26 • Ballet West and four of America’s most esteemed ballet companies celebrate another season of new works over two weekends. This season, the festival will focus on the work of women choreographers and women artistic directors from around the world. Experience two different programs in the Eccles Theater, including world premieres by Africa Guzman and Natalie Weir for Ballet West.