For the first time ever, Finnish National Ballet will be performing Tamara Rojo’s Raymonda, a co-production between the Helsinki-based ballet company and English National Ballet.
On February 24, 2023, Alexander Glazunov’s score played by the Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera will fill the Finnish National Opera and Ballet house while the dancers bring to life this not often presented full-length ballet.
In fact, although Rojo (who is currently the Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet) kept much of Marius Petipa’s original choreography, she creatively changed the traditional setting of the Crusades to the Crimean War. The focus of the new version is on the groundbreaking work of the nurses, who left their safe lives as housewives to save wounded soldiers on the frontline.
”The most prominent and influential woman in the Crimean War was Florence Nightingale. The character of Raymonda is not Nightingale herself, but I used some of her in the story,” Rojo says.
Violetta Keller, Rebecca King, Yuka Masumoto and Abigail Sheppard will alternate in the role of Raymonda, while Michal Krčmář, Jun Xia, Clark Eselgroth and Florian Moda will be seen as John De Bryan. Johan Pakkanen, Elvis Nudo, Luciano Ghidoli and Giulio Diligente will dance the role of Abdur Rahman.
The co-production of the Finnish and English National Ballets had its world premiere in the Coliseum in London in January 2022.
Featured Photo of English National Ballet in Tamara Rojo’s Raymonda. Photo by Johan Persson.
