The Rome Opera House on March
29-April 2 is set to pay homage to US composer Philip Glass with
a ballet starring Eleonora Abbagnato with costumes designed by
Christian Dior's artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Guest artist Friedmann Vogel, the Rome Opera ballet and
orchestra directed by Carlo Donadio will be performing in Hearts
and Arrows by Benjamin Millepied and Glass Pieces by Jerome
Robbins (a choreography with 46 dancers on stage).
Abbagnato and Vogel will also be dancing in the new Nuit
Blanche by young choreographer Sebastian Bertaud.
With the new costumes designed for the event, Chiuri will be
returning to the Rome Opera House after the success of her
designs for the Traviata directed by Sofia Coppola in 2016, when
Chiuri was still working at Valentino.
Rome Opera House Superintendent Carlo Fuortes said "haute
couture and the great Italian costume tradition have common
roots".
"When they meet it is an excellence, a pleasure, a reciprocal
exchange", he explained, refusing to comment reports claiming he
will be taking the help of Milan's La Scala theater.
"Dior has always had a particular connection with ballet and
theater", said Chiuri, adding that the founder of the iconic
fashion house worked on a number of collaborations.
The designer said she was inspired by haute couture for
costumes that revisited "an iconic dress from the 1950s like
Miss Dior".
Chiuri said that she worked closely with the Opera House
costume laboratory, "a great atelier".
Abbagnato's costume will feature several layers of tulle
decorated with silk flowers while the corps de ballet will be
performing in different hues of nude covered with black tulle.
Abbagnato, the director of the Rome Opera ballet for the
past three years, said ballet is an underestimated art in Italy.
"Instead, many love it abroad and Chiuri already knew this
theater's energy and intention to open its doors to the
international world".
The homage to Philip Glass goes in this direction.
Glass was a key composer of the 1900s and collaborated with a
wide range of artists including Twyla Tharp, Allen Ginsberg,
Woody Allen and David Bowie.
And the choreographies by Bertaud and Millepied will bring a
piece of the Paris Opera Ballet to Rome, said Abbagnato.
The artist said she was saddened by ongoing political
tensions between Italy and France: "When you live with a
suitcase like I do and you are an Italian artist abroad, you get
a little sad".
Chiuri added that "culture can help dialogue".
"When people love what they do, they only think about
building", concluded Chiuri.
"Personally, I fell European, I live in Rome, work in Paris
and have a daughter in London - perhaps it's time to change
mentality".
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