Moscow Festival Ballet presents Giselle | Press Releases

8 p.m., Friday, April 11, 2014
Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
Tickets are $50, $45, and $35

Image: Moscow Ballet In the great tradition of grand ballet, the internationally renowned Moscow Festival Ballet performs Giselle at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 11, 2014 , at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Giselle tells the romantic tale of a young peasant girl who falls in love with a count disguised as a villager. This stunning production is filled with brilliant choreography, a haunting score, and resplendent costumes and sets. The performance is sponsored, in part, byBank of America. Media sponsor is the Morris Media Group. Tickets are $50, $45, and $35.

The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989, when legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Radchenko sought to realize his vision of a company which would bring together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies in an independent new company within the framework of Russian classic ballet. Leading dancers from across Russia have forged under Radchenko's direction an exciting new company staging new productions of timeless classics such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita and Carmen . Since its inception, the Moscow Festival Ballet has completed two tours of Europe, with extraordinary receptions in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. The company has mounted successful tours of the United Kingdom, including capacity audiences at London's famed Coliseum, and performed in Turkey at the Istanbul Festival and in Greece at the Athens Festival. It also completed a two-month tour of Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Under the direction of Sergei Radchenko, the Moscow Festival Ballet continues to expand its repertoire. In addition to commissioning new works from within Russia and abroad, the company specializes in Twentieth Century full-length ballets such as Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Legend of Love, Stone Flower and The Golden Age . Mr. Radchenko has researched the original choreography and stage productions of several of Marius Petipa's classic ballets, including productions of Don Quixote and Paquita , and a recreation of Jules Perrot's and Jean Coralli's Giselle , with a score composed by Adolphe Adam, acknowledged as his musical masterpiece.

Giselle was first seen in Moscow in 1843, just two years after its creation in Paris, and a year after it was staged in St. Petersburg. The ballet's history in Russia since that time has shown a continuous sequence of performances, with Jules Perrot - one of the great originators of the choreography - providing a basic text which has been illuminated by the care and genius of generations of ballerinas and producers. When Giselle was forgotten everywhere else in Europe - it was dropped from the Paris Opera repertory in 1868 - Russian dancers and ballet-masters preserved and honored it. The Moscow Festival Ballet's production maintains the Russian tradition of scrupulous production and loving concern for this gem of the Romantic ballet.

Tickets and subscriptions are available through the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.quickcenter.com .

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com .