Spring 2018Don Quixote is one of the landmarks of classical ballet, transporting the viewer to a crowd of temperamental people in a hot Spanish village. The stunning staging at the FNOB, the virtuoso numbers and the funny plot twists captivate audiences time and time again. No wonder that Don Quixote is always sold out!
Please note that you can still buy tickets through the lippu.fi website for performances in spring 2018, but not for season 2018-2019.
Don Quixote (1605), a novel by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, is one of the great classics of world literature. It is brimming with stories suitable for dancing, and choreographers have been drawing on it since the 18th century. The current version is based on a choreography created by Marius Petipa in St Petersburg in the late 19th century. It focuses on the story in the novel where the lovely Kitri and her impoverished lover Basilio require the help of Don Quixote, the Knight of the Woeful Countenance, and his stout servant Sancho Panza in order to get married.
Recommended for children over the age of 7.
One of the today’s most famous ballet dancers, Polina Semionova will be performing as a guest dancer in two performances of Don Quixote on April 10 and 12. Russian Semionova has performed for example in American Ballet Theatre in New York, Staatsballett Berlin, Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and in Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich. She has also danced in several high-class ballet groups such as La Scala in Milan, Wiener Staatsballett, Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and in the Tokyo Ballet. We are very happy for this visit – welcome to the Finnish National Ballet, Polina!
Photo: Maria-Helena Buckley
– Patrice Bart, choreographer
Kitri and Basilio live in the village of La Mancha and are in love. Kitri’s father Lorenzo would prefer to marry his daughter off to the rich Camacho rather than to the impoverished Basilio. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza arrive in Kitri’s home village on their travels, and Don Quixote imagines that she is his adored beloved Dulcinea. Don Quixote decides to stay in the village to help the girl.
Basilio and Kitri escape to a Gypsy camp, where their pursuers find them. They manage to escape. Meanwhile, Don Quixote, in a confused state, fights against the windmills and sees visions of Dulcinea living in the Kingdom of Dryads.
Lorenzo and Camacho pick up the trail of Kitri and Basilio. They attempt to force Kitri to marry Camatho, but then Basilio stabs himself apparently fatally with a razor. Kitri knows that Basilio is not actually dying and asks Don Quixote to persuade her father to approve of their marriage in the groom’s final moments of life. Once Lorenzo has given his promise, Basilio leaps up and reveals the cunning deception. Kitri and Basilio marry, and Don Quixote has another vision of Dulcinea that guides him to further adventures.
A full synopsis and background information are available in the programme booklet.
See what you like: choose your favourites on this season’s rich menu.
Book your refreshments beforehand online or at the Opera Restaurant sales desk; you will have a much wider range to choose from, and you will not have to queue in the interval. Download the seating plan of the Opera Restaurant (PDF).
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Tel. +358 9 4030 2377 on weekdays 09.00–11.00 and 12.00–16.00
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ravintolapalvelut[at]opera.fi
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