VietNamNet Bridge – Swiss conductor Emmanuel Siffert will conduct the classical ballet The Nutcracker on December 7, 8 and 9 at the HCM City Opera House.

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HBSO dancers will perform in the ballet The Nutcracker at the Opera House on December 7, 8 and 9. Photo courtesy of HBSO

Based on the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, the work features the dream of the little girl Clara and her adventures with a nutcracker, a gift from her godfather.

The beloved ballet was first staged in HCM City in 2001 as part of Norway’s Transposition program to bring classical music projects to Vietnam.

A rousing success, the play has been staged every Christmas season in the last 17 years.

It is choreographed by Johanne Jakhelln Constant, the art director of the Moving Art Theatre in Bodo, Norway.

The two-act work will feature Vietnamese ballet stars from the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO), including Ho Phi Diep (the Nutcracker), Do Hoang Khang Ninh (Clara), and Dam Duc Nhuan (Mr Drosselmeyer).

Japanese dancer Naoki Tomikawa (Cavaliar) and Yuki Hiroshige (Snow Queen and Dewdrop) will also take part.

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Swiss conductor Emmanuel Siffert will conduct the ballet The Nutcracker at the Opera House on December 7, 8 and 9. Photo courtesy of HBSO

Tomikawa studied classical ballet and graduated from the National Vaganova Ballet School in Russia in 1991.

He has worked for the New National Theatre and Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theater in Japan, and is now a member of the VolksTheater Rostock in Germany.

Hiroshige began ballet study at the age of 11 and started at the Australian Ballet School in 1993. She has worked as a solo dancer at the New National Theatre from 1996, and later performed at Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theater in 2005.

The ballet’s music score composed by Tchaikovsky will be performed by the HBSO’s female choir and symphony orchestra.

Siffert studied conducting in Switzerland, Finland and in Milan with Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini. Siffert has conducted several operas, ballets and concerts in Europe and the US.

He is currently the principal conductor and artistic director of the Orquesta Sinfonica San Juan (San Juan Symphony Orchestra) in Argentina.

The Nutcracker will begin at 8pm at the Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square, in District 1. Tickets are available at the venue. 

Source: VNS