Soloists have been revealed for Varna International Ballet and Orchestra’s 2024 UK tour of three Tchaikovsky works, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.
British dancer Luc Burns will perform alongside Italy’s Mara Salvaggio, Martina Prefetto, Giovanni Pompei, Agnese Di Dio Masa, Andrea Conforti, Mirko Andreutti, Giacomo Ammazzini and Vittorio Scolé, Pauline Clémence Faget (France), Mónica Alegre and Yael Delgado (Spain), and Brazil’s Wellson Felipio.
The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty will be classical versions while Swan Lake will be a recreation of Tchaikovsky’s original production, created for the Bolshoi Ballet in 1877. Varna International Ballet producers went into the archives to return to the original score, orchestration and libretto.
Artistic director Daniela Dimova and music director and chief conductor Peter Tuleshkov from Bulgaria-based Varna said, “we’re thrilled to be bringing our highly talented company of dancers and musicians back to the UK. We can’t wait to perform for British audiences again and to bring these magical ballets to life on stage.”
Produced by Raymond Gubbay, the tour opens at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 January. It then visits Bristol Hippodrome, Buxton Opera House, Liverpool Empire, Blackpool Grand, Sheffield City Hall, Edinburgh Playhouse, Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall, Darlington Hippodrome, Hull’s New Theatre, Ipswich’s Regent Theatre, High Wycombe’s Swan, Wimbledon’s New Theatre, Norwich Theatre Royal, Reading Hexagon, Southend Cliffs Pavilion, The Anvil Basingstoke, Brighton Theatre Royal, Northampton’s Royal and Derngate, Leicester’s De Montfort Hall and New Theatre Oxford from Tuesday 27 until Thursday 29 February.