Please find herewith a link to the programme (not very exciting) for the Mariinsky Ballet at the Royal Opera House August 3 -15 2009

http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/mariinsky/index.aspx

Details of Gergiev's 'Ring' Cycle is also shown.

Hooray! one can get a chance to see Somova as the lead in everything they are doing (well the Balanchine as casting isn't up but one can assume she'll be cast in that as well)!

Yep, it looks like it. And London, like Washington DC, is getting the 1952 Sleeping Beauty.

Here are the daily cast for the London performance

Romeo and Juliet
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9642

3 August , 19h30
Juliette : Alina Somova
Roméo : Vladimir Shklyarov

4 August , 19h30
Juliette : Olesia Novikova
Roméo : Igor Kolb

5 August 19h30
Juliette : Ekaterina Osmolkina
Roméo : Evgeny Ivanchenko

6 August , 19h30
Juliette : Evgenia Obraztsova
Roméo : Anton Korsakov


Swan Lake
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9651

7 August , 19h30
Odette-Odile : Uliana Lopatkina
Siegfried : Daniil Korsuntsev

8 August, 14h
Odette-Odile : Ekaterina Kondaurova
Siegfried : Igor Kolb

8 August, 19h30
Odette-Odile : Viktoria Tereshkina
Siegfried : Evgeny Ivanchenko

10 August, 19h30
Odette-Odile : Alina Somova
Siegfried : Daniil Korsuntsev

11 August, 19h30
Odette-Odile : Viktoria Tereshkina
Siegfried : Vladimir Shklyarov


Homage to Balanchine
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9667

12 August 2009, 19h30
Serenade
Alina Somova
Evgeny Ivanchenko
Ekaterina Osmolkina
Daria Vasnetsova
Denis Firsov

Rubies
Irina Golub
Vladimir Shklyarov
Ekaterina Kondaurova

Symphony in C
Viktoria Tereshkina
Anton Korsakov

Uliana Lopatkina
Daniil Korsuntsev
Olesya Novikova
Filip Stepin
Nadezhda Gonchar
Alexei Timofeyev

13 August 2009, 19h30
Serenade
Daniil Korsuntsev
Ekaterina Osmolkina
Irina Golub
Yulianna Chereshkevitch
Denis Firsov

Rubies
Viktoria Tereshkina
Alexander Sergeyev
Anastasia Lishyuk

Symphonie in C
Alina Somova
Anton Korsakov
Maxim Zuzin
Ekaterina Kondaurova
Evgeny Ivanchenko
Ekaterina Osmolkina
Vladimir Shklyarov
Evgenia Obraztsova


The Sleeping Beauty　
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9660

14 August 2009, 19h30
Princess Aurora : Olesia Novikova
Prince Désiré : Igor Kolb
Lilac Fairy : Ekaterina Kondaurova

Saturday, August 15 2:00 PM
Princess Aurora: Evgenia Obraztsova
Prince Désiré : Vladimir Shklyarov
Lilac Fairy: Uliana Lopatkina

Saturday, August 15 7:30 PM
Princess Aurora : Alina Somova
Prince Désiré: Léonid Sarafanov
Lilac Fairy: Uliana Lopatkina

Good grief - look who opens and closes the season. On the other hand, she will be the one who is reviewed by the London critics, right?

So the Mariinsky will open the season with a Juliet who has yet to perform the role anywhere...not even at home? [I see that R&J will be danced once between now and the end of May at the Mariinsky, with no casting yet announced - on May 20. Maybe that will be it? But to announce her as leading the London season in a ballet she's never danced?] Maybe a miracle will happen, eh? Maybe rehearsals are going so splendidly that she is declared to be the obvious choice to open the London season. Right.

On another dancer: So Olesya Novikova will miraculously give birth and recuperate in time for the London season?

One more observation: No Vishneva? Well, not totally a surprise. She now dances more often in Washington, DC tours than in London tours.

At a guess I would say that Golub will replace Novikova in R & J and Tereshkina in Beauty, but of course casting is an art akin to necromancy at the Kirov these days.

There is dismay among the London Kirov fans over Somova opening and closing the season, traditionally the last night is a bit like party night in London but this year all the guests will be absent, I imagine the generous floral tributes from the audience will be absent on those nights too.

The critics may spring a surprise over A.S.'s Juliet as most of the critics are too young to have seen any greats in the role and it isn't a ballet they bring that often, her youth and prettiness just might carry the day and if she changes or leaves out passages of choreography (as is her wont) I doubt if many of them will actually notice.

I hear you, Mashinka. All excellent points. However, ahem, "prettiness" is not a word I would ever associate with a dancer who possesses a bony face with pointed chin, "flat ski" feet, lemon-yellow rooted hair, false fingernails or 'sickly' skin tone. Or is this the description of "prettiness" for Generation Me? Long skinny legs alone do not a beauty make, IMO. It's all in the eye of the beholder, I realize.

We shall see what transpires.

Vishneva's absense in the London tour is due to her appearing at the World Ballet Festival in Tokyo, partnering Malakhov.

Somova is opening the Japan tour in November with Swan Lake, and also the Japan premire of Little Humpbacked horse with Gergiev conducting.

But it seems that most Japanese Mariinka fans do not like her, and I think her ticket sales will be a flop. Who wants to see her Odette when Vishneva and Lopatkina, Tereshkina is also in that role?

And also Aurora with Vishneva and Tereshkina as alternatives.

Right, naomikage. Thanks for your insights. Interestingly, the Japanese reporter with whom I met last month in St. Petersburg -- the one who first told me about the addition of LHH to the Japan tour -- told me that Somova is a "big favorite with Japanese businessmen. She is very beautiful." [The reporter is a man.] So maybe the businessmen -- not traditional, knowledgeable fans -- will fill the hall? Like I wrote earlier, it is all in the eye of the beholder.

I absolutely agree with the sentiment you express Mashinka in respect of the majority of London critics. Every critic has the right to an opinion, but in the major newspapers I expect it to be informed opinion.

I have noted that most seasoned ballet watchers and especially literate female watchers dislike Somova. What is the appeal of this dancer?

Natalia writes, "Thanks for your insights. Interestingly, the Japanese reporter with whom I met last month in St. Petersburg -- the one who first told me about the addition of LHH to the Japan tour -- told me that Somova is a "big favorite with Japanese businessmen. She is very beautiful." [The reporter is a man.] So maybe the businessmen -- not traditional, knowledgeable fans -- will fill the hall?"

In general, I find the over extensions in penchee arabesques and jetes vulgar as the groin area is brought into emphasis. Is this what the casual male ballet attender wants to see? Is this what artistic directors wants to see? For me it goes beyond the aesthetic of the academic classical ballet genre.
I personally would not object if male dancers wore some kind of costume arrangement that could move and not destroy the leg line yet remain somewhat modest.
It is the incarnation of dance and the inspiration of choreographers and dancers that makes me watch dance not the physicality of dancers bodies.
I will see a good number of performances of the Kirov this summer , but none of my money will be spent on Miss Somova.

Somova's actual hair color is brown, if you see in the movie "Ballerina." She looks much better with that original color. But maybe I'm a bit sensitive about this but "yellowed skin tone"? I am of Asian descent and was picked on as a kid for having "puke colored skin" so I don't think anyone's complexion disqualifies them from being attractive.

Oh, canbelto, I did not mean that at all. Sorry if I offended you! I meant that her skin tone has been looking (to me) sickly of late. I did not want to write "jaundiced" but that's what I had in mind. Even compared to seeing her live in DC in January. I was, frankly, shocked when I saw her live in StP last month, compared to two months earlier in DC.

p.s. - I just edited the offending post and replaced the "yellow" with "sickly."

The blinding blond hair may be a generational thing -- funny since it is a staple of ballroom dancers and ice dancers, who are as stylized as they come -- like the not-found-in-nature blue/purple/orange hair that older generations of women sport.

(I think the demise of hair dates back to Heather Locklear showing her dark roots on "Melrose Place". That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

I think Somova is very, very pretty in the ways many of her film contemporaries are pretty. She's got the preferred look of her generation, a bit Disneyfied, which can turn vacant, something I noticed and found very disconcerting during the City Center run last April. Danila Korsuntsev reminded me of Patrick Dempsey in "Enchanted" when partnering her in "Ballet Imperial", with a similar look, but not with other partners or in the "Swan Lake" DVD. Watching their faces, I thought I was watching a Disney romance movie.

I think that's one of the reasons I like Tereshkina so much: she looks like she knows where's she's going next, and like there's a brain ticking.

BINGO! You said it, Helene. Thank you.

It's alright Natalia, just something I'm sort of sensitive about.
But anyway Somova as Juliet? Can't picture that. Also, I guess Daria Pavlenko is once again getting shafted? Surprising, considering she had quite a success in London guesting with the Royal Ballet, did she not?

Yes, she did, canbelto. Pavlenko is still working her way back to the prima roles, following her long maternity leave. She is finding her way back to the stage through smaller-but-important roles, such as Street Dancer in Don Q.

On the 28th April Daria Pavlenko is dancing Maria in The Fountains of Bakhchiserai at the Maryinskii Theatre

Helene, I agree entirely about liking dancers who look like there "is a brain ticking." These dancers move from the inside, always seeming in charge of their own movement (unless the choreography demands otherwise). You can imagine that there are choices being made.

My impression from watching Somova on video is that there is something marionette-like in her use of limbs and torso. Forces from the OUTSIDE are pulling things out of line -- manipulating her into the positions that have become her trademark. The effect is strangely passive, even weak. This might be especially appealing to someone like Natalia's Japanese businessman, looking forward to unwinding at the end of a long day toiling in a what is still, essentially, a man's world.

The Official Salaryman's Ballerina!

Somova reminds me of Russian girls who work in bars in Roppongi, Tokyo where Japanese businessmen go after their work. Actually there are quite many of those girls who looks like her.

And I don't know what company is going to sponsor the Mariinsky Japan tour but at the Bolshoi tour, a securities company was the official sponsorso there were many businessmen who were invited as a result of that.

hi i plan to go to the kirov swan lake at the roh in august. which would be the best performance to go to?? ie. best dancers. thanks for any help. robert

Welcome to BalletTalk, robert.

My uncontested choice would be Tereshkina, but I have never seen Kolegova, have no idea what she's like. To me, Tereshkina is very present in the moment, unlike Lopatkina, who gives the impression of a single interpretation that, down to the last eyelash, does not vary from performance to performance. Lopatkina is fascinating in that regard, definitely worth seeing, but I miss the "aliveness" that Tereshkina brings and makes my experience more satisfying.

I hope that, after you've seen the Swan Lake, you'll let us know whether, cumulatively, we've given you good advice. Meanwhile, I invite you to introduce yourself in our Welcome Forum.

many thanks for your suggestion. strangely i had seen both tereshkina and Ivanchenko on youtube recently and thought them both wonderful. i do love russian ballet and the kirov/mariinsky and bolshoi are in my opinion the best companies in the world. i recently went to moscow to see the bolshoi and was amazed at the standard of everyone on the stage.

No, the performance on the 20th will be Irina Golub with Igor Kolb.

http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbi...09/5/20/1_1900/

Daria Vaznetsova replaced Pavlenko as Maria in that performance. Dasha Pavlenko will bourree between knives again as Street Dancer on May 16 (so far). Tatiana Tkachenko will be Kitri - ( for this casting decision )! She deserves more opportunities to dance leading roles in her home theatre, and not at the Hermitage & Palace Theatres, (venues of the Hermitage Ballet).



Golub as Juliet opposite Kolb is wonderful news! This is another tremendous opportunity for her! A word of caution: As with everything, nothing is etched in stone; casting is subject to change (and unannounced casting also), right up until curtain. There's one "R & J" performance scheduled in June: June 6. If there are no more "R & Js" performed during the White Nights Festival in July, it's high probability that this will be Somova's D-Day. "D" is for "debut". On the other hand, if June 6 isn't the date, Covent Garden will be graced with her debut as Juliet on opening night. That will be a double-dip of firsts for her: A Covent Garden opening night, and first Juliet. If that's their plan, to field her as Juliet - sight unseen and without a test drive, in a Covent Garden opening night, one must question the "logic" behind it.

June 6 will be the very last R&J back home before the London tour, as the Mariinsky website now lists all performances between now and July 31. So either "Ms X" debuts on June 6 or she may be debuting in London, at the start of the tour.


Admirers of Vikharev's reconstructions can take heart that Flora's Awakening will reawaken on June 11. (However, Londoners will still see the 1952 Soviet Beauty, sorry to report.)


p.s. I transfered most of the 'summer happenings news' to a new thread.

Casting has been revised for the London tour -- the revised casts I've put in bold.

Romeo and Juliet:
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9642

August 3
Juliet : Somova
Romeo : Shklyarov

August 4
Juliet : Osmolkina
Romeo : Ivanchenko

August 5
Juliette: Tereshkina
Romeo: Matvienko

Auguset 6
Juliet: Obraztsova
Romeo: Kolb

Swan Lake
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9651

August 7
Odette/Odile: Lopatkina
Siegfried: Korsuntsev

August 8 (matinee)
Odette/Odile: Kondaurova
Siegfried: Kolb

August 8 (evening)
Odette/Odile: Tereshkina
Siegfried: Ivanchencko

August 10
Odette/Odile: Somova
Siegfried: Matvienko

August 11
Odette/Odile: Osmolkina
Siegfried Vladimir: Shklyarov

Homage to Balanchine
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9667

August 12
Serenade
Kondaurova
Ivanchenko
Osmolkina
Vasnetsova
Firsov

Rubies
Somova
Shklyarov
Kondaurova

Symphony in C
Tereshkina
Matvienko
Lopatkina
Korsuntsev
Gonchar
Filip Stepin
Obraztsova
Timofeyev

August 13
Serenade
Tereshkina
Korsuntsev
Golub
Chereshkevitch
Firsov

Rubies
Golub
Matvienko
TBC

Symphony in C
Somova
Korsakov has been removed – no replacement yet
Zuzin
Kondaurova
Ivanchenko
Osmolkina
Shklyarov
Obraztsova has been removed – no replacement yet
TBC

Sleeping Beauty
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=9660

August 14
Princess Aurora: Obraztsova
Prince Desiré: Kolb
Lilac Fairy: Kondaurova

August 15 (matinee)
Princess Aurora: Tereshkina
Prince Desiré: Vladimir Shklyarov
Lilac Fairy: Vasnetsova

August 15 (evening)
Princess Aurora: Somova
Prince Desiré: Sarafanov
Lilac Fairy: Kondaurova

For anyone in and around Holland, the Mariinsky will also be coming to the Carre Theatre in Amsterdam, 22nd July - 1st August. There not much info on the website, but here are the dates and programmes:

http://www.theatercarre.nl/site/voorstelli...161&taal=en

Thanks, Rosa. Some very nice changes but still the oddity of Ms X getting the opening night Juliet although she has never danced the role and is not scheduled to dance it anywhere between now and August 3. Are the Hochhausers trying to sell Curiosity Tickets, like the side show of a circus?

Just bought a ticket for the Marinsky in London (mid-August). Seeing "Swan Lake."
I've never seen the Marinsky before (although I do see the Royal Ballet at the Opera House at least once a year. Have business in London).
I'm so excited!

Somova made her debut as Juliet yesterday evening at Covent Garden. The first verdict is in from London's Evening Standard.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/show...viewId=23727804

Je suis d'accord avec vous, Ms. Frater - in abstentia . Frater isn't one of the old guard like Clement Crisp; she's one of the dance "liberals" in the UK's critical circles. It has come to this. This was an unnecessary and mis-calculated risk that failed spectacularly. If someone took Yuri Fateev aside, one and one, and said "I told you so," my guess is that it still wouldn't compute. Covent Garden is used to excellent Juliets. Unfortunately, for the Maryinsky Ballet and Volodya Shklyarov, "Juliet" just didn't cut it last night. This was a most inauspicious start for the Covent Garden engagement. There will be more reports to follow as they come in.

Sounds like a real stinkbomb, Cygnet. Glad that I did not waste my money on this travesty.

Thanks, Cygnet. All I can say about this review is: "OUCH !" Two memorable quotes:


I'm looking forward to hearing from BT'rs who were there. Can it really have been so ... what's the word I'm looking for? ... bizarre?

What else is new? When they opened their London season in 1993 with the same ballet (and Ananiashvili was dancing Juliet as guest), they got nothing but bad reviews.

Indeed - first of all, it's risky to open to the London public with R&J anyway, because ROH audiences generally see the McMillan choreography as the "definitive" version and Lavrovsky's R&J probably never will be a hit for that reason.

Somova, I think, has potential but she is not being paced or given boundaries. I get the feeling that Fate'ev thinks she will be an attractive star to the "masses" - that she has modern appeal, gymnastic technique, and it's going to attract the people who are not necessarily long-time ballet fans. I can't see another reason why she would be promoted ahead of Obraztsova or Osmolkina. But if he thought making the "new star"'s debut on the opening night would make a success, he was very mistaken and he didn't research either London audiences or critics properly!

As you said, London is used to great Juliets - the best from foreign companies on tour, in Lavrovsky, Cranko and McMillan's versions; and the best from the RB both in the past and now. I think Juliet is one of the best danced roles by RB at present. Cojocaru, Benjamin, Galeazzi, Nunez, Cuthbertson, Sarah Lamb are all great Juliets. As a result, the audiences and critics get very exacting about what they expect in this role. London has seen recently some great debuts of Juliet - by Nunez for example, or Sarah Lamb - by really established artists, and the critics still found faults - what chance did poor Alina Somova stand?!

If we could leave Alina Somova aside for a moment, because c'mon guys we all knew she'd be awful, it's worth noting that in this mornings papers the critics are hailing Vladimir Shklyarov as a star.

Quite a lot of names, having not seen all of them I cannot guess which one is a mispelled "Rojo"...

I'm very happy for Shklyarov success: he is a wonderful dancer and I fell in love with his dancing (and acting) in a Romeo and Juliet seen a couple of yers ago...
And later I was absolutely charmed by his Alì (with Somova as Medoara and Kozlov - not at ease with the role- as Konrad, the difference of quality was almost disturbing...)

I knew I'd forgotten someone - thanks!

Although I don't think Juliet is Rojo's best role to be honest, I prefer her in Petipa and so on (the same with Nunez and Cojocaru - Nunez a bit over dramatic in "dramatic roles" and Cojocaru I prefer in Classics and avant garde..)

The point I tried to make is that in the RB, even some of the dancers who are not Company "stars" (for example, Galeazzi and Cuthbertson) are really, really excellent in this role. For example, I think Juliet is Lauren Cuthbertson's best role to date by far. So when you consider that depth of Juliet talent, London audiences do expect great Juliets!

Incidentally, did anyone see Evgenia Obraztsova last night? I wasn't able to be there, but I've heard she's really special in this role.

Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing him - I hope he is as good in the classics!

I'm also ready for some good news. Any reports from Obraztsova's performance?

Mashinka, the critics are unanimous on both your points. 2009 Moscow IBC Gold Medalist Shklyarov is the new male star . It's too bad he couldn't clone himself and dance Juliet as well - then it would've been a triumph. Hindsight is 20/20. What's done can't be undone.

The Times: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol...icle6738737.ece

The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...on-1767250.html

Clement Crisp, Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a10a7cba-8157-11...144feabdc0.html

The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/aug/0...d-juliet-review

The Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre...den-review.html

The Stage: http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.p...omeo-and-juliet

What's On Stage: http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatr...%26+Juliet.html


For real! Will the real Juliet please stand up?! The good news is she did last night: Obratzova took the stage with Denis Matvienko. The bad news is it wasn't opening night, and it should have been. We know opening night is when the media turns out en masse. Hopefully, some of the critics listed above came back last night to recover from their withdrawals.

Juliet in the Lavrovsky version is even more of a mime role than the MacMillan version. I think it takes a dancer of either considerable dramatic ability or charisma to pull it off. In other words having Somova make her DEBUT in the role on opening night of a major tour wasn't really fair to anyone, Somova included.

I don't think the way she's been coached (in the past), cast, or promoted has been very fair to Somova. I think she is a talented lyrical soloist, not a classical ballerina, let alone Ballerina.

I'd agree with that. She could be great as Myrtha for example, or in Balanchine, or Dances at a Gathering. She has talent, no doubt, but she isn't what they are trying to make her be! (I think she's been a victim from the fact that Osipova was such a big hit, and the Mariinsky wanted to have a "teenage ballerina" like the Bolshoi)

I think she could be lethal in that ballet. (and as Myrtha too)

I suspect that Somova was infesting Kirov-Mariinsky schedules much before Osipova came to the attention of a larger audience (here in Milan we had the opportunity to appreciate Natasha stage presence and communicative dancing already in 2003, when she was really young). Somova danced Odette-Odile at Coven Garden in 2005 (during that tour, I saw her live for the first time, awfully throwing her legs here and there in a minor role of la Bayadére), but, for example, London Osipova’s clamorous success as Kitri (Clement Crisp article on the occasion is to remember as much as the show itself) was in 2006.

Returning to Tamara Rojo’s Juliet, I think that she is great in dramatic roles, giving always a clever, personal and natural portrayal of her characters. She is considered by many people, me included of course, and critics one of the best actresses in ballet nowadays. Her casting in the filmed Romeo and Juliet, that made me happy, could maybe not satisfy everybody, anyway for sure is not as odd as some other more recent decisions of Royal Ballet management…

Alina Cojocaru’s last Juliet in 2007-2008 has changed a lot from the first I saw in 2003: the former was absolutely lovely, young and fresh, but the last one is one of most interesting thing I’ve ever seen on stage; a clever and original lecture of the character, that loses nothing in poetry but adds to the tragedy of the two young lovers the modernity of a fight for freedom and independence; she is always referring to God as her only hope and at the end she dies with a smile on her face and a gesture of gratefulness to the sky, turning the climax of the tragedy in a moment of relief and hope in a better future, in another world. I found it amazing and loved it immensely. I could also add that she was able in her second show in La Scala to awaken even Bolle: for the first and so far last time I saw him really present on stage (it was just for five minutes and only in the second of the three shows, but nevertheless it was a sort of unbelievable miracle…).

Breaking news! Hopefully, there are some UK BT'ers who were eyewitnesses and will post. Until then, what a difference 24 hrs. makes! Let's leave the "anti-ballerina" for the real one; the ridiculous for the sublime. Obratzova and Matvienko triumphed in "Romeo & Juliet" last night! It's criminal that she, with either Matvienko or Shklyarov, didn't open the season Monday night. Well done and congratulations to Obratzova and Matvienko! Here's David Bellan's review in the Oxford Times:

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/45304...__Covent_Gardn/

NOW LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Maybe the choice of the opening cast was done by somebody willing to finally get rid of the “anti-ballerina”.
The awful critics were more than predictable and Somova was sent naked in front of the firing squad. One could say “poor girl”, being piteous… I’m not: at the end of the day she is a strong reason to prevent me to travel to watch the Mariinsky (a friend had her instead of Lopatkina in Swan Lake and is still there crying and screaming…).

The real criminal thing is to waste Shklyarov talent and artistry in such a partnership (my secret dream is to have him leaving from St. Petersburg to be engaged by the Royal Ballet: that would help to resolve another big problem)

I'd like to co-sign that. Let's face it the Kirov is notorious for changing casts at the last minute and last year I backed off from Baden Baden for that reason. To replace Lopatkina with Somova is a real slap in the face, a gratuitous insult to the paying audience.



I agree, but to be fair he dances with the others too and is particularly wonderful with Obratzova and Osmolkina; however any male dancer of quality is wasted opposite Somova. I am a huge fan of Igor Kolb and and consequently went to a Somova performance to see him. Needless to say the best things about the partnership were his solos!

That's a plausible conspiracy theory. Do we have the Hochhausers to "thank" for underscoring Fateev's protogee to open and close the season - and lead most of the programs in between? Do we have the producers to thank for this ? If so, their plan is working. In a perverse way we owe the Hochhausers a debt of gratitude for speeding up the inevitable.

As noted on the thread related to "Ballerina", Valery Gergiev is also a big Somova fan. That also counts for a lot, I would imagine.