Die Goldberg-Variationen

Year: 2023
Country: Austria
Choreography & Costume Design: Heinz Spoerli
Set design: Florian Etti
Lighting designer: Robert Eisenstein
Cast: Alexey Popov, Liudmila Konovalova, Olga Esina, Davide Dato, Elena Bottaro, William Youn
Genre: ballet
Runtime: 92 min.
Age: 16+
Simply Clavier-Übung bestehend in einer Aria mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen, Johann Sebastian Bach titled his Goldberg Variations in 1742 ‒ and composed a fascinating compendium of variations, canons and fugues. In 1993, the Swiss choreographer Heinz Spoerli took up the challenge of meeting Bach’s opus summum of piano literature with dance ‒ and created one of his signature works: a dance drama about man, his joys and fears, loneliness and lusts, bonds and ruptures, youth and old age, which builds up from making music with the body. Now, 30 years after its creation, it’s been brought to the stage of the Wiener Staatsoper in a new set and costume design, especially for the Wiener Staatsballett ‒ “a wonderful addition to the repertoire” (Tanz). “The courage to choreograph Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations for piano was rewarded. Spoerli has succeeded in creating a highly attractive and musical exploration of the variations, which shows pure dance in many colorful facets. [...] The spectrum ranges from large group scenes to solos and pas de deux. All highlights.“ (Kurier)

Zitate:
"Technically precise, tight, playful and nippy" (Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt)

“Demanding and aesthetically as well as musically highly sophisticated ballet” (Kurier)

YouTube trailer