Spellbound Contemporary Ballet – Vivaldiana

The Spellbound Contemporary Ballet presents its new production, Vivaldiana, which stems from the idea of ​​partially reworking Vivaldi’s musical universe, integrating it with some of the characteristics of his rebellious and unconventional personality for the time in which he lived.

Choreographer Mauro Astolfi drew on this inspiration to translate several of Vivaldi's compositions into movement, revealing his talent and ability to reinvent Baroque music in his time. A musician immersed in a context dominated by rationality, Vivaldi stood out for his ability to transcend the limits of his time. Hence Astolfi's idea to rework his musical architecture, seeking to restore the unique characteristics of his work - those works that provide an unsurpassed source of inspiration - to shape a dance exploration that harmoniously combines artistic aspects with the most distinctive and original human aspects of the red priest, the first musician to compose with the intention of stimulating the audience's taste, not pandering to it.

The show opened the season of the Grand Theater de Luxembourg in September 2019, which commissioned and co-produced the larger two-part (and two-signature) project Vivaldi Variations: Mauro Astolfi and Jean-Guillaume Weis plonged themselves for the occasion in the musician's work and life to stage their respective thoughts and emotions and the different approaches of the two artists, creating Vivaldiana and Seasons respectively, choreographies both entrusted to the interpretation of the Spellbound contemporary Ballet team and the live music of the Orchestre de Chambre du Luxembourg.

A production by Spellbound Contemporary Ballet, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra.

Choreography: Mauro Astolfi; costumes by Mélanie Planchard; assistant choreographer: Alessandra Chiarulli; lighting design: Policastro.

Dancers: Maria Cossu, Anita Bonavida, Marco Prete, Giuliana Mele, Martina Staltari, Miriam Raffone, Filippo Arlenghi, Alessandro Piergentili, and Lorenzo Beneventano; music by Antonio Vivaldi.

Photo: official poster of the event