Mikhailovsky Ballet to Make West Coast Debut with THE FLAMES OF PARIS at Segerstrom, 11/28-30

Joining the illustrious list of renowned ballet companies presented by Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the Mikhailovsky Ballet from St. Petersburg, Russia will make its West Coast debut opening the Center's 2014 - 2015 International Dance Series performing The Flames of Paris, a work rarely seen in a full production. The Mikhailovsky will dance four performances November 28 - 30, 2014 in Segerstrom Hall.

Principal Casting for The Flames of Paris at Segerstrom Center the Arts Artists and program are subject to change.

November 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Jeanne - Oksana Bondareva Philippe - Ivan Vasiliev
Diana Mireille - Irina Perren Antoine Mistral - Leonid Sarafanov

Conductor - Pavel Bubelnikov

November 29 at 2 p.m.

Jeanne - Angelina Vorontsova Philippe - Ivan Zaitsev
Diana Mireille - Irina Perren Antoine Mistral - Mario Labrador

Conductor - Valentin Bogdanov

November 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Jeanne - Oksana Bondareva Philippe - Ivan Vasiliev
Diana Mireille - Ekaterina Borchenko Antoine Mistral - Victor Lebedev

Conductor - Pavel Bubelnikov

November 30 at 2 p.m.

Jeanne - Angelina Vorontsova Philippe - Ivan Vasiliev
Diana Mireille - Irina Perren Antoine Mistral - Leonid Sarafanov

Conductor - Pavel Bubelnikov

Free Preview Talks will be given one hour prior to each performance by Mikhail Messerer, choreographer- in-chief of the Mikhailovsky Ballet, interviewed by producer and artist representative Sergei Danilian. Messerer is from a legendary family of dance artists: Asaf Messerer was choreographer with the Bolshoi Ballet; Bois Messerer, his uncle, is a famous visual artist and scenographer (The Bright Stream set & costumes seen at the Center in its 2005 West Coast premiere); his mother, Sulamif Messerer, was a respected teacher with The Royal Ballet for many years; cousin Azary Plisetsky was Bejart Ballet teacher, and another cousin Maya Plisetskaya, is a Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress and is considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century.

Tickets for the Mikhailovsky Ballet are available now by subscribing to the 2014 - 2015 International Dance Series. Single tickets start at $29 and will go on sale Sunday, October 12 at 10 a.m. PST. They will be available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746.

The Ballet - Laura Cappelle of DanceTabs writes of the Mikhailovsky's three-act production, "... the ballet is paced to perfection, and leaves us waiting more every time the curtain comes down." For modern day audiences, The Flames of Paris is a work perhaps more known by reputation than experience, though excerpts are often performed in repertory programs to showcase dancers' most virtuosic talents. It is rarely performed in its entirety and demands spectacular theatricality and the greatest technique and ability from its dancers.

The subject is the French Revolution, and included in the action is the storming of the Tuileries by the Marseillais and their victorious march on Paris. Although its setting is 18th century France, it is a perfect illustration of Leningrad Ballet in the 1920s and 1930s, during which time there was a determined effort to find subjects in world history which reflected the more immediate situation in Russia, and to show that the October Revolution was part of more universal movements and historical events.

The ballet opens in a forest near Marseilles, where the peasant Gaspard and his children - Jeanne and Pierre - are gathering firewood. When a count and his hunting party arrive, the peasants disperse, but Jeanne attracts the attention of the Count, who attempts to embrace her. When her father intervenes, he is beaten up by the count's servant and taken away.

Later, in the Marseilles Square, Jeanne tells the people what has happened to her father, and the people's indignation over the injustices of the aristocracy grows. They storm the prison and free the prisoners of the Marquis de Beauregard.

Next, the court of Versailles in all its decadence is portrayed. After a performance at the court theater and a banquet, the officers of the court write a formal petition to the king, requesting permission to deal with the unruly revolutionaries. The actor Antoine Mistral, discovering this secret document, is killed by the marquis. Before he dies, he manages to pass the document on to Mireille de Poitiers, who escapes as the sound of La Marseillaise is heard from the windows.

The scene then shifts to a square in Paris, where an uprising and the storming of the Royal Palace is being prepared. Mireille rushes in with the document revealing the conspiracy against the revolution, and her bravery is applauded. At the height of this scene, the officers of the marquis arrive in the square; Jeanne, recognizing the man who insulted her in the woods, runs up and slaps him across the face. Following this, the crowd rushes upon the aristocrats. To the sound of revolutionary songs, the people storm the palace and burst into the staircase of the front hall. Jeanne attacks the marquis, who is then killed by her brother, and the Basque Therese sacrifices her life for the Revolution.

The final scene takes place in the square in Paris where the people celebrate their victory over the defenders of the old regime.

The Mikhailovsky Ballet - The Mikhailovsky Ballet is a thriving company that combines classical traditions with a modern look and does not shy away from creative experiments. It was established in 1833 by decree of Tsar Nicholas I. Before the 1917 Revolution, the Mikhailovsky did not have its own resident company. Performances were given either by a French company, hired by the Russian Imperial Theatres, or at the end of the century by the Mariinsky Theatre and Alexandrinsky Theatre companies.

In 1917, it closed, reopening the following year as an opera theater. Shortly afterwards the Mikhailovsky started changing its names, successively as the Ex-Mikhailovsky Theatre, the State Academic Comic Opera Theatre, Maly Operny (Maly Opera Theatre), Leningrad State Academic Maly Opera Theatre (MALEGOT), the Modest Mussorgsky Theatre and, subsequently returning to its original name, the Mikhailovsky Theatre.

Even before the ballet company was officially founded by Fyodor Lopukhov in 1933, the theater played host to many significant events that are now considered important in ballet history. In 1923, George Balanchine staged dances in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel. Shostakovich's The Bright Stream first staged there in 1935 by Lopukhov.

Russian businessman Vladimir Kekhman was appointed as general director of the theater in 2007. He donated 1 billion roubles ($40m US) for renovation of the building and invited Elena Obraztsova and Farouk Ruzimatov to coordinate the artistic revival of the Mikhailovsky, (he) "succeeded in making the ballet world sit up and take notice". Today, Nacho Duato is artistic director and Mikhail Messerer is ballet master in chief.

The Mikhailovsky Ballet made its London debut in July 2008 on the London Coliseum stage. The company was nominated for the Best Foreign Dance Company Award at the National Dance Awards in 2008, though it lost to New York City Ballet.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi- disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center traces its roots back to the late 1960s when a dedicated group of community leaders decided Orange County should have its own world-class performing arts venue.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Rene?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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