SUMMER SONATA – A FESTIVAL OF OPERA, BALLET AND CONCERT FILMS

SUMMER SONATA – A FESTIVAL OF OPERA, BALLET AND CONCERT FILMS 
Curated and Introduced by Sunit Tandon

BALLET
Léo Delibes: Sylvia
Ballet in three acts
(94 min; 2005; dvd)

From The Royal Ballet, London, with Darcey Bussell (Sylvia); Roberto Bolle (Aminta); Thiago Soares (Orion); Martin Harvey (Eros); Mara Galeazzi (Diana); etc.

Choreography: Frederick Ashton
Production Realization and Staging: Christopher Newton
Original Designs: Robin Ironside, Christopher Ironside
Additional Designs: Peter Farmer
Stage Lighting: Mark Jonathan
Directed for the Screen by: Ross MacGibbon
Orchestra of The Royal Opera House
Assistant Concert Master: Melissa Forshaw
Conductor: Graham Bond

Sylvia is a mythological ballet about a nymph devoted to Diana (goddess of the hunt) who falls in love with the shepherd Aminta after being shot by Eros's arrow. She is kidnapped by the evil hunter Orion, but eventually escapes with help from Eros to reunite with Aminta.

Delibes’ brilliant score is justly admired, not least by Tchaikovsky, who enthused, “It is the first ballet in which the music constitutes not just the main but the only interest.”