Music by  Georges Bizet – Rodion Shchedrin
Choreography by Alberto Alonso

World premiere: 20 April 1967, Bolsoi Theatre, Moscow
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 19 April 2010
Running time: 45 minutes

Carmen is a passionate, free-spirited woman in contrast to the temperamental and fickle Don Josй. Fate, a ballerina dressed in black and a representation of Carmen’s alter ego, shows Carmen the cards. After a fight with tobacco dealers, Carmen seduces Don Jose and convinces him to release her from jail. Carmen is subsequently caught in a love triangle between Don Jose and the popular bullfighter Escamillo..

Soloists:

Laureate of international competitions, soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Anastasia Matvienko

Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Principal dancer of the Mariinsky Theater Igor Kolb

Principal dancer of the Finnish National Ballet Sergey Popov

Leading ballet soloists of theaters of St. Petersburg

The Carmen Suite was staged in 1967 on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater especially for Maya Plisetskaya by the Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso. Composing a choreography took less than a month. The composer Rodion Shchedrin created the musical transcription of the opera by Georges Bizet, the husband of the ballerina in twenty days. The performance became a new word in the history of Russian ballet. Created in a hurry and at the premiere, it was met with restraint by the public, over the years it gained its worthy popularity. “Carmen Suite” became the hallmark of Maya Plisetskaya and remained in her repertoire until the end of her career.

Also in the program of the Gala concert: Fragments from the ballets Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Venetian Carnival, miniatures that have become iconic in the creative career of the legendary ballerina.