Ballet by John Neumeier | The Nutcracker
Marie
Olivia Betteridge
Soloist
BORN
21.12.99 in Westmead, Australia. Australian
EDUCATION
Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Gigi Hyatt, Janusz Mazon, Anna Urban, Leslie Hughes, Lucinda Dunn, Paul Boyd, Wim Broeckx
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 2017, Soloist in 2023
REPERTORY
Marie in "The Nutcracker”
Olympia in "Lady of the Camellias"
Princess Claire and The Butterfly in "Illusions – like Swan Lake"
Rosalinde in "Romeo and Juliet"
Evening Star in "A Sleeping Beauty" (Neufassung 2021)
Calipso in "Odyssey"
Diana Rivers in "Jane Eyre" (Cathy Marston)
and solos in
Broadway's Pavlova
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine)
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (George Balanchine)
Shakespeare Sonnets (Marc Jubete, Aleix Martínez and Edvin Revazov)
More about Olivia Betteridge
Drosselmeier
Alexandre Riabko
Character Dancer
BORN
20.2.78 in Kiev. Ukrainian
EDUCATION
Kiev Ballet School
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Vladimir Denisenko, Anatoli Nisnevich, Kevin Haigen
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 1996. Soloist in 1999, Principal in 2001, Character Dancer in 2022
CREATIONS
Arlequin in ‘Carnaval' and The Spirit of the rose in 'Le Spectre de la rose' in "Nijinsky"
Sascha in "Préludes CV"
Aschenbach's Concepts in "Death in Venice"
Pas de deux "For Elizabeth" (Osterkonzert 2004, Munich)
Vaslav Nijinsky in "Le Pavillon d'Armide"
creator spiritus in "Purgatorio"
The young Man in "Rennen hinter dem was flieht" (Stephan Thoss)
Gennaro in "Napoli" (August Bournonville / Lloyd Riggins)
and solos in
Yondering
Winter Ways from "Images from Bartók"
Messiah
Winterreise
For Elizabeth
Pizzicato Polka (New Year's Concert 2006, Vienna)
Nachtwanderung from "Songs of the Night"
Ghost Light
VIII (Christhopher Wheeldon)
Beautiful Freak (Marco Goecke)
Unerreichbare Orte (Jirí Bubenícek)
Wege (Yukichi Hattori)
You Never Know (Yaroslav Ivanenko)
Ouroboros (Yuka Oishi)
Ricochet (Sasha Riva)
From a "C-Utopia" (Lizhong Wang)
The Episodes of Absence (Miljana Vracaric)
REPERTORY
Theseus/Oberon, Philostrat/Puck, Demetrius and Bottom/Pyramus in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Sir Andrew in "VIVALDI or What You Will"
Drosselmeier, Günter and Fritz in "The Nutcracker"
The King and Count Alexander in "Illusions - like Swan Lake"
Vaslav Nijinsky in "Nijinsky"
Albert and Paesant-Pas de deux in "Giselle"
Mordred in "The Saga of King Arthur"
Aminta and Eros/Thyrsis/Orion in "Sylvia"
Armand Duval and Des Grieux in "Lady of the Camellias"
Peer's Aspects – Aggression and Vision in "Peer Gynt"
Orlando in "As You Like It"
Don Juan in "Don Juan"
Prince Désiré, Catalabutte and Blue Bird in "The Sleeping Beauty"
Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet"
The War in "Odyssey"
Wolferl in "Windows on MOZART"
Parzival in "Parzival – Episodes and Echo"
The Prince and A Bird in "A Cinderella Story"
Edvard/The Prince and The Sea Witch in "The Little Mermaid"
A Shepherd and an Angel in "Christmas Oratorio I-VI"
Jago in "Othello"
Joseph in "The Legend of Joseph"
Konstantin (Kostya) Gavrilovich Triplev in "The Seagull"
Hamlet (Pas de deux) in "Hamlet"
Orpheus in "Orpheus"
Contemplator of the Moon in "Seven Haiku of the Moon"
The Man (Vaslav Nijinsky) in "Le Pavillon d'Armide"
The Mentor (Arrigo Boito) in "Duse"
A Mushik in "Anna Karenina"
The Knight in "Light Beings" (Mats Ek)
Solor in "La Bayadère" (Natalia Makarova after Marius Petipa)
Colas in "La Fille mal gardée" (Frederick Ashton)
James in "La Sylphide" (Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni)
The Prodigal Son in "The Prodigal Son" (George Balanchine)
Man in Brown in "Dances at a Gathering" (Jerome Robbins)
Onegin in "Onegin" (John Cranko)
and solos in
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Vaslav
Spring and Fall
Bach Suite 2
Désir
Saint Matthew Passion
Shall we dance?
Getting Closer
Spring and Fall
Opus 100 – for Maurice
Rückert-Lieder
Requiem
Soldier Songs (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Fourth Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Nocturnes
Remanso (Nacho Duato)
Forgotten Land (Jirí Kylián)
Triple Self (Petr Zuska)
Polyphonia (Christopher Wheeldon)
Thaïs Pas de deux (Frederic Ashton)
Glinka Pas de trois (George Balanchine)
Jewels – Emeralds/Rubies (George Balanchine)
Bella Figura (Jirí Kylián)
Thaïs (Kevin Haigen)
Not without my Head (Natalia Horecna)
Moments Movements Mendelssohn (Kevin Haigen)
Trio (Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui)
Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine)
GUESTING
Dresden, Prag, Dusseldorf, Munich (Easter Concert 2004), Japan (Ballet World Festival 2003 and 2006, Christmas Charity Gala 2008), Vienna (New Year's Concert 2006), Étoiles Gala 2008 and 2010 in Tokyo, Cremona, Verona, Macerata, Taormina (Alessandra Ferri and Friends), Italy (Roberto Bolle & Friends Galas, Alessandra Ferri's Farewell Gala and Silvia Azzoni & Friends Gala), Berlin (Malakov and Friends Gala), St. Petersburg (Open Dance Festival), Monte-Carlo (Ballets Russes Centennial Gala in Honor of HRH The Princess of Hanover), Tapei (International Ballet Gala 2009 and 2010), Australia and Manuel Legris Galas in Vienna and Tokyo. 2012 he was a guest with Alina Cojocaru in galas in London and Tokyo, with Yuan Yuan Tan in San Francisco. He danced Nijnsky as a guest in John Neumeier's ballet "Nijinsky" with the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto.
AWARDS
Finalist of the Prix de Lausanne
Dr. Wilhelm-Oberdörffer-Prize 2001
Les Étoiles de Ballet2000 Dance Award
Premio Roma 2014
Benois de la Danse 2016
Louise
Xue Lin
Principal
BORN
9.11.91 in Beijing. Chinesin
EDUCATION
Beijing Dance Academy
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Yuanmei Cai, Kevin Haigen, Marianne Kruuse
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 2011, Soloist since 2016, Principal since 2022
CREATIONS
The Ballerina Istomina as Cleopatra in "Tatiana"
A Mystic in "Dona Nobis Pacem"
and solos in
Meine Vorstellung von der Wirklichkeit (Braulio Alvarez)
3x2 für M&M (Constant Vigier)
Mizaru – Kikazaru – Iwazaru (Miljana Vracaric)
Into this Wild Abyss (Braulio Alvarez)
Meant to Fly (Winnie Dias)
At Asyl-Um (Luca Andrea Tessarini)
Aether (Luca Andrea Tessarini)
REPERTORY
Odette, Princess Claire and Quadrille in "Illusions - like Swan Lake"
Rosalind and Emilia in "Romeo and Juliet"
Silvia in "Préludes CV"
The Little Mermaid in "The Little Mermaid"
La Primavera in "Othello"
Moyna and Zulma in "Giselle"
Manon Lescaut and Olympia in "Lady of the Camellias"
Louise, La Fille du Pharaon, The Chinese Bird and Pas de huit in "The Nutcracker"
The Ballerina, Tamara Karsavina in "Nijinsky"
Masha in "The Seagull"
Woman I in "Bernstein Dances"
Anna Karenina and Lidia Ivanovna in "Anna Karenina"
Helena in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Princess Florine, The Rose and Aurora, the Dawn in "The Sleeping Beauty" (new version 2021)
Pallas Athene in "Odyssey"
Pas de six in "Napoli" (August Bournonville / Lloyd Riggins)
Olga in "Onegin" (John Cranko)
Amor and a Friend in "Don Quixote" (Rudolf Nurejev after Marius Petipa)
Princess Perdita in "The Winter's Tale" (Christopher Wheeldon)
and solos in
Préludes CV
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Saint Matthew Passion
Messiah
The Song of the Earth
Turangalîla
Bach Suite 2
Nocturnes
Dialogue
Kinderszenen
Shall we dance?
Soldier Songs (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
The Fifth Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Broadway's Pavlova
At Midnight
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (George Balanchine)
GUESTING
The Little Mermaid in "The Little Mermaid" with the National Ballet of China in Wuhan, China
AWARD
Dr.-Wilhelm-Oberdörffer Prize 2014
More about Xue Lin
Günter
Matias Oberlin
Principal
BORN
27.4.96 in Santa Fe, Argentina. Argentinian/German
EDUCATION
Seminario Provincial de Ballet – Santa Fe, Argentina
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Elizabeth Sture, Christian Schön, Janusz Mazon, Kevin Haigen, Gigi Hyatt
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 2014, Soloist in 2018, Principal since 2023
CREATIONS
Beethoven Project
Ghost Light
Pain Pushed me Forward (Braulio Alvarez)
REPERTORY
Lord Capulet and Brother Lorenzo in "Romeo and Juliet"
Gaston Rieux in "Lady of the Camellias"
The King in "Christmas Oratorio I-VI"
Günther in "The Nutcracker"
Count Alexander in "Illusion: like Swan Lake"
Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Fenge in "Hamlet 21"
The Wanderer, the Gondolier, a Dance Couple, Dionysos, the Hairdresser, the Guitar Player in "Death in Venice"
The Thorn, Cupid's Blessing, a Spanish Prince and an Egyptian Prince in "The Sleeping Beauty" (new version 2021)
The Balloon Man in "Liliom"
Serge Diaghilev and Thomas Nijinsky in "Nijinsky"
Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Levin in "Anna Karenina"
Mr Brocklehurst in "Jane Eyre" (Cathy Marston)
and solos in
The Fifth Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Beethoven Project I
Saint Matthew Passion
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Préludes CV
Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine)
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (George Balanchine)
HE CHOREOGRAPHED
"Flash"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2017
AWARD
Scholarship from the "Pierino Ambrosoli Foundation" (2011-2013)
Dr. Wilhelm Oberdörffer-Prize 2019
More about Matias Oberlin
Fritz
Francesco Cortese
Corps de Ballet
BORN
7.11.2002 in Schio (Vicenza). Italian
EDUCATION
Domus Danza (Schio)
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Kevin Haigen, Janusz Mazon, Stacey Denham, Christian Schön, Anna Urban, Enrica Marcucci, Laura Nardi
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet 2021-2022
REPERTORY
Louis and Elmer in "Liliom"
Cupid's Blessing and a Thorn Creature in "The Sleeping Beauty" (new version 2021)
Benvolio in "Romeo and Juliet"
Fritz in "The Nutcracker"
A Manon Lescaut's Admirer in "Lady of the Camellias"
A Suitor / The War in "Odyssey"
John Reed in "Jane Eyre" (Cathy Marston)
and soli in
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Préludes CV
Saint Matthew Passion
Conductor
Simon Hewett
Conductor
Simon Hewett is the Principal Conductor of the Stuttgart Opera, and Principal Conductor of the Hamburg Ballet. In addition to his commitments with these two companies, he has performed regularly in recent seasons with Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, the Komische Oper in Berlin, and the Paris Opera Ballet. His performances are frequently praised for their stylistic fluency, emotional intensity and technical precision.
Simon Hewett studied clarinet and conducting at the University of Queensland, graduating with First Class Honours and a University Medal. At 19 he was the youngest ever finalist in the ABC Young Conductor of the Year Award, and conducted the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Hindemith's "Symphonische Metamorphosen". In 1998 he was awarded a German Government Scholarship and studied operatic and symphonic conducting for 3 years at the Franz Liszt Hochschule für Musik in Weimar, Germany.
From 2002-03 Simon Hewett was a member of Opera Australia's Young Artists' Programme, and made his debut at the Sydney Opera house in October 2003, conducting Bizet's "Les Pêcheurs du perles". He was immediately reengaged for performances of "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" in 2004. He has since returned regularly to Opera Australia as a guest conductor, for "Tosca" (2005), "Turandot" (2006), and to lead the revival of Harry Kupfer's critically acclaimed production of "Otello" (2008). He returned to Sydney in 2009 for "Aida" and a new production of "Così fan tutte" with director Jim Sharman. In 2011 he conducted "Macbeth" for Opera Australia and "Falstaff" for the West Australian Opera. In 2012 he led critically acclaimed new productions of "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Salome" for Opera Australia.
In 2005 Simone Young invited Simon Hewett to join the Hamburg State Opera as Resident Conductor and Assistant Music Director. Since his debut with "La Traviata" in 2005, he has conducted over 200 performances in Hamburg of a large repertoire of opera and ballet. In 2008 he debuted at the Komische Oper with "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", returning in 2010 for "Die Entführung aus dem Serail".
Following successful performances of "Der Fliegende Holländer" for the Stuttgart Opera in 2010, Simon Hewett was invited to become Principal Conductor. In 2012/13 he led revivals of "Die Fledermaus" and "Tosca". He has since conducted new productions of "La Bohème" and "Khovanshchina", and a wide range of other repertoire in Stuttgart including "Die Fledermaus", "Nabucco", "Tosca", "Madama Butterfly", "Eugene Onegin" and "Der Freischütz".
As a symphonic conductor Simon Hewett has appeared with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. His interest in contemporary music is documented through his long relationship with the Elision Contemporary Music Ensemble, with whom he has performed frequently since 1996, touring with them to Korea in 1997 and Europe in 1998. He has performed with Elision at all of Australia's major festivals, conducting the world premieres of Richard Barrett's "Opening of the Mouth", and Liza Lim's opera "Moon Spirit Feasting". His CD of Richard Barrett's "Opening of the Mouth" with the Elision Ensemble was reviewed by the BBC Music Magazine upon its release as "Pick of the Month".
Since conducting the premiere of John Neumeier's "Parzival" at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in 2006, Simon Hewett has enjoyed a close and productive collaboration with the Hamburg Ballet. He has toured with the Hamburg Ballet to the Salzburg Festival, Australia, the United States of America and Japan. His performances of John Neumeier's production of Mahler's 3rd Symphony at the Paris Opera were broadcast in cinemas worldwide and recorded for DVD release. He led the world premiere of John Neumeier's ballet "Tatiana" (2014), also recorded for DVD release, and the premiere of a new ballet based on the life of the celebrated Italian actress Eleonora Duse (2015). In December 2016 he will lead the German Premiere of "The Song of the Earth", a ballet by John Neumeier to music by Gustav Mahler.
Orchestra
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Orchestra
The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.
During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.
Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.
The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.
In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.
The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.
More about Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
photo: Foto: Felix Broede
