The Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow will be represented by Evgenia Obraztsova and Semyon Chudin, while the English National Ballet of London will be represented by Shiori Kase and Daniel McCormick at the 9th Ivan Nagy International Ballet Gala. The evening, featuring gems from the classical ballet repertoire and also starring the leading dancers of the Hungarian National Ballet, will take place on 11 May 2025, at the Hungarian State Opera. The Hungarian National Ballet Institute will also participate in the performance, and the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra will be conducted by Sámuel Csaba Tóth.
Among the internationally renowned soloists of one of the world’s leading ballet companies, Evgenia Obraztsova has been a principal dancer of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre since 2012, and Semyon Chudin since 2011. Throughout their rich careers, they have performed in some of the most prestigious opera houses in Europe and America. The two global stars will bring two jewels from their shared concert repertoire to the stage of the Opera House. First, the lyrical eight-minute duet Sonata, choreographed in 1987 by the renowned 20th-century German choreographer Uwe Scholz to Rachmaninoff’s music while leading the Zurich Ballet, followed by a classic pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty by Petipa and Tchaikovsky.
The English National Ballet, one of Britain’s five major classical ballet companies, will also be represented by two outstanding dancers at the Ivan Nagy International Ballet Gala. Shiori Kase has been a soloist with the company for over a decade and became one of its leading principals in 2022, while her partner Daniel McCormick was promoted to first soloist in the same year after five years with the company. Their duet will be the Diana and Actaeon pas de deux by Agrippina Vaganova, the legendary founder of the Russian ballet school, choreographed in 1935 for the revival of the ballet Esmeralda.
Artists of the Hungarian National Ballet will also present rarely seen special pieces at the gala. Two of the company’s virtuosos, first soloist András Rónai and grand sujet Motomi Kiyota, will perform the Ukrainian folk dance "gopak" from Vasily Pavlovich Solovyov-Sedoy’s ballet Taras Bulba, choreographed by ballet director Tamás Solymosi.
Principal Maria Beck and grand sujet Boris Zhurilov, along with the ensemble dancers, will perform the famous wedding dance excerpt, the pas classique hongrois from the classical ballet Raymonda, originally premiered in the presence of King Andrew II. This version will be presented in a reworking by the company’s two ballet masters, Stanislav Beliaevskii and Anastasia Dunets, following Petipa’s choreography.
The grand pas de deux from László Seregi’s Spartacus will be performed by principal Maria Yakovleva and first soloist Louis Scrivener, étoile of the current season. The evening will conclude with the duet Flames of Paris by Vasily Vainonen, danced by principal Tatyjana Melnyik and grand sujet Motomi Kiyota.
Students of the Hungarian National Ballet Institute, the ballet school of the Hungarian State Opera, will perform two opening numbers: the Hungarian dance from Swan Lake and the Little Aurora Waltz, choreographed by Eszter Pőcze. The Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, participating in the performance, will be conducted by orchestra director Sámuel Csaba Tóth. The gala will be hosted by Melitta Gyüdi.
Iván Nagy, former star of the American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, and former director of the Santiago de Chile Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, and English National Ballet, was the artistic advisor of the Hungarian State Opera. Following his unexpected death in 2014, the internationally acclaimed artist is honored each year by the Hungarian National Ballet with a commemorative gala. During the evening, the Solymosi Art Award is also presented to the artist or staff member who played a key role in The Nutcracker, the company’s most successful and longest-running production of the season.
