MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. Bolshoi ballet stars Yekaterina Krysanova and Andrei Merkuryev are expected to appear in a rather offbeat performance on Tuesday - at 11:30 they will present a choreographic show to the music of the American composer Philip Glass near the fountain in the central pass of the world-famous GUM shopping mall on Red Square.
The organizers said the show is devoted to the 80th anniversary since Philip Glass’s birth. Krysanova and Merkuryev will perform fragments from the ballet W.oda to the accompaniment of violinist Fyodor Amosov and cellist Sergei Pospelov. The ballet staged by Merkuryev premiers on February 22 at the Novaya Opera theater.
"I dreamed about staging a ballet to Glass’s music since a long time ago but I couldn’t make this dream materialize for many long years," Merkuryev said. "I find this music (the dual violin and cello concerto) to be very plastic and very suitable for dance."
"It’s quite amazing choreographers haven’t paid attention to it yet," he said. "I plan to shoot this ballet on video and send the recording to the composer."
Philip Glass is probably the most acclaimed composer nowadays. He calls himself the creator of "music with repetitive structures" and an initiator of musical minimalism.
Glass authored an opera titled ‘Einstein On The Beach’ and soundtracks of more than 50 films, including ‘The Truman Show’, ‘The Hours’, ‘Candyman’, and ‘The Illusionist’. Russian film director Andrei Zvyagintsev used Glass’s music in his much-spoken-of film "Leviathan’
Glass also composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The composer’s 80th birthday will be marked broadly across the world, with jubilee concerts to be held in London, New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Belgrade, and many other major cities.
Right on the date of his birthday, which is Tuesday, January 31, New York will host the first-ever performance of his Eleventh Symphony.