This wonderful ballet by Thierry Malandain takes its theme from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, whose manuscript epigraph reads: “Pastoral Symphony, or Recollection of Rustic Life, more an expression of emotion than a descriptive painting”, reflecting the composer’s ardent love of nature: “I am so happy when I can wander through woods, coppices, trees, rocks! No man loves the countryside as much as I do.” In this sensitive masterpiece, the song of the birds meets the thunder of the storm, and the peasant dances intermingle with the sound of the rushing river. A magnificent framework for an ambitious choreography, a romantic firework for the twenty-two dancers of the Malandain Ballet Biarritz!

Coproduction Chaillot Théâtre national de la Danse, Beethoven Jubiläums Gesellschaft (Germany), Norddeutsche Konzertdirektion Melsine Grevesmühl GmbH, Theater Bonn (Germany), Le Parvis scène nationale Tarbes Pyrénées, Opéra de Reims, Ballet T, Donostia Kultura – Victoria Eugenia Antzokia de Donostia, San Sebastián (Spain), CCN Malandain Ballet Biarritz

Creation 2019, to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday

Ballet for 22 dancers

MUSIC

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

6th Symphony “Pastoral

Cantata, Op. 112

Excerpts from The Ruins of Athens