Alessandro Cavallo – Landgraf on Dance

“Giselle”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
April 26, 2026 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The Vienna State Ballet’s recent live stream of Giselle was one of those precious events where everything is perfect. Choreographed for Vienna in 1993 by Elena Tchernichova, the piece is the company’s “calling card.” Additionally, perhaps due to the new artistic director, Alessandra Ferri, who passed on her experience studying with Tchernichova herself, the dancers performed especially well. “Elena Tchernichova was the person who first taught me the role of Giselle when I was just twenty-one, dancing with American Ballet Theatre alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov,” Ferri revealed. Continue reading “Congratulations”

“Die Fledermaus” (“The Bat”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
November 21, 2025

For Johann Strauss II’s bicentennial, the Vienna State Ballet revived Roland Petit’s 1979 ballet adaptation of Strauss’s famous operetta, Die Fledermaus (The Bat). It’s accompanied by a “best of” selection of compositions by Johann Strauss II, his father, Johann Strauss I, and his brother, Josef. The score’s oomph and gaiety are infectious. Strauss’ music, particularly the Viennese waltzes (of which Die Fledermaus has plenty), is part of the DNA of the Vienna State Opera’s orchestra, and under Luciano Di Martino’s baton, it fizzed like champagne. Melodies rose boisterously to a tipping point, balanced provocatively on the edge, and rippled down with relish as if on a rollercoaster ride. Continue reading “Mockery”