Houston Ballet to tour Maninyas to Germany

(Above): Karina Gonzalez and Charles-Louis Yoshiyama in Maninyas. Photo by Amitava Sarkar. Image provided courtesy of Houston Ballet.

Ross Edwards’ Maninyas: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, with ballet choreographed by Stanton Welch, will be performed during the Houston Ballet’s tour to Ludwigshafen and Bonn, Germany. The company will give two performances at Theater im Pfalzbau in Lugwigshafen, Germany on April 7–8 and two performances at Theater Bonn in Bonn, Germany on April 11–12.

The Houston Ballet recently commissioned and performed ZODIAC, a 40-minute orchestral ballet for which Ross Edwards wrote the score. It was choreographed by the renowned Stanton Welch – their resident choreographer who is also an Australian – and was a resounding success.

Maninyas, created by Welch in 1996 for San Francisco Ballet, is a luminous, abstract ballet that depicts five couples moving through shimmering silks, and showcases exquisite duets and alluring choreography. “The piece is a process of unveiling,” explains Welch. “It examines how, in relationships, you gradually un-layer yourself, and how scary, dark and open it is to reveal yourself to another, without protection.” The dancers move through a powerful series of pas de deux and pas de trois to Edwards’ score. Following its San Francisco premiere, Maninyas has remained in the repertoire and gone from strength to strength. A recent Chicago season received glowing reviews.

(Above): Pas de deux between principals Karina Gonzalez and Ian Casady from Stanton Welch’s Maninyas.

This upcoming German tour is very much an Australian affair, as it will have an Australian composer, choreographer, conductor and violin soloist.

The solo part will be played by the brilliant young Australian violinist Sonja Schebeck, currently based in Vienna. She regularly performs with Nigel Kennedy as co-soloist or leader of his orchestra and is artistic director of the Vienna-based “The Freestyle Orchestra”. Sonja is an extraordinarily acrobatic, pyrotechnical performer who has been experimenting with her own staged version of part of Maninyas which she has performed in Europe and hopes to bring to Australia to help celebrate the work’s 30th anniversary in 2018.

(Above): Sonja Schebeck performs Maninyas.

For more information visit: houstonballet.org/ontour

Additional links to the Lugwigshafen and Bonn performances.