For the first time, Zagreb audiences will have the opportunity to experience the contemporary ballets of the distinguished and internationally acclaimed choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti.
The first ballet of Bigonzetti’s diptych, Kazimir's Colours, was created in 1996 for the Stuttgart Ballet, and it was this work that brought the Italian choreographer international recognition. Kazimir’s Colours draws inspiration from the Russian painter Kazimir Malevich, a leading figure of abstract art and the founder of Suprematism. Choreographed to Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, the ballet features costumes that evoke the blocks and bands of vivid colour found in Malevich’s paintings.
An evening dedicated to Mauro Bigonzetti also features a second celebrated work, Rossini's Cards, an abstract work without a fixed dramaturgical framework. Instead of a conventional narrative, we encounter scenes of parallel lives, images, visions, symbols, and comic and absurd situations inspired by the work of Gioachino Rossini and his passion for exceptional gastronomy. Rossini’s music becomes the starting point for a playful, dynamic and layered choreography, as well as a portrait of the composer and his Dionysian vitality. Comic operas, piano miniatures and celebrated overtures served as the foundation for Bigonzetti's development of the contemporary dance language of this unpredictable ballet, which has been performed around the world.
Bigonzetti creates a dynamic and visually striking contemporary ballet, deeply rooted in music yet free in form. After ten years at Teatro dell’Opera, he joined Aterballetto, where he collaborated with some of the world’s leading choreographers. In 1990, he began choreographing, and after leaving Aterballetto, he worked extensively with international companies and Balletto di Toscana, establishing numerous collaborations with theatres and dance companies around the world.
The ballets presented to our audience represent an important part of his rich oeuvre.
