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, Rossini Cards, is 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 Bigonzetti as the foundation
for the development of the contemporary dance language of this unpredictable ballet,
which has been performed around the world.
An evening dedicated to Mauro Bigonzetti also brings a second celebrated work,
Kazimir’s Colours, which will be performed on a Croatian stage for the first time. The
Italian choreographer created the piece in 1996 for the Stuttgart Ballet, and it was this
work that brought him 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.
Bigonzetti creates a dynamic and visually striking contemporary ballet, deeply
rooted in music yet free in form. After ten years with 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, developing numerous collaborations
with theatres and dance companies around the world. The ballets presented to our
audience represent an important part of his rich artistic oeuvre.