Kobborg leaves Les Vêpres siciliennes

Posted on June 7, 2013

Johan Kobborg, who with Alina Cojocaru left The Royal Ballet this month, has also left the Royal Opera’s new production of Verdi’s Les Vêpres siciliennes. The opera features a lavish ballet on the theme of the four seasons. The new staging, a co-production between the Royal Opera and the Royal Danish Opera, was to have featured principals of both The Royal Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet in choreography by Kobborg.

Kevin O’Hare, director of The Royal Ballet, and Kasper Holton, director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, have announced a new approach: “We regret that it has been necessary to rethink the inclusion of the Four Seasons ballet, in its entirety, from Act III of The Royal Opera’s new production of Les Vêpres siciliennes. As a result of artistically differing approaches to the project between Johan Kobborg and director Stefan Herheim, Johan Kobborg and The Royal Ballet will no longer be working on this production.

“There will still be a strong element of dance in the production, however no longer featuring artists from The Royal Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet and students from The Royal Ballet School.

“We are delighted that choreographer Andre de Jong, who has previously worked with director Stefan Herheim on his production of Eugene Onegin in Amsterdam, is now the choreographer, working with freelance dancers.”

The production opens at the Royal Opera House on October 17.

Picture: Johan Kobborg in Mayerling. Photographs: Bill Cooper, courtesy of The Royal Opera House

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.