Rome Opera in homage to Glass, Abbagnato dances in Dior

(ANSA) - Rome, March 13 - The Rome Opera House on March 29-April 2 is set to pay homage to US composer Philip Glass with a ballet starring Eleonora Abbagnato with costumes designed by Christian Dior's artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri.
    Guest artist Friedmann Vogel, the Rome Opera ballet and orchestra directed by Carlo Donadio will be performing in Hearts and Arrows by Benjamin Millepied and Glass Pieces by Jerome Robbins (a choreography with 46 dancers on stage). Abbagnato and Vogel will also be dancing in the new Nuit Blanche by young choreographer Sebastian Bertaud.
    With the new costumes designed for the event, Chiuri will be returning to the Rome Opera House after the success of her designs for the Traviata directed by Sofia Coppola in 2016, when Chiuri was still working at Valentino.
    Rome Opera House Superintendent Carlo Fuortes said "haute couture and the great Italian costume tradition have common roots".
    "When they meet it is an excellence, a pleasure, a reciprocal exchange", he explained, refusing to comment reports claiming he will be taking the help of Milan's La Scala theater.
    "Dior has always had a particular connection with ballet and theater", said Chiuri, adding that the founder of the iconic fashion house worked on a number of collaborations.
    The designer said she was inspired by haute couture for costumes that revisited "an iconic dress from the 1950s like Miss Dior".
    Chiuri said that she worked closely with the Opera House costume laboratory, "a great atelier".
    Abbagnato's costume will feature several layers of tulle decorated with silk flowers while the corps de ballet will be performing in different hues of nude covered with black tulle.
    Abbagnato, the director of the Rome Opera ballet for the past three years, said ballet is an underestimated art in Italy.
    "Instead, many love it abroad and Chiuri already knew this theater's energy and intention to open its doors to the international world".
    The homage to Philip Glass goes in this direction.
    Glass was a key composer of the 1900s and collaborated with a wide range of artists including Twyla Tharp, Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen and David Bowie. And the choreographies by Bertaud and Millepied will bring a piece of the Paris Opera Ballet to Rome, said Abbagnato.
    The artist said she was saddened by ongoing political tensions between Italy and France: "When you live with a suitcase like I do and you are an Italian artist abroad, you get a little sad".
    Chiuri added that "culture can help dialogue".
    "When people love what they do, they only think about building", concluded Chiuri.
    "Personally, I fell European, I live in Rome, work in Paris and have a daughter in London - perhaps it's time to change mentality".