Opus Arte's video: MacMillan Liszt: Mayerling Royal Ballet

Available from August 2019 Mayerling is based on the true story of the deaths of Crown Prince Rudolf and his teenage mistress Vetsera in 1889. This dark intense ballet created for The Royal Ballet in 1978 and is regarded among many as Kenneth MacMillan’s finest works. Orchestrated and arranged by John Lanchbery, the music of Franz Liszt sweeps the story to its intense conclusion, and sumptuous designs by Nicolas Georgiadis bring to life the formal, oppressive world of the Austro-Hungarian court. The large-scale crowd and court scenes show the whole Company off at its dramatic finest – but it is MacMillan’s choreography for Rudolf [Steven MacRae], one of the most technically and emotionally demanding roles in the repertory for male dancers, that makes this ballet so iconic. Rudolf’s emotional decline is charted through daring and visceral pas de deux with his mother [Kristen McNally], his wife [Meagan Grace Hinkis] and Mary Vetsera [Sarah Lamb] – choreography that pushes classical ballet to its limits. Steven McRae - Crown Prince Rudolf Sarah Lamb - Baroness Mary Vetsera Laura Morera - Countess Marie Larisch Kristen McNally - Empress Elisabeth Meaghan Grace Hinkis - Princess Stephanie Mayara Magri - Mitzi Caspar James Hay - Bratfisch Gary Avis - Emperor Franz Joseph Nehemiah Kish - Colonel Middleton Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Koen Kessels - Conductor Kenneth MacMillan - Choreographer Nicholas Georgiadis - Designer Catalogue numbers: OA1287D (DVD) / OABD7257D (BLU-RAY) Release Date - August 2019 More information here: DVD - https://naxos.lnk.to/OA1287D Blu-Ray - https://naxos.lnk.to/OABD7257D