The Ninth Symphony by Maurice Béjart, music by Beethoven
With the Béjart Ballet Lausanne and the Tokyo Ballet
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Cast
Maurice Béjart — Choreographer
Gil Roman — Narrator, artistic director
Joëlle Roustan — Stage sets and costumes
Roger Bernard — Lighting, stage sets and costumes
Henri Davila — Stage sets and costumes
Dominique Roman — Lighting
Tom Skelton — Lighting
Kristin Lewis — Soprano
Mihoko Fujimura — Mezzo-soprano
Kei Fukui — Tenor
Alexander Vinogradov — Bass
Jean-Bruno Meier — Percussionist
Thierry Hochstätter — Percussionist
Program notes
The first-ever recording on film of Maurice Béjart's Ninth Symphony! Fifty years after its premiere, the Tokyo Ballet and Béjart Ballet Lausanne present Maurice Béjart’s groundbreaking choreography to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Tokyo's NHK Hall. With nearly 200 artists on one stage, Beethoven’s score was performed by the Ritsuyu-kai Choir, the soloists Kristin Lewis, Mihoko Fujimura, Kei Fukui, and Alexander Vinogradov, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta.
The Ninth Symphony is truly one-of-a-kind, a work of ballet choreographed to the music from Beethoven's Ninth and poetic texts by Nietzsche, read here by Gil Roman (Artistic Director of Béjart Ballet Lausanne since 2007) with the accompaniment of percussionists Jean-Bruno Meier and Thierry Hochstätter. Piotr Nardelli, veteran dancer and longtime friend of Béjart Ballet Lausanne, worked closely with the two companies’ dancers, teaching them the choreography as the great Maurice Béjart envisioned it.
Photo: © Kiyonori Hasegawa
