Moscow Festival Ballet to Bring SWAN LAKE to Harris Center, 2/4-6

The renowned Moscow Festival Ballet returns to Harris Center for the Arts to perform one of the most popular classical ballets of all time, Swan Lake. a ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875-1876. The scenario, fashioned from Russian folk tales, tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse.

Swan Lake is one of the most technically and emotionally challenging classical ballet. Its music far exceeded its time, noting that many of its early performers claimed it was too difficult and complex to dance to. Much is unknown of its original production, but its revised production by the famous choreographers Petipa and Ivanov is the base of the many versions performed today.

The Moscow Festival Ballet: Swan Lake will be presented on Tuesday, February 4, 2014; 7:30 pm, Wednesday, February 5, 2014; 2:00 pm and Thursday, February 6, 2014; 7:30 pm. $29-$49; Premium $59; Children and Students with ID $25. Tickets are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. Harris Center is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.

Artistic Director Sergei Radchenko-the former principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet, where he worked for 25 years, has fused the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies into The Moscow Festival Ballet. Leading dancers from across Russia have come together to forge this exciting new company under Radchenko's direction, staging new productions of timeless classics such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita and Carmen with great success. The Chronicle once acclaimed "An impressive performance of a classical ballet, energized with dramatic expression and sensational steps."

The Moscow Festival Ballet has also performed with great success in Turkey at the Istanbul Festival and in Greece at the Athens Festival, and recently completed a two-month tour of Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. Under the direction of Sergei Radchenko, the Moscow Festival Ballet continues to expand its repertoire. In addition to commissioning new works from within Russia and abroad, the company specializes in twentieth century full-length ballets such as Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Legend of Love, Stone Flower and The Golden Age. Mr. Radchenko has researched the original choreography and stage productions of several of Marius Petipa's classic ballets, including new productions in the year 2000 of Don Quixote and Paquita, and a recreation of Jules Perrot's and Jean Coralli's Giselle.

Born in 1944, Sergei Radchenko graduated from the Moscow School of Dance in 1964 and then joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where he worked for 25 years. He danced the entire repertoire at the Bolshoi, but enjoyed a special reputation for Spanish dance, particularly the role of the bullfighter in the Bizet-Schedrin Carmen Suite. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Moscow Festival Ballet and has achieved a remarkable feat in the establishment and development of this young-but-great Russian ballet company. Mr. Radchenko presents a large number of master-classes, inviting leading teachers from the Bolshoi and Maryinsky theatres to ensure the continuation of the rich traditions of the Russian classical school.