Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter

Peggy Van Praagh directs Coppélia, a ballet by Arthur Saint-Léon inspired by Hoffmann’s haunting short story The Sandman. The story narrates the adventures of Swanilda (played by the sublime Ako Kondo) and Franz (the majestic Chengwu Guo), two lovers put to the test by the magician Dr. Coppelius, a manufacturer of automaton dolls. In Van Praagh’s production, Franz falls under the spell of Coppélia, the daughter of the ill-intentioned Coppelius. Swanilda manages to save her fiancé from a sinister fate, and the two lovers marry and seal their union with a tender pas de deux. The magnificent décor of the Sydney Opera House, the sumptuous costumes by Kristian Fredrikson, and the highly theatrical nature of the ballet and the music by Léo Delibes make it easy to be swept away into this magical world!

MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient Ratmansky, "the most significant classical choreographer of the current era" (The Guardian), is the former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet and, having left Russia in protest following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, current artist in residence of the New York City Ballet. His production of Coppélia, a longtime repertoire favorite with sumptuous music by Léo Delibes and based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Sandman, features the celebrated corps de ballet of La Scala in never-before-seen sets and costumes by Jérôme Kaplan.