Estonian National Opera: Giselle

About the Event

Michael Pink has created a touching and contemporary adaptation of Adolphe Adam’s “Giselle” based on Jean Coralli’s and Jules Perrot’s original choreography. Combining classical and contemporary choreography, Michael Pink delves deeper into the human existence and retells one of the most romantic stories in all of ballet repertoire.

Pink transports the famous love story to a more modern time, telling the story of love, betrayal, revenge and forgiveness. “I’ve moved the ballet forward one hundred years to heighten the audience’s emotional connection to the piece it’s a classical story for a contemporary world. The themes are as timely and powerful as ever”.

Michael Pink’s „Giselle“ resets the story in the ghetto of the 1940s. The shift in setting adds yet another layer of depth. We find ourselves in Europe with World War II boiling around us, and very quickly the themes of betrayal and forgiveness take on a different, darker significance. As in the original story, the theme of forgiveness takes centre stage. Giselle and Albrecht, two youths from different worlds, find love and comfort in each other in the middle of the war. Albrecht betrays Giselle. He is asking for forgiveness not only as a man who has wronged a woman, but also because he is a man who is too weak to resist the crushing forces of society and of class, and in this case, of war. This rendition is tender, powerful, and thought provoking.

The production is not suitable for children under 14.

Estonian National Opera

The Estonian National Opera company, established in 1870, presents a wide range of operas, operettas, ballets, and musicals.

The opera house itself was constructed in 1913 as the initiative of the 'Estonia' song and drama society. At the time, this Art Nouveau structure was the largest in Tallinn. During the Second World War, the theater was destroyed. Restored in the 1950s under Soviet rule, the architects kept the original facade, but the rest of the building combines Neoclassical and Stalinist elements.