Classic twist: Nutcracker ballet will be performed from today until Sunday in HCM City. — Photo coutersy of HBSO

HCM CITY (VNS) — The HCM City Ballet, Symphony and Orchestra (HBSO) will perform the masterpiece Nutcracker, conducted by Marius Stravinsky, at the Municipal Opera House.

Stravinsky's performance will be the highlight of this year's ballet as it is one of the most awaited shows for both Vietnamese people and foreigners in HCM City on the occasion of Christmas.

Stravinsky is assistant conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor at the Mikhailovsky Theatre (St Petersburg), where he recently conducted La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Don Quixote and La Fille mal Gardee, besides White Darkness and other performances.

Born in 1979, Stravinsky became the first Russian to secure a scholarship to study music at Eton College in the United Kingdom. He is a graduate and a scholarship winner of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He is a descendant of famous composer Igor Stravinsky.

The conductor will be performing with the HBSO for the first time. He will conduct Viet Nam's Nguyen Thu Trang, Ho Phi Diep and Dam Duc Nhuan; South Africa's Michaela Griffin; and France's Chloe Glemot, who will play the main roles in the ballet.

Both Trang and Diep studied at Viet Nam Dance College and have been working at the HBSO. Trang has performed in many ballets such as Carmen, Dream Puzzles and Saga of Romance, while Diep was given The Excellent Ballet Actor certificate of merit by the Viet Nam Ballet Artists Association and got the B prize in the National Performing Ballet Talent Competition.

Griffin and Glemot live in HCM City. Before moving to Viet Nam, Griffin was a guest artist for the South African National Dance Trust's production of A Spartacus of Africa.

Glemot joined the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1996 and completed her training in 2003. Since 2006, she has been teaching at several conservatories and schools in Paris, and more recently in New Caledonia in Noumea. She moved to Viet Nam in 2013.

The ballet will be performed from today until Sunday at 8pm. — VNS