Attila Silvester
Encyclopedia
Attila-Akyla Silvester (30 July 1944 – 22 February 2010) was a famous Greek
dancer, choreographer and director. He is most famous for the ballet presentations of Orpheus
, La Fille Mal Gardée
and Zorba the Greek
.
in Athens
as a lead dancer. Concurrently, he presented choreographies for Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet
", Mussorgsky
's "Night on Bald Mountain
" and Drigo's "Le Corsaire
- Pas de deux
". Some of the collaborations he has done, are with famous ballet dancers such as Vladimir Vasiliev
, Rudolf Nureyev
, Ekaterina Maximova
and Carla Fracci
.
He is well known for a number of choreographies, such as: Vivaldi "Le quattro stagioni", Schubert's "Der Tod und das Mädchen". Ommagio ad Albinoni, Adam
's "Giselle
", Nutcracker
and Swan Lake
, Léo Delibes
's "Coppelia
", Herold and John Lanchbery
's "La Fille Mal Gardée
(for which he received an award for the best choreography), Rimsky Korsakov's "Scheherazade
", Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Scriabin's "Third Symphony
", Ludwig Minkus
's "Don Quijote" and "La Bayadère
", Aram Khachaturian
's "Gayane", Nikolai Schedrin
's "Carmen
", Manos Hatzidakis's "Gioconda's Smile
".
Atilla Silvester has also worked as a teacher for a number of institutions: Astaldi
(Rome
), Pecs
(Hungary
), Roma Ballet, Compagnia Nazionale Italiana danza Classica (Rome
), Fondazzione Piccini (Rome
), Teatro Petruzzeli (Bari
), Astra Ballet (Rome
), R.Higtawer (Cannes
).
In 2001, he is employed by Constanţa
's State Opera House in Romania
, as a director for Mikis Theodorakis
's "The Dead Brother's Song
" and in 2003, in the same stage, he presents the ballet "La Fille Mal Gardée
" and in 2005, Nikos Kazantzakis
's "Zorba the Greek
". In 2007, Attila-Akyla Silvester presents the ballet "Orpheus
", with Teatrul de opera si balet "Oleg Danovsky" at Constanţa
, in a world premiere. In 2008, he directs the ballet "Ciuleandra" by Liviu Rebreanu
.
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
dancer, choreographer and director. He is most famous for the ballet presentations of Orpheus
Orpheus (ballet)
Orpheus is a ballet made by George Balanchine on Ballet Society, which he founded together with Lincoln Kirstein and of which he was ballet master, to eponymous music from 1947 by Igor Stravinsky, his frequent collaborator, with sets and costumes by Isamu Noguchi.The premiere took place on April...
, La Fille Mal Gardée
La Fille Mal Gardée
La Fille mal gardée is a comic ballet presented in two acts, inspired by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin's 1789 painting, La réprimande/Une jeune fille querellée par sa mère...
and Zorba the Greek
Zorba the Greek
Zorba the Greek is a 1964 film based on the novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. The film was directed by Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis and the title character was played by Anthony Quinn...
.
Choreography career
Attila Silvester begun his choreography career by joining the Greek National Opera HouseOpera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
as a lead dancer. Concurrently, he presented choreographies for Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
", Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky can refer to:*The Mussorgsky family of Russian nobility;*Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer belonging to that family.*Mussorgsky , a 1950 Soviet film about the composer...
's "Night on Bald Mountain
Night on Bald Mountain
Night on Bald Mountain is a composition by Modest Mussorgsky that exists in, at least, two versions—a seldom performed 1867 version or a later and very popular "fantasy for orchestra" arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, A Night on the Bare Mountain , based on the vocal score of the "Dream Vision...
" and Drigo's "Le Corsaire
Le Corsaire
Le Corsaire is a ballet typically presented in three acts, with a libretto originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges loosely based on the poem The Corsair by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to the music of Adolphe Adam, it was first presented by the ballet of...
- Pas de deux
Pas de deux
In ballet, a pas de deux is a duet in which ballet dancers perform the dance together. It usually consists of an entrée, adagio, two variations , and a coda.-Notable Pas de deux:...
". Some of the collaborations he has done, are with famous ballet dancers such as Vladimir Vasiliev
Vladimir Vasiliev (ballet dancer)
Vladimir Viktorovich Vasiliev , a Russian ballet dancer, was principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, and was best known for his role of Spartacus and his powerful leaps and turns.-Biography:Born in Moscow in 1940, the son of a truck driver, Vasiliev graduated from the Moscow Ballet School in 1958...
, Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...
, Ekaterina Maximova
Ekaterina Maximova
Ekaterina Sergeevna Maximova was a Soviet and Russian ballerina of international renown.-Career:Maximova was born in Moscow, Soviet Union. An artist who combined great technical prowess with piquant prettiness, Maximova enjoyed her greatest successes in Giselle, Don Quixote, Cinderella and The...
and Carla Fracci
Carla Fracci
Carla Fracci is a ballet dancer and actress. Her career highlights include Nijinsky, Giselle , Complete Bell Telephone Hour Performances: Erik Bruhn 1961-1967.-FAO Ambassador:...
.
He is well known for a number of choreographies, such as: Vivaldi "Le quattro stagioni", Schubert's "Der Tod und das Mädchen". Ommagio ad Albinoni, Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
's "Giselle
Giselle
Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...
", Nutcracker
Nutcracker
A nutcracker is a mechanical device for cracking nuts. Usually they work on the principle of moments as described in Archimedes' analysis of the lever...
and Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
, Léo Delibes
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
's "Coppelia
Coppélia
Coppélia is a sentimental comic ballet with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to a ballet libretto by Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter and music by Léo Delibes. It was based upon two macabre stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann , and Die Puppe...
", Herold and John Lanchbery
John Lanchbery
John Arthur Lanchbery OBE was an English, later Australian, composer and conductor, famous for his ballet arrangements.-Life:...
's "La Fille Mal Gardée
La Fille Mal Gardée
La Fille mal gardée is a comic ballet presented in two acts, inspired by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin's 1789 painting, La réprimande/Une jeune fille querellée par sa mère...
(for which he received an award for the best choreography), Rimsky Korsakov's "Scheherazade
Scheherazade
Scheherazade , sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights.-Narration :...
", Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Scriabin's "Third Symphony
Symphony No. 3 (Scriabin)
Alexander Scriabin's Symphony No. 3 in C minor , entitled Le Divin Poème , was written between 1902 and 1904 and published in about 1904.Its four sections are as follows:*Introduction*I. Luttes...
", Ludwig Minkus
Ludwig Minkus
Ludwig Minkus a.k.a. Léon Fyodorovich Minkus was an Austrian composer of ballet music, a violin virtuoso and teacher.Minkus is most noted for the music he composed while serving as Ballet Composer of the St...
's "Don Quijote" and "La Bayadère
La Bayadère
La Bayadère is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. La Bayadère was first performed by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on...
", Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
's "Gayane", Nikolai Schedrin
Nikolai Schedrin
Nikolay Pavlovich Schedrin was a Russian revolutionary and narodnik.Nikolay Schedrin graduated from a military gymnasium in Omsk. In 1876, he joined Zemlya i volya in St.Petersburg. After its split in 1879, Schedrin became a member of the Black Repartition...
's "Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
", Manos Hatzidakis's "Gioconda's Smile
Gioconda's Smile
Gioconda's Smile is one of the most famous albums by Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. It is considered one of the classic albums of 20th century music in Greece.The album was recorded in New York in 1965, with Quincy Jones as producer...
".
Atilla Silvester has also worked as a teacher for a number of institutions: Astaldi
Astaldi
Astaldi SpA is a major construction company based in Rome, Italy. The group is active in the fields of civil, hydraulic, electromechanical and environmental engineering, and transportation and infrastructure.-History:...
(Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
), Pecs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
(Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
), Roma Ballet, Compagnia Nazionale Italiana danza Classica (Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
), Fondazzione Piccini (Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
), Teatro Petruzzeli (Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
), Astra Ballet (Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
), R.Higtawer (Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
).
In 2001, he is employed by Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
's State Opera House in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, as a director for Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
's "The Dead Brother's Song
The Dead Brother's Song
The Dead Brother's Song is a Greek poem, considered to be the oldest surviving dimotikó song of the Greek music.-History:The song was composed in Asia Minor in the 9th century, during the time of the Byzantine Empire....
" and in 2003, in the same stage, he presents the ballet "La Fille Mal Gardée
La Fille Mal Gardée
La Fille mal gardée is a comic ballet presented in two acts, inspired by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin's 1789 painting, La réprimande/Une jeune fille querellée par sa mère...
" and in 2005, Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer and philosopher, celebrated for his novel Zorba the Greek, considered his magnum opus...
's "Zorba the Greek
Zorba the Greek
Zorba the Greek is a 1964 film based on the novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. The film was directed by Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis and the title character was played by Anthony Quinn...
". In 2007, Attila-Akyla Silvester presents the ballet "Orpheus
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
", with Teatrul de opera si balet "Oleg Danovsky" at Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
, in a world premiere. In 2008, he directs the ballet "Ciuleandra" by Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu was a Romanian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and journalist.- Life :Born in Târlișua , Transylvania, then part of Austria-Hungary, he was the second of thirteen children born to Vasile Rebreanu, a schoolteacher, and Ludovica Diuganu, descendants of peasants...
.