The Hallé Orchestra, Carlo Rizzi

Carlo Rizzi, renowned for outstanding opera performances, turns to ballet for his welcome return to the Hallé, conducting classic Russian masterpieces from the 19th and 20th centuries. In Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev composed full-blooded, dramatic music for Shakespeare’s characters; be it the passionate ardour of the doomed lovers or the arrogance of their feuding families. In complete contrast, Act II of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is set in the fairy-tale Land of Sweets. It’s a box of delights with characterful dances – Spanish, Arabian and Chinese, conjuring coffee, tea and chocolate – even in the Dance of the Reed Flutes (remember a certain fruit and nut bar?), the Waltz of the Flowers and, of course, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.