MUSIC
Léo Delibes (ballet, 1876, with additional numbers from La Source, 1866)
SCENERY & COSTUMES
Robin and Christopher Ironside
DANCERS
Sylvia: Margot Fonteyn; Aminta: Michael Somes; Orion: John Hart; Eros: Alexander Grant; Naiads: Dorothea Zaymes, Anne Heaton, Angela Walton; Dryads: Gerd Larsen, April Olrich, Avril Navarre; Slaves: Brian Shaw, Peter Clegg; Orion’s Concubines: Dorotha Zaymes, Shirley Bateman; Diana: Julia Farron; Goats: Pauline Clayden, Brian Shaw; Apollo: Kenneth Melville; Ceres: Anne Heaton; Jaseion: Philip Chatfield; Persephone: April Olrich; Pluto: Ray Powell; Sylvans Attendant Nymphs, Cortège rustique, Trumpeters, the Muses, Spring Attendants, Summer Attendants, Sylvia’s Attendant Nymphs, Diana’s Attendant Nymphs, A Vision of Diana and Endymion (later addition): corps de ballet
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Sadler’s Wells Ballet, Royal Opera House, London, 3 September 1952
New Stagings / Productions
Royal Ballet, 1970
STAGING
Royal Ballet; Tribute to Sir Frederick Ashton; excerpt only
DANCERS
Deanne Bergsma
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Royal Opera House, London, 24 July 1970
Granada Festival, 1953
NEW PRODUCTION
Granada Festival; pas de deux from Act II only, with new coda
DANCERS
Margot Fonteyn, Michael Somes
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Jardines del Generalife, Granada, Spain, 30 June 1953
This arrangement of the pas de deux was often danced by Fonteyn and Somes as a divertissement, e.g. with London Festival Ballet, Théâtre de Monte Carlo, 15 January 1956, and by other dancers, with the Royal Ballet and elsewhere
Royal Ballet, 1963
STAGING
Royal Ballet touring section
DANCERS
Sylvia: Doreen Wells; Aminta: Christopher Gable
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Royal Opera House, London, 6 May 1963
Royal Ballet, 1965
NEW PRODUCTION
Royal Ballet touring section, with abbreviated third act and new variation for Aminta
DANCERS
Sylvia: Margot Fonteyn; Aminta: Attilio Labis; Orion: Bryan Ashbridge; Eros: Richard Farley
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Royal Opera House, London, 9 June 1965
Royal Ballet, 1967
NEW PRODUCTION
Royal Ballet; abridged (one act) version with some new choreography
DANCERS
Sylvia: Nadia Nerina; Aminta: Gary Sherwood; Eros: Alexander Grant; Goats: Ann Howard, Keith Martin; Sylvia’s attendants, Friends of Aminta: corps de ballet
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Royal Opera House, London, 18 December 1967
Royal Ballet, 2004
NEW PRODUCTION
Royal Ballet
REPRODUCED BY
Christopher Newton
SCENERY & COSTUMES
Robin and Christopher Ironside, additional designs (Act II) Peter Farmer
DANCERS
Sylvia: Darcey Bussell; Aminta: Jonathan Cope; Orion: Thiago Soares; Eros: Martin Harvey
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 4 November 2004
By other companies
American Ballet Theatre, 2005
STAGING
American Ballet Theatre
REPRODUCED BY
Christopher Newton
LIGHTING
Mark Jonathan
DANCERS
Sylvia: Gillian Murphy; Aminta: Maxim Beloserkovsky; Orion: Marcelo Gomes; Eros: Herman Cornejo
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Metropolitan Opera House, New York NY, 3 June 2005
American Ballet Theatre School, 2006
STAGING
American Ballet Theatre School Summer Intensive; excerpt from Act I (Les Chasseresses)
REPRODUCED BY
Ethan Brown
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Purchase College, Purchase NY, 28 July 2006
Staatsballet Berlin, 2007
STAGING
Staatsballet Berlin
REPRODUCED BY
Christopher Newton and Anna Trevien
DANCERS
Sylvia: Polina Semionova; Aminta: Vladimir Malakhov; Orion: Ibrahim Onal; Eros: Rainer Krenstetter
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Deutsche Oper Berlin, 28 April 2007
Copyright © 2004 by David Vaughan
This listing is part of a chronology that was originally published in Vaughan’s Frederick Ashton and His Ballets (Alfred E Knopf 1976; 2nd ed., London: Dance Books, 1999) and includes new productions added since then, and up until 2007