DON Q.

BIOGRAPHIES

Egon Madsen

Egon Madsen was born on the island of Fünen in Denmark. He received his dance training from Thea Jolles, Birger Bartholin and Edith Frandsen. At the age of 10 he stood for the first time on the stage as a member of the Children's Ballet of Aarhus. In 1958 he joined the Tivoli Pantomime Theater in Kopenhagen where he also danced with the Skandanavian Ballet. After auditioning for the Royal Danish Ballet and being passed over, Madsen joined the Ballet of the Württembergische Staatstheater in Stuttgart in 1961, under the newly appointed director and choreographer John Cranko.
In Stuttgart, Madsen made ballet history. It was not just the many famous roles which were created there for him which elevated him into the pantheon of ballet, but also his function as one of the legendary personalities with which the previously unknown Stuttgart Ballet conquered the hearts of ballet audiences and critics around the world. For four of them: Richard Cragun, Birgit Keil, Marcia Haydée and Egon Madsen, Cranko created his symphonic Brahms-Ballet Initials R.B.M.E..
Apart from his technical and acting abilities, it was Madsen's extreme versatility which inspired many choreographers, most especially John Cranko, who created the following roles for him: Lenski in Onegin, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Don José in Carmen, Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew, the Joker in Jeu de Cartes and the Youth in Poème de l'extase, a role he danced with Margot Fonteyn. Cranko also created the role of Paris for Madsen in his Romeo and Juliet, and although Madsen also went on to dance the role of Romeo, it was as Mercutio that he received the most acclaim, a role which he refers to today as one of the most important in his development as an artist. In 1965 Kenneth MacMillan created the role of the “Eternal One” for Madsen in his now world famous ballet Song of the Earth. In addition, Peter Wright created the role of Albrecht for Madsen in his staging of Giselle, which was subsequently taken into the repertoires of many companies around the world.
After Cranko's early death in 1973, Madsen went on to work with Cranko's successor, the american contemporary choreographer Glen Tetley, in whose work Madsen was able to broaden the scope of his previous abilities. After Tetley's resignation in 1976, Madsen continued to dance in Stuttgart under the directorship of Marcia Haydée. From this time date the roles created for him in MacMillan's Requiem, in John Neumeier's Hamlet and most especially the role of Armand Duval in Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias, with Haydée in the title role.
As one of the foremost dancers of his generation, Madsen appeared as a guest artist with many companies world wide, among others in London, New York and with the Royal Danish Ballet in Kopenhagen.
In 1981, Madsen left the Stuttgart Ballet to take over the directorship of the Ballet in Frankfurt. In 1984 he was appointed Director of the Royal Swedish Ballet after which he served as Director of the Ballet of the Teatro Communale in Florence. After a brief time as a free lance ballet master and choreographer, he was invited back to the Stuttgart Ballet by Marcia Haydée in 1990 to serve as ballet master Shortly thereafter, he was named Assistant Director of the Stuttgart Ballet. Upon Haydée's retirement as director of the Stuttgart Ballet in 1996, Madsen joined the Leipzig Ballet as Ballet Master in Chief under the direction of the choreographer Uwe Scholz.
In January 1999, Madsen, who had not appeared regularly on the stage since 1981, received an invitation to join Nederlands Dans Theater III, a newly created troupe of dancers over the age of 40. Called into existence by Madsen's former Stuttgart colleague and Director of the Nederlands Dans Theater, Jiri Kylian, NDT III was and is a unique company of mature dance artists with a tailor-made repertoire of works based on the strong personalities of its members. At the beginning of the 1999-2000 season, Madsen was appointed Artistic Director as well as dancer of NDT III and once again inspired choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Robert Wilson, Mats Ek, Meryl Tankard and Paul Lightfoot. Dancing their works, he toured the world and, along with his colleagues, proved that dance is no longer the sole province of youth.
After seven years with NDT III, Madsen resigned his positions and is currently working as a free lance ballet master and dancer. Companies for which he has taught include the Stuttgart Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, the Chilean National Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, the Compania Nacional de Danza in Madrid and the Vienna State Opera Ballet. In addition, he has taught at the following schools: the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, the Rotterdam Dance Academy and the school of the Vienna State Opera Ballet.


Eric Gauthier

Eric Gauthier was born in Montreal, Canada. He received his initial ballet training at the school of Les Gands Ballets Canadiens in his hometown and subsequently studied at the National Ballet School in Toronto, where he also had music and voice lessons. In 1995 he graduated and became an apprentice with the National Ballet of Canada under the artistic direction of Reid Anderson.
When Reid Anderson was appointed Director of the Stuttgart Ballet in 1996, he invited Eric Gauthier to come to Stuttgart with him as a member of the corps de ballet. In 2000 Eric Gauthier was named demi-soloist, and in 2002 he was promoted to Soloist.
In Stuttgart Gauthier danced many classical and neo-classical roles including Alain in Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal Gardée, Mercutio in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet as well as the Joker in Cranko's Je de Cartes. But it was his abilities as a contemporary dancer which were instantly noted by every choreographer who worked with the Stuttgart Ballet between 1996 and 2006. For ten years, Eric Gauthier danced in almost every world or company premiere, and in so doing danced the works of, or worked directly with, an impressive roster of internationally acclaimed choreographers including Jiri Kylian, Hans van Manen, Uwe Scholz, Kevin O'Day, Nacho Duato, Mauro Bigonzetti, Paul Lightfoot, Itzik Galili, Dominique Dumais, Marguerite Donlon and Daniela Kurz. He especially made a name for himself as an outstanding interpreter of the works of William Forsythe, dancing five of his ballets and working often with the American choreographer both in Stuttgart and in Frankfurt.
Of note are also the many roles created for him by Christian Spuck, resident choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet. Gauthier danced in eight world premieres by Spuck who created the role of Schigolch in Lulu and the leading role of the painter in ...la peau blanche... for him.
In 2005 Gauthier made his debut as a choreographer in the famous „Young Choreographers“ program of the Stuttgart-based Noverre Society. In 2006 he was invited back again and created Ballet 101, a work which was so successful with critics and audiences that it was immediately booked for galas in Germany and Asia.
In 2001, parallel to his dancing career, Gauthier formed a band together with three other musicians for which he composes, writes lyrics, sings and plays the guitar. The band, playing many local concerts and winning local prizes, released their first CD in 2004; their second will be released in 2007. With his band, Gauthier produced and presented a full evening event of music and film at the State Theater in Stuttgart called „Emotions in a Box“, which was so popular that it was revived the next season.



Christian Spuck

Christian Spuck has created choreographies for the Stuttgart Ballet since 1997 and through his work plays an important part in shaping the company’s modern profile. In June 2001 Artistic Director Reid Anderson appointed him Resident Choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet. Since 1998 the company has presented more than ten world premieres by Christian Spuck, among them the two full length ballets Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy and The Sandman.
Christian Spuck was born in Germany. He received his ballet training at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, where he completed his final exams in classical and modern dance in 1993. As a dancer Christian Spuck has worked with the Needcompany (1993) and had an engagement with ROSAS under the management of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in 1993/94. He joined the Stuttgart Ballet in 1995. Here, he has danced in ballets such as Voluntaries (Glen Tetley), Troy Game (Robert North), Opus I, Jeu de Cartes, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Onegin, Swan Lake (all by John Cranko), Kazimir’s Colours (Mauro Bigonzetti), Love Songs (William Forsythe), R.A.M. (Martino Müller) and The Lady of the Camellias (John Neumeier).
From 1994-96 Christian Spuck was choreographic assistant to Marco Santi and participated, among others, in the productions Amras, The Sinking of … and The Tears of Niobe.
In 1996, Christian Spuck created the Pas de deux Duo/Towards The Night for the Noverre Society’s Young Choreographers, which was so successful, that it was taken into the repertoire of the Stuttgart Ballet as well as that of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1997, he choreographed another ballet for the Noverre Society, Songs From A Secret Garden and in March 1998, his work Passacaglia was premiered by the Stuttgart Ballet. The ballet Les Indes galantes, a co-production by Christian Spuck and Marco Santi, which was also broadcasted on TV, premiered in April 1998. Another choreography by Christian Spuck, amores 1, was created for the Regional Arts Festival of Europe in August 1998. The magazine Ballet International–Tanz Aktuell named Christian Spuck the “best up-and-coming choreographer of the 1997 98 season”.
Since then Christian Spuck has choreographed several one-act pieces for the Stuttgart Ballet: dos amores was premiered in the Stuttgart Playhouse in February 1999 and received major critical and popular acclaim. The Stuttgart Ballet presented dos amores during a tour to the US in January and February 2000. In April 2000 the seventh blue, was premiered in the Opera House of the State Theater Stuttgart, followed by Carlotta’s Portrait and Songs in 2001. All of these works were enthusiastically acclaimed by both the audience and the press. In 2002 Christian Spuck contributed nocturne to the Stuttgart Ballets mixed bill RENDEZVOUS AVEC CHOPIN. His recent work also includes two shorter comical pieces: Le Grand Pas de deux (2000), which was taken into the repertoire of American Ballet Theatre, and Cupid’s Garden (2004). In 2004 Christian Spuck created the Pas de deux Pieces from a Lost Paradise for the Stuttgart Ballet’s New Year’s Gala. On April 7, 2005 the Stuttgart Ballet danced the world premiere of another one-act ballet entitled …, la peau blanche … as part of the triple bill TANZSICHTEN III.
In December 2003 Christian Spuck presented his first full length ballet Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy at the Stuttgart Opera House. Based on the play by Frank Wedekind and choreographed to the music of Dmitri Shostakovic, Alban Berg and Arnold Schönberg, Lulu was an immediate success with press and public alike. The Sandman (world premiere on April 7, 2006 at the Stuttgart Opera House) is Spuck’s third full length ballet after Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy (also for the Stuttgart company) and The Children (for the aalto ballet theatre Essen).
In Stuttgart Christian Spuck has also contributed choreography to other productions of the State Theatre: In June 2000 he created the choreography for The White Wolf, a co-production with the drama company of the State Theatre Stuttgart. In 2002 he participated in the State Theatre’s Young Opera production Cupid And Death.
Since 1999 Christian Spuck has created original works for a number of ballet companies in Europe and the USA. These include Morphing Games for Mauro Bigonzetti’s Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia (1999), an Adagio for 6 dancers for the Choreographic Workshop of the New York City Ballet in 2000, Chaconne for the Academy of Dance in Mannheim (2001), this- for the Ballet of the State Opera Berlin (2003), shifting portraits for the Ballett Saarbrücken (2004) and The Restless for Hubbard Street Dance 2 Chicago (2005). In 2000 Endless Waltz was presented by aalto ballett Essen. The piece had been comissioned by director Martin Puttke, who later asked Christian Spuck to create a full length ballet for the same company. The Children, based on the play by Edward Bond, premiered in Essen in April 2004, a few months after the premiere of Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy in Stuttgart. In February 2005 The Children was nominated for the Prix Benois de la Danse.
One of Christian Spuck’s most recent projects is a 25 minute dance film, loosely based on the character of Penelope in Homer’s Odyssey. Featuring Márcia Haydée and Robert Tewsley, the film is a coproduction with the European cultural channel ARTE. Christian Spuck also continued his cooperation with Hubbard Street Dance and created several choreographies for the dance company’s coproduction with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Magical Movements. Ten thousand mostly young spectators saw the four performances in Chicago in December 2005. In 2006 Christian Spuck was appointed resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance 2.
In 2005 Christian Spuck staged his first opera Berenice for the Theatre of the City of Heidelberg, a work by the young composer Johannnes Maria Staud who created it after a short novel by Edgar Allan Poe.
In February 2006 Spuck was awarded the German Dance Prize “Future” for choreography.
On April 7, 2006 his new sory telling ballet was premiered at Staatstheater Stuttgart. Der Sandmann was created by Christian Spuck according to E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story with the same title. After Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy (for Stuttgart Ballet) und Die Kinder (for aalto ballett theater Essen) is Der Sandmann Christian Spuck‘s third full evening ballet.
In November 2006 his full length creation The Return of Ulysses was premiered with the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

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