Exhilarating Modern Triumph

Wiener Staatsoper [ENA] The Wiener Staatsoper is a riveting showcase of contemporary ballet's boundless potential, brilliantly programmed under Alessandra Ferri's direction with Justin Peck's Heatscape, Wayne McGregor's Yugen, and Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room. This triple bill crackles with invention, virtuosity, and vitality, positioning the Staatsballet as a world-class ensemble bridging classical precision and cutting-edge expression.

Peck's Heatscape (2019) opens with electric immediacy, set to Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Concerto No. 1. Shepard Fairey's graffiti-inspired projections pulse across the stage like urban heatwaves, while Peck's choreography fuses street energy with Balanchine-esque musicality. The Staatsballet's principals—Laura Fernandez Gromova and Alessandro Cavallo shining in their pas de deux—navigate explosive floorwork and airborne lifts with razor-sharp attack. The ensemble's whirling formations, clad in vibrant costumes by Norma Kamali, evoke Miami's kinetic streets, building to ecstatic climaxes that leave the audience breathless.

McGregor's Yugen (2011) follows as a cerebral marvel, Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3 driving crystalline partnering and fluid group geometries. McGregor's deconstructed neoclassicism—elongated limbs slicing through Lucy Carter's atmospheric lighting—finds perfect interpreters in the Staatsballet's lithe, hyper-articulate dancers. A central pas de deux achieves sublime intimacy amid swirling abstractions, the corps forming human mandalas that dissolve into shadow. McGregor's vision of quantum human connection resonates deeply, the Staatsballet's execution flawless in its otherworldly elegance.

Tharp's In the Upper Room (1986)—celebrating its 40th anniversary—closes with unrelenting exuberance, Philip Glass's relentless score fueling Tharp's athletic tour de force. Sneakers meet pointe shoes in a joyous collision of ballet and postmodern vigor, the Staatsballet's stamina heroic as dancers cycle through formations with machine-like precision. The iconic pas de deux for two women in red leotards crackles with competitive fire, while the full-cast finale erupts in percussive ecstasy. Tharp's fusion of rigor and release feels revolutionary still, gloriously embodied by this tireless ensemble.

Gavin Sutherland conducts the Vienna State Opera Orchestra with infectious momentum, balancing Glass's minimalism with Martinů's lyricism and Górecki's spiritual heft. The Staatsballet's versatility stuns: crystalline pointework in Peck's syncopations, elastic partnering in McGregor's abstractions, and raw athleticism in Tharp's marathons. Ferri's programming reveals profound synergies—each choreographer expands ballet's vocabulary while honoring its syntax, creating an evening of escalating revelation.

Standouts include Gromova's poised ferocity, Cavallo's explosive charisma, and the corps' uncanny synchronization, transforming complex patterns into organic flows. Lighting by Jennifer Tipton (for Peck and Tharp) and Carter (for McGregor) sculpts emotional landscapes, from Heatscape's neon blaze to Yugen's ethereal mist. Visionary Dances affirms the Wiener Staatsballet's renaissance under Ferri, rivaling New York's elite companies in technical bravura and interpretive daring. This is ballet at its most exhilarating—intellectually provocative, viscerally thrilling, impeccably executed. From Peck's streetwise pulse through McGregor's metaphysical geometries to Tharp's transcendent frenzy, the program charts dance's evolution.