The Maris Liepa Charitable Foundation is preparing to issue a unique photo album, entitled “Ave Maya,” devoted to the artistry and life of Maya Plisetskaya. The album contains 365 photographs, 120 of which are accompanied Maya Plisetskaya’s own commentary both in Russian and in English translation. Included among the photographs are those of her encounters with such legendary figures as Pierre Cardin, Robert Kennedy and Yury Gagarin and of the congratulatory greeting from President Vladimir Putin at the Bolshoi Theater on the occasion of her 75th birthday. Maya Plisetskaya will personally autograph 100 copies of the album.
Presentation of the album will take place November 29, 2004, on the stage of Novaya Opera Theater in the Hermitage Garden. The evening will open with remarks by People’s Artist of the USSR Vladimir Vasiliev, who has written the album’s introduction. Novaya Opera’s orchestra will be heard in Rodion Shchedrin’s “Carmen Suite,” as well as in music of Charles Gounod and Johann
Sebastian Bach, and pages from the album will be displayed on a color screen. Many wonderful artists will take part in the evening: N. Ananiashvily, A. Voznesensky, N. Tseskaridze, I. Liepa, G. Stepanenko, A. Uvarov, E. Mechetina etc.
Guests of the evening will include John Neumeier, director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet. Maya Plisetskaya herself will appear on stage for the evening’s finale. The presentation and concert will be followed by a reception at which the great ballerina will receive congratulations on her birthday nine days earlier.In addition to the album, the Foundation is preparing a 30-minute film on the artistry of Maya Plisetskaya and presentation of a calendar for the New Year also entitled “Ave Maya.”
