Rupert Christiansen

Diaghilev’s Empire: How the Ballet Russes Enthralled the World

Serge Diaghilev was the Russian impresario who is often said to have invented the modern art form of ballet. Commissioning such legendary names as Nijinsky, Fokine, Stravinsky, and Picasso, this intriguingly complex genius produced a series of radically original art works that had a revolutionary impact throughout the western world. The Ballets Russes not only left a matchless artistic legacy, but they also changed style and glamour, they changed taste, and they changed social behaviour. Rupert Christiansen has been a regular at Buxton International Festival during his tenure as The Daily Telegraph’s opera critic; he now visits as a self-labelled ‘incurable balletomane.’

This event is sponsored by No. 6 The Square Tearooms.