Premiere of Stravinski's ballet "The Firebird" enjoys success in Rome

Igor Stravinski's ballet "The Firebird" enjoyed a great success in the Rome Opera House. It was staged by Andris Liepa, and the main part was performed by well-known Spanish dancer Igor Yebra.

Igor Yebra is a worshipper of Russian ballet art. He appeared many times on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre and on the other best stages of Russia.

Having highly rated the art of Yebra, the Il Corriera della Sera called him "a Russian dancer, though this Basque was born 26 years ago in the city of Bilbao.

In staging the "Firebird" Andris Liepa restored the choreography of Mikhail Fokin with the scenery of Alexander Benois. Speaking in Rome, he said that the mistake made by the Italian newspaper is quite natural, because Yebra was so much imbued in Russia with the spirit of the Russian theatre that he adopted its best traditions, and can really be called a Russian dancer.

Igor Yebra himself, who was named in honour of the main character in Borodin's opera "Prince Igor," did not dream of a ballet career in his childhood. But after he saw in Bilbao Aram Khachaturyan's ballet "Spartacus," performed by the company of the Bolshoi Theatre, he started to attend a ballet school.

In January 2004, Igor Yebra will make his debut in the Kremlin Theatre, starring in Sergei Prokofyev's ballet "Ivan the Terrible."