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Like the casket-full of pearls with which the concubines bribe the chief eunuch in Scheherazade, a lavishly decorated curtain reveals the jewels of the Russian Seasons of the XXI Century at the London Coliseum. Andris Liepa, a former Bolshoi Ballet dancer now turned impresario, has adopted the role of a contemporary Diaghilev and brought precious choreographies and artists to London.

It was in 1992 that former Bolshoi Ballet superstar Andris Liepa decided it was high time to return the fabled works of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes back to Russia, where, due to the yoke of communism, its people had never had the opportunity of seeing them.

Sergei Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes Company, was an extraordinary talent who revolutionised ballet and opera through his innovative use of music, design and choreography. The Diaghilev Festival at the Coliseum celebrates his achievements with three programmes of lost and more familiar work showcasing Russian star performers and dancers from the Kremlin Ballet Theatre.