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Maria Seletskaja: swapping pointe shoes for a conductor’s baton

Maria Seletskaja
© Kalev Lilleorg
Maria Seletskaja
© Kalev Lilleorg
English National Ballet's new Nutcracker
© Johan Persson (2024)
Maria Seletskaja (Aegina) in Spartacus
© Filip van Roe
Maria Seletskaja (Aegina) in Spartacus
© Filip van Roe
Maria Seletskaja in Spartacus rehearsals
© Filip van Roe
Maria Seletskaja
© Maria-Helena Buckley
By Mark Pullinger, 05 February 2025
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“I recall... saying I would give two years of my life to conduct Nutcracker just once”
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Mark Pullinger
Mark Pullinger
Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.