Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London in January 2006.

Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Marianela Nuñez & Martin Harvey

The Royal Ballet & The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Boris Gruzin

Choreographer: Marius Petipa

Perhaps the most celebrated ballet of the Romantic era, Adolphe Adam’s intoxicating ballet Giselle is the dramatic story of a peasant girl whose betrayal by her aristocratic lover causes her to go mad before dying and returning as a ghost. Featuring the fabulous Alina Cojocaru in the title role and Johan Kobborg as a torn Count Albrecht, Peter Wright’s sparkling production and John Macfarlane’s pastoral designs create an opulent feast for the eyes.

Bonus material:

Illustrated synopsis & cast gallery.

‘Cojocaru's interpretation, everyone seems to agree, is one of the greatest of all time, and she continues to refine it with every performance… One of the things which makes Cojocaru so poignant in this role is a quality that one senses in the dancer herself. Something in the emotional charge of her performances, some fragility beneath the ballerina steel, emphasises the ephemeral nature of the art form. It reminds us that we must seize the day.’ The Observer