The Nutcracker: guardian of Christmas memories

Exquisite advent soiree at the hearth of Luxembourg's cultural heritage. Enjoy an unforgettable encounter of world-renowned ballet celebrities and the youngest talents in Luxembourg!

• Performances: 16 and 17 December 2023 in Vianden castle, Vic. Abens hall
• Crémant reception at 18:00 is included in the ticket price.
• Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Franz Xaver Gruber
• Director and choreographer: Volha Kastsel, Luxembourg Ballet
• Dance: Artem Shoshyn, Kateryna Floria, Ekaterina Zinovyeva-Provalinskaya, Oleksii Potiomkin, Sofia Binetti
• Featuring children from the Ecole de musique de l’Union Grand-Duc Adolphe

With financial support of:
Ministry of Culture of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
BGL BNP Paribas

Partners:
LES AMIS DU CHATEAU DE VIANDEN
Ecole de musique de l'Union Grand-Duc Adolphe
IDEA Dance a.s.b.l.

Year after year, the Nutcracker brings us gently a wealth of family idyll, Christmas tranquillity and nostalgia alike. His story goes back to the fairy tale of E. T. A. Hoffmann. A young man is disfigured into a nutcracker in revenge for cracking the hard nut Krakatuk and disenchanting a princess. Now, the Nutcracker finds himself in an adventurous world, fighting a seven-headed monster and his army of mice. E. T. A. Hoffmann paints this world for us with a literary virtuosity that we enjoy with all our senses: artifacts made of sugared almonds and raisins, streams and lakes made of honey and almond milk, fountains made of lemonade, houses and castles made of gingerbread and marzipan, jam groves with wonderfully scented trees.

It is the dream world that we embrace every year through enchantingly decorated markets, streets and trees. But what matters is what this dream world stands for. It is the magic that we sought as young dreamers. We knew that finding it would be tough. A real Krakatuk. But as soon as we dare take the first step and crack our Krakatuk, a relentless battle with the seven-headed time monster of everyday’s life begins. This takes so much effort that our dream world gradually shrinks but the longing to return the everyday mechanism to its original position becomes even greater. Then we realize that dreaming never ends. Standing in front of the Krakatuk again is the moment that gives us new strength to once again find the dream world in which we hear “wonderfully rippling and rushing tones and melodies”, see “thousands of golden and silver sparkling stars” and smell the “fragrant waves of roses”.

Luxembourg Ballet is taking you through the sentimental scenes from the Christmas fairy tale as memories of dreamers: moments in which everyday’s life appeared as an “army of mice” that “nibbled” on our dreams; moments of disillusionment in which we “disenchant” the beautiful appearance, brightened by warm memories of our own tough nut “Krakatuk” and the longing for the time when dreams outweighed our belongings.

We invite you to a special place where our memories can be felt, touched and experienced again. A fairytale place that tells stories. About counts, kings and …nutcrackers.