Renowned composer Joby Talbot continues to make a major impact on the world of dance with upcoming productions in the UK, U.S. and Japan of his and Christopher Wheeldon’s acclaimed full-length ballets: three international presentations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and a highly anticipated revival of The Winter’s Tale in New York.
Throughout June there will be over 40 performances of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for audiences in Tokyo, London and Chicago, where the Joffrey Ballet will present the city premiere on June 5-22. This production features music performed by the Lyric Opera Orchestra, conducted by Scott Speck, Music Director of The Joffrey Ballet.
Commissioned by London’s Royal Ballet and Opera and the National Ballet of Canada, Alice will then receive 13 performances at the Opera Palace in Tokyo by The National Ballet of Japan from June 12-24, before returning home to the Royal Ballet in London between June 13 and 28.
A groundbreaking collaboration between Talbot and Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, The New York Times has lauded Talbot’s score as “a dazzling array of melodies and shimmering percussion, usefully atmospheric and dancey, yet sophisticated enough to feel like more than a mere support.”
First premiered by The Royal Ballet in 2011, this vibrant adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale features puppetry and costume designs by Bob Crowley. Talbot’s hallucinatory sound world of sweeping melodies and ticking clocks brings Carroll’s timeless story to vivid life.
On July 1-5, the American Ballet Theatre gives the New York premiere of The Winter’s Tale to highlight summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House. A co-commission of The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada, The Winter’s Tale has been praised for its emotional depth and Talbot’s evocative, sweeping score. This production features sets and costumes by Bob Crowley, projections by Daniel Brodie, and lighting by Natasha Katz, under the direction of choreographer Christopher Wheeldon.
Also in July, Opus Arte and the Royal Ballet and Opera will release the premier audio recording of the music from The Winter’s Tale performed by The Royal Ballet Orchestra and conducted by Koen Kessels.
Based on Shakespeare’s late romance of the same name, The Winter’s Tale tells of the destruction of a marriage through consuming jealousy, the abandonment of a child and a seemingly hopeless love. Yet, through remorse and regret, the ending is one of forgiveness and reconciliation.
“The Winter’s Tale is a triumph,” noted The Telegraph on the occasion of its world premiere. “It is contemporary and classical, traditional and modern, narrative and abstract. It feels like something entirely new...The score by Joby Talbot is equally rich; the variety of the orchestration and the momentum of the melodies make it both stirring and effective; in the second act a folk band arrives on stage without ever falling into cliché.”
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