Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) has joined forces with the Dallas based Bruce Wood Dance, to present the world premiere performance of the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Suite by Joby Talbot in a premiere choreography by Joy Bollinger.
The Suite contains some of the most memorable music from the full-length ballet, originally commissioned by the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden for renowned choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. FWSO Music Director Robert Spano conducts three performances September 19-21.
The US premiere of Talbot's guitar concerto Ink Dark Moon, commissioned by BBC Proms, was also presented by FWSO in May 2022. Members of Craig Hella Johnson's acclaimed vocal group Conspirare will also participate in the performances of Symphonic Stories: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
On September 26 in Austin, Texas, Conspirare will give the world premiere of Piedra de Sol an evening length choral work especially commissioned from Talbot, setting text by Octavio Paz in the original Spanish. This new work follows the huge success of his 2005 major choral piece Path of Miracles, commissioned and recorded by Nigel Short's Tenebrae and subsequently by Conspirare.
- Update -
The To Be the Sun concerts featuring the premiere of Piedra de Sol, scheduled for September 26 and 27 will be postponed to a later date. Unfortunately, Conspirare's Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson and a few singers became ill with COVID-19, leaving them no choice but to postpone this extraordinary world premiere to ensure everyone’s health and safety.
“Piedra de Sol invites listeners and performers alike on a journey of infinite dimensions – a voyage whose course bends, advances, recedes, comes full circle and arrives forever.”
– Joby Talbot
Talbot has set around two thirds of the epic Spanish poem by Mexican poet and Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz. Talbot came across the poem by Paz when looking for text for the final scene to his ballet Like Water for Chocolate based on the book of the same name by Laura Esquivel, which by happy coincidence will be revived by the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden from October 1 conducted by Jonathan Lo.
Talbot is no stranger to audiences in Texas where his operas Everest (2014) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2020) were commissioned by The Dallas Opera.
Piedra de Sol: More info & tickets | Like Water for Chocolate: More info & tickets
Find out more about the music of Joby Talbot in our series of features:
The Ballet Music of Joby Talbot
The Orchestral Music of Joby Talbot
The Choral Music of Joby Talbot
