the australian ballet 2019 season · 2019 season a year of enchantment the australian ballet 9...
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In 2019, our dancers take you beyond the everyday and into magical worlds, capturing your imagination with passionate love stories, timeless fables and dancing that will take your breath away.
2019 is The Australian Ballet’s Year of Enchantment.
Let’s dance to that!
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Come with us on a journey of enchantment, as we revive some of our most beloved ballets and introduce you to an exciting selection of premiere works.
After its record-breaking Australian premiere in 2017, Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland© returns to our stage. The Brisbane premiere of this magical, Helpmann Award-winning production will kick off our 2019 program, and Alice will return to Melbourne later in the year.
In 2018, we celebrated 50 years of Graeme Murphy’s amazing career in dance. In 2019, the man himself returns to our studios to create a new full-length work, The Happy Prince, based on the Oscar Wilde story. Graeme will collaborate with the designer and director Kim Carpenter, the composer Christopher Gordon and the lighting designer Damien Cooper on this fresh new version of the classic children’s tale.
Equally anticipated is Stanton Welch’s new production of Sylvia, set to the charming score by Delibes, who wrote the music for Coppélia. Made in collaboration with Houston Ballet, the new ballet will take us deep into the world of Greek mythology. Stanton’s dramatic, vibrant choreography will be partnered with Jérôme Kaplan’s sumptuous set and costume design and the music that Tchaikovsky declared to be the perfect ballet score.
If there is a perfect ballet score, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker would have to be a strong contender. It will be a true pleasure to revive Peter Wright’s glorious production of this Christmas classic, widely acknowledged to be one of the world’s best. Sir Peter’s wonderfully detailed choreography is partnered so beautifully with John F. Mcfarlane’s evocative designs, making this jewel of a ballet a delight for the whole family.
The enchantment continues as Verve heads to Sydney. This fascinating contemporary program features three extraordinary ballets by our homegrown choreographers Stephen Baynes, Tim Harbour and Alice Topp. The Sydney premiere of Alice’s Aurum sits alongside Stephen’s Constant Variants and Tim’s Filigree and Shadow.
Our Melbourne audiences will welcome the renowned Monte-Carlo Ballet to our stage. LAC, choreographed by the company’s Artistic Director Jean-Christophe Maillot, is a fresh new interpretation of Swan Lake, ballet’s most beloved tale. Its Australian premiere offers a rare opportunity to enjoy the talents of this company.
Come with us down the rabbit hole, to the Land of Sweets and to the age of gods and goddesses. Let our dancers transform your world into a place of enchantment in 2019.
Let's dance.
David McAllister AM Artistic Director
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She’s back! After sell-out seasons in 2017, Christopher Wheeldon’s madcap, majestic Alice returns to Melbourne and premieres in Brisbane. This is your chance to find out what all the buzz was about – or to revisit the rich detail and dizzy highs of this hot-ticket show.
Wheeldon has masterfully translated the humour and eccentricity of Lewis Carroll’s beloved book to the ballet stage. The Queen of Hearts rampages around her court in a hilarious parody of the Rose Adage, the White Rabbit shimmies his tail, the Caterpillar is an exotic vision with 16 sparkly pointe shoes and the Cheshire Cat is a triumph of the puppeteer’s art.
The Tony Award-winning designer Bob Crowley has created a marvellous blend of high-tech wizardry and old-fashioned show-business pizazz, referencing Victorian toy theatres, needlepoint and vaudeville amid darker and stranger visions. Composer Joby Talbot captures Wonderland’s moods in an evocative score alive with Cheshire purrs and ticking clocks.
The Australian Ballet’s production of Alice won the Helpmann Award for Best Ballet in 2018, and was nominated in five other categories, including Best Choreography, Best Scenic Design and Best Male and Female Dancer. Now it’s time to fall back down the rabbit hole – don’t be late for this very important date!
“An extravaganza of the highest order” – HERALD SUN
A L I C E ’S A DV E N T U R E S I N WO N D E R L A N D ©
LAUGH, GASP AND MARVEL AT OUR MOST SPECTACULAR PRODUCTION
CREDITS
Choreography Christopher Wheeldon Music Joby Talbot orchestrated by Christopher Austin and Joby Talbot Scenario Nicholas Wright Set and costume design Bob Crowley Lighting design Natasha Katz Projection design Jon Driscoll and Gemma Carrington Puppet concept and design Toby Olié
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland© is a co-production between The Australian Ballet and The National Ballet of Japan
The production was commissioned and first performed by The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada
The Kenneth R Reed Fund has generously supported the recreation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland© for The Australian Ballet
If you love to be swept away by theatrical magic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland© is for you.
BRISBANE 25 FEBRUARY – 2 MARCH QPACLyric Theatre with Queensland Symphony Orchestra MELBOURNE8 – 22 JUNEArts Centre Melbourne State Theatrewith Orchestra Victoria
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“High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince …”
Oscar Wilde’s lyrical story of a statue who gives his all to help humanity is full of poetic beauty, heartbreak, sly humour and sharp social commentary. In 2019, Graeme Murphy, who created The Australian Ballet’s acclaimed modern versions of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, turns his flair for transformative storytelling to Wilde’s moving tale.
The possibilities for dance in Wilde’s characters – the golden Prince, his loyal friend the Swallow, the seductive Reed, the pitiful Match Girl – will be fabulously realised in Murphy’s distinctive choreographic style.
This all-Australian world premiere will feature a specially commissioned score from the renowned composer Christopher Gordon, who composed the scores for the films Mao’s Last Dancer and Master and Commander, alongside the work of award-winning artist and director Kim Carpenter, who adapted the story and created the colourful design for the ballet.
Playful and poignant, The Happy Prince will capture children’s imagination with its vivid spectacle and adults’ attention with its timely message: a kind heart shines brighter than gold.
“Australia’s most brilliant choreographer ... we’ve always basked in the light he casts.” – THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD on Graeme Murphy
T H E H A P PY P R I N C EA BOLD NEW BALLET BASED ON OSCAR WILDE’S CLASSIC TALE
CREDITS
Based on the story by Oscar Wilde, adapted by Kim Carpenter and Graeme Murphy Choreography Graeme Murphy Creative Associate Janet Vernon Music Christopher Gordon Set and costume design Kim Carpenter Lighting design Damien Cooper Projection design Fabian Astore
The 2019 seasons of The Happy Prince are generously supported by The Robert and Elizabeth Albert Music Fund, The Dame Margaret Scott Fund for Choreographers and the Barry Kay Memorial Scholarship.
We thank Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image for supporting the creation of The Happy Prince.
If you like a modern twist on classic literature, The Happy Prince is for you.
MELBOURNE 19 – 28 MARCHArts Centre Melbourne State Theatre with Orchestra Victoria SYDNEY 1 – 18 MAYSydney Opera House Joan Sutherland Theatre with Opera Australia Orchestra
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Three homegrown choreographers. Three very different works. Verve takes you on a voyage through contemporary Australian dance with what Australian Stage calls “a blast of energy and talent”.
Alice Topp’s Aurum moved critics and audiences to superlatives, tributes and tears when it premiered in 2018. Inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi – repairing cracked pottery with precious metals – the work explores damage, healing and the beauty of our flaws. The dancers’ powerful movement and profound emotion are framed in a breathtaking staging by Jon Buswell, featuring a reflective golden floor and ripples of burnished light. This acclaimed work will have its New York premiere at the Joyce Theater in May.
Stephen Baynes’ Constant Variants mirrors the elegant classicism of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with velvet-soft, delicate dance. Gliding airborne, captured in warm light and vast picture frames, his dancers conjure the mesmerising beauty of Renaissance paintings.
Verve ends with a bang: Tim Harbour’s Filigree and Shadow, the hit of our 2015 contemporary program. The stripped-back clarity of its set, designed by Sydney architect Kelvin Ho, contrasts with the ferocious complexity and speed of the choreography and the drama of the specially commissioned electronic score by German duo 48nord. Adrenaline tingles all the way to the explosive finale.
In this Sydney-exclusive season, Verve takes the pulse of Australian contemporary dance – and finds it beating strong.
“Baynes, Topp and Harbour show the diversity of choreographic talent in Australia, and the vast capability of the company’s dancers to adapt so fearlessly to each choreographer’s vision.” – DAILY REVIEW
V E RV EMODERN DANCE THAT MOVES YOU
CREDITS
CONSTANT VARIANTS Choreography Stephen Baynes Music Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Set and costume design Michael Pearce Lighting design Jon Buswell
AURUM Choreography and costume design Alice Topp Music Ludovico Einaudi Staging and lighting design Jon Buswell
Aurum was created with the support of a Rudolf Nureyev Prize for New Dance, awarded by The Joyce Theater, with major funding from the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation.
FILIGREE AND SHADOW Choreography Tim Harbour Music 48nord (Ulrich Müller and Siegfried Rössert) The score for Filigree and Shadow was commissioned by The Australian Ballet in 2015. Costume concept Tim Harbour Set design Kelvin Ho Lighting design Benjamin Cisterne
The 2019 season of Verve is generously supported by The Robert Southey Fund
If you like innovative modern dance, Verve is for you.
SYDNEY 5 – 25 APRILSydney Opera House Joan Sutherland Theatre with Opera Australia Orchestra
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For the first time, the renowned Monte-Carlo Ballet brings its full troupe to Australia, showcasing its superb dancers in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s modern take on Swan Lake.
Maillot, the company’s director, responds to Tchaikovsky’s immortal score with a provocative vision that pits black against white and good against evil. As in the traditional production, the Prince lives uneasily in his parents’ court, under pressure to marry. Nostalgic for his childhood love, the White Swan, he rejects all possible brides. But the villainous Her Majesty the Night, transforming her daughter into a Black Swan, has other plans for him.
A blend of neo-classical ballet and modern dance, LAC signals its departure from tradition and its plunge into the depths of the psyche with costumes by Winter Olympics designer Philippe Guillotel, who deconstructs tulle, the basis of the tutu, to resemble the pelt of a forest creature. “On the one hand,” says Guillotel, “the court, elegance and decorum, and on the other hand animal desire, inscrutability and violence.” Set designer Ernest Pignon-Ernest constructs an architecture of black-and-white silk and black metal to frame the fears and desires of the characters.
This is a Swan Lake that upends our expectations and takes us into new and revelatory territory. Don’t miss this unique chance to see an adventurous company turn tradition upside-down.
“dramatic, sexy, even scary ...” – THE GUARDIAN
L ACTHE AUSTRALIAN BALLET PRESENTS
LES BALLETS DE MONTE-CARLO'S DARK, EROTIC SWAN LAKE
CREDITS
Choreography Jean-Christophe Maillot Music Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Staging Ernest Pignon-Ernest Costumes Philippe Guillotel Lighting design Jean-Christophe Maillot and Samuel Thery Dramatisation Jean-Christophe Maillot and Jean Rouaud Additional music Bertrand Maillot
If you want to see the Lake turn dark, LAC is for you.
MELBOURNE 27 JUNE – 6 JULY Arts Centre Melbourne State Theatre with Orchestra Victoria
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The story of Sylvia – an arrow-wielding nymph who scorns love, falls in love, outwits her abductor and wins through to happiness – first became a ballet in Paris over 150 years ago. The delightful Delibes score, which drew a rave review from Tchaikovsky, has since attracted some of the world’s leading choreographers, including Ivanov, Ashton, Balanchine and Neumeier.
In 2019, Stanton Welch’s new production of Sylvia will have its Australian premiere. Welch, who recently staged his versions of La Bayadère and Romeo and Juliet on The Australian Ballet’s stage, is a resident choreographer of the company, the artistic director of Houston Ballet and one of the art form’s great storytellers. His full-length Sylvia revolves around three intertwining love stories and features a striking new design by Jérôme Kaplan (sets and costumes) and Wendell K. Harrington (projections), the creative dream team behind The Australian Ballet’s Cinderella.
Welch’s Sylvia (which requires the lead ballerinas to learn sword-fighting) promises three strong superheroines, all the passion and humour of Greek myth, virtuoso dancing and one of ballet’s most charming scores.
Meet Sylvia: she’s a legend.
“The Wonder Woman of dance” – THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
SY LV I ABALLET HAS A NEW HEROINE
– AND SHE CAN RESCUE HERSELF
CREDITS
Choreography Stanton Welch AM Sylvia is a co-production between Houston Ballet and The Australian Ballet Staged by Louise Lester Guest Repetiteur Mark Kay Set and costume design Jérôme Kaplan Lighting design Lisa J. Pinkham Projection design Wendall K. Harrington
If you like love stories with inspiring female leads, Sylvia is for you.
MELBOURNE 31 AUGUST – 10 SEPTEMBER Arts Centre Melbourne State Theatre with Orchestra Victoria SYDNEY 8 – 23 NOVEMBER Sydney Opera House Joan Sutherland Theatre with Opera Australia Orchestra
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There’s nothing like a traditional Nutcracker to get you in the mood for the festive season. And there’s no traditional Nutcracker as magical as Peter Wright’s.
The artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet has created a gold-standard production of this beloved party piece, remaining faithful to the feel of the 19th-century original. Tchaikovsky’s last great score for ballet, with its lively motifs and bewitching melodies, draws us into the story of Clara, a young ballet student celebrating with her family on Christmas Eve. When the clock strikes twelve, we enter the realm of dream … and Clara is whisked to the Land of Sweets in the arms of her Nutcracker Prince.
Veteran designer John F. Macfarlane exquisitely evokes the world of this picture-perfect ballet: whirling snowflakes, crackling fires, band-box soldiers, a Christmas tree that grows until it brushes the ceiling and a Sugar Plum Fairy in luscious candy-floss pink.
With the holidays around the corner, there’s no better way than The Nutcracker to rediscover the childlike joys of the season, or to create your own family tradition.
“A definite crowd-pleaser – young or old” – THE SUNDAY AGE
T H E N U TC R AC K E RTHE ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS BALLET
IN ITS MOST ENCHANTING VERSION
CREDITS
Choreography Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov, Vincent Redmon Music Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Set and costume design John F. Mcfarlane Lighting design Jon Buswell
The 2019 seasons of The Nutcracker are generously supported by The Margaret Ellen Pidgeon Fund for Classical Ballet and the Melba Alma Cromack Bequest
If you want to experience the world’s most beloved ballet, The Nutcracker is for you.
MELBOURNE 17 – 28 SEPTEMBER Arts Centre Melbourne State Theatrewith Orchestra Victoria
ADELAIDE 8 – 12 OCTOBER Adelaide Festival Centre Festival Theatrewith Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
SYDNEY 30 NOVEMBER – 18 DECEMBER Sydney Opera House Joan Sutherland Theatre with Opera Australia Orchestra
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L E T U S E N C H A N T YO U
Ballet dancers are wondrous beings, both athletes and artists. They work tirelessly for an excellence that must seem effortless. Their performances invite us into another world; they pull aside the bothersome noise and clatter of the everyday and reveal the timeless joys of dance.
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O U R S H A R E D STO RY
From the very beginnings of the company in 1962, public support has been the lifeblood of The Australian Ballet.
Devotées of the company often hand their love of the art form – and their subscriptions – from one generation to the next. Over our 56-year journey, many families have given above and beyond their Season Packages to ensure The Australian Ballet will be dancing well into the future.
In recent years, David McAllister’s The Sleeping Beauty, our Storytime Ballet series for young children and our new production Spartacus have been created through incredible outpourings of generosity from our Ballet family.
We know you are committed to supporting our dancers and engaging with choreographers as they create new productions; we feel your warmth as you applaud our achievements on and off the stage.
Now, we invite you to play a part in the everyday life of the company. A gift of $100 or more will be recognised on our website and in our annual report, and gifts over $1,000 will be recognised in our souvenir programs.
Philanthropy is vital to The Australian Ballet’s future. If you would like more information on how you can play your part, I would be more than happy to speak with you.
Kenneth Watkins Philanthropy Director 03 9669 2780 [email protected]
Nick Hays Philanthropy Manager 03 9669 2732 [email protected]
Nicola Kaldor Philanthropy Manager NSW 02 9253 5317 [email protected]
Ben Lee Patrons Manager VIC/TAS 03 9669 2735 [email protected]
Jane Diamond Patrons Manager NSW/ACT 02 9253 5316 [email protected]
Adam Santilli Patrons Manager SA 03 9669 2784 [email protected]
ANNUAL GIVING TEAM
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Painting pointe shoes for the playing cards in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland©
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Tutu for the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker
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The Mad Hatter’s waistcoat from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland©
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Flamingo heads for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland©
O U R COST U M E WO R KS H O P
Playing cards and sugar plums, scissors, paint and pins: our costume atelier is a beguiling mix of the fantastic and the practical. It is here, from the skilled hands of artisans working with techniques handed down from generation to generation, that enchantment takes shape. Pointe shoes turn crimson, a tutu acquires spun-sugar layers, a waistcoat blooms with flowers. In our Production department, a city is built, a golden floor gleams. Piece by painstaking piece, the magic of our 2019 season is made.
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Kim Carpenter’s set designs for The Happy Prince
Collette Dinnigan is one of Australia’s most celebrated and popular designers. Her whimsical, fairytale aesthetic is a perfect match for ballet, and she has collaborated with our company several times. In 2003, she created a piece for our TUTU exhibition, in which twelve Australian fashion designers were asked to interpret the iconic costume. In 2012 and 2014, Collette designed a children’s range with The Australian Ballet and Target.
You can see Collette’s sublime TUTU creation in these pages, along with select pieces from her archival collections. Many thanks to Collette for dressing our dancers in truly enchanting style.
COLLETTE DINNIGAN AO
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Kim Carpenter’s costume design for the Swallow and Prince (left) and for the Reed (right) in The Happy Prince
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Ribbons for the Mirliton tutu, and the The Nutcracker doll from The Nutcracker
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STEP INSIDEMELBOURNE
BEHIND THE SCENES 10 June
Post-performance Q&A 10 June
McAllister in Conversation 15 June
STEP INSIDESYDNEY
McAllister in Conversation 4 May
Post-performance Q&A 6 May
BEHIND THE SCENES 17 May
STEP INSIDESYDNEY
McAllister in Conversation 6 April
Post-performance Q&A 8 April
AURUM PROGRAM 17 April
BEHIND THE SCENES 24 April
STEP INSIDEBRISBANE
BEHIND THE SCENES 1 March
McAllister in Conversation 2 March
MELBOURNE
BEHIND THE SCENES 22 March
McAllister in Conversation 23 March
Post-performance Q&A 25 March
19 – 28 Mar The Happy Prince
MELBOURNE
1 – 18 May The Happy Prince
SYDNEY
8 – 22 Jun Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland© MELBOURNE
5 – 25 Apr Verve
SYDNEY
JULFEB MAR APR MAY JUN
25 Feb – 2 Mar Alice’s Adventures
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27 Jun – 6 Jul Les Ballets de
Monte-Carlo - LAC MELBOURNE
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STEP INSIDESYDNEY
Post-performance Q&A 2 December
BEHIND THE SCENES 6 December
McAllister in Conversation 7 December
STEP INSIDESYDNEY
McAllister in Conversation 9 November
Post-performance Q&A 11 November
BEHIND THE SCENES 15 November
STEP INSIDEADELAIDE
BEHIND THE SCENES 11 October
Post-performance Q&A 11 October
McAllister in Conversation 12 October
STEP INSIDEMELBOURNE
Post-performance Q&A 2 September
BEHIND THE SCENES 6 September
McAllister in Conversation 7 September
ONCE UPON A TIME: THE NUTCRACKER 19 September
McAllister in Conversation 21 September
Post-performance Q&A 23 September
BEHIND THE SCENES 27 September
8 – 12 Oct The Nutcracker
ADELAIDE
17 – 28 Sep The Nutcracker MELBOURNE
8 – 23 Nov Sylvia
SYDNEY
2 0 1 9 A Y E A R O F E N C H A N T M E N T
AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
31 Aug – 10 Sep Sylvia
MELBOURNE
30 Nov – 18 Dec The Nutcracker
SYDNEY
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Ballet doesn’t sparkle without skill and sweat. Find out how the magic happens with our annual series of events and talks.
ST E P I N S I D E
BEHIND THE SCENES
Every morning, six days a week, our dancers take class. Get a privileged, in-theatre view of their training, with commentary by artistic staff, then sit in as our top dancers rehearse for an upcoming production.
ONCE UPON A TIME: THE NUTCRACKER
Sugarplums, waltzing flowers and a giant Christmas tree! Once Upon a Time: The Nutcracker is created especially for girls and boys. The fully staged production is set to live music and has narration, interaction and a kid-friendly running time.
McALLISTER IN CONVERSATION
Our artistic director chats to principal artists, choreographers, designers, and international dance stars in this intimate series of talks. Moving, frank and funny insights into the lives of our top creatives.
BALLET CENTRE TOURS
Come inside our Melbourne home! In our newly renovated Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre, you’ll see tutus being constructed, dancers rehearsing and our state-of-the-art pointe shoe room.
PRODUCTION CENTRE
Ride by town car to see our Production Centre in Altona, home to 55 years’ worth of costumes, sets and props, on a special guided tour.
AURUM
“The dancers, the music, the softness, the love, the poetry, the lighting. The pure beauty of it all brought tears to my eyes.” – Aurum audience member
Don’t just take a lunchbreak, take a break from the everyday. Join us for Alice Topp’s Aurum, which premiered in 2018 to lavish praise from audiences and critics. This work combines powerful movement, raw emotion and a stunning gilded design. Accompanied by live orchestra.
ADD THREE OR MORE EVENTS TO YOUR 2019 SEASON PACKAGE AND SAVE 25%
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T H E M U S I C
VERVE
The scores of Verve demonstrate the incredible variety of music that inspires choreographers. For Constant Variants, Stephen Baynes chose Tchaikovsky’s charming, very classical Variations on a Rococo Theme; it was conceived as a tribute to Mozart, whom Tchaikovsky greatly admired.
Alice Topp chose the music of Ludovico Einaudi, a contemporary Italian pianist and composer, for her ballet Aurum. Einaudi studied classical music composition but was also fascinated by music of the Beatles, Hendrix and Pink Floyd. Like Tchaikovsky, he has a talent for appealing melodies and emotive musical language.
For Tim Harbour’s Filigree and Shadow, a score was commissioned from the German musicians of 48nord. The result was a powerful electronic piece, using the most sophisticated of 21st-century computer techniques. It is the perfect, unsettling partner to Tim’s exploration of human aggression.
THE HAPPY PRINCE
It is always a thrill to commission a score especially for one of our productions. The music for Graeme Murphy’s new ballet The Happy Prince will be created by the award-winning composer Christopher Gordon, who has written extensively for film (Mao’s Last Dancer, Ladies in Black, Master and Commander); he also wrote the score for Murphy’s 2015 ballet Giselle and the Wraith Queen.
SYLVIA, OU LA NYMPHE DE DIANE
Sylvia premiered in 1876, in Paris; it was composed by one of the most influential French composers of operas and ballets in the 19th century, Léo Delibes, now best known for Coppélia. Sylvia had quite an impact on fellow composers, including Tchaikovsky who, in 1877 wrote: “Without any false modesty whatsoever, I can assure you that The Lake of Swans is not fit even to hold a candle to Sylvia. I was utterly enchanted!”
Delibes uses the orchestra inventively to depict place and character: hunting horns, seductive and charming woodwind melodies, and symphonic strings give the work strength and character.
THE NUTCRACKER
The Nutcracker premiered at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in 1892 and was instantly recognised for its genius. The music for the two acts highlights differing aspects of Tchaikovsky’s talents as a ballet composer. Act I contains more of the ‘symphonic’ style of writing, with which he had made such an impact in Swan Lake. Reflecting the fact that much of the story-telling occurs in the first act, the music truly drives the action and the drama.
In Act II, we head into the region of the divertissement as Clara is taken on her journey through the Land of Sweets. And here, Tchaikovsky demonstrates that nobody could match him in delivering music that supports the dancers on stage as they strut their stuff, showing off balletic tricks as Arabian, Chinese and Russian characters, accompanied by masterful musical morsels.
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Composed by Joby Talbot in 2010, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was the first full-length ballet score written for The Royal Ballet in 20 years, and it is a masterpiece of colour, humour and musical narrative. Talbot rivals Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev in his construction of a score which brilliantly ‘tells’ the story: he delineates the characters, suggesting their emotions, thoughts and development; his music creates architecture and structure for the action. It is humorous, engrossing and entertaining.
Talbot’s colour palette is vivid and ingenious, with a ram’s horn, pots and pans, keyboard instruments, a scordatura violin and exotic orchestral instruments of various kinds augmenting the traditional symphony orchestra, creating a musical panorama to match the scenic colour on stage.
SWAN LAKE (FOR LAC)
In 1875 Tchaikovsky was asked to write the score for a new ballet, Swan Lake, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Tchaikovsky was interested in ballet as an art form but, at first, he was reluctant to take the commission. Composition for ballet was largely seen as a second-rate occupation. Thankfully, Tchaikovsky eventually decided to accept the challenge. He brought his genius as a composer of symphonic music, his theatrical knowledge, his innate lyrical flair and dramatic sensibility to the world of dance, and created music which didn’t simply underscore the action but drove it, dictated it, with immense power.
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CHIEF CONDUCTOR NICOLETTE FRAILLON TAKES US THROUGH
THE MUSIC OF 2019
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T H A N K YO U
THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET
Artistic Director David McAllister AM
Executive Director Libby Christie
Music Director & Chief Conductor Nicolette Fraillon AM
CAMPAIGN CREDITS
Campaign creative The Australian Ballet
Garments Collette Dinnigan
Photography Georges Antoni, The Artist Group Justin Ridler, Hart & Co Taylor-Ferné Morris
Styling Michelle Jank, The Artist Group, Lydia-Jane Saunders, LJS Styling and Emily Ward, Hart & Co
Make-up Linda Jefferyes, The Artist Group, Nicole Thompson, Union Management and Ben Davis
Hair Sophie Roberts, The Artist Group, Alan White, MAP and Ben Davis
Artisans photography Kate Longley, Ally Deacon and Jessica Bialek
BROCHURE CREDITS
Front cover Benedicte Bemet Pages 2-3 Ako Kondo Page 4 Benedicte Bemet Pages 6-7 Natasha Kusen, Christopher Rodgers-Wilson, Isobelle Dashwood Page 8 Amber Scott, Valerie Tereshchenko Page 11 Adam Bull Page 12 Callum Linnane, Valerie Tereshchenko
Page 15 Artists of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo Photography by Alice Blangero Page 16 Lana Jones Page 19 Cristiano Martino, Robyn Hendricks Pages 20-21 Cristiano Martino, Brett Chynoweth, Evie Ferris, Adam Bull, Amy Harris, Benedicte Bemet, Lisa Craig, Ako Kondo, Yuumi Yamada, Chengwu Guo Page 22 Adam Bull Page 24 Chengwu Guo (top), Ako Kondo, Amy Harris (bottom) Page 25 Callum Linnane, Isobelle Dashwood Page 30 Ako Kondo Page 31 Brett Chynoweth (top), Lisa Craig (bottom) Page 32 Benedicte Bemet Page 34 Chengwu Guo, Brett Chynoweth, Cristiano Martino Page 35 Evie Ferris Page 37 Amy Harris
Page 39 Natasha Kusen
CONTACT US
The Australian Ballet Level 6, The Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre 2 Kavanagh Street Southbank Victoria 3006
Customer Experience Team PO Box 838 South Melbourne Victoria 3205
1300 369 741
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Find out more at australianballet.com.au
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