BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET CELEBRATES VALENTINE’S WEEKEND WITH A ROMANTIC FLOURISH OF EXQUISITE ORCHESTRAL CLASSICS AND PAS DE DEUX
Birmingham Royal Ballet and its internationally acclaimed orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia led by Principal Conductor Paul Murphy, present an exquisite evening of romance with A Valentine’s Celebration of Music and Dance this February. Birmingham Royal Ballet Director Carlos Acosta will introduce the company from the stage of Birmingham’s magnificent Symphony Hall on Friday 14 February 2020, and on Saturday 15 February 2020 the company and Royal Ballet Sinfonia will perform together for the first time at Warwick Arts Centre.
Birmingham Royal Ballet offers an elegant pairing of music and dance over this year’s Valentine’s weekend; a perfect matchmaking of its world-class dancers performing sumptuous pas de deux from the romantic classical canon, including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote and a world premiere of choreography by First Soloist Kit Holder, along with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Britain’s most prolific ballet orchestra, performing stunning orchestral highlights from Puccini, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.
Valentine’s Day will mark Carlos Acosta’s first public appearance as Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Director, as he takes to the stage at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall in conversation with the night’s compere, BBC One’s Midlands Today Presenter, Nick Owen (Good Morning with Anne and Nick).
Birmingham Royal Ballet will visit Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre for the first time, with A Valentine’s Celebration of Music and Dance on Saturday 15 February. This second night of performances will be compered by Dr Ranj Singh, This Morning Doctor in Residence (and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant), who previously presented a live broadcast from Birmingham Royal Ballet as part of BBC Arts and One Dance UK’s #DancePassion festival in April last year.
PROGRAMME:
Gershwin: Girl Crazy Overture
Tchaikovsky/ Petipa: Swan Lake Act III (White Swan) Pas de Deux and coda
Cast: Samara Downs & Yasuo Atsuji
Prokofiev: Waltz and Midnight Act II from Cinderella
Reade/ Bintley: Far from the Madding Crowd swordplay Pas de Deux
Cast: Delia Mathews & Tyrone Singleton
Rodgers/ Bennett: Oklahoma selection
Messager/ Ashton: The Two Pigeons pas de deux
Cast: Maureya Lebowitz & Max Maslen
INTERVAL
Tchaikovsky: Polonaise from Eugene Onegin
Grieg/ Holder: Piano Concerto and The Breath We Took (World Premier)
Cast: Céline Gittens & Brandon Lawrence
Rosanna Ely, Alys Shee, Alexander Yap, Haoliang Feng
Puccini: Manon Lescaut Intermezzo
Prokofiev/ MacMillan: Romeo and Juliet balcony Pas de Deux
Cast: Yaoqian Shang & César Morales
Lehár: The Merry Widow Overture
Minkus/ Petipa: Don Quixote Pas de Deux and Solos
Cast: Momoko Hirata & Mathias Dingman