Press Release: The National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet announce new collaboration in London

[Jan McNulty]

Canada 150: The National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada

 

May 19, 2017 Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, and Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, today announced that the two companies will collaborate in a unique performance of Robert Binet’s The Dreamers Ever Leave You in celebration of the 150^th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Receiving its UK premiere, the ballet will be performed by dancers from both companies in the vast industrial space of The Printworks, Canada Water in London from Thursday 12 to Friday 13 October.

 

First performed at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2016 The Dreamers Ever Leave You is inspired by the landscape paintings of Canadian artist Lawren Harris and is set to live music by Lubomyr Melnyk. This immersive work invites the audience to move through the Printworks, around the performance as shifting light and colour evoke Harris’ paintings of land, light and sky. The ever changing elements of the performance create a unique experience, as the dancers respond to the setting around them.

 

“The National Ballet of Canada has a long and meaningful relationship with The Royal Ballet and we are pleased to mark the occasion of Canada’s sesquicentennial with this landmark performance featuring dancers from both company,” said Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada.

 

Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet comments “The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada have worked together on many occasions and I’m thrilled that our dancers will perform together in what promises to be a unique dance experience in celebration of Canada’s 150^th anniversary.”

 

Robert Binet is the Choreographic Associate of The National Ballet of Canada and was Choreographic Apprentice of The Royal Ballet 2012-13. The Dreamers Ever Leave You is the latest in a series of collaborations between The National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet which includes co-productions of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale and the annual World Ballet Day live digital stream.  

 

The performances were announced today by the High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom, Karen Kain, Barry Hughson, Executive Director of the National Ballet, and Kevin O’Hare at a press conference held at Canada House in London, UK.

 

-END-

 

 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

 

The Dreamers Ever Leave You

Thursday 12 – Friday 13 October 2017

The Printworks, Canada Water, London SE16 7PJ

 

Tickets on sale Wednesday 26 July 2017.

 

The Royal Opera House Box Office:

Telephone: 020 7304 4000

www.roh.org.uk

 

Casting and ticket prices to be announced in due course.

 

The Printworks is a multipurpose performance space which once housed the printing presses for the London Metro and Evening Standard newspapers.

 

Robert Binet was born in Toronto and is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School. He was appointed Choreographic Associate of The National Ballet of Canada in 2013 and has created works for the company such as Unearth, set to an original score by Owen Pallett, These Worlds In Us, The Wild Space Between Two Hearts, Orpheus Becomes Eurydice, a co-production with The Banff Centre, The Dreamers Ever Leave You, a co- production with the Art Gallery of Ontario, as well as numerous works for the Choreographic Workshops, YOU dance programme and galas. In 2015, Mr. Binet spoke and presented excerpts of Orpheus Becomes Eurydice at TEDxToronto 2015 and created The Blue of Distance for New York City Ballet. Mr. Binet was the first-ever Choreographic Apprentice for The Royal Ballet from 2012 to 2013 and received mentorship from Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor. In 2016, Mr. Binet returned to create Void and Fire for The Royal Ballet for Mr. McGregor’s 10th anniversary celebrations. Mr. Binet has created works for the Dutch National Ballet’s junior company, Estonian National Ballet, German National Youth Ballet, The Genée International Ballet Competition and Ballet Black. He also choreographed the music video for Owen Pallett’s Song for Five & Six and Belle and Sebastian’s The Party Line.

 

Lubomyr Melnyk is a Canadian pianist and composer. In the mid-1970s, he developed a new piano technique called continuous music and, with it, an entirely new language for the piano with music based on the actual sound and over-tones of the piano. Continuous music requires an extremely high level of piano technique including a spectacular ability for speed and accuracy. Mr. Melnyk has performed piano concerts in almost every country of the Western world, as well as South America, China and Japan. His list of compositions spans a remarkable set of over 120 works, ranging from solo piano to works for multiple pianos, as well as chamber ensembles and full orchestra. He has been commissioned by many various artists and organizations including CBC Radio, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, ARRAY Ensemble and Swedish National Radio. Mr. Melnyk has recorded for CBC Radio, DeutchRundFunk, France RTF, as well as for the national radio of The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He has travelled extensively to lecture on piano technique and create master classes in classical piano in many of the world’s music colleges and conservatories, including the University of Montréal, University of Manitoba School of Music, Guelph University, Stockholm College of Music, Simon Fraser University and many more. Mr. Melnyk has recorded over 30 CD releases in Canada and in Europe. His music has been released on Erased Tapes of London, Hinterzimmer Records of Switzerland, Unseen Worlds of New York and SONY Classical.

 

Lawren Harris was a Canadian painter. He was born in Brantford, Ontario and is best known as a member of the Group of Seven who pioneered a distinctly Canadian painting style in the early 20th century. During the 1920s, Harris' works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian North and Arctic. In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. Mr. Harris died in 1970.

 

This year marks the 150^th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada. Learn more about major events and activities taking place across the country >

 

 

[Fonty]

I assume the booking for this will be part of the normal Autumn ROH booking, rather than an event with separate booking?

 

I shall be interested to go, not least because I live just round the corner from The Printworks.  This is indeed an enormous venue, much of it left as it was when the newspapers were printed there.  At the moment, there is a lot of effort being made to turn it into a performance space. I went on a visit organised for locals recently, and the lady showing me round said at the time that someone from the Royal Ballet was interested in performing there. The entire area around it at Canada Water is going to be developed into "a new, vibrant town." - by which they mean that there will be masses of new blocks of flats.  There are hints that the developers are desperate to get their hands on the Printworks as well, so it is great to see it being used for something like this.  

Edited May 20, 2017 by Fonty
Spelling correction

[bangorballetboy]

33 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I assume the booking for this will be part of the normal Autumn ROH booking, rather than an event with separate booking?

 

 

According to the press release tickets go on sale on 26 July, which is public booking for the Autumn period.