Press Release: Birmingham Royal Ballet presents A Valentine's Celebration of Music and Dance on 14-15 February

[Jan McNulty]

 
PRESS RELEASE 
15 January 2020

 

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

- ENDS -

 

LISTINGS INFORMATION:

A Valentine’s Celebration of Music and Dance 

14 – 15 February 2020
 

Birmingham Symphony Hall
Broad St, Birmingham B1 2EA; 0121 780 3333 thsh.co.uk/
Friday 14 February 2020, 7.30pm
Tickets from £15.50

Conductor: Paul Murphy
Compere: Nick Owen
 

Butterworth Hall, Warwick Arts Centre
Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL; 024 7652 4524 warwickartscentre.co.uk/
Saturday 15 February 2020, 7.30pm
Tickets from £15.50

 

Conductor: Paul Murphy
Compere: Dr Ranj Singh

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Birmingham Royal Ballet 
Based at Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Royal Ballet is the United Kingdom’s leading touring ballet company performing a range of traditional, classical and heritage ballets as well as ground-breaking new works with the aim of encouraging choreographers of the future.

 

The company’s Director from January 2020 is the internationally renowned Carlos Acosta.

 

Birmingham Royal Ballet performs at Birmingham Hippodrome for approximately ten weeks of the year and the remainder of the year tours throughout the United Kingdom and overseas.

 

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is Britain's busiest ballet orchestra, playing for Birmingham Royal Ballet's wide-ranging programme. The Sinfonia also plays frequently for The Royal Ballet and other leading ballet companies, including performances with; The Royal Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, New York City Ballet, Australian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Kirov, Norwegian Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and La Scala Ballet.

[Jan McNulty]

The danced excerpts look exciting!!

[Odyssey]

Really looking forward to this. I’ve gone for tickets at Warwick Arts Centre this time. I believe it’s the first time they have repeated a performance of this annual showcase event at this venue.

edited to say It will be strange not having Sir David Bintley (how good does that sound?) present the programme.

incidentally, does anyone know if he has had his award presented at the Palace yet?

Edited January 15, 2020 by Odyssey