Press Release: Collaborators release special musical track from Akram Khan's Creature for ENB

[Jan McNulty]

 

01/04/2020
7:30pm BST

Collaborators release special musical track from Creature

 

 

The track, Closer and Closer, is part of the original score Lamagna composed for Creature. It is released alongside a new film by Dos, featuring English National Ballet Lead Principal Jeffrey Cirio, and studio rehearsals for the production with Cirio and fellow dancers from the Company. 

 

Vincenzo Lamagna said: “On the 1st of April 2020 English National Ballet was due to premiere Creature by Akram Khan with an original score by myself.

 

It goes without saying that due to the current Covid19 pandemic the performances have been postponed and the final period of creation frozen. It is the right and only thing to do, to protect everyone’s life and respect the ones more heavily affected by the situation.

 

But it comes with a sense of regret, for not being able to connect with you through what we have created.

It is with the desire of connection that together with Akram and English National Ballet we have decided to release one of the tracks I composed for the ballet accompanied by a short film by Maxime Dos. When I landed upon a hymn by St. Thomas Aquinas, it was clear that I found the right words to express both the emotional journey of our “Creature” and my feelings around the present global crisis. I truly believe that this surreal experience, if accepted with an open heart, could reveal a treasure for our humanity; a chance to shed our old skin and embrace a new way of living.

I hope that this music and these images may resonate with you and make us feel a little closer. Be well, be strong and see you on the other side.”

 

Closer and Closer has been released today on Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud. At 7.30pm tonight, a new art-film featuring the track will be released on YouTube and across the collaborators' social media platforms. 

 

A co-production between English National Ballet and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, with co-producers Sadler’s Wells, Creature is the third collaboration between renowned choreographer Akram Khan and English National Ballet, and the second ballet that Lamagna has scored for ENB and Akram Khan. An unearthly tale of exploitation and human frontiers, it’s inspired by Georg Büchner’s expressionist classic Woyzeck, with shadows of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Drawing on themes of abandonment, isolation and the fragility of the mind, Creature is the tale of an outsider and the search for belonging.  

 

Creature was due to premiere on 01 April 2020. Following government advice about Coronavirus COVID-19, these performances were cancelled. The World Premiere of Creature will now be 11- November 2020, at Sadler’s Wells London, with performances through 15 November. Cunard is Production Sponsor.

 

-ENDS- 

English National Ballet is a National Portfolio Organisation supported by Arts Council England.
NatWest is Principal Partner of English National Ballet.  

 

 

Notes to Editors

About English National Ballet 
English National Ballet has a long and distinguished history. Founded in 1950 as London Festival Ballet by the great English Dancers Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, it has been at the forefront of ballet's growth and evolution ever since.

 

English National Ballet brings world class ballet to the widest possible audience through performances across the UK and on eminent international stages including The Bolshoi Theatre and Palais Garnier; its distinguished orchestra, English National Ballet Philharmonic; and being a UK leader in creative learning and engagement practice, building innovative partnerships to deliver flagship programmes such as English National Ballet's Dance for Parkinson's.

 

Under the artistic directorship of Tamara Rojo CBE, English National Ballet has introduced ground-breaking new works to the Company's repertoire whilst continuing to honour the tradition of great classical ballet, gaining acclaim for artistic excellence and creativity. 2019 saw English National Ballet enter a new chapter in its history with a move into a purpose-built state-of-the-art home in East London which brings a renewed commitment to, and freedom for, creativity, ambition, and connection to more people, near and far, than ever before.
www.ballet.org.uk

 

About Akram Khan Company
Co-founded in 2000 by award-winning choreographer Akram Khan and producer Farooq Chaudhry, Akram Khan Company has established itself as one of the foremost innovative dance companies, performing to sell-out audiences in leading festivals and venues around the world.

 

Embracing Khan’s artistic vision that both respects and challenges tradition and modernity, the Company has become renowned for its intercultural, interdisciplinary collaborations, and has developed a significant range of works from classical kathak and modern solos to artist-to-artist duets and ensemble productions. A milestone in the Company’s journey was the creation of a section of the London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in 2012.

 

The Company has been showered with prestigious honours including an Olivier Award for DESH and XENOS, and a record-breaking eight Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. Akram Khan Company enjoys artistic association with Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, Curve in Leicester, and other leading venues and festivals around the world.
www.akramkhancompany.net

 

About Vincenzo Lamagna
Vincenzo Lamagna is a musician, composer and producer. His music is known for its visceral, emotive and edgy language that utilises a mercurial combination of acoustic and electronic sounds, recognised for their ferocious industrial undertones, haunted melodies and cinematic soundscapes.
For the last 20 years, he has been working as a solo artist as well as carving a niche in the contemporary dance world through collaborations with Hofesh Shechter and Akram Khan, among others.

 

From 2010 to 2014 he performed as a core musician in Hofesh Shechter’s ‘Political Mother’, touring worldwide venues such as the Sydney Opera House, Theatre De la Ville and Sadler’s Wells. Collaborations with Akram Khan include his first full- length score for the award-winning production ‘Until The Lions’ which premiered in January 2016 at The Roundhouse in London. His ground-breaking full-length score for the 21st century adaptation of the romantic ballet ‘Giselle’ has been unanimously praised by both press and audiences and led to Vincenzo being nominated for the ‘Emerging Artist Award’ by The Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards in 2017. Lamagna’s collaboration with Akram Khan for his final full-length solo ‘Xenos’ premiered at the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens in January 2018. His latest collaboration with Akram Khan Company titled 'Outwitting The Devil' premiered on the main stage of Avignon Festival in July 2019.

 

About Maxime Dos
Graduated in 2005 from Institut des Métiers de la Communication Audiovisuelle (IMCA) in Avignon, Maxime Dos is based in Biarritz, France and works as a film director, cameraman, editor and graphic designer around the world.

Since 2010, he has been developing a striking visual identity for the internationally renowned dance company Akram Khan Company, producing trailers, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and full recordings of performances. His versatile and creative skills in post-production, including sound and motion design, enable him to develop strong and extremely diverse aesthetics that resonate with each production.

Maxime also works with the contemporary dance company Jean-Claude Gallotta for whom he has made numerous recordings of dance performances, as well as teasers and video scenography concepts.

 

About Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people's lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries - from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
www.artscouncil.org.uk