Royal Ballet Sinfonia v. Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

[Chris]

I only just noticed that the orchestra for the performance of La Bayadère that I booked is the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Other performances have the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, as do all the other RB ballets I've booked. I know I saw the Sinfonia accompanying the Birmingham Royal Ballet when they came to London last year and my recollection is that they were very good. Does anyone know whether one is better than the other or why they've done this?

[Jan McNulty]

I don't know why they do it, but the Royal Ballet Sinfonia do accompany the RB on a semi-regular basis. They also accompany some visiting companies. I think the Royal Ballet Sinfonia are terrific but I am much more familiar with them. Certainly when I have visited ROH the house orchestra have always sounded good to me too,

 

I think we are very lucky with the companies in this country all having excellent orchestras.

[alison]

I noticed this too, Chris. I wondered whether it had anything to do with a high opera workload for the ROH orchestra at the time. The RBS do certainly appear with some frequency at the ROH, when they're not needed for their home company, but it's usually playing work that's within "their" rep, I think, which Bayadère isn't.

[Ian Macmillan]

Something from this morning's Links:

 

http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/music-in-birmingham/2013/01/25/birmingham-royal-ballet-sinfonia-orchestra-is-one-big-happy-family-65233-32653261/

[DavidW]

Am I right in thinking that the BBC Phil (or maybe it's the BBC Concert Orch) play for some RB Nutcracker performances?

[alison]

Unusual, but then Barry Wordsworth does have links with the BBC Concert Orch., I think.  Not sure about the BBC Phil, but I do think I remember raising my eyebrows at one unusual RB/orchestra combination.