Jan McNulty Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 (edited) ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET TO PERFORM AT CORONATION FESTIVAL English National Ballet will take part in three Gala performances in the grounds of Buckingham Palace as part of the Coronation Festival in July. The Company will perform Tempus a specially commissioned piece paying tribute to Her Majesty The Queen and the incredible era of change during her reign. Choreographed by George Williamson to a new score by composer Christopher Mayo, the ballet will have costumes designed by Julien Macdonald. Tamara Rojo, English National Ballet’s Artistic Director, will dance alongside Esteban Berlanga, Daria Klimentová, Vadim Muntagirov, Fernanda Oliveira, Zhanat Atymtayev, Bridgett Zehr, Ken Saruhashi, Ksenia Ovsyanick and Junor Souza. English National Ballet’s Associate Artist George Williamson said: “I am excited and honoured to be creating a piece for the Coronation Festival. Tempus is inspired by the great changes which have taken place during The Queen's reign. I have tried to evoke a sense of transition and memories but ultimately I wanted to create a ballet that celebrates the last 60 years and looks to the future of the art form. The Galas form part of the Coronation Festival - a unique public event hosted by The Royal Warrant Holders Association, which will celebrate the very best of UK PLC. The Coronation Festival Gala will encapsulate the Festival’s themes of excellence and innovation with a particular focus on youth, in a celebration of the past 60 years of Performing Arts. The Fanfare Trumpeters from the Household Division will open the Gala evening followed by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa who will sing The National Anthem. This will begin a musical journey through Britain and the Commonwealth since HM The Queen’s Coronation. Ends For further information about English National Ballet 2013/14 Performance Schedule visit www.ballet.org.uk. You can find English National Ballet on Facebook and Twitter @ENBallet Notes to Editors The Festival will be open to members of the public from Friday 12 to Sunday 14 July. There will be a Royal Preview on Thursday, 11th July for invited guests only. • Daytime Festival tickets of £30 per person are still available for purchase via www.coronationfestival.com • Tickets for the Coronation Galas have sold out but the Gala will be broadcast on TV and radio. Full broadcast details will be issued to the public soon. • Opening times to the public between Friday 12 July – Sunday 14 July 2013 are 9.30am – 4.00pm for day-time ticket holders; and 5.30pm – 9.30pm for evening ticket holders. There is no evening event on Sunday, 14 July. • The Royal Warrant Holders Association is hosting The Coronation Festival, which will showcase over 200 of the companies who have supplied goods or services for at least five years to the Households of The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh or The Prince of Wales. • Royal Warrants have always been regarded as hallmarks of quality, excellence and service. • The Coronation Festival is being held in the 60th anniversary year of The Queen’s Coronation. • The Festival’s Charity partner will be the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), the charitable arm of the Royal Warrant Holders Association, which helps financially disadvantaged crafts people to further their skills through the funding of higher education and training. • Media 10 are the event organisers for The Coronation Festival • Raymond Gubbay Limited is producing the Coronation gala. Edited May 2, 2013 by Janet McNulty Edited for minor detail on request by originator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I didn't even know there was a Coronation Festival. Oops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 A wonderful opportunity for ENB and so nice that it will be on TV. But am I alone in thinking that it would have been appropriate for at least one UK-born dancer to have had the honour of dancing at the Palace? I don't want to re-open the arguments voiced on another thread and I am very appreciative of the artistry of all the dancers listed. Just a thought, however..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Yes, capybara. I think that you make a fair point. And I note that Elena is not included in this gala either. Btw, how can the tickets for the gala be sold out already? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 At first I thought it said they were going to perform at Coronation Street.! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Btw, how can the tickets for the gala be sold out already? If you go to the website listed above for the Coronation festivities, it indicates that the event is being organised by the Royal Warrant Holders of which there are some 200. Presumably they hoovered up all the tickets before anything was made known publicly - and that was done only yesterday, it seems, as the details were in the Evening Standard then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
restor Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 A wonderful opportunity for ENB and so nice that it will be on TV. But am I alone in thinking that it would have been appropriate for at least one UK-born dancer to have had the honour of dancing at the Palace? I don't want to re-open the arguments voiced on another thread and I am very appreciative of the artistry of all the dancers listed. Just a thought, however..... Like perhaps most people I would prefer to see a top company rather than a 4th rate one with only English dancers - but the questions about taxpayer funding foreign artists raised elsewhere are highlighted by this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 The show is being broadcast this coming Saturday (13th July) at 7.00pm to 8.20pm on BBC1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveclassics Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Like perhaps most people I would prefer to see a top company rather than a 4th rate one with only English dancers - but the questions about taxpayer funding foreign artists raised elsewhere are highlighted by this. Exactly. If this is meant to be 'a celebration of UK Plc' then it should certainly include SOME UK born and trained dancers. As for '4th rate' - whatever can you mean? Are there no first rate British dancers in the ENB or BRB to name but two companies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 A little bird has suggested that there may now be a couple of UK dancers appearing in ENB's contribution to the Gala performance! We shall see when the show airs on BBC1 on Saturday. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Rather seems to be suggested in the article in Today's Links. Talking of which, I'd guess from yesterday's Evening Standard that it would be worthwhile for ENB fans to pick up a copy of the ES Magazine tonight if they're able to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Some ENB Friends have had a communication to say that the cast for the Coronation festival show is as follows: Daria Klimentova, Vadim Muntagirov, Nancy Osbaldeston, Esteban Berlanga, Bridgett Zehr, Guilherme Menezes; Ksenia Ovsyanick, Zhanet Atymtayev, Barry Drummond, Fernanda Oliviera. So we have an Englishwoman and a Scotsman there. Great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichelleS Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 But a few more than that who trained in this country and in particular at ENBS, so am pleased to see them featured. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hfbrew Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Exactly. If this is meant to be 'a celebration of UK Plc' then it should certainly include SOME UK born and trained dancers. As for '4th rate' - whatever can you mean? Are there no first rate British dancers in the ENB or BRB to name but two companies? Well said, I know of many first rate UK dancers in both well known and lesser known smaller companies. Surely Northern springs to mind automatically as being a first rate company with lots of excellent British dancers! I could say more about some other smaller touring companies who would justifiably be very upset about being judged 4th rate but that would veer off the thread somewhat! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Of the ten dancers listed above six did some of their training in the UK two of whom are British. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Did anyone see Tempus in the flesh? It didn't seem to translate well to television but that may have been because of some unsympathetic camera angles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 14, 2013 Author Share Posted July 14, 2013 I thought the camera angles were awful for the whole show! It looked as though there were some interesting moves that we were mostly missing on TV! I thought the costumes looked fabulous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsomerset Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Did anyone see Tempus in the flesh? It didn't seem to translate well to television but that may have been because of some unsympathetic camera angles. I too thought it was disappointing on the television but the music put me off before they started dancing. I hope it was better 'live' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Have to agree with the comments above the camera angles were atrocious for the ballet - you could not even see the feet and I think had I been sat in the audience live it would have been no better - too far away. The costumes did look like they were fabulous but again not one close up zoom in on any of the dancers. Matthew Bourne's piece was nice but again only what you could see of it - it suffered from a dark stage and the dancers all in black! As to the Coronation Gala tickets question the tickets were on public sale I think before Christmas or else new year via the Royal Collection website - I am pretty sure - I often check there for exhibitions at the Palaces so there was no hiding of the tickets they just got snapped up as soon as they went on sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackqueen Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 I loved the Tempus, pity about stage/cameras not really suitable for the ballet and those awful big boxes at the front of stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strawberyy Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 I didn't see it live but it was a cut down version. The whole piece is 8 minutes long. I also thought the camera work was dreadful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 I loved the Tempus, pity about stage/cameras not really suitable for the ballet and those awful big boxes at the front of stage. They could have done more to reposition the monitors at the front of the stage so they were less obtrusive, I agree. Oh yes, and holding the darned tv cameras still for more than a millisecond would have helped a bit too... all that zooming in and out and shots from every angle except from the front - did they have the trainee vision-mixers in for the day? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Ugh, yes, I totally agree. Awful if you were actually trying to *watch* the dancing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now