Birmingham Royal Ballet News

Lots of exciting news to reveal from Birmingham Royal Ballet - the Company's 20th Anniversary celebrations begin with The Sleeping Beauty and an evening of music and dance, for one night only, hosted by Alan Titchmarsh :

Nao Sakuma as Princess Aurora and Chi Cao as Prince Florimund

Photograph :  Bill Cooper

MEDIA RELEASE: 18.01.2010

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET BRINGS CLASSIC FAIRYTALE TO LIFE AT BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME

Sir Peter Wright’s THE SLEEPING BEAUTY MARKS THE START OF THE COMPANY’S 20th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to Birmingham Hippodrome with Sir Peter Wright’s timeless production of the classic fairytale The Sleeping Beauty. A ballet for all the family, The Sleeping Beauty promises to delight audiences from Wednesday 3 March – Saturday 13 March 2010, and marks the start of the 20th anniversary celebrations commemorating the Company’s relocation to the City of Birmingham in 1990.

The Sleeping Beauty, considered by many to be one of the greatest classical ballets from Imperial Russia, will be performed during Birmingham Royal Ballet’s spring season at the Company’s resident theatre, before embarking on a UK Tour that will include dates at the London Coliseum during the Sadler’s Wells Spring Dance Season.

With a cast of over 80, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s lavish production tells the story of Princess Aurora; the wicked fairy Carabosse announces her curse that the Princess will one day prick her finger and die. Luckily, the Lilac Fairy declares that although Aurora will indeed prick her finger she will not die, but instead she will fall into a deep sleep from which she will be awoken after a hundred years by the kiss of a handsome prince.

With Tchaikovsky’s score and original choreography by Marius Petipa, the thrilling production is by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director laureate, Sir Peter Wright, creator of the Company’s popular production of The Nutcracker. Philip Prowse, the designer responsible for the Company’s Swan Lake, provides the designs for sumptuous baroque style sets and over 150 beautiful hand-sewn costumes adding the grandeur to lighting by Mark Jonathan.

The Sleeping Beauty performance dates at Birmingham Hippodrome:

Wed 3 – Sat 6 March & Thurs 11 – Sat 13 March at 7.30pm
Thurs 4 & Fri 12 March at 2pm
Saturdays 6 & 13 March at 2.30pm

Tickets: 0844 338 5000

The Sleeping Beauty UK touring dates:
Sunderland Empire 17 – 20 March 2010
Theatre Royal, Plymouth 23 – 27 March 2010
The Lowry, Salford 30 March – 3 April 2010
London Coliseum 20 April – 24 April 2010

Nao Sakuma as Princess Aurora and Chi Cao as Prince Florimund

Photograph : Bill Cooper

Media release: 18.01.2010

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S AN EVENING OF MUSIC AND DANCE AT SYMPHONY HALL BIRMINGHAM

For one performance only, Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to Symphony Hall Birmingham, one of the world’s finest concert halls, for An Evening of Music and Dance on Saturday 20 February at 7.30pm.

Introduced by Alan Titchmarsh, radio and television presenter and passionate ballet fan, the evening will include excerpts from Birmingham Royal Ballet’s and The Royal Ballet Sinfonia’s diverse repertory as the Company prepares to celebrate 20 years in the City of Birmingham.

Under the baton of Principal Conductor Paul Murphy, The Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Britain's busiest ballet orchestra will perform music highlights from celebrated composers including Sibelius, Mahler (2010 marks the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth), Addinsell, Bliss, Mussorgsky, Ravel and Carl Davis.

Birmingham Royal Ballet Artists, including Principal dancers Nao Sakuma, Carol-Anne Millar, Gaylene Cummerfield, Robert Parker, Jamie Bond and Matthew Lawrence will perform short excerpts from the Company’s forthcoming season, including pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty and Slaughter on 10th Avenue.

A highlight of the evening will be the UK’s first presentation of dance and music excerpts from Company Director David Bintley’s Aladdin; a full length ballet he choreographed for the New National Theatre Ballet Company in Tokyo that premiered in Japan in the autumn 2008. Music for Aladdin is by Carl Davis and reunites the creative collaboration seen for the Company’s production of Cyrano.

An Evening of Music and Dance
Symphony Hall, Birmingham

7.30pm, Saturday 20th February 2010

£10 - £29.50

Town Hall & Symphony Hall Box Office: 0121 780 3333