Edward II is a ballet in two acts, with music by the English composer John McCabe.
Commissioned by Stuttgart Ballet, with a narrative conceived by choreographer David Bintley, the ballet largely follows the plot of Christopher Marlowe's play of the same name, rather than the life of the real Edward. Bintley incorporates elements of the 14th century satire Roman de Fauvel with the character of Edward, replacing that of the ass Fauvel, Piers Gaveston as the Fool, and Queen Isabella as the Virgin. As such, the narrative depicts the self-obsessed sexual relationships of the three main characters with the increasing civil unrest in the country as a backdrop.
Although McCabe's score uses motifs associated with music of medieval times, the treatment is modern, with the orchestra including a large battery of percussion as well as a celesta and electric guitar. [1]
The ballet was premiered in Stuttgart on 15 April 1995. The UK première was given by the Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 9 October 1997. The score was recorded by Hyperion Records in 1999, with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Barry Wordsworth.
Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company was established in 1946 as a sister company to the earlier Sadler's Wells company, which moved to the Royal Opera House that same year, subsequently becoming known as The Royal Ballet.
Joby Talbot is a British composer. He has written for a wide variety of purposes, with a broad range of styles, including instrumental and vocal concert music, film and television scores, pop arrangements and works for dance. He is known, to sometimes disparate audiences, for quite different works.
The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially for the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran is a British designer. He has worked on collections of womenswear and for the home, as well as productions for the stage in ballet, opera and theatre.
Sir Stephen Andrew Gill Hough is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality.
John McCabe was a British composer and pianist. He created works in many different forms, including symphonies, ballets, and solo works for the piano. He served as director of the London College of Music from 1983 to 1990. Guy Rickards praised him as "one of Britain's finest composers in the past half-century" and "a pianist of formidable gifts and wide-ranging sympathies".
Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He danced with many companies, including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. He was a permanent member of The Royal Ballet from 1998 to 2015. In 2003, he was promoted to principal guest artist, a rank that reduced his commitment, enabling him to concentrate on a growing schedule of international guest appearances and tours. He celebrated his farewell after 17 years at The Royal Ballet, dancing his last performance in November 2015 in Carmen, which he both choreographed and starred in.
Checkmate is a one act ballet created by the choreographer Ninette de Valois and composer Arthur Bliss. The idea for the ballet was proposed by Bliss, and subsequently produced by de Valois for the Vic-Wells Ballet. It was first performed on 15 June 1937 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris. Checkmate is widely regarded as de Valois' signature ballet and a cornerstone of the British ballet repertoire, being performed regularly by the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Sir Peter Wright CBE is a British ballet teacher, choreographer, director and former professional dancer. He worked as a choreographer and as the artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, a classical ballet company based in Birmingham, England. On retiring from the company in 1995, he was bestowed the honorary title of director laureate of the company.
Ambra Vallo is an Italian classical ballet dancer. Born in Naples, Italy, she was a principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Still Life at the Penguin Cafe is a ballet choreographed by David Bintley and featuring music composed by Simon Jeffes, founder of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It is also the title of the accompanying album. Geoffrey Richardson co-wrote one of the pieces. The name of the ballet is derived from that of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, which was Simon Jeffes' ensemble.
The Prince of the Pagodas is a ballet created for The Royal Ballet by choreographer John Cranko with music commissioned from Benjamin Britten. Its premiere took place on 1 January 1957 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, conducted by Britten.
Sir David Julian Bintley is an English former ballet dancer, the artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and co-artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo ballet company.
Kevin O'Hare is a British retired ballet dancer and current Director of The Royal Ballet. He succeeded Monica Mason in the role in 2012.
Aaron Robison is a British ballet dancer and currently a Principal Dancer with San Francisco Ballet. He was previously a Lead principal dancer with English National Ballet.
Richard Cragun was an American ballet dancer, teacher and ballet director who performed with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany from 1965 to 1996.
Stephen Jefferies is a retired ballet dancer, artistic director and choreographer. He was a senior principal dancer for The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada.
Onegin is a ballet created by John Cranko for the Stuttgart Ballet that premiered on 13 April 1965 at Staatstheater Stuttgart. The ballet was based on Alexander Pushkin's 1825–1832 novel Eugene Onegin, to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and arrangements by Kurt-Heinz Stolze. The ballet has since been in the repertoires of The Australian Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre and The Royal Ballet.
Momoko Hirata is a Japanese principal dancer for the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She attended the Reiko Yamamoto Ballet School before enrolling in the Royal Ballet School in the London, England. She won the 2001 Prix de Lausanne and joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2003. She was promoted to First Artist in 2005, Soloist in 2008, and First Soloist in 2010. She briefly danced with the Barcelona Ballet as a principal dancer in 2012, before returning to the Birmingham Royal Ballet where she was promoted to Principal in 2013.