đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (2024)

The Royal Ballet announces 2023/24 Season


Public booking for The Royal Ballet season opens on Wednesday 2 August

đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (1)

The Royal Ballet presents a tapestry of works that celebrate the Company’s rich heritage and celebrated house choreographers, and brings creativity into spaces across the Royal Opera House with a Festival of New Choreography. The Season features revivals from Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan alongside contemporary classics by Wayne McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon and Cathy Marston.


The Company’s illustrious legacy from Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton and Principal Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan is marked in a number of productions. Ashton’s boundless invention is displayed in two mixed programmes, with The Dream and his virtuosic Rhapsody.


One of these programmes also features Les Rendezvous while the other includes Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, Hamlet and Ophelia, and a guest performance by The Sarasota Ballet of The Walk to the Paradise Garden. The Sarasota Ballet will also demonstrate the genius of Ashton in the Linbury Theatre with a vibrant array of his creative output.


The Royal Ballet and The Sarasota Ballet’s Ashton performances during the Season mark the opening of ASHTON WORLDWIDE, the Frederick Ashton Foundation’s five-year international festival conceived to celebrate the work and legacy of Frederick Ashton. Further information on the festival will be announced by the Foundation in due course.

đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (2)


Kenneth MacMillan’s dramatic flair is celebrated with the romantic tragedy Manon, which this Season celebrates its 50th birthday, and a mixed programme – Requiem, Danses Concertantes and Different Drummer – plus performances and a film premiere by Yorke Dance Project, illustrating the choreographer’s exceptional artistic development across the decades.


In other revivals, Carlos Acosta’s vibrant production of Don Quixote opens the Season for The Royal Ballet. This celebrated production, which premiered in 2013, is the perfect showcase for a Company dancing at its peak. The enduringly popular 19th-century classics The Nutcracker and Swan Lake will also feature in the Season.


Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor’s The Dante Project returns following its critically-acclaimed world premiere in 2021. Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, the afterlife is brought into blazing life through the poetic vision of McGregor and his creative team, including
pioneering composer Thomas AdĂšs and artist Tacita Dean.


Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet Christopher Wheeldon’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s late romance The Winter’s Tale celebrates its 10th anniversary. With striking designs by Bob Crowley and atmospheric music by Joby Talbot, The Winter’s Tale is widely considered a modern ballet classic.

Two award-winning works, Cathy Marston’s The Cellist, which takes its inspiration from the life and music of Jacqueline du PrĂ©, and Valentino Zucchetti’s breezy Anemoi, receive their first revivals in a mixed programme of powerful musical heft.


The Festival of New Choreography champions new and diverse choreographic voices through the many spaces of our iconic Covent Garden home. A collection of new work will be seen on the Main Stage, and also included is an immersive new work for The Royal Ballet by Robert Binet
presented in the Linbury Theatre and co-produced by the National Ballet of Canada.


The Royal Ballet presents the world premiere of a new production in the Linbury Theatre adapted from the play Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons by Sam Steiner. The Limit combines spoken word and dance with choreography by Royal Ballet Principal Character Artist Kristen McNally and direction by Ed Madden and features Royal Ballet Principals Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell in one of the casts. The Limit is set to a newly commissioned score by Isobel Waller-Bridge, who composed the score for the BBC series Fleabag as well as film scores for Vita and Virginia (2018) and Emma (2020).


We look to the future with our continued development of emerging creative and performing talent with Draft Works, International Draft Works and the Next Generation Festival. The Royal Ballet continues its long-standing commitment to fostering dance partnerships, with Northern Ballet, Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, Ballet Black and Sydney Dance Company in the Linbury Theatre.


Fallen Angels Dance Theatre make their Linbury Theatre debut. Led by Artistic Director Paul Bayes Kitcher, former Birmingham Royal Ballet soloist, the award-winning company supports those recovering from addiction and mental health adversity through dance, performance and
creativity. This work marks the first collaboration between Fallen Angels and New Note Orchestra, a Brighton-based collective of 18 musicians in recovery.


Northern Ballet return to the Linbury Theatre with a programme of new contemporary ballet, including the premiere of a new work by Royal Ballet Soloist Benjamin Ella and a work by New York City Ballet Principal Tiler Peck.


Ballet Black present a double bill featuring Will Tuckett’s Then or Now and Mthuthuzeli November’s Nina: By Whatever Means, a tribute to Nina Simone. Yorke Dance presents a new programme including work by Robert Cohan, Martha Graham and Kenneth MacMillan, and
Sydney Dance Company make their Linbury Theatre debut.

đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (3)


On Wednesday 1 November, World Ballet Day, a much-loved global celebration that brings together over 50 of the world’s leading ballet and dance companies, celebrates its tenth anniversary. Over the course of 24 hours, rehearsals, discussions and classes are streamed for free across six continents, offering unique behind-the-scenes glimpses of ballet’s biggest stars and exciting new performers.


Director of The Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare, said:
“As we approach next Season, we are thrilled to showcase the extraordinary artistry and skill of our brilliant dancers and orchestral performers in a fantastic range of heritage and award-winning contemporary classics. We also look forward to the creative energy that the Festival of New
Choreography will bring to the whole of the Royal Opera House, and to continuing to spread the love of ballet through our far-reaching global and UK-wide partnerships. We can’t wait to welcome back existing audiences and to connect with those new to the art form.”

The Royal Ballet 2023/24 Season

DON QUIXOTE
Main Stage
30 September – 17 November 2023
Production and choreography Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa
Music Ludwig Minkus
Arranged and orchestrated by Martin Yates
Designer Tim Hatley
Lighting Designer Hugh Vanstone
Conductor Valery Ovsyanikov
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Don Quixote, based on Miguel de Cervantes’ epic novel of the same name, regales the adventures of the eccentric nobleman Don Quixote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza, as they help to bring a vivacious young couple, Kitri and Basilio, together.


Teeming with wit and an abundance of bravura choreography, this energetic 19th-century ballet
is enlivened by Ludwig Minkus’ spirited score and is a wonderful showcase for the virtuosity of
The Royal Ballet’s Principal dancers. Created for The Royal Ballet a decade ago, Carlos Acosta’s exuberant production brings the sunshine and charm of Spain to the Main Stage with Tim Hatley’s characterful designs.

ANEMOI/ THE CELLIST
Main Stage
20 October – 2 November 2023

Anemoi
Choreography Valentino Zucchetti
Music Sergey Rachmaninoff
Romance orchestrated by Hans Vercauteren
Designer Jean-Marc Puissant
Lighting Designer Simon Bennison

The Cellist
Choreography Cathy Marston
Scenario Cathy Marston and Edward Kemp
Music Philip Feeney after Edward Elgar, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Gabriel Fauré, Felix Mendelssohn, Alfredo Piatti, Sergey Rachmaninoff and Franz Schubert
Designer Hildegard Bechtler
Costume Designer Bregje van Balen
Lighting Designer Jon Clark
Dramaturgy Edward Kemp
Conductor Koen Kessels
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

This mixed programme revives two recent one-act ballets created for the Company.

Anemoi was created by First Soloist Valentino Zucchetti in 2021, emerging out of lockdown in energetic swathes of classical movement. Inspired by the Greek wind gods, Anemoi exemplifies the homegrown choreographer’s sophisticated contemporary style.

Cathy Marston’s flair for emotive storytelling shines through in The Cellist, a lyrical memoir of cellist Jacqueline du Pré’s life, which was tragically cut short by multiple sclerosis. Rich, poignant, joyous and tragic, the ballet is set to an exquisite score, itself a homage to the cello.

WORLDF PREMIERE – THE LIMIT
Linbury Theatre
20 – 28 October 2023
Director Ed Madden
Choreographer Kristen Mcnally
Music Isobel Waller-Bridge
Based on the play by Sam Steiner
Designer Anisha Fields
Sound Designer Max Pappenheim
Original Dance Concept Alexander Campbell Productions


The average person speaks more than 123 million words in a lifetime. But what if there were a limit? Adapted with Sam Steiner from his award-winning play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, director Ed Madden and choreographer Kristen McNally reimagine this modern classic as a bold, playful and romantic work of dance-theatre with an original score by Isobel WallerBridge. Fusing dialogue, dance and music in its depiction of a couple riding the waves of unimaginable change, The Limit is a love story, an exploration of how we relate to one another, and a vivid theatrical experiment. Principals Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell feature
as the lead cast during the run.

New Benjamin Ella
Choreography Benjamin Ella
Music Jean Sibelius
New Tiler Peck
Choreography Tiler Peck


Northern Ballet returns to the Linbury Theatre with a mixed programme of three complementary works from across the generations, curated by Artistic Director and former Royal Ballet Principal Federico Bonelli. Alongside a new work choreographed by Benjamin Ella, Soloist of The Royal
Ballet, and star American ballerina Tiler Peck’s first piece for a European company, the programme includes Adagio Hammerklavier, a true contemporary classic from Dutch master Hans van Manen.

đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (4)

THE DANTE PROJECT
Main Stage
18 November – 2 December
A co-production between The Royal Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet
Music co-commission with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel
Choreography Wayne Mcgregor
Music Thomas AdĂšs
Design Tacita Dean
Lighting design (Inferno: Pilgrim) Lucy Carter/ Simon Bennison
Lighting design (Purgatorio: Love, Paradiso: Poema Sacro) Lucy Carter
Dramaturgy Uzma Hameed
Conductor Jonathan Lo
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

‘This man is one who, from the deepest void in all the universe, has seen thus far’. Trailblazing forces of the contemporary dance, music and art scene combined in 2021 to breathe new life into Dante Aligheri’s Divine Comedy. Imaginative, poetic and introspective, The Dante
Project follows the poet’s journey as he traverses through the shifting spheres of the afterlife.


Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, composer Thomas Adùs, artist Tacita Dean, lighting designer Lucy Carter and dramaturg Uzma Hameed present a monumental reinvention of Dante’s vision, by turns terrifying, lyrical and dazzling, in this compelling award-winning ballet for the full Company.

THE NUTCRACKER
Main Stage
6 December 2023 – 13 January 2024
Choreography Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov
Music Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Original scenario Marius Petipa after E.T.A. Hoffman
Production and scenario Peter Wright
Designer Julia Trevelyan Oman
Lighting designer Mark Henderson
Production consultant Roland John Wiley
Conductor Andrew Litton/ Charlotte Politi
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

After the Christmas lights have dimmed, and everyone is tucked up in bed, Clara is whisked away to a marvellous adventure by the magician Drosselmeyer. She and her Nutcracker companion battle the irascible Mouse King, delight in the wintery landscapes of the Land of Snow and journey to meet the radiant Sugar Plum Fairy in the Kingdom of Sweets. Julia Trevelyan Oman’s period
designs bring festive charm to Peter Wright’s beloved Royal Ballet production, as fairytale magic comes together with spectacular dancing in this unforgettable classic ballet.

WINTER DRAFT WORKS
Clore Studio
11 – 13 December 2023
Choreography Various
Each Season, as part of The Royal Ballet’s longstanding commitment to fostering creativity and supporting new voices in dance, Draft Works offers a chance for emergent choreographic talent within the Company to experiment and create new work. With the works existing at different
stages of creation, explore movement and new directions in classical ballet.

MANON
Main Stage
17 January – 8 March 2024
Part of MacMillan Celebrated
Choreography Kenneth Macmillan
Music Jules Massenet
Orchestration Martin Yates
Designer Nicholas Georgiadis
Lighting designer Jacopo Pantani
Conductor Koen Kessels
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Torn between her desire of a life of splendour and riches and her devotion to her true love Des Grieux, the capricious Manon pays the ultimate price. This adaptation of AbbĂ© PrĂ©vost’s novel embodies Kenneth MacMillan at his best, his acute insight into human psychology and his
mastery of narrative choreography finding full expression in the impassioned duets of the central couple, visceral and urgent in their desire. The heroine’s struggle to escape poverty make Manon one of the most dramatic and devastating of ballets, emphasized by Nicholas Georgiadis’
evocative designs that reflect the juxtaposition between Manon’s impoverished origins and the lavish world she longs to inhabit.

FESTIVAL OF NEW CHOREOGRAPHY
Various venues
12 – 21 February 2024
Choreography Various

The Festival of New Choreography is a series of performances, events and activities taking place
on the Main Stage, Linbury Theatre, Paul Hamlyn Hall and Clore Studio, that aims to embrace and champion new, diverse voices in choreography. Part of The Royal Ballet’s commitment to choreographic innovation and nurturing the future of the art form, the festival will include an
immersive new production by Robert Binet for The Royal Ballet in the Linbury Theatre.

đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (5)

SWAN LAKE
Main Stage
6 March – 11 May 2024
12 – 28 June 2024
Choreography Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Additional Choreography Liam Scarlett and Frederick Ashton
Music Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Production Liam Scarlett
Designer John Macfarlane
Lighting designer David Finn
Conductor Jonathan Lo/ Martin Georgiev/ Koen Kessels
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Out hunting, Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans. One among them transforms into the beautiful human Odette and he is immediately enamoured. But Odette is bound by a spell which keeps her captive as a swan during the day. Can Siegfried free her? Tchaikovsky’s
sensational score combines with the evocative imagination of choreographer Liam Scarlett and designer John Macfarlane to heighten the dramatic pathos of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s quintessential ballet classic. Swan Lake remains to this day one of the best-loved works in the
classical ballet canon.

DANSES CONCERTANTES/ DIFFERENT DRUMMER/ REQUIEM
Main Stage
20 March – 13 April 2024
Part of MacMillan Celebrated
Choreography Kenneth Macmillan
Danses Concertantes
Music Igor Stravinsky
Designer Nicholas Georgiadis
Lighting Designer John B. Read
Different Drummer
Music Anton Webern/ Arnold Schoenberg
Set designs Kenneth Macmillan
Costume designs Yolanda Sonnabend in association with Peter Farley
Lighting design John B. Read
Requiem
Music Gabriel Fauré
Designs Yolanda Sonnabend in association with Peter Farley
Lighting design John B. Read
Conductor Koen Kessels
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

The Royal Ballet celebrates the breadth of Principal Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan’s one-act
ballets. Danses Concertantes, commissioned by Ninette de Valois in 1955, was MacMillan’s first major work. An early sign of the incredible artistic output that would follow, the work’s critical success spurred MacMillan to abandon performing in favour of choreography. It is followed by
Different Drummer, MacMillan’s complex and haunting balletic interpretation of Woyzeck, Georg BĂŒchner’s play about a soldier’s descent into madness. The mixed programme concludes with Requiem, his 1976 work for Stuttgart Ballet, created in memory of its late artistic director and MacMillan’s friend John Cranko.

INTERNATIONAL DRAFT WORKS
Linbury Theatre
10 – 13 April 2024
Choreography Various


The Royal Ballet, together with various international companies, present a programme of new works made by emergent choreographic voices in the global dance industry. International Draft Works is an opportunity to witness ballet’s choreographic landscape and gain insight into how the art form is evolving throughout the world.

THE WINTER’S TALE
Main Stage
3 May – 1 June 2024
A co-production between The Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada
Choreography Christopher Wheeldon
Scenario Christopher Wheeldon and Joby Talbot
Music Joby Talbot
Designer Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer Natasha Katz
Projection Designer Daniel Brodie
Silk Effects Designer Basil Twist
Conductor Koen Kessels
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

King Leontes of Sicilia is crippled with an all-consuming jealousy when his friend, King Polixenes of Bohemia, stays with him and his wife Hermione. What follows is a tale where a marriage is destroyed, a child is abandoned and all hope seemingly lost for two lovers.


Shakespeare’s profound story of love and loss, artfully adapted into a contemporary three-act narrative ballet by Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon, returns to the Main Stage.


Celebrating its tenth anniversary, The Winter’s Tale is an award-winning modern ballet classic, packed with emotional turmoil heightened by Joby Talbot’s compelling score and Bob Crowley’s atmospheric designs.

THE SARASOTA BALLET
Main Stage
4 – 9 June 2024
Part of Ashton Celebrated
Choreography Frederick Ashton


Two programmes to include:
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Music Maurice Ravel
Design Sophie Fedorovitch
Dante Sonata
Music Franz Liszt
Design Sophie Fedorovitch
Sinfonietta
Music Malcolm Williamson
Design after Peter Rice
Façade
Music William Walton
Design John Armstrong
Part of Ashton Worldwide, the Frederick Ashton Foundation’s international festival 2024 —
 2028


The Sarasota Ballet has grown over the past decade into one of America’s leading ballet companies, garnering acclaim for its extensive repertory of Frederick Ashton’s works. Director Iain Webb and Assistant Director Margaret Barbieri, former Royal Ballet dancers, bring to the
Linbury Theatre a selection of works, shown over two programmes, that pays tribute to Ashton’s
remarkable choreographic range and celebrates his legacy as Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet and a pioneer of 20th-century ballet. Works shown will include Valses nobles et sentimentales, Dante Sonata, Sinfonietta and Façade, among others.


LES RENDEZVOUS/ THE DREAM/ RHAPSODY
Main Stage
6 – 19 June 2024
Part of Ashton Celebrated
Choreography Frederick Ashton

Les Rendezvous
Music Daniel-François-Esprit Auber
Musical arrangement Constant Lambert

The Dream
Music Felix Mendelssohn
Musical arrangement John Lanchbery
Designer David Walker
Lighting designer John B. Read

Rhapsody
Music Sergey Rachmaninoff
Set designer Frederick Ashton
Original costume designer William Chappell
Costume designs re-created by Natalia Stewart
Lighting designer Peter Teigen
Conductor Charlotte Politi (Rhapsody)/ Barry Wordsworth (The Dream and Les Rendezvous)
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

The Dream


Part of Ashton Worldwide, the Frederick Ashton Foundation’s international festival 2024 —
 2028


This mixed programme opens with the buoyant Les Rendezvous, a fizzing succession of dances following a group of friends who meet in a park. The Dream, Ashton’s witty and tender reimagining of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, follows set to Felix Mendelssohn’s gossamerlight music. The one-act ballet follows two pairs of mortal lovers, their fates at the hands of Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of Fairies. Ashton’s lyrical masterpiece, Rhapsody, concludes
the programme, its explosive jumps and fleet footwork a bravura match for Sergei Rachmaninoff’s virtuosic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

THE DREAM/ SHORT WORKS/ RHAPSODY
Main Stage
7 – 22 June 2024
Part of Ashton Celebrated
Choreography Frederick Ashton

The Dream
Music Felix Mendelssohn
Musical arrangement John Lanchbery
Designer David Walker
Lighting designer John B. Read

Five Brahms Waltzes in the manner of Isadora Duncan
Music Johannes Brahms
Costume designs David Dean
Lighting design John B. Read

The Sarasota Ballet
The Walk to the Paradise Garden
Music Frederick Delius

Hamlet and Ophelia
Music Franz Liszt
Recreated and staged by Wayne Eagling
Painter and Designer Sarah Armstrong-Jones
Costumes realized by James Kelly

Rhapsody
Music Sergey Rachmaninoff
Set designer Frederick Ashton
Original costume designer William Chappell
Costume designs re-created by Natalia Stewart
Lighting designer Peter Teigen
Conductor Charlotte Politi (Rhapsody), Barry Wordsworth (The Dream and Short Works)
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

The Dream

Part of Ashton Worldwide, the Frederick Ashton Foundation’s international festival 2024 — 2028


Frederick Ashton’s masterful Shakespearian character study The Dream and his exhilarating ballet Rhapsody, created for the stellar talents of Mikhael Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier, come together again in this second mixed programme of Ashton ballets. Completing the demonstration of the master choreographer’s abundant creativity is a selection of short works: Five Brahms
Waltzes in the manner of Isadora Duncan, Ashton’s homage to the legendary dancer; Hamlet and Ophelia, a restaging of the Hamlet Prelude choreographed for Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev; plus The Walk to the Paradise Garden performed by The Sarasota Ballet who lead the
choreographer’s celebrations in the Linbury Theatre.

The Royal Ballet and Guest Companies
NEXT GENERATION FESTIVAL
Linbury Theatre
11 – 29 June 2024


The Next Generation Festival brings together junior companies and exceptional dance schools from the UK, across Europe and around the world to celebrate dance. A showcase of national and international talent, these young dancers will present a range of exciting works that
demonstrate the diversity of performing talent globally. Witness the immense potential of dance as it blossoms into its vibrant future.

đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (6)
đŸ©° The Royal Ballet Announces the New 2023/24 Season đŸ©° (2024)
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