Wayne McGregor's Genus, for which Joby collaborated on an electro-acoustic score with Los Angeles-based composer and producer Deru, is to open as part of a triple bill at the National Ballet of Canada this Wednesday, March 29, running until April 2.
Commissioned by the Paris Opera Ballet Genus, a ballet for 24 dancers, was inspired by Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species which was published in 1859.
Booking information and tickets can be found here.
The Australian Ballet has announced its 2017 season, which includes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland's southern hemisphere debut. The company will perform the work in 21 shows at Melbourne's Arts Centre, from 12-30 September, and 20 shows at Sydney's Capitol Theatre, from 5-22 December 2017, with the score performed by Orchestra Victoria and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra in each location respectively.
For more information, visit the Australian Ballet website.
Sing, the latest film from the creators of Despicable Me, writer-director Garth Jennings and with a score by Joby, showed today at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The animated Sing tells the tale of koala impresario Buster Moon and the menagerie of entrants in the singing competition he stages in a last-ditch effort to save his theatre — which just happens to exist in a world populated solely by animals. The film was screened as a work in progress and is due for general release in December this year.
Joby has worked with Jennings on both of the director's previous feature films, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) and Son of Rambow (2007). In Sing, the score elides with a dazzling array of existing songs to bring to life Jennings' original story, driven by its irrepressible central character.
For more information about the screening, visit the film's page on the Toronto International Film Festival website.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Christopher Wheeldon's 2011 ballet adaptation of the classic tale with an original score by Joby, will have its first performance by a house other than its two originating companies — The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada — when it premieres with the Royal Swedish Ballet on 6 May 2016, for 12 performances throughout the month. The company is launching the production in partnership with the Royal Danish Ballet. For performance dates and more information, visit the Royal Swedish Opera website.
The Winter's Tale, Christopher Wheeldon's 2014 full-length adaptation of Shakespeare's play with an original score by Joby, will return to The Royal Ballet from 12 April 2016. This revival by the originating company follows the work's highly successful North American premiere with co-commissioners the National Ballet of Canada in November 2015.
Joby's score includes an onstage band composed of instruments from a variety of global folk traditions, creating a sound that is both new and timeless. First cast features Lauren Cuthbertson as Hermione, Ed Watson as Leontes, Federico Bonelli as Polixenes, Zenaida Yanowsky as Paulina, Sarah Lamb as Perdita and Steven McRae as Florizel. For more production information, to view performance dates and purchase tickets, visit the Royal Opera House website.
The teaser trailer for forthcoming animated feature Sing made its appearance during yesterday's broadcast of the Grammy Awards. Written and directed by Garth Jennings for Universal/Illumination studios, the film will feature an original score by Joby alongside myriad pop songs as the animal contestants of a singing contest battle it out for the grand prize. Joby has previously worked with Jennings on feature films The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) and Son of Rambow (2007). Sing is due for release at the end of this year — watch the trailer below!
A very happy if belatedly reported (by us) piece of news from Nigel Short and his exceptional choral ensemble Tenebrae: the group plans to celebrate their 15th anniversary with performances of Joby's "epic choral symphony", Path of Miracles, in as many international locales as possible. This blog post published by Nigel on the piece's 1oth anniversary announces their intent and also gives some background to the piece's premiere.
The line-up for New York City's 2016 Lincoln Center Festival has just been announced by director Nigel Redden, and includes five performances of The Winter's Tale by the National Ballet of Canada, from July 28-31 at the David H. Koch Theater. For more information visit the Festival website.
Following its acclaimed North American premiere by the National Ballet of Canada in November, Christopher Wheeldon's The Winter's Tale has opened to positive reviews on a tour production by the company at Washington DC's Kennedy Center, with five remaining performances until Sunday 24 January. The principal cast includes NBC stars Piotr Stanczyk, Hannah Fischer, Jillian Vanstone, Naoya Ebe, Harrison James and Xiao Nan Yu.
One critic describes Joby's score — his second to be jointly commissioned for Wheeldon ballets by The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada — as "rich and varied... both like an ancient discovery from a yet to be uncovered new tribe but absolutely modern" (Lisa Traiger, D.C. Metro Theater Arts); while The New York Times' Alastair Macaulay deems it "attractive".
It has just been announced from Moscow that Joby, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and principal dancer Ed Watson have all been awarded the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse for their respective roles in the creation of The Winter's Tale.
The jury-based Benois de la Danse was founded by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991 and is awarded for lifelong achievement, ballerina, danseur, choreographer, composer and designer. Those for composition and design are not awarded every year; two composers who have previously received the honour are George Kouroupos and Michel Legrand.
A co-commission between The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada, The Winter's Tale premiered in London in April 2014 and will have its Toronto premiere in November of this year.
Chroma will be performed by the Dutch National Ballet from 17 June as part of their 'Cool Britannia' triple bill.
Chroma will be both Wayne McGregor and Joby's debut with the Dutch National Ballet, on a programme featuring the best of contemporary British choreography from McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon and David Dawson.
Cool Britannia will run for seven performances, until 27 June. More information and ticket can be found here.
Joby's 2005 a cappella work Path of Miracles, describing the latter stages of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, will have two performances in Ireland this month. Máire Keary-Scanlon will lead choral group Caminantes in performances on Easter Monday at St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, and on 18 April at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Both performances begin at 8pm and the piece lasts one hour.
More information can be found on Caminantes' Facebook page.
The premiere run from 30 January of Joby's first opera, the one-act Everest, was greeted warmly by both audiences and critics, with one reviewer describing it as 'a genre-bending coup-de-théâtre'.
The work was paired with an abridged fourth act of Catalani's La Wally, with Everest following in the second half of the evening. It relates the experiences of three climbers involved in the mountaineering disaster of 1996, in which several participants died during a storm on the famous peak. Librettist Gene Scheer adapted the story using his own primary research with survivors and climbers' families. The work starred Andrew Bidlack as Rob Hall, Kevin Burdette as Beck Weathers, Craig Verm as Doug Hansen and Sasha Cooke as Jan Arnold. It was directed by Leonard Foglia and conducted by Nicole Paiement, with set design by Robert Brill.
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'A breathtakingly powerful and phenomenally well-staged achievement that lingers in your mind and your heart... This is destined to become a part of the modern canon, one of the most compelling and relevant operas in a generation.'
Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice
'Everest is riveting... hugely entertaining and the music is gorgeous. It has all the ingredients of a blockbuster... If you want to see where opera is headed in the 21st-century, don’t miss this production.'
Catherine Womack, D Magazine
'A remarkable first opera... This 70-minute juggernaut makes you feel disturbingly in the moment, living—and dying—along with the characters.'
Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal
'Talbot's music is a wonder... it is almost unclassifiable. He doesn't just break the rules of opera writing; he completely ignores them. He relegates such traditions to a display case in some musical museum — archaic and useless in today's theatrical world... It is a triumph.'
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, Theater Jones
'A stirring score on top of a masterful libretto... It's easy to imagine Everest as a lasting work.'
David Weuste, OperaPulse
'The Dallas Opera [has] scored a mighty coup [with] Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's Everest. A very powerful drama [that] rivals great legitimate theater in its impact.'
Olin Chism, Fort Worth Star Telegram
'Joby Talbot's orchestration in Everest was simply outstanding in its plush multilayered brilliance.'
Laurie Lynn Lindemeier, The Column
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The Winter's Tale, Joby's second full-length narrative collaboration with Christopher Wheeldon for The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada, will be screened at selected locations across the United States and internationally from Tuesday 17 February.
The performance was recorded on 28 April 2014, during the work's premiere run at The Royal Ballet. It features Edward Watson as Leontes, Lauren Cuthbertson as Hermione, Federico Bonelli as Polixenes, Zenaida Yanowsky as Paulina, Sarah Lamb as Perdita and Steven McRae as Florizel.
For more information and to find a screening, follow this link to the Royal Opera House website.
This week sees the premiere of Joby's first opera by the Dallas Opera, as well as the return to The Hague of Chamber, his 2012 collaboration with choreographer Medhi Walerski.
Everest, a one-act work, relates events surrounding the tragic deaths of several climbers on the mountain in 1996 and stars Kevin Burdette, Sasha Cooke, Andrew Bidlack and Craig Verm. Joby worked in close collaboration with librettist Gene Scheer and conductor Nicole Paiement; the production is directed by Leonard Foglia with set design by Robert Brill, costumes by David C. Woolard, lighting by Christopher Akerlind and projections by Elaine J. McCarthy. Following the premiere at the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House on 30 January will be a further four performances on 2, 4 and 7 February.
Chamber, commissioned by Nederlands Dans Theater and the Norwegian National Ballet, returns to The Hague for four performances for the first time since its 2012 premiere. The work is choreographed to Joby's Chamber Symphony and was commissioned as part of worldwide celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. It has been toured by NDT and will here be presented in a programme alongside works by Marco Goecke and Sol Léon and Paul Lightfoot. There are four performances from 28-31 January.
The Royal Ballet's performance of The Winter's Tale will be broadcast on BBC Four at 7pm on Christmas Day 2014. The full-length adaptation of Shakespeare's play is Joby's second collaboration on such a work with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and premiered in April 2014.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Joby and Christopher's first narrative work together, is currently at the Royal Opera House and will appear live in cinemas on 16 December. This performance will also be shown on Sky Arts on 3 January at 8pm and 4 January at 8am.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has returned to Covent Garden for 20 shows over the 2014/15 festive season.
Joby wrote the score — the first in 20 years to be commissioned by The Royal Ballet for a full-length narrative work — at the request of choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. The production, a co-commission with the National Ballet of Canada, premiered in early 2011 and has since returned to both houses twice or more. Joby and Christopher produced a second full-length narrative work for the same two companies in 2014, an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
The Royal Ballet's performance on 16 December will be broadcast live to cinemas internationally. Alice's Adventures is at the Royal Opera House until 16 January 2015.
For those unable to attend live or cinema shows, both productions are available on DVD — Alice as either a regular or special edition release, and The Winter's Tale as a special edition available for pre-order, to be released on 1 January 2015.
The Royal Ballet has recently made available for pre-order the DVD of their 2014 performance of The Winter's Tale in a Special Edition Box Set. The official release date is 1 January 2015.
The performance features Edward Watson as Leontes, Lauren Cuthbertson as Hermione, Federico Bonelli as Polixenes, Zenaida Yanowsky as Paulina, Steven McRae as Florizel and Sarah Lamb as Perdita. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House is conducted by David Briskin. This Box Set includes an Introduction to The Winter's Tale, Perdita, Music of The Winter's Tale, and Cast Gallery, as well as eight postcards of production images.
The Winter's Tale was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to a new score by Joby, for The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada, and premiered in London in April 2014.
The Royal Ballet are to perform Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 20 performances over Christmas and the New Year. Though the run is now sold out, the performance on 16 December is to be broadcast live to cinemas internationally as part of the Royal Opera House's Live Cinema Season.
The broadcast will feature Sarah Lamb as Alice, Federico Bonelli as the Knave, Zenaida Yanowsky as the Queen of Hearts and Steven McRae as The Mad Hatter. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House will be conducted by David Briskin.
Alice's Adventures was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to a score by Joby, for The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada. It premiered in February 2011 in London and has since returned each year.
To find a screening near you, see The Royal Opera House website or follow the link below.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will continue their acclaimed performances of Wayne McGregor's Chroma for five shows in New York, from 4 - 27 December at the New York City Center.
The work was created in 2006 for The Royal Ballet, to a score comprising Joby's arrangements of songs by Detroit rock duo The White Stripes, alongside his original compositions.