Thomas Adès: See the Music, Hear the Dance, Sadler's Wells

This is a true one-off among ballet events. Four compositions by Thomas Adès, arguably the most admired English composer of his generation, are treated to four choreographic interpretations. All of the music is to be performed live by the Britten Sinfonia and Adès himself, switching between the roles of pianist and conductor over the course of the evening. The choreographers are Wayne McGregor, Karole Armitage, Alexander Whitley, and Crystal Pite.

To lovers of contemporary music, McGregor will probably be the most familiar of the quartet: he has worked with a number of living composers including Kaija Saariaho, Nico Muhly, and Mark- Anthony Turnage. This event sees a repeat performance of Outlier, which was set to Concentric Paths, Adès’s violin concerto, and premièred by the New York City Ballet in 2010. 

Concentric Paths, whose opening melody gradually unfurls like the tendrils of an enormous sea-anenome, is the perfect partner for McGregor’s visceral creations, and we look forward to seeing their collaborative power exhibited on the Sadler's Wells stage.

London audiences lucky enough to have seen Crystal Pite’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest at Sadler’s Wells in April will be eager to see more of her work.  A disciple of the ground-breaking choreographer William Forsythe, Pite was the youngest ever person to receive the Clifford E. Lee Choreographic Award in 1995. The Crystal Pite Tempest was awarded five stars by the famously demanding Financial Times critic Clement Crisp, who wrote of her “brave intelligence” creating “choreography of commanding sensitivity and boldest assurance in means,” and “dance of hypnotic power.”

Elsewhere, Alexander Whitley takes on Adès’s criminally demanding Piano Quintet for the world première of his The Grit in the Oyster. It will be interesting to see how Whitley deals with the immaculately wrought metrical constructions of the Piano Quintet; but for all its ostensible complexity on the page the quintet as heard betrays a highly Romantic harmonic language, that will undoubtedly be as inspiring for those on stage as it is breathtaking for those in the audience.

The American Karole Armitage completes the roster of choreographers for this unique event.  Dubbed “the punk ballerina” in the 1980s, she’s as much at ease on the ballet stage as on Broadway, where’s she recently choreographed a revival of the musical Hair.  Armitage, who lists classical ballet, Merce Cunningham and punk as her three key influences, has collaborated with a number of artists and musicians, including Thomas Adès.

This promises to be a spectacular event, combining and showcasing the talents some of the most imposing artistic figures in contemporary music and dance in one of the best shows London 2014 can offer. Performances, both kinetic and sonic, will be of the very highest quality too, so get booking as soon as you can!