ENB Philharmonic Play Raymonda for the NHS

If there is one thing the entire British nation is agreed on, it’s the excellence of NHS staff as they deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in extremely trying circumstances and at great personal risk.

We’ve all looked for ways of showing our gratitude; and now the English National Ballet (ENB) Philharmonic have devised their own special way of saying Thank You by doing what they do best: playing music.

Recorded from the musicians’ own homes, under the virtual baton of ENB Music Director, Gavin Sutherland, this special performance focuses on the music of the 19th century Russian composer Alexander Glazunov, in particular his score for the ballet Raymonda.

Created by the choreographer Marius Petipa towards the end of the 19th century for the Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg, the ballet is set in the Middle Ages and follows the Christian Knight Jean de Briène, whose bride is kidnapped by the Saracens.

The full-length ballet is rarely performed in Britain, but things are about the change, as ENB artistic director Tamara Rojo is working a completely new version, which takes its inspiration from ground-breaking spirit of the nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale.

The heroine of Rojo’s Raymonda will be a young woman whose vocation is to become a nurse, and this provides the cue for ENB Philharmonic’s choice of musical piece for their performance in honour of the NHS.

ENB Philharmonic’s remote performance of an extract from Raymonda is part of ENB-at-home programme. It will be released on Thursday 09 April at 6pm on English National Ballet’s YouTube and Facebook channels.