Wayne McGregor’s Chroma provides the thrilling start for an intense programme of great dance works from The Royal Ballet. Chroma was an award-winning and popular hit when it had its premiere last year. The score, drawn from compositions and arrangements by Joby Talbot and his arrangements of music by The White Stripes, is paired with stark minimalist designs by architect John Pawson – and into this comes the exciting, inventive, energy driven choreography of McGregor exploring ‘freedom from white: Chroma’.

Kenneth MacMillan’s Different Drummer provides contrast on so many levels: its narrative, from Büchner’s Wozzeck, portrays an abused soldier driven to murder and suicide, while its music is from the intense and intimate sound world of Schoenberg and Webern. The third work of the programme is a blazing display for the Company and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in one of the greatest of all modern classics.

Kenneth MacMillan’s 1962 ballet The Rite of Spring is a powerful interpretation of Stravinsky’s orchestral masterpiece, with its striking portrayal of pagan sacrifice of the Chosen Maiden. The Rite of Spring provides a fabulous conclusion to an evening of thrills, invention and drama.

Credits
Music Joby Talbot, Anton Webern, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky
Set Designs John Pawson, Kenneth MacMillan
Costume Designs Moritz Junge, Yolanda Sonnabend
Choreography Wayne McGregor, Kenneth MacMillan
Lighting Lucy Carter, John B Read
Designs Sidney Nolan
Choreography: Kenneth MacMillan

Performers
Conductor Barry Wordsworth

Chroma
Alina Cojocaru
Lauren Cuthbertson
Sarah Lamb
Tamara Rojo
Federico Bonelli
Steven McRae
Eric Underwood
Edward Watson

Different Drummer
Ivan Putrov
Edward Watson
Leanne Benjamin
Roberta Marquez
Martin Harvey
Viacheslav Samodurov

The Rite of Spring
Tamara Rojo
Mara Galeazzi

Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes