Baroque Encounters
A Journey Through Nebt’s Baroque Repertoire
NEBT has had a long-lasting love story with the music of the Baroque era.
It began in 2017, former English National Ballet soloist and NEBT Associate Choreographer Jenna Lee created an elegant, abstract version of The Four Seasons. Instead of Antonio Vivaldi’s famous violin concertos she chose Max Richter’s 2012 dynamic re-composition of Vivaldi’s score.
Her Four Seasons take the audience on a stylish, contemporary journey with the dancers shifting effortlessly from spring to winter. The melodies are familiar, even though Richter, by his own estimation, discarded around three quarters of Vivaldi’s music, looping and phasing the material he does use. The rich texture of the music is complemented by Andrew Ellis’s vivid lighting design and evocative costume designs by April Dalton.
“I really enjoy how familiar melodies do unexpected things, constantly taking you in different directions. … The high-pitched plucking from the strings that sound like cold icy rain in winter contrasts beautifully with the balmy music representing a warm August evening.” Jenna Lee
“Bright and elegant, great assurance and maturity. Jenna Lee’s The Four Seasons captures all the lightness and drama of Vivaldi’s famous compositions… this is a bright and elegant work danced with precision.” The Stage
The Four Seasons have become a firm favourite in NEBT’s repertoire, and we’re delighted to evoke those balmy, warm August evenings again in our 2025 programme by presenting the sensual ‘Summer Storm’ pas-de-deux – exactly 300 years after Vivaldi’s music was first published. (scroll down for booking links)
Remembrance
In 2018, we embarked on a collaborative project to commemorate the Armistice of 1918. Based on a concept by Greg Billingsley, NEBT Patron Wayne Eagling created a ballet set to Handel’s masterpiece Ode for St Cecilia’s Day. Remembrance is loosely based on the life of Dame Marie Rambert during the Great War. A hugely influential figure on the British and international ballet scene, we follow her whirlwind romance with playwright Ashley Dukes and her anguish at their separation as he is called back to the battlefield. The concept was completed by costumes and backdrop projections by Nina Kobiashvili, lighting design by Andrew Ellis and live accompaniment by The English Concert orchestra and soloists Fflur Wyn and Joshua Ellicott.
“Remembrance is not just about Marie Rambert, it’s about human resilience and the strength to emerge out of tragedy and grief. The spirit of the public during the War, and their ability to keep on with their lives, and to begin all over again, is the true inspiration behind this”. Greg Billingsley
“Eagling’s decades of experience and choreographic pedigree are clear in movement that sings. Nimble choreography is in fluent motion, dancing on the semiquavers of the score, Handel’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day. There’s clarity of storytelling and setting, from the dance studio where Rambert corrects her students, joining in with her dancers to make an intricate little pas de trois, to the atmospheric photographic backdrop of a train station where soldiers say their stoic farewells, and the stained glass of a church interior where Rambert’s longing and prayers take physical form – designer Nina Kobiashvili brings class on a presumably modest budget.” The Guardian
Baroque Encounters and Acts of Exaltation
In 2023, NEBT commissioned Associate Choreographer Daniela Cardim to create a new piece to Baroque music. Daniela chose two pieces by Bach featuring the harpsicord. Drawing inspiration directly from the music, she translated the grandeur and detail of Bach’s work into an imaginative ensemble piece for seven dancers. The intricate detail of her choreography was complemented by dramatic costumes by April Dalton and lighting design by Andrew Ellis.“It is wonderful, as are the seven dancers, dressed in April Dalton’s Renaissance plum-coloured costumes, long dervish skirts for all in the first, short Roman military style tunic skirts for the second, under Andrew Ellis’s chiaroscuro lighting. Expressive hands seem to be fingering the music, whilst bodies become a baroque chamber orchestra.” British Theatre Guide
The following year, we worked with Royal Ballet Principal Matthew Ball, who premiered his first ensemble piece at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House.
Acts of Exaltation is a piece for seven dancers, set to several sacral and secular works by Baroque master, Claudio Monteverdi.
2025 – Gods, nymphs and a return to Handel
This year, we are returning to the music of Handel. In collaboration with London Handel Festival, NEBT Associate Choreographer Valentino Zucchetti is choreographing two works, Apollo e Dafne and The Choice of Hercules, and we can’t wait to see where his journey takes us.
“I love working with Baroque music. Its intricacies are still fascinating today, and they give ample scope for exploration in making pieces relevant to today.” Valentino Zucchetti
