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Oxford 2008 dates now on sale

11 August 2007

Birmingham Royal Ballet's 2008 visit to Oxford is on sale now, with details of how to book available by clicking here.

The Company performs All That Jazz, Tuesday 4 - Wednesday 5 March, a mixed programme of three works by BRB's Director David Bintley, consisting of The Shakespeare Suite, The Orpheus Suite, and new work Take Five. The week in Oxford is then completed with four performances of the sublime Swan Lake, Thursday 6 - Saturday 8 March.

Speaking of the enduring success of Swan Lake, BRB's Ballet Master Alain Dubreuil explained: 'The ballet has lasted, but some choreographies have not. However, I think that BRB has one of the best Swan Lakes in the world. Choreographer and former BRB Director Peter Wright's productions of the classics are always very simple and very clear, and of course you have Tchaikovsky's music, which is just stupendous, it's wonderful, wonderful music.'

The dates, the first on Birmingham Royal Ballet's spring 2008 tour, will also be the first touring appearances of David Bintley's new jazz programme. While The Shakespeare Suite is an established audience favourite, and The Orpheus Suite gained an immediate fanbase when it received its premiere in 2004, David is approaching the overall bill as he would do with one full-length, three-act ballet. As such, it is only now nearing completion with the introduction of his new work Take Five, to Dave Brubeck's famous score.

This new line-up, he anticipates, will provide a neat balance between the three pieces much more effectively than previous jazz outings. He compares it to the misgivings he had following his last programme, which teamed the musical bravado of The Shakespeare Suite and The Orpheus Suite with another big-band work, The Nutcracker Sweeties - one of his earlier jazz outings, to Duke Ellington's unique treatment of Tchaikovsky's famous ballet score. 'When I saw it together realised it was too high powered', he remembers. 'So I thought, I've got to streamline it, to give more of a contrast. So this new programme is three different composers; Ellington, Colin Towns and Brubeck, and they're more complimentary'.

'The Brubeck is very clean', he explains further. 'It's very classical, because Brubeck studied under Milhaud, who was a classical composer. It's very elegant, it's very cool, and the excitement in it is much more delicate - very different from the other two. I've specifically been trying to build this programme up, to make it almost like a full-length jazz programme with all the variety of one big ballet.'

Audiences at the New Theatre will be able to decide for themselves next year.

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Oxford 2008 dates now on sale