The Australian Ballet Opens Its 2018 Season With MURPHY, A Tribute To Australia's Iconic Dancemaker

The Australian Ballet opens its 2018 season with Murphy, a tribute to the country's greatest choreographer Graeme Murphy who celebrates his milestone 50-year career in ballet. Murphy began his dance career in The Australian Ballet's corps de ballet, made his first work for the company's Choreographic Workshop in 1971, and went on to become artistic director of Sydney Dance Company for 31 years. Murphy brings together a diverse selection of works by the master storyteller, showcasing the bold originality, wit and poetic movement that have earned him a peerless place in Australian dance history. His exquisite retelling of the Firebird story will be paired with highlights from his incandescent career. The Murphy program will light up the stage in Melbourne at Arts Centre Melbourne from 16 to 26 March 2018, and in Sydney at Sydney Opera House from 6 to 23 April 2018.

Commenting on Murphy, The Australian Ballet's Artistic Director David McAllister said: "In 2018, we're celebrating the power of imagination and all that is unique about our company. What better way to start the year than by honouring an Australian dancemaker of unparalleled talent whose virtuosic career began right here with The Australian Ballet 50 years ago."

Murphy's dazzling Firebird makes a welcome return following its first season in 2009. Based on a traditional Russian folktale, Firebird tells the story of a bird who is captured by a prince, who sets her free in exchange for one of her magical feathers. The prince wanders into the enchanted garden of the evil magician Koschei, whose immortal soul is preserved in an egg, and falls in love with one of the princesses held captive by Koschei. With the Firebird's help the prince defeats the magician by breaking open the egg protecting his soul.

Murphy's recreation, faithful to the original scenario created for the Ballet Russes in 1910 by Michel Fokine, draws on the cyclical themes of life and death, youth and age, and good and evil to tell the pagan tale. Designer Leon Krasenstein has created a desolate Garden of Eden filled with giant eggshells, serpentine figures and gnarled trees; his costumes, with their unravelling stitches, evoke the disordered world presided over by Koschei. Igor Stravinsky's luminous score combines otherworldly notes that conjure the supernatural with strains of Russian folk melodies that hark back to the tale's origins.

Firebird will be paired with highlights from Murphy's halcyon creative years in this tribute program, including excerpts from The Silver Rose, Air and Other Invisible Forces, Ellipse and Grand, as well as the complete Shéhérazade.

Graeme Murphy was born in Melbourne and studied at The Australian Ballet School. He began his dance career at The Australian Ballet and created his first work as a member of the company. Since then, he has created numerous works for the company, including Beyond Twelve, Nutcracker-The Story of Clara, Swan Lake, Firebird, The Silver Rose, Romeo & Juliet and The Narrative of Nothing. Other directing and choreographic credits include Metamorphosis, Turandot, Salome, The Trojans, Aida (Opera Australia); Ainadamar (The Adelaide Festival of Arts); Tivoli (a Sydney Dance Company and
The Australian Ballet co-production); VAST (The Australian Bicentennial Authority); Hua Mulan (a Sydney Dance Company and Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble co-production); Die Silberne Rose (Bayerisches Staatsballett, Munich); Water (Shanghai Ballet); Forty Miles- A River of Dreams (Tasdance); Song of the Night (Nederlands Dans Theater); Embodied (Mikhail Baryshnikov) and The Torvill and Dean World Tour Company. He also choreographed Death in Venice (Canadian Opera Company); Samson et Dalila (The Metropolitan Opera, New York); the film Mao's Last Dancer, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Love Never Dies.

Murphy is the recipient of an AM (1982) for Services to Dance and three honorary doctorates. He was honoured at the Inaugural Sydney Opera House Honours (1993), named a National Living Treasure (1999) by the National Trust of Australia and made Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2012.

MELBOURNE
16 - 26 MARCH
State Theatre Arts Centre Melbourne
with Orchestra Victoria

SYDNEY
6 - 23 APRIL
Joan Sutherland Theatre Sydney Opera House
with Opera Australia Orchestra

BOOKINGS
australianballet.com.au

THE SILVER ROSE (excerpt)
Music Carl Vine
Costume and set design Roger Kirk
Original lighting design Damien Cooper
Original producer Bayerisches Staatsballett

AIR AND OTHER INVISIBLE FORCES (trio then duet)
Music Michael Askill (performed to recording)
Costume design Akira Isogawa
Production design Gerard Manion
Original lighting design Damien Cooper
Original producer Sydney Dance Company

SHÉHÉRAZADE (complete work)
Music Maurice Ravel
Costume and set design Kristian Fredrikson
Original lighting design John Rayment
Original producer Sydney Dance Company

ELLIPSE (quartet)
Music Matthew Hindson
Costume design Akira Isogawa
Set design Gerard Manion
Original lighting design Damien Cooper
Original producer Sydney Dance Company

GRAND (excerpts)
Music Alberto Ginastera, Ludwig van Beethoven, George Gershwin, Thomas 'Fats' Waller, Charles-François Gounod
Costume design Akira Isogawa
Set design Gerard Manion
Original lighting design Damien Cooper
Original producer Sydney Dance Company

FIREBIRD
Music Igor Stravinsky
Costume and set design Leon Krasenstein
Original lighting design Damien Cooper

STEP INSIDE
Discover a world of pointe shoes, pirouette and life-long passions with The Australian Ballet's Step Inside program.

McAllister in Conversation
Artistic Director David McAllister hosts an insightful conversation with a luminary from the ballet world.

Melbourne, Arts Centre Melbourne
Saturday 17 March
Sydney, Sydney Opera House
Saturday 7 April

Post Performance Q&A
Murphy audiences are invited to stay back after the show for a special Q&A with dancers and creatives.

Melbourne, Arts Centre Melbourne
Monday 19 March
Sydney, Sydney Opera House
Monday 9 April

The Music of the Dance
Audiences will hear from Music Director and Chief Conductor Nicolette Fraillon about the score of each ballet and what it's like to be in the pit during a performance.

Melbourne, Arts Centre Melbourne
Wednesday 21 March
Sydney, Sydney Opera House
Wednesday 11 April and Saturday 21 April

Behind the Scenes
Watch the dancers take their class on stage and enjoy a rare opportunity to see a principal couple fine-tune their technique.

Melbourne, Arts Centre Melbourne
Friday 23 March
Sydney, Sydney Opera House
Friday 20 April

Open Classes
These classes give young dancers the chance to perfect their skills and learn new techniques, including some that The Australian Ballet's dancers use themselves.

Sydney, Sydney Opera House
Sunday 15 April

Firebird Program
Graeme Murphy fans will get their ballet fix at this lunch time performance of Firebird at Sydney Opera House.

Sydney, Sydney Opera House
Wednesday 18 April

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