New English Ballet Theatre To Premiere TALES OF APOLLO AND HERCULES
‘Tales of Apollo and Hercules' explores the lives of the divine half-brothers in their quest for love, their battles with choice and anguish, and their acceptance of fate
By: A.A. Cristi Mar. 17, 2025
NEW ENGLISH BALLET THEATRE has announced a brand new performance partnership with the London Handel Festival with their appearance in the world premiere of ‘TALES OF APOLLO and HERCULES'.
Leading stage director Thomas Guthrie and the award-winning Royal Ballet dancer and choreographer Valentino Zucchetti, Associate Choreographer NEBT, will create an evening of mythical storytelling through music and dance.
‘Tales of Apollo and Hercules' explores the lives of the divine half-brothers in their quest for love, their battles with choice and anguish, and their acceptance of fate. The first half of the evening presents Apollo e Dafne, the Ancient Greek transformation myth wherein the beautiful nymph Dafne rejects the love of Apollo and is turned into a tree.
The second half of the evening presents The Choice of Hercules, the Ancient Greek parable about Hercules who is offered a choice between Vice and Virtue – a life of pleasure or one of hardship and honour.
Early music ensemble La Nuova Musica – London Handel Festival favourites - together with their founder and conductor David Bates join a cast of acclaimed soloists for this original Handel production. www.nebt.co.uk
Says Karen Pilkington-Miksa, Artistic Director of New English Ballet Theatre:
“We are so thrilled to be collaborating with The London Handel Festival on this ground breaking project. We are working with world class NEBT Associate Choreographer Valentino Zucchetti who has won many awards for his beautiful choreography including the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance.
“In producing Wayne Eagling's Remembrance in 2018 for NEBT, which we set to Handel's Ode to St Cecilia's Day, I realised how inspiring sung baroque music can be when set to classical ballet. Valentino has an intense musical sensitivity to both lyric and score and I think it'll be an exciting and challenging for our dancers to collaborate with singers on stage.”
Says London Handel Festival Director Gregory Batsleer, “Following our previous sell-out productions in 2023 and 2024, we are thrilled to present Tales of Apollo and Hercules, an innovative Handelian double bill that brings together a range of outstanding artists in a fusion of drama and dance created by director Thomas Guthrie and choreographer and Royal Ballet First Soloist Valentino Zucchetti. This production is set within the grandeur of Shoreditch Town Hall's Victorian music hall and features a stellar cast including Dan D'Souza, Lauren Lodge-Campbell, James Hall, Samantha Clarke and International Handel Singing Competition finalists Bethany Horak-Hallett. The music will be brought to life by La Nuova Musica under David Bates.”
Karen Pilkington-Miksa on Valentino Zucchetti, “I had always admired Valentino's stage work as a dancer and when I saw a movement of a piece he'd made for a Royal Ballet Draft Works event, I was instantly captivated by both the concept and the choreography which was set to Philip Glass's Violin Concerto. I contacted Valentino and we discussed lengthening the piece and designing the ballet around the NASA Hubble Space Telescope photos. Valentino introduced me to Nigel Bates, assistant musical director at the Royal Opera House and we contacted Philip Glass himself to work with Valentino on rearranging the music to suit the ballet length. Orbital Motion became a wonderful collaboration with the composer and we've performed it many times.”
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