New English Ballet Theatre Will Premiere TALES OF APOLLO and HERCULES
Performances run March 27-29.
By: Stephi Wild Feb. 04, 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 two tragic and 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 wherein Hercules is offered a choice between Vice and Virtue – a life of pleasure or one of hardship and honour.
Critically acclaimed 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.
“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 and we cannot wait to see what he will bring to this eternal story of fate and free will.
“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. I'm confident that Valentino and Tom Guthrie will present a stunning show of ballet, drama, opera and live music for our ever-growing audiences.”
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 breathtaking fusion of drama and dance. We are thrilled to have acclaimed director Thomas Guthrie on board with 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 the exceptional La Nuova Musica under David Bates. This promises to be one of the most original and unmissable Handel productions and a must-see highlight of the 2025 London Handel Festival.”
Karen on Valentino Zucchetti: “I had always admired Valentino's stage work as a dancer; at one Royal Ballet Draft Works event he presented a movement of a piece he'd made called Orbital Motion (left). 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 performed it many times between 2013 and 2015. It's a piece I'd love to revive.”
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