SCOTTISH BALLET
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND -- Scottish Ballet and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra will team up August 26-28 at the Edinburgh International Festival. They will mount the world premiere of NEW WORK (2011), by Jorma Elo, and SONG OF THE EARTH, first created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1965.
Hot on the heels of his recent triumphs at San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, Jorma Elo's much-anticipated new commission for Scottish Ballet features Mozart's First Violin Concerto and music by Steve Reich. Elo is the resident choreographer of Boston Ballet.
SONG OF THE EARTH is set to Mahler's beautiful song cycle Das Lied von der Erde, which explores mankind's struggle to accept mortality and the hope and eventual renewal that comes with death. Mahler set texts from Chinese poems of the T'ang Dynasty, translated into German. Joining the dancers of Scottish Ballet are mezzo soprano Katarina Karneus and tenor Peter Wedd, plus the Royal Scottish National Orchesta led by Sian Edwards.