MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP

L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato


With the Orchestra and Chorus of English National Opera

· Only performances outside London

· Officially opens International Dance Festival Birmingham 2010

“one of the very greatest dances of the late 20th century” Boston Herald

“Mozart of Modern dance”, The Washington Post

MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP return to Birmingham Hippodrome to perform the monumental L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato from Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 April, a dance piece not seen in this country for over ten years.

This visually compelling production will only be performed at the London Coliseum and Birmingham Hippodrome where it officially opens International Dance Festival Birmingham 2010.

When it premiered in 1988 L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato was instantly heralded as a landmark work and acknowledged as a masterpiece of modern dance. This poetic collaboration boasts an incredible 32 dances by 24 dancers and features Handel’s pastoral ode set to the poetry of John Milton. The set design includes inspiration from William Blake’s later watercolours illustrating Milton’s poems.

The music and joyous choral chant is provided by The Orchestra and Chorus of the acclaimed English National Opera (ENO). Conducted by Jane Glover, it features a quartet of soloists including Mark Padmore and Elizabeth Watts.

Stuart Griffiths, Birmingham Hippodrome Chief Executive and Co-Artistic Director of IDFB 2010 said “I have been waiting 15 years to programme this outstanding and acclaimed dance piece. It is without doubt one of the most memorable productions I have seen on the stage”.

Once considered the bad boy of the modern dance world, Mark Morris is now an influential and internationally celebrated choreographer whose pieces have become the standard of creativity for a new generation of dancers, choreographers and critics.

The MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP was formed in 1980 and gave its first performance that year in New York City. The company’s touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities both in the U.S. and in Europe, and in 1986 it made its first national television programme for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The company returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world’s leading dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals.

Tickets for L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato are priced from £18.50-£49 and are available on 0844 338 5000 or online at http://www.birminghamhippodrome.com/.  

Perf times: Eves 7.30pm.

Call charges vary from 5p per min. 6% transaction charge; 3% online.