''Valley of Shadows'' is a one-act ballet created by
Kenneth MacMillan in 1983 for the
Royal Ballet. The music is by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (extracts from ''
Hamlet'' and ''
Souvenir de Florence'') and
Bohuslav Martinů
Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He bec ...
(Double Concerto, 1938). The story is loosely based on the novel ''
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'' by
Giorgio Bassani. The designer was
Yolanda Sonnabend
Yolanda Paulina Tamara Sonnabend (26 March 1935 – 9 November 2015) was a British theatre and ballet designer and painter, primarily of portraits.
Early life
Sonnabend was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) the younger ch ...
, who had first collaborated with him on 1963's ''Symphony''.
Original cast
The first performance was on 3 March 1983, at the
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
.
"Valley of Shadows"
Royal Opera House Collections Online, retrieved 8 October 2014
* Alessandra Ferri
* Sandra Conley Sandra Conley (born 24 October 1943) is a former ballet dancer, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.
Conley was born on 24 October 1943 in Hatfield, England.
In 1962, Conley made her debut with the Royal Ballet's touring company, and in 1970 ...
* Julie Wood
''Julie Wood'' was a Franco-Belgian comics series drawn and written by French cartoonist Jean Graton between 1976 and 1980. It centered around a young female motorcyclist, Julie Wood. When the series ended the character was introduced in Graton's ...
* Derek Deane
* Guy Niblett
* David Wall
* Ashley Page
See also
* List of ballets by title
Notes
Ballets by Kenneth MacMillan
Ballets to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1983 ballet premieres
Ballets designed by Yolanda Sonnabend
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