King Lear

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King Lear
a photo showing Stewart Copeland, the choreographer and Darryl Way - copyright Darryl Way
Basic information
Composed by: Stewart Copeland
Composed in: 1984
Length: 24 minutes
Premiere date: 1985-04-16
Premiere venue: VENUE
Premiere location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Introduction

Michael Smuin (the director of the San Francisco Ballet - who had also worked as a choreographer on the movie Rumble Fish) asked Stewart to write this ballet in 1984.

Background

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare.

  • Kirk Peterson - King Lear
  • Eda Holmes, Mimi Keith and Wendy Van Dyke - his daughters

Performance history

The ballet was performed six times in San Francisco, CA, USA.

Release History

King Lear was never officially released in recorded format. Yet at least one of the performances was privately filmed - from the start of the music to the closed curtain it's exactly 23:47 minutes long.

Quotations and trivia

Stewart Copeland composed the music for this ballet while shooting The Rhythmatist in Africa in 1984. Choreographer Victoria Morgan got rid of most of the subplot and characters and Stewart composed the music to this shortened scenario which resulted in a 20 minute ballet. Stewart worked for certain characters at first and changed bits using Victorias input. Darryl Way helped with the orchestration. Stewart attended the rehearsals in a San Francisco Ballet studio as well as the performances on 1985-04-16 and 1985-04-17.

See also

External links

References

source: article in Wilmington Morning Star - April 16, 1985; 1985-07 Music UK interview mentions six sold out performances; private information (video / length / actors)