Beyond the Pit: Musicians Onstage in The Winter’s Tale
By Caroline Dickie
Joby Talbot’s original score for Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale includes five musicians who join the action onstage. This eclectic “banda” plays instruments from around the world – an Indian bansuri flute, Hungarian hammer dulcimer, West African krin and dundun drums, a Brazilian surdo drum, a Middle Eastern riq tambourine, Turkish finger cymbals and an accordion. The group not only provides accompaniment for the dancers but is also integral to the visual life and storytelling of the ballet.
“The onstage banda was actually Chris’ idea,” Talbot has said. “When he raised it, I felt conflicted because I thought that’s great idea and that’s really going to be hard.”
The banda differs from the full orchestra in that it provides music the characters onstage are meant to hear. It also plays a role shaping the story. In Act I, for example, everyone in the Sicilian court dances to the banda apart from King Leontes, whose detachment from the music signals a deeper sense of isolation that sets the tragedy in motion. For the banda to succeed as part of the story, the musicians onstage must function both as an independent unit and as an extension of the orchestra.
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Jack Bertinshaw with Artists of the Ballet in The Winter's Tale. Photo by Karolina Kuras.
The task is easier said than done. In addition to aesthetic considerations such as costumes for the musicians, their placement and the size of their various instruments, there is the challenge of coordinating what is being played onstage with what’s happening in the pit.
“We decided early on that we would need to amplify the onstage banda if they were to project across the full-sized orchestra in the pit,” said Talbot. “We had to make sure that the conductor was always in the band’s vision without it being obvious that they were watching him, plus we needed to ensure that the orchestra was very audible onstage and that the band could clearly be heard in the pit. We used radio-controlled in-ear monitors for the banda and monitor wedges in the pit and this worked really well.”
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Artists of the Ballet in The Winter's Tale. Photo by Karolina Kuras.
The National Ballet of Canada Orchestra is reprising Talbot’s score, complete with the folk-inspired banda, this fall under the baton of Principal Conductor and Music Director David Briskin, who has a special connection to The Winter’s Tale. He conducted the world premiere with The Royal Ballet in London in 2014, followed by The National Ballet of Canada’s performances in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York City. He also conducted performances with Hamburg Ballet and a worldwide cinema broadcast and DVD recording with The Royal Ballet.
“A gorgeous tapestry of clear and emotional storytelling through music, dance and design, The Winter’s Tale sets a new standard for narrative ballet in the 21st century,” said Briskin.
Top Photo: Former Principal Dancer Jillian Vanstone, Former First Soloist Hannah Fischer and Former Principal Dancer Piotr Stanczyk in The Winter's Tale. Photo by Karolina Kuras.