The Royal Ballet Celebrates Glen Tetley’s Centenary With Return of PIERROT LUNAIRE

The Royal Ballet will celebrate the centenary of Glen Tetley’s birth this February with a revival of his masterwork Pierrot Lunaire. Last performed by the Company in 2007, Pierrot Lunaire was an early creation of Tetley’s that established his striking choreographic style, one that merged the aesthetics of ballet and modern dance. The work now occupies a significant place in ballet history.

Created in 1962 for Tetley’s own company, the ballet was inspired by stock characters from the early theatrical tradition of commedia dell’arte and plunges them into an austere set by designer Rouben Ter-Arutunian. Against the backdrop of a simple scaffold, everything is pared back to depict a raw, human vulnerability. The surreal ballet reinterprets Arnold Schoenberg’s atonal song-cycle of the same name.

Principal dancers Marcelino Sambé (Pierrot), Mayara Magri (Columbine) and Matthew Ball (Brighella) perform together on opening night, alternating performances with Soloist Joshua Junker (Pierrot), Principal Natalia Osipova (Columbine) and Guest Artist Patricio Revé (Brighella) throughout the run.