Hopper

For live piano and pre-recorded track
Duration 17’
Choreography by Kit Holder
Costumes by Richard Gellar
Lighting Design – Ed Railton
First Performed at the EM Forster Theatre, Tonbridge, March 2015

Hopper was written in the autumn of 2014. This episodic ballet, designed and choreographed by Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer, Kit Holder, is inspired by three paintings by the American artist, Edward Hopper. Each picture becomes an evocative choreography in itself, a picture become alive; these episodes are linked by passages portraying the artist, and his inspiration/muse, his artist wife, Jo.

The music is entirely suggestive of mid-twentieth century America, with a faint of sense of alienation created by the vibraphone and the haunting thin tones of a muted trumpet. This uneasy atmosphere is completed by occasional city sound effects, such as a passing elevated train. The piano part was played live in performance by the composer. It is featured quite strongly in the picture sections, at times leading the music, but at other times, during the Hopper bits for example, it becomes subordinate to the overall track.