Sir Paul McCartney has contributed to a new ballet which is set to debut later this year.
Sir Paul McCartney has always had an interest in the arts. A published author, the Beatles icon is also a noted painter. Now the legendary British songwriter has decided to turn his hand to ballet.
New York City Ballet chief Peter Martins is to head the project, but after meeting Paul McCartney the former Beatle agreed to write the score. The pair first met in 2010 at the School of American Ballet’s Winter Gala with work beginning soon afterwards.
Now the production is almost ready to premiere, with a full run planned for the 2011 / 2012 season. Like the rest of my generation, I grew up being a huge fan of The Beatles so I was thrilled to meet him," said Martins.
"After I got to know him a bit, and knowing of his great love of composing classical music, I asked if he might be interested in doing something for New York City Ballet, and I am ecstatic that he has agreed to write a score for us."
New York City Ballet is one of the world's foremost dance troupes, making this a very prestigious honour for Sir Paul McCartney. Recently completing a world tour, the singer was delighted to come onboard.
"I am always interested in new directions that I haven’t worked in before. So I became very excited about the idea. When I got back to England after meeting Peter I started writing music and am now in the very final stages of the orchestral score."
He continued, "What was interesting was writing music that meant something expressively rather than just writing a song. Trying to write something that expressed an emotion – so you have fear, love, anger, sadness to play with and I found that exciting and challenging."
Full details of the production - including title, design and of course the cast - are set to be revealed at a later date.
The new McCartney / Martins ballet is set to debut on September 22nd.