Will Tuckett
Premiered February 1, 2013, by The Sarasota Ballet
The Sarasota Ballet Performing Will Tuckett’s Changing Light | Photo by Frank Atura
The Sarasota Ballet Performing Will Tuckett’s Changing Light | Photo by Frank Atura
The Sarasota Ballet Performing Will Tuckett’s Changing Light | Photo by Frank Atura
Changing Light
Having previously worked with The Sarasota Ballet in 2010 and 2012 restaging Spielende Kinder, Changing Light marked Will Tuckett’s first ballet commissioned for the Company by Director Iain Webb. While the choreography and look of the ballet didn’t materialize until Tuckett’s arrival in Sarasota, the inspirational spark came months before from Composer and close friend, Jeremy Holland-Smith, whose new and unnamed composition would form the foundation for Changing Light.
“I remember clearly my arrival at the airport on my trip to make Changing Light. Whilst I had a loose plan and structure for the whole piece due to my time to choreograph being very short, there was something niggling, a piece of the creative jigsaw somehow missing that I couldn’t put my finger on.
“As we drove over the Skyway Bridge I played Jeremy’s music again on my headphones and turning to the window looked out over one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen, the Sarasota sunset. The light and sea appeared to merge, the colours turning from sky blue to orange, then pink, then purple. It was both utterly beautiful and totally invigorating and made me feel really good just to be alive. I realized that the missing piece of the jigsaw was the very place itself – Sarasota.”
“Choreographing this piece was pure pleasure. The company approached every rehearsal with such vigour, appetite and desire to dance that I could hardly bear for each day of rehearsals to end. It is this energy and love of dance that is woven into the steps I put together. Then onstage I worked for the first time with Aaron Muhl who provided with lights what I had seen in the sky that very first evening over the sea. I said at the time of making the piece, ‘There’s a feeling that things have not been brilliant lately and we’re all feeling slightly embattled. The only way around it is just to say, shall we do it?'”
“Sadly I don’t think things have changed that much in the world. There are some truly terrible things happening around the globe but we all need to keep faith and have hope in our ability to change the future and, even more, we need to keep our faith and hope in one another. If there’s one thing that for me that can embody that sense of hope, it is dance. That feeling that the moment is ours, right now to move forward in has remained and I believe we should all hold onto that.”
“I am thrilled that Iain has chosen to remount Changing Light and it gives me huge pleasure to be able to work with this wonderful company again.” – Will Tuckett.
Jeremy Holland-Smith is a composer, orchestrator, and conductor who has amassed an extensive range of work in film, television, ballet, and theater over recent years. Jeremy studied at the Junior Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, winning numerous prizes. Jeremy’s most recent projects include collaborations with Joby Talbot on song orchestrations and co-arrangements for Warner Bros’ Wonka. For Netflix’s Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, an animated adaptation of the Lesley Bricusse music Scrooge starring Olivia Colman and Jonathan Pryce, Jeremy arranged and produced the original Bricusse songs as well as contributing two of his own and writing original score. Other recent work includes orchestrations and arrangements for the hit animated films Sing and Sing 2 for Universal Pictures, the BBC adaptation of Les Miserables, additional music and arrangements for Steven Knights’s upcoming Disney+ drama A Thousand Blows starring Stephen Graham, and the original score for the feature film The Passing, for which Jeremy won the Music+Sound Award for Original Feature Film Score. More TV and film score credits include the highly acclaimed documentaries I Shot My Parents and North Korea: Murder in the Family and the score for the returned BBC series The League of Gentlemen. Other Joby Talbot scores on which he has acted as orchestrator include Psychoville (BBC), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Royal Ballet), and Tide Harmonic (Signum Records); and for Paul Englishby he has orchestrated Queens of Mystery (Acorn), The Musketeers (BBC), Witness for the Prosecution (BBC), Decline and Fall (BBC) and A Royal Night Out (Ecosse Films).
As a conductor, Jeremy has worked with many orchestras, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Brussels Philharmonic. He made his debut at the BBC Proms in 2015, conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Life Story Prom presented by Sir David Attenborough. He has also been a Musical Director and Composer on numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Musical Director for several West End productions, including The Lord of the Rings, Billy Elliot, and The Thief of Bagdad.
Jeremy Holland-Smith is a composer, orchestral arranger, and conductor who has amassed an extensive range of work in film, television, ballet, and theater over recent years. Jeremy studied at the Junior Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, winning numerous prizes. Jeremy’s most recent projects include composing the score for the feature film The Passing, orchestrating and conducting the score for A Royal Night Out, The Secret Garden for The Sarasota Ballet, his work with Murray Gold on Life Story and Doctor Who, and continues to work on the hugely successful BBC series, The Musketeers. Jeremy has also worked closely with Joby Talbot on numerous projects, including Psychoville (BBC), Hunky Dory, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (ROH), and Tide Harmonic (Signum Records). In 2016, he orchestrated and conducted Joby’s scores for Sing!, the forthcoming animation movie from Illumination and Universal Studios, and Out of Shadowland, a new live Musical show for Disney Sea, Tokyo.
As a conductor, Jeremy has worked with many orchestras, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Brussels Philharmonic. He made his debut at the BBC Proms in 2015, conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Life Story Prom presented by Sir David Attenborough. He has also been a Musical Director and Composer on numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Musical Director for several West End productions, including The Lord of the Rings, Billy Elliot, and The Thief of Bagdad.
Aaron Muhl is from Sarasota, FL and has over 20 years of experience in the performing arts. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatrical Design and Technology from the University of Central Florida, he began a freelance design career. Aaron joined the newly restored Historic Asolo Theater at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art as Technical Director in 2006 until 2019. Simultaneously, he was also The Sarasota Ballet’s resident lighting designer and supervisor for 15 years. During Aaron’s tenure there, he was the primary designer and recreator for over 100 one-act and full-length ballets. His work has been presented at The Kennedy Center, The Joyce Theatre, New York City Center, and Jacob’s Pillow. Recent designs include Mthuthuzeli November’s From Africa With Love, Vibes and Variations, Omar Roman de Jesus’ Balum and Rosie Herrera’s Florida Woman. Other notable designs include Will Tuckett’s Changing Light and Lux Aeterna, Jessica Lang’s Shades of Spring, Alejandro Cerrisi’s Wings, and Sir Peter Wright’s Summertide and Giselle.
