A pop star whose artistic footprint spans the worlds of music, choreography, fashion, film and visual arts, Solange will soon add a new genre to her repertoire: ballet composer.
new york city ballet Some of Solange’s musical collaborators and members of the City Ballet Orchestra.
This step into ballet is the latest in a series of adventurous turns by the 36-year-old Solange, who began her career as a singer and dancer at a young age, including performing with her sister Beyoncé in Destiny’s Child. Solange’s work has since blossomed into more independent realms involving multiple hyphens, and her music began with her 2012 album True, followed by A Seat at the Table (2016) and When I Get Home. (2019), a place where interdisciplinary artists who transcend genres gather. In her art and street, she’s also an activist for her Black Lives Matter and other causes.
Solange has long had a theatrical edge that touches Lincoln Center regulars and collaborators beyond the musical realm. She has collaborated with designer Carlos Soto, recurring partner of autism director Robert Wilson, organized programming in spaces such as the Guggenheim and Getty Museums and the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, and created her own brought performance. , and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany.
Her music for Reisen marks her debut in the ballet that shaped her as a child in Houston. She met Lauren Anderson, the Houston Ballet’s pioneering black principal dancer, and she once told writer Ayana Mathis, “My dream was to go to Juilliard.”
The new dance is Raisen’s third at City Ballet and features costumes by Alejandro Gomez Palomo of Palomo Spain. Choreographers and designers will pair up for the fall fashion gala, with Kyle’s Abraham premiering and Giles’ Deacon in charge of the costumes. In the film directed by Sofia Coppola, her 2021 virtual premiere of Justin His Peck’s “Solo” premiered live in her performance, now with costume design by Raf Simons. The gala evening concludes with George Balanchine’s 1947 masterpiece, Symphony in C.