I’m just coming to the end of two weeks in Basel working with the ballet company here. We’ve been doing Jiri Kylian’s extrordinary piece, One of a Kind, with Brett Dean’s two hour score for solo on-stage cello and electronics. the dancers are magnificent – so passionate and dedicated to their art – and Kylian is my favourite choreographer – everything so flowing, and always seems to have an emotional expression that tells a story of some kind. It’s a huge challenge to play, as of course it all has to be memorised, and if I make a mistake the dancers are in big trouble! But it’s great fun – particularly in the second act where dancers come very close to where I am playing, and we get to improvise together a bit. It was the first major piece that Brett wrote before he decided to be a full time composer, having been a viola players in the Berlin Philharmonic before that.
Back to London for some rehearsals and meetings tomorrow, then back here for the final show on Sunday.
And Basel is great – such a beautiful old town, and the cheese and chocolate – lots of fondues and raclettes followed by chocolate truffles. Mmmmmm