Carl Davis’ Alice in Wonderland makes its Slovenian debut in the choreography by Howard Quintero at the SNG Opera in Balet Ljubljana on 16 April, where it receives ten performances. The 100-minute score to the ballet, after Lewis Caroll’s iconic story, will be conducted by Simon Dvoršak.
Alice in Wonderland was Davis’ second treatment of Caroll’s story, following his 1986 musical. A ballet ‘after Tchaikovsky’, Davis mined numerous works from the Russian composer’s output for the 100-minute score. As well as piano and chamber music, Davis turned to Tchaikovsky’s incidental music for Hamlet for its fanfares and marches, as well as the seldom-performed opera The Maid of Orleans and his symphonic fantasy on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The ballet’s grand waltz comes from the third movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5, and his 24 short piano pieces Children’s Album provided material for many of the solo sequences in the ballet. Davis recorded the score with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010.
Quintero’s choreography last appeared in December 2024 with Portugal’s Companhia Nacional de Bailado at the Teatro Camões, Lisbon. The revival received 11 performances, accompanied by the Orquestra Sinonfica Portuguesa, conducted by José Eduardo Gomes; it first appeared at the house in 2021.
Alice in Wonderland debuted with English National Ballet at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton in 1995, choreographed by Derek Deane. It has received over 150 performances since its creation, including visits to Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Hong Kong’s Grand Theatre with English National Ballet, and, most recently, in 2023 in the Hague with De Dutch Don’t Dance Division, in an MC Escher-inspired choreography by Rinus Sprong.
On 30 January 2026 Davis' ballet The Great Gatsby, choreographed by Jorden Morris, began a run of eight performances at Colorado Ballet – finally making its debut at the Theatre after cancellation during the Pandemic. Adam Flatt conducts Davis’ 2019 score, which captures both the ebullience of the Roaring Twenties and the destructive, obsessive aura surrounding Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tale of tragic excess. Davis previously composed acclaimed film music for a television adaption of The Great Gatsby in 2000. The production will transfer to the Orlando Ballet in April 2026, where it is in rep until 3 May.