"...Often it was hard to separate the music from the choreography, due, no doubt, to the genuine relationship between Sir David Bintley and Hindson..."  Ballet Herald

Australian composer Matthew Hindson’s first evening-length ballet score A Comedy of Errors, which opened last month at The Sarasota Ballet, has received glowing reviews. Hindson’s latest collaboration with choreographer Sir David Bintley is a contemporary imagining of William Shakespeare’s comedy, set in Ibiza, with designs by Dick Bird and conducted by Paul Murphy, another previous Hindson collaborator.

The Ballet Herald celebrated Hindson’s “active, complex score”, which “leveraged comedic tones from all instruments.” His writing for flute received special mention: “Hindson is a master of this woodwind…used to inspire every emotion, from impish fun to tender reconciliation.” The audience offered “thunderous applause”, the review noted.  

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune also praised the music: “…a foot-tapping score than ranges from pounding techno beats to a fiery Latin rhythms to a lyrical adagio”, as well as pointing to “an achingly beautiful piano solo pas de deux…that nearly breaks your heart.” A Comedy of Errors “should be performed near and far and become a valued and permanent part of the contemporary dance canon”, Carrie Seidman concluded.

Marina Harss in Fjord described the ballet as “warm-hearted, ebullient, and pleasing to the eye and ear. Hindson’s score hews closely to the action, underscoring the story’s farcical elements”. Harss touched on Hindson’s playful approach to musical history in the score, “deftly playing upon a variety of musical styles, from jazz to techno to a spoof of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty (and Ravel’s Boléro).”