There is, of course, already a New Year’s Concert, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and broadcast every year on radio and television. To attend in person, there is a lottery scheme in place, which interested patrons must enter in February (for the following New Year) and will be notified about in March. This wasn’t exactly necessary for this inaugural Ballet Nights New Year’s gala – there were, as I understand it, some box office sales made on the night, though by any reckoning, the house was close to full, which is quite an achievement for a central London gig on a public holiday with multiple railway closures for engineering works. Mind you, the Ballet Nights regulars, not so long ago, had to overcome London Underground industrial action to get to Cadogan Hall.
Gareth Haw and Liudmila Konovalova. Photo by Deborah Jaffe
Falling under the Ballet Nights umbrella meant this concert had plenty of dance pieces to enjoy. The balance between ‘live’ and ‘recorded’ music was more tilted here in favour of ‘live’, at least relative to their previous variety performances. If I keep banging my own proverbial drum loudly and repeatedly enough, one of these days Ballet Nights might just do away with backing tracks altogether, with even the most contemporary and postmodern dances backed by, say, a disc jockey and a beatboxer.
Not that there was a need for either with this particular programme, eclectic as it was. The mixing decks and turntables can wait until such time as the Ballet Nights team are ready for a return visit to the Ministry of Sound (yes, really) – on the roster here were works by Dvorak, Chopin, Puccini, Rossini and Tchaikovsky. Step forward Quartet Concrète (violins: Anna Brown and Leon Human; viola: Dominic Stokes; cello: Joseph Barker), formed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2021 and already award winners. Their musical offerings very much put paid to the stereotypical idea that classical music is all beige and boring.
Ballet Nights patrons will be familiar with their house pianist, Viktor Erik Emanuel (who seems to like performing on public holidays, having performed a piano recital at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church on Boxing Day) – his suggestions as to what should be included in the New Year’s programme were, allegedly, roundly rejected by Ballet Nights compère Jamiel Devernay-Laurence in favour of something really rather fiery, namely Chopin’s 1830 Étude Op. 10, No. 4 in C# minor, a piece famous enough to have its own Wikipedia page. I’m not going to pretend to know the difference between ‘C-sharp’ and, say, ‘E-flat’ – what I can say is that the piano solo went down well with a London audience. The piano solo was best described, at least in my opinion, to quote a 2022 motion picture, as everything everywhere all at once. Perhaps there’s something relatable about the rushed and hurried nature of London life.
Then there was ‘Largo Al Factotum’ from Il Barbiere Di Siviglia, or for monoglots like me, The Barber of Seville, for which Quartet Concrète were joined by British-Irish baritone Patrick Alexander Keefe, joint 2022 winner of The John Christie Award, named in honour of the founder of the Glyndebourne Festival. Keefe made one of the most notoriously tricky baritone arias seem (I repeat – seem) effortless and his sheer stage presence made the performance a key highlight.
All that would be enough for a delightful and diverse evening, and indeed it was. But I suppose I had better say something about the dancing itself – this show was, after all, produced by Fundamentally Dance. Each of the two halves included a performance from Yasiel Hodelín Bello, invited in 2023 by Carlos Acosta, Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, to join the BRB company. Bello had, in this very same week, performed in London, in the BRB production of The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall – his contributions here were short, snappy and sublime.
The two halves – or ‘parts’ as the programme called them – closed out with dances performed by Gareth Haw, a Welsh dancer and principal at the English National Ballet (make of that what you will). In the first, ‘Moonlight’ by Florent Melac (premier danseur at Paris Opera Ballet), he was joined by Constance Devernay-Laurence of London City Ballet. Described as ‘the calm after the storm’, that little nugget of information helped to understand quite why the dance was unable to express serenity in any meaningful way. The second part closed with the pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty, performed with Liudmila Konovalova, prima ballerina at The Wiener Staatsballett (Vienna State Ballet). It was a suitably elegant and majestic conclusion to a whirlwind event: a ‘happy new year’ indeed!
Review by Chris Omaweng
Since its launch in September 2023, Ballet Nights has established itself as a platform for artistic excellence and innovation. A start-up with a small team and a big vision, Ballet Nights has seen 11 uniquely compèred variety programmes, 19 live performances, and platforms for over 100 artists and 50 choreographers, including 12 new commissions. After multiple sold-out shows at London’s Cadogan Hall and Glasgow’s Theatre Royal, international shows in Brisbane, Australia; Bucharest, Romania; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Ballet Nights will embark on its first UK tour in 2026.
Ballet Nights reimagines the traditional ballet experience, bridging the traditional gap between stage and audiences. By informing audiences about what they are seeing, why, and where they can experience more, the show creates a uniquely intimate atmosphere that has cultivated a loyal and growing audience of both seasoned dance enthusiasts and newcomers. The Ballet Nights team work closely with all participating artists – from star principals of renowned ballet companies, to new voices and young contemporary graduates – to platform the stories they want to tell. Ballet Nights has developed a community where everyone contributes to a larger vision, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic dance ecology.
Offstage, Ballet Nights is equally defined by innovation and a desire to realise a fresh new status quo. In its first full year of operation, business has been defined by a fierce passion striving for bold future goals, balancing financial resilience by blending creativity with smart business practices, proving a start-up in the arts can flourish. The company embraces cutting-edge practices, from integrating AI into workforce management to adopting marketing strategies from e-commerce, and leveraging digital platforms and storytelling to build a brand identity that resonates with a modern audience.
PART I
Piano Quintet No.2 In A Major, Op.81,B.155: III. Scherzo (Furiant) & Piano Quintet No.2 In A Major, Op.81,B.155: IV. Allegro
Performed by Quartet Concrète & Viktor Erik Emanuel
Composed by Antonín Dvořák
Le Corsaire Variation
Performed by Yasiel Hodelín Bello
Choreographed by att. Marius Petipa
Composer Adolphe Adam
With Thanks to Birmingham Royal Ballet
Bitter Earth
Performed by Minju Kang, Lorenzo Trossello and Kevin Poeung
Choreographed by Kenneth Tindall
Music by Max Richter & Dinah Washington
Étude in C sharp Minor, Op.10, No. 4
Composer Frédéric Chopin
Evanescence
Performed by Liudmila Konovalova
Choreographed by Sebastien Bertaud
Soprano Gulshan Akin
Piano Viktor Erik Emanuel
Composer Giacomo Puccini
Moonlight
Performed by Constance Devernay-Laurence & Gareth Haw
Choreographed by Florent Melac
With Thanks to London City Ballet
PART II
Aheym
Performed by Quartet Concrète
Composer Bryce Desner
Basilio Variation, Don Quixote
Performed by Yasiel Hodelín Bello
Choreographed by att. Marius Petipa / Alexander Gorsky
Composer Ludwig Minkus
With Thanks to Birmingham Royal Ballet
Viola Sonata, Op. 25, No. 1 Rasendes Zeitmass. Wild. Tonschonheir ist Nebensache
Viola Dominic Stokes
Composer Paul Hindemith
Clinquant
Choreographed & Performed by EKLEIDO
Music by Floating Points, Ela Minus & Stella Mozgawa
Largo Al Factotum from Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Performed by Quartet Concrète
Baritone Patrick Alexander Keefe
Composed by Gioachino Rossini
Arranged for String Quartet by Dominic Stokes
Sleeping Beauty Pas De Deux
Performed by Liudmila Konovalova & Gareth Haw
Choreographed by Marius Petipa
Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
BALLET NIGHTS: THE NEW YEAR’S DAY CONCERT
Cadogan Hall
1 January 2026
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Chris has been reviewing for LondonTheatre1 since 2014. He has had a range of jobs in his working career across higher education, membership organisations and the private sector, and is currently administrator and office manager at the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road, a popular audition and rehearsal space for theatre companies. He is an associate member of the Institute of Administrative Management and a member of the drama section of the Critics’ Circle.