Solange announces composition for the New York City Ballet

Alternative pop star Solange is venturing into new territory as she composes a new score for the New York City Ballet, which will debut at the Lincoln Center on Wednesday, September 28.

The 36-year-old has previously spread her wings into the areas of music, choreography, fashion, film, visual art and more - but ballet composition is just her latest move. We've also witnessed from Beyoncé's breathtaking 2018 Coachella performance that Solange is a massively talented dancer herself.

The piece will be performed again on October 1, 8, 11, and 16 as well as May 2, 11, 13, 17, and 18 as part of the New York City Ballet’s Fall Fashion Gala, which pairs choreographers with designers.

The Houston native's piece for a chamber ensemble will accompany a ballet choreographed by Gianna Reisen. Solange’s music will be performed by some of her collaborators and also members of the New York City Ballet Orchestra.

Solange and Reisen’s performance will feature costumes by Alejandro Gómez Palomo of Palomo Spain. She has previously worked with the designer Carlos Soto - a regular partner of the auteurist director Robert Wilson - and organised programming for the Guggenheim and Getty museums, the Chinati Foundation in Texas and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany.

According to the New York Times, ini her childhood Solange saw Lauren Anderson, a pioneering Black principal dancer at Houston Ballet, and once told the writer Ayana Mathis, “My dream was to go to Juilliard.”

The musician's more independent musical terrain began with her 2012 album True and continued with A Seat at the Table (2016) and When I Get Home (2019). A genre-crossing, interdisciplinary artist; her art and activism is utilised for Black Lives Matter and other causes.