This ballet's plot is inspired by The Corsair, a famous verse written in 1814 by Lord Byron, who towered over an entire generation of English Romantic poets. The thrilling story, full of adventure, also leaves plenty of room for love, betrayal, life-threatening danger, a shipwreck, and ultimately, escape. Byron's work was so successful that ballet masters were staging it as early as the 1820s, soon after it appeared. The 1856 Paris production caused a sensation with the stagecraft used in it to depict the shipwreck. Anna-Marie Holmes choreographed her own version for the Boston Ballet in 1997.
Score: editions Anna-Marie Holmes. Music edited, arranged, re-orchestrated by Kevin Galiè.