Fascinating Facts: Don Quixote Music

Two classical guitarists play live on stage during the Campfire Scene. One of the guitarists, Tom Ellis, also plays the rock guitar. He played for us in the pit for Black Sabbath – The Ballet.

In addition to the two on-stage guitarists, we have 56 musicians in the orchestra for Don Quixote. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia consists of a mixture of contracted musicians and freelance musicians who are hired just for this production.

While dancers require approximately five weeks of rehearsal, conductors join studio rehearsals two to three weeks before the start of a production. Things are a little different for our musicians! The orchestra usually rehearses for around 12 hours without the dancers, plus just one or two three-hour stage rehearsals with the dancers, before they are able to play for a performance.

There’s only one percussion instrument that is amplified in Don Quixote – a Wind Machine used for the famous Windmill Scene in Act II.

In Act I, Kitri is seen playing the castanets while performing one of her solos. However, the dancer performing Kitri isn’t the one playing them – it's a musician in the pit.