Turning Up the Volume for ‘Black Sabbath – The Ballet’

Birmingham, UK (October 28, 2024)—Birmingham has given us countless rock acts over the years, ranging from ELO to Duran Duran to Ocean Colour Scene, but arguably the most influential of them all was Black Sabbath. Now paying homage to the hometown heroes, the Birmingham Royal Ballet has been performing a new work, Black Sabbath – The Ballet, proving that even when it comes to genres, opposites attract.

The production, comprised of full orchestrations of favorite Sabbath tracks and new orchestral works, made its world premiere in 2023, performed by the Ballet and its orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. According to commercial director Paul James, “This ballet certainly brought heavy metal fans to the ballet for the first time, including legendary Black Sabbath founder and guitarist, Tony Iommi, who had never been to a ballet before and now attends regularly.” Reportedly 65 percent of ticket buyers for the shows had never seen the city’s ballet troupe before.

More recently, the production has toured the UK with help from Britannia Row, which was brought aboard to provide the correct audio intensity for the shows. Brit Row account executive Tom Brown noted, “The ballet aren’t used to using a touring audio company of our size but seemed to enjoy the experience, and we really enjoyed working with them.”

The first task was to find a composer who could work across the spectrum from rock to classical as the piece would be played live by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. A team led by Christopher Austin tackled the orchestrations, focusing in on eight specific Sabbath tracks that could retain their original impact while being adapted to have more traditional dance elements necessary for modern ballet. With that in place, sound designer Josh Blair was brought on to spec gear and develop the show’s sound.

Blair opted for Avid consoles and an L-Acoustics PA system for the project; in monitor world, engineers Naomi Nash and Adam Taylor, who split duties on the tour legs, also opted for Avid S6L32D consoles. The P.A. was comprised of L-Acoustics Kara IIs bolstered by SB18 subs flown in a close coupled arrangement. Meanwhile, eight 5XTs were used for spot fills, and KS28 twin 18-inch subs hidden in the wings added to the low end as needed.

Black Sabbath – The Ballet will continue its journey with a tour of the USA in June 2025.