Billy Novick has collaborated with the dynamic choreographer Septime Webre to create scores for two full-length ballets: The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises. These ballets have been performed to great critical acclaim more than 50 times all over the world, including the following cities:
Washington, DC
Sacramento, CA
San Diego, CA,
Dayton, OH
Hong Kong
Shanghai
Critical Acclaim For The Great Gatsby:
”...Bringing in Boston-based jazz expert Billy Novick and his band...was a brilliant move.The result is that for its musical splendors alone "Gatsby" is a remarkable event, an evening of explosive, ticklish and swooning live jazz(songs of the era, filled out with Novick's compositions),played with a verve to spark your thirst for hooch.” - Washington Post
"Above all, it’s a feast for the ears – an irresistible period score from Billy Novick weaves together 1920s classics and original music, performed by his trad jazz ensemble the Blue Syncopators." - South China Morning Post
“His music really says the period. It’s perfect, like Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” - Choreographer Ron Cunningham
"The jazz music score, composed by Billy Novick, was superbly performed by his ... Blue Syncopators." - Asia Times
Critical Acclaim For The Sun Also Rises:
"Before the curtain rises on the Washington Ballet’s “Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises,” you get a taste of the ruin, decay and vague comfort that the war-scarred writer etched into his book. This atmosphere is evoked in Billy Novick’s gorgeous piano overture, which guides the audience through deep, slow waters into a Hemingwayish world." - Washington Post
"The original music by Billy Novick — who is also the music director and plays the saxophone and clarinet here — effectively conjures both the 1920s jazz age and the more traditional music genres of Spain." - New York Times
