Set to Bernstein’s Serenade, after Plato: Symposium, the violin concerto was written in 1954 and draws inspiration from Plato’s Symposium, a dialogue between a group of notable men in praise of love.
Updated for 2023’s restaging, the costumes feature delicately transparent pleated tulle skirts, edged with bands of black velvet described by Wheeldon as ‘a pencil line in space’. Inspired by Bernstein’s work during the 1950s, vintage underpinnings shape the silhouettes with long line bras and corseted skirts for female dancers and black velvet laced harnesses for the male cast members.
