Ballet by Graeme Murphy
based on Der Rosenkavalier by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Music by Carl Vine

The silver rose is the central prop, the symbol of love - for the opera as well as for the ballet. The Rose Cavalier, a well beloved opera, has always had a strong attractiveness for ballet as well, but the refusal of Richard Strauss' heirs to use his music apart from opera works set limits to the realisation of such a creation. However, by choosing the Australian composer Carl Vine to provide the score for Hugo von Hofmannsthal's libretto, Graeme Murphy avoided this restraint.
Murphy who has rehearsed in Germany for the first time, is also an experienced dramatic adviser and a master of subtle distinction. Like Hofmannsthal's libretto, his ballet is about an intelligent and beautiful married woman in the middle of her life starting to worry about her attractiveness and fearing to lose her lover to a younger woman. Carl Vine, one of the most popular contemporary Australian composers, compiled the score for Murphy. Although not particularly composed for this ballet, the different parts of Vine's work - among which his 4th symphony and his piano concert - join together in a feature-length score perfectly suiting the choreography.
Roger Kirk's creation of an art nouveau set provides the ideal atmosphere for presenting love, eroticism and jealousy - happy end included?