FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Canaan, N.Y. — Composer David Noel Edwards is offering 19 royalty-free recordings of his own orchestral music to ballet dancers around the world for their use in performance videos during the pandemic.

"This is my gift to the dance community," Edwards says. "Some ballet dancers may feel they've lost their mojo when a pandemic separates them from their peers and audiences. When I saw how my dancer friends were suffering, I realized I could help them survive artistically and emotionally by offering my own music royalty-free, so they could post performance videos on YouTube or TikTok without running into copyright issues."

With indoor dance performances effectively eliminated during the pandemic, ballet dancers around the world are looking for no-risk performance opportunities. But until it's safe for audiences to gather together again indoors, outdoor and video performances are the only options dancers have. To thrive, ballet dancers need pristine recordings of inspired orchestral music performed by professional musicians at the very highest level. But music like that is extremely hard to come by.

Dancers may use any of the music at coviddanceproject.org in performance videos without paying fees or royalties. This means it is possible for individual dancers to make and publish performance videos using professionally recorded new orchestral music.

Moreover, it will be possible for dancers to present their performances as world premieres if they post their performances of a particular piece before anyone else does.

With video-sharing platforms such as YouTube and TikTok subject to copyright law, dancers risk having their videos taken down if they dance to copyrighted recordings.

The David Noel Edwards Studio Orchestra's recorded performances meet a high standard of excellence, and the orchestra's repertoire — consisting mostly of the composer's own works — is known for its rich and extravagantly varied orchestral color, its poignant melodies, and its lush harmonies. Its unparalleled breadth of expression makes for emotionally compelling music. Individual pieces at coviddanceproject.org run from one to seven minutes in length. Darrell Pucciarello — former dancer at the New York Metropolitan Opera and choreographer/principal for the Ballets Metropolis in Pittsfield, Massachusetts — said: “Working with David Noel Edwards on our production of “Dracula” was the sort of collaboration choreographers dream of. He made my visuals manifest musically through his original score and helped tell the story through his music. I have had the pleasure to work with Mr. Edwards on numerous projects, and his ability to listen to choreographic concepts is equivalent to his ear for really good music.” A composer all his life, David Noel Edwards has been working with dancers since 2007, the year he began work on a commission from choreographer Pucciarello's Ballets Metropolis to write a full orchestral score for the company's 2008 production of Bram Stoker's "Dracula." –––––––––––––––– David Noel Edwards is available for interviews/inquiries and can be reached at (818) 531-5417 and dnedwards02@gmail.com.