Tony Iommi is working on music for the Black Sabbath ballet
The ballet is set to feature eight Black Sabbath tracks, plus new music inspired by them
Image: PA Images / Alamy
Tony Iommi is hard at work on music for the Black Sabbath ballet that is set to begin showing later this year.
The guitarist shared a photo of himself in the studio with composer Chris Austin on Instagram, captioning the post, “Great day with Chris Austin working on music for the ballet in my new studio.” Black Sabbath – The Ballet, which is being helmed by Birmingham Royal Ballet director Carlos Acosta, is set to open later this year with a weeklong run at the Birmingham Hippodrome from 23 to 30 September 2023 before going on tour to Plymouth’s Theatre Royal and Sadler’s Wells in London.
The ballet is set to feature eight Black Sabbath tracks plus new music inspired by them, with Paranoid, War Pigs, Iron Man and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath among the tracks that will be re-orchestrated by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. In a statement shared with the BBC announcing the project, Iommi said that he’d “never imagined pairing Black Sabbath with ballet but it’s got a nice ring to it,” adding, “I’m looking forward to seeing how this all develops. Black Sabbath have always been innovators and never been predictable, and it doesn’t come any more unpredictable than this! I’ve met with Carlos several times and his enthusiasm is infectious.”
Iommi is also working on a new album, telling fans in a new year’s message that a host of new material has already been developed. Adding that he was waiting on some new equipment for his new studio, Iommi said that work would begin on the album “in a couple of weeks”, though he has yet to share additional updates.