This ballet, based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, was commissioned by the Australian Ballet and the Sydney Opera House and composed by Elena Kats-Chernin. The score was completed in 2002 in collaboration with choreographer Meryl Tankard, who also worked with Kats-Chernin on part of the opening ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The Australian Ballet premiered Wild Swans at the Sydney Opera House on 29 April 2003.

Kats-Chernin arranged a 12-movement concert suite from the ballet score. This was recorded by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Ola Rudner, with soprano Jane Sheldon, in 2004 and released on the ABC Classics label along with the composer's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mythic. The piece extracted here is 'Green Leaf', the prelude to the Wild Swans concert suite. In 2017 the work was re-released by the ABC as part of a 10CD box set of composer Kats-Chernin's greatest works.

CREDITS

Performers Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Composer Elena Kats-Chernin