Official BLACK SABBATH 'Classical' Tour Will Feature 'State-Of-The-Art Graphics' And Be Performed By Local Orchestras: 'It's Very, Very Exciting'

During a February 6 appearance at MIDEM 2026 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, Sharon Osbourne and Andy Copping, the promoter for Live Nation U.K. and the creative force behind the U.K.'s Download festival, spoke about the upcoming classical tour of BLACK SABBATH's catalog, performed by local orchestras and set to state-of-the-art visuals. Regarding how the idea for the tour came about, the British TV personality, music manager and the widow of rock icon Ozzy Osbourne said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " Ozzy's keyboard player, Adam Wakeman, his father's [YES keyboard legend] Rick Wakeman. And, actually, he came up with the idea of doing a classical version of SABBATH. And then we said, 'Great.' He's converted the music into classical music, and then I said, 'We need guitar players to come in at some point. You need that.' So we're gonna bring in about four guitar players to play together. And so people see the original version and the classical in one night. And we're gonna do it with state-of-the-art graphics and state-of-the-art sound system, go to major cities, pick up the local philharmonic."

Copping chimed in: "We're thinking about launching it in the U.K., hopefully at the Royal Albert Hall. And that will be, obviously, a great springboard for having it as a touring entity. It's actually very, very exciting."

He continued: "It's interesting. People's first thoughts are, 'BLACK SABBATH and orchestra — is that gonna work?' But they said that about [Birmingham Royal Ballet's 'Black Sabbath - The Ballet']. I mean, ballet and BLACK SABBATH music — is that gonna work? I went to the show, the ballet show. It's unbelievable how it's made that transition. I didn't know what I was gonna see when I got there, but there's literally ballet going on and there's this thunderous soundtrack, the BLACK SABBATH music. And there's interviews with the band going on in the background. It's very hard to explain, but if you get the opportunity to see that, that is well worth going to see. And the orchestral side will be another step further on from that. It's very, very exciting."

Rick Wakeman worked with BLACK SABBATH in the 1970s, appearing on the band's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" album, while he was recording "Tales From Topographic Oceans" with YES. Both LPs were recorded at Morgan Studios in Willesden Green in 1973. Wakeman appeared on the SABBATH track "Sabbra Cadabra". Rick also worked with Ozzy on the singer's 1995 solo album "Ozzmosis" and on Wakeman's 1999 album "Return To The Centre Of The Earth".

The aforementioned "Black Sabbath - The Ballet" most recently returned with a homecoming at Birmingham Hippodrome from September 18, 2025 to September 27, 2025 following dates in Europe and the USA. The production then visited Manchester's The Lowry, Salford for the first time (October 8-11) before returning to Theatre Royal Plymouth (October 16-18),Sadler's Wells, London (October 22-25) and finishing with a Scottish premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre (October 30 - November 1).

Following a complete sell-out premiere season in autumn 2023, bringing heavy metal fans to ballet for the first time, the 2025 tour incorporated brand-new audio interviews with BLACK SABBATH bandmembers, voices such as Sharon Osbourne and fans from across the globe. The sound design was also revised, sharpened and turned up to full volume for this electric night of dance and rock that audiences had never experienced before.