Guide to the Repertory

Transcription

Guide to the Repertory
2013-2014 Season
Guide to the Repertory
13–14
Following is a guide to the new works premiering during the 2013-14 Season, engaging
public programs, and calendars of the fall, winter, and spring performances, as well
as biographical information for the ballets, composers, and choreographers that will
be onstage. Please check your performance dates and times before traveling to
the theater.
Company Founders GEORGE BALANCHINE and LINCOLN KIRSTEIN
Founding Choreographers GEORGE BALANCHINE and JEROME ROBBINS
Ballet Master in Chief PETER MARTINS
Company History
New York City Ballet is one of the foremost dance companies in the world,
maintaining a roster of dancers trained in the classical tradition. Solely
responsible for training its own artists and creating its own repertory, New
York City Ballet performs annual seasons at its two permanent homes,
the David H. Koch Theater (formerly New York State Theater) at Lincoln
Center and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New
York, and also tours both within the U.S. and abroad. In 2011, the Company
created New York City Ballet MOVES, an innovation in ballet touring, showcasing a rotating, select group of dancers and musicians.
New York City Ballet owes its existence to Lincoln Kirstein, who envisioned
an American ballet where young dancers could be trained and schooled
under the guidance of the greatest ballet masters. When he met George
Balanchine in London in 1933, Kirstein knew he had found the right person
for his dream. Balanchine traveled to America at Kirstein’s invitation, and
in 1934 the two men opened the School of American Ballet, where Balanchine trained dancers in an innovative style that matched his idea of a
new, unmannered classicism.
In 1946, Kirstein and Balanchine formed Ballet Society and presented
their new company at the City Center of Music and Drama in New York. After seeing a Ballet Society performance, the chairman of the City Center
finance committee invited Balanchine and Kirstein’s fledgling company to
officially join the performing arts complex.
On October 11, 1948, New York City Ballet was born with a performance
that featured Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Orpheus, and Symphony in C. In 1949, Jerome Robbins joined the Company as an associate director and, with Balanchine, choreographed a varied repertory
that grew each season. NYCB moved into its current home at
Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in 1964 (then known as the New
York State Theater). Balanchine served as ballet master for New York City
Ballet from its inception until his death in 1983, choreographing countless
works and creating a company of dancers renowned for their linear purity,
sharpness of attack, and overall speed and musicality.
Following Balanchine’s death in 1983, Robbins and Peter Martins were
named Co-Ballet Masters in Chief, and since 1990 Martins has had sole
responsibility for the Company’s operations. Like Balanchine, Martins believes that choreographic exploration is what sustains excellence in the
Company and in the art form itself, and NYCB continues to present new
work as an ongoing part of its performance seasons. The Company’s active repertory of more than 170 works—nearly all of which were choreographed in the past half-century by Balanchine, Robbins, Martins, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, and others—is unparalleled. Widely
acknowledged for its enduring contributions to dance, NYCB is committed to creative excellence and to nurturing new generations of dancers
and choreographers.
New Works
Six World Premieres Including Two Commissioned Scores
Fall 2013
CAPRICIOUS MANEUVERS
MUSIC: Lukas Foss
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JUSTIN PECK
COSTUMES: Prabal Gurung
PREMIERE: September 19, 2013, New York
City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
September 19 (World Premiere)
NEVERWHERE
MUSIC: Nico Muhly
CHOREOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN MILLEPIED
COSTUMES: Iris van Herpen
PREMIERE: September 19, 2013, New York
City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
September 19 (World Premiere),
May 27, 28, 30, June 1
SPECTRAL EVIDENCE
MUSIC: The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen
Springs (1942), No. 22 from Song Books (1970),
Dream (1948, arr. 1974), No. 52 “Aria No. 2”
(Relevant) from Song Books (1970), Experiences
No. 2 (1948), by John Cage; additional music by
79D: untitled
CHOREOGRAPHY BY ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ
COSTUMES: Olivier Theyskens
COSTUME SUPERVISION: Marc Happel
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: September 19, 2013, New York
City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Tiler Peck, Robert Fairchild,
Megan Fairchild, Georgina Pazcoguin, Gretchen
Smith, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Chase Finlay,
Amar Ramasar
Winter 2014
Spectral Evidence, Angelin Preljocaj’s second
ballet for NYCB (the first was La Stravaganza in
1997) premiered at the 2013 Fall Gala. The ballet
takes its inspiration from the infamous witch trials
held in Salem, Massachusetts between 16921693. The trials are invoked by several concepts
in the ballet underscored by the taped music of
John Cage, which consists of harsh expressive
vocals, sounds of passionate breathing, lightning,
thunder, and glottal sounds. Box-like ramp structures appear on the stage which are an integral
part of the ballet and change configuration during the piece. Four male and four female dancers
evoke the turbulent episode in American history.
The men are costumed in black with white collars, bringing to mind clerical vestments, while
the women (or witches) are in sheer white chiffon,
each with a different mark or stigmata on a part
of her body. The women are in pale makeup and
dance in ballet shoes rather than on pointe. They
can be seen enchanting the men, one of whom
is eventually driven mad, his agony portrayed in
an innovative and breathtaking solo by the lead
male dancer. Or, was the enchantment merely in
the minds of the men? The women are eventually
burned with the sounds of fire consuming them
as they writhe in coffin-like boxes. Although most
of the accused “witches” of Salem were actually
hanged, we still have the image of witches burned
at the stake.
September 19 (World Premiere),
October 3, 5 Eve, 8, 10, 12 Mat,
January 31, February 5, 8 Mat, 11
ACHERON
MUSIC: Concerto for Organ, Timpani, and
Strings, in G minor (1938) by Francis Poulenc
CHOREOGRAPHY BY LIAM SCARLETT
COSTUMES: Liam Scarlett
COSTUME SUPERVISION: Marc Happel
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: January 31, 2014, New York City
Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Sara Mearns, Rebecca
Krohn, Ashley Bouder, Adrian Danchig-Waring,
Tyler Angle, Amar Ramasar, Anthony Huxley
Death is the muse for both the choreography and
the score of Acheron. Named for one of the five
rivers of the Greek underworld, the abstract ballet
conveys a sense of eternity and infinity. It brings to
mind those who were sent to recover another from
the world beyond, but never returned. Grey toned
leotards, pale blue dresses, and dim, shadowy
lighting enhance the dream-like, other worldly ambiance.
Three principal couples, 10 corps dancers, and a
male soloist display choreographer Liam Scarlett’s
use of upper body pliancy, athletic lifts, and overall
fluidity of movement. “I’m a big believer in everything being connected and having a kinetic aesthetic and flow,” he said.
Scarlett’s ballet is set to Concerto for Organ, Timpani, and Strings, in G minor by Francis Poulenc, a
piece influenced by the untimely death of the composer’s colleague and friend, Pierre-Octave Ferroud. The work was commissioned by Princesse
Edmond de Polignac and premiered in her Paris
salon in 1938.
Acheron is Scarlett’s first work for New York City
Ballet. He has choreographed for The Royal Ballet,
where he is currently the artist in residence, as well
as the Miami City Ballet, and the Norwegian National Ballet. His ballet Asphodel Meadows won Best
Classical Choreography at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards in 2011 and he is an alumnus of
the New York Choreographic Institute.
January 31 (World Premiere), February 5, 8 Mat,
11, 21, 26, March 1 Mat & Eve, May 1, 3
Spring 2014
NEW PECK
MUSIC: comissioned score by Sufjan Stevens
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JUSTIN PECK
PREMIERE: May 8, 2014, New York City Ballet,
David H. Koch Theater
Soloist Justin Peck’s latest work for the Company is
set to a commissioned score by American singersongwriter Sufjan Stevens.
May 8 (World Premiere), 22, 29, 31 Mat & Eve
Public Programs
New York City Ballet offers programs specially designed to enhance
your enjoyment and bring you closer to what you see onstage. With
behind-the-scenes access and opportunities to interact with members
of the Company, these engaging programs will strengthen your appreciation for NYCB’s inspiring artists.
Tickets for public programs are available by phone at (212) 496-0600,
online at nycballet.com/publicprograms, and in person at the David H.
Koch Theater Box Office.
Programs for Families
with Children
CHILDREN’S WORKSHOPS
IN MOTION WORKSHOPS
FAMILY SATURDAYS
45-Minute Pre-Performance Movement
Workshops for Ages 5-8
45-Minute Pre-Performance Movement
Workshops for Ages 9-12
One-Hour Ballet Selections for Ages 5+
All Children’s Workshops take place before
family-friendly Saturday and Sunday matinee
performances.
All In Motion Workshops take place before
family-friendly Saturday and Sunday matinee
performances.
Join the artists of New York City Ballet in an exploration of the music, movement, and themes
of a ballet featured in the following matinee performance. NYCB Teaching Artists lead children
in a ballet warm-up and movement combination,
concluding in a lively performance for accompanying family and friends.
During this unique experience, participants hear
first from a NYCB Company member who will
share personal experiences about studying
dance and the journey to becoming a professional ballet dancer. Then children will participate in a ballet warm-up and learn a movement
combination inspired by a ballet featured in the
following matinee performance.
Saturday, September 21 at 12:45 PM
Sunday September 22 at 1:45 PM
Saturday September 28 at 12:45 PM
Saturday, December 7 at 12:45 PM
Sunday, December 15 at 11:45 AM
Saturday, December 21 at 12:45 PM
Saturday, January 25 at 12:45 PM
Saturday, February 15 at 12:45 PM
Sunday, February 16 at 1:45 PM
Sunday, May 18 at 1:45 PM
Saturday, June 7 at 12:45 PM
Sunday, June 8 at 1:45 PM
TICKETS: $12 per person (both children and
adults). Performance tickets must be purchased
separately and are not required.
LOCATION: New York City Ballet Rehearsal Studios at the Samuel B. & David Rose Building, 7th
Floor (165 West 65th Street between Broadway
and Amsterdam Avenue)
Sunday, September 22 at 1:45 PM
Saturday, September 28 at 12:45 PM
Sunday, December 8 at 11:45 PM
Saturday, December 14 at 12:45 PM
Saturday, January 25 at 12:45 PM
Sunday, February 16 at 1:45 PM
Sunday, May 18 at 1:45 PM
Saturday, June 7 at 12:45 PM
TICKETS: $12 per person (both children and
adults). Performance tickets must be purchased
separately and are not required.
LOCATION: New York City Ballet Rehearsal Studios at the Samuel B. & David Rose Building, 7th
Floor (165 West 65th Street between Broadway
and Amsterdam Avenue)
Join us for these Saturday morning presentations designed especially for family audiences.
Featuring short works and excerpts from New
York City Ballet’s diverse repertory, NYCB artists
guide you through the program, offering insights
on the music and choreography. These performances are the perfect introduction to New York
City Ballet and the world of classical dance!
Saturday, October 12 at 11 AM
Saturday, February 22 at 11 AM
Saturday, May 10 at 11 AM
TICKETS: $20 per person (both children
and adults)
LOCATION: David H. Koch Theater
(West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue)
Public Programs
Tickets for public programs are available by phone at (212) 496-0600,
online at nycballet.com, and in person at the David H. Koch Theater
Box Office.
Programs for Audiences
of All Ages
SEMINARS
DANCER CHATS
FIRST POSITION DISCUSSIONS
90-minute onstage panel discussions, featuring
NYCB dancers, musicians, choreographers,
designers, ballet masters, and guest speakers.
Join us on these Friday evenings for informal preperformance chats with NYCB dancers. This is
your chance to ask questions about a dancer’s
daily routine and performance rituals one-on-one.
These pre-performance talks are open to everyone with a performance ticket. Join NYCB
docents 20 minutes before curtain on the
Fourth Ring theater right side on select dates for
these informal chats on the following program.
Then during intermissions, the docents will be
available for questions and further discussion.
Please see following calendars for First Position Discussion dates. For further information on
First Position Discussions, call (212) 870-5666.
Monday, September 30 at 6 PM
Monday, January 27 at 6 PM
Monday, February 10 at 6 PM
Monday, May 19 at 6 PM
Monday, June 2 at 6 PM
TICKETS: $15 per person, free for NYCB Members. Membership benefits begin at $90, call (212)
870-5677 for more information.
LOCATION: David H. Koch Theater
(West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue)
Friday, September 27 at 6:45 PM
Friday, October 11 at 6:45 PM
Friday, January 24 at 6:45 PM
Friday, February 14 at 6:45 PM
Friday, February 28 at 6:45 PM
Friday, May 9 at 6:45 PM
Friday, May 23 at 6:45 PM
Friday, June 6 at 6:45 PM
TICKETS: Free for all audiences. Please call (212)
870-5666, visit nycballet.com, or visit the David
H. Koch Theater Box Office to reserve seating for
each chat.
LOCATION: New York City Ballet Rehearsal Studios at the Samuel B. & David Rose Building, 7th
Floor (165 West 65th Street between Broadway
and Amsterdam Avenue)
TICKETS: Free for all ticket holders
LOCATION: David H. Koch Theater
(West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue)
Fall 2013
SEPTEMBER 17—OCTOBER 13
Tickets available at nycballet.com or (212) 496-0600
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sat
Sun
at 7:30 PM
at 7:30 PM
at 7:30 PM
at 8 PM
at 2 PM
at 8 PM
at 3 PM
SEPTEMBER 17 †
SEPTEMBER 18
SEPTEMBER 19
SEPTEMBER 20 †
SEPTEMBER 21 †
SEPTEMBER 21
SEPTEMBER 22 †
SWAN LAKE
SWAN LAKE
FALL GALA
at 7 PM
SWAN LAKE
SWAN LAKE
SWAN LAKE
SWAN LAKE
SEPTEMBER 27
SEPTEMBER 28
SEPTEMBER 28
SEPTEMBER 29 †
Capricious Maneuvers
(Peck World Premiere)
——
Neverwhere
(Millepied World Premiere)
——
Spectral Evidence
(Preljocaj World Premiere)
——
Western Symphony
(Fourth Movement & Finale)
SEPTEMBER 24 †
SEE THE MUSIC...
BALANCHINE
BLACK & WHITE
The Four Temperaments
——
Episodes
——
Duo Concertant
——
Symphony in
Three Movements
SEPTEMBER 25 †
SEPTEMBER 26 †
BALANCHINE
BLACK & WHITE
TRADITION AND
INNOVATION
The Four Temperaments
——
Episodes
——
Duo Concertant
——
Symphony in
Three Movements
Vespro
——
Duo Concertant
——
Dances at a Gathering
JUST FOR FUN
JUST FOR FUN
Carnival of the Animals
——
Jeu de Cartes
——
The Four Seasons
Carnival of the Animals
——
Jeu de Cartes
——
The Four Seasons
BALANCHINE
BLACK & WHITE
The Four Temperaments
——
Episodes
——
Duo Concertant
——
Symphony in
Three Movements
OCTOBER 1
OCTOBER 2 †
OCTOBER 3 †
OCTOBER 4
OCTOBER 5
OCTOBER 5 †
BALANCHINE
BLACK & WHITE
JUST FOR FUN
CONTEMPORARY
CHOREOGRAPHERS
BALANCHINE
BLACK & WHITE
CONTEMPORARY
CHOREOGRAPHERS
Soirée Musicale
——
Spectral Evidence
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
The Four Temperaments
——
Episodes
——
Duo Concertant
——
Symphony in
Three Movements
SEE THE MUSIC…
SHORT STORIES
ALL BALANCHINE
The Four Temperaments
——
Episodes
——
Duo Concertant
——
Symphony in
Three Movements
Carnival of the Animals
——
Jeu de Cartes
——
The Four Seasons
La Sonnambula
——
Prodigal Son
——
Slaughter on
Tenth Avenue
Soirée Musicale
——
Spectral Evidence
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
JUST FOR FUN
Carnival of the Animals
——
Jeu de Cartes
——
The Four Seasons
OCTOBER 6
JUST FOR FUN
Carnival of the Animals
——
Jeu de Cartes
——
The Four Seasons
OCTOBER 8
OCTOBER 9
OCTOBER 10
OCTOBER 11 †
OCTOBER 12 †
OCTOBER 12 †
OCTOBER 13
CONTEMPORARY
CHOREOGRAPHERS
BALANCHINE
SHORT STORIES
CONTEMPORARY
CHOREOGRAPHERS
SHORT STORIES
ALL BALANCHINE
CONTEMPORARY
CHOREOGRAPHERS
SHORT STORIES
ALL BALANCHINE
BALANCHINE
BLACK & WHITE
Spectral Evidence
——
Soirée Musicale
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
La Sonnambula
——
Prodigal Son
——
Slaughter on
Tenth Avenue
Spectral Evidence
——
Soirée Musicale
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
La Sonnambula
——
Prodigal Son
——
Slaughter on
Tenth Avenue
Spectral Evidence
——
Soirée Musicale
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
La Sonnambula
——
Prodigal Son
——
Slaughter on
Tenth Avenue
The Four Temperaments
——
Episodes
——
Duo Concertant
——
Symphony in
Three Movements
SEE THE MUSIC... includes an orchestral demonstration
†FREE First Position Discussion on the scheduled program for all ticket holders,
20 minutes before curtain on the Fourth Ring theater right side.
Winter 2014
JANUARY 21—MARCH 2
Tickets available at nycballet.com or (212) 496-0600
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sat
Sun
at 7:30 PM
at 7:30 PM
at 7:30 PM
at 8 PM
at 2 PM
at 8 PM
at 3 PM
JANUARY 21
JANUARY 22 †
JANUARY 23
JANUARY 24 †
JANUARY 25 †
JANUARY 25 †
JANUARY 26
ALL BALANCHINE
Concerto Barocco
——
Kammermusik No. 2
——
Who Cares?
JEWELS
JEWELS
BALANCHINE & ROBBINS:
MASTERS AT WORK
Dances at a Gathering
——
Union Jack
SATURDAY AT THE BALLET
WITH GEORGE
ALL BALANCHINE
Concerto Barocco
——
Kammermusik No. 2
——
Who Cares?
SATURDAY AT THE BALLET
WITH GEORGE
JEWELS
ALL BALANCHINE
Concerto Barocco
——
Kammermusik No. 2
——
Who Cares?
JANUARY 28 †
JANUARY 29
JANUARY 30 †
JANUARY 31 †
FEBRUARY 1 †
FEBRUARY 1
FEBRUARY 2 †
JEWELS
ALL BALANCHINE
Concerto Barocco
——
Kammermusik No. 2
——
Who Cares?
JEWELS
NEW COMBINATIONS
Vespro
——
Spectral Evidence
——
New Scarlett
(World Premiere)
ALL BALANCHINE
Concerto Barocco
——
Kammermusik No. 2
——
Who Cares?
BALANCHINE & ROBBINS:
MASTERS AT WORK
Dances at a Gathering
——
Union Jack
JEWELS
FEBRUARY 4 †
FEBRUARY 5
FEBRUARY 6 †
FEBRUARY 7
FEBRUARY 8
FEBRUARY 8
FEBRUARY 9 †
SCENIC DELIGHT
Bal de Couture
——
DGV: Danse à
Grande Vitesse
——
The Four Seasons
NEW COMBINATIONS
Vespro
——
Spectral Evidence
——
New Scarlett
BALANCHINE & ROBBINS:
MASTERS AT WORK
Dances at a Gathering
——
Union Jack
CONTEMPORARY
CHOREOGRAPHERS
La Stravaganza
——
A Place for Us
——
Todo Buenos Aires
NEW COMBINATIONS
Vespro
——
Spectral Evidence
——
New Scarlett
SCENIC DELIGHT
Bal de Couture
——
DGV: Danse à
Grande Vitesse
——
The Four Seasons
BALANCHINE & ROBBINS:
MASTERS AT WORK
Dances at a Gathering
——
Union Jack
FEBRUARY 11
FEBRUARY 12 †
FEBRUARY 13 †
FEBRUARY 14
FEBRUARY 15 †
FEBRUARY 15 †
FEBRUARY 16 †
NEW COMBINATIONS
Vespro
——
Spectral Evidence
——
New Scarlett
SCENIC DELIGHT
Bal de Couture
——
DGV: Danse à
Grande Vitesse
——
The Four Seasons
20TH CENTURY
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Opus 19/The Dreamer
——
Barber Violin Concerto
——
Stravinsky Violin
Concerto
COPPÉLIA
COPPÉLIA
COPPÉLIA
COPPÉLIA
FEBRUARY 18 †
FEBRUARY 19
FEBRUARY 20
FEBRUARY 21 †
FEBRUARY 22 †
FEBRUARY 22
FEBRUARY 23 †
20TH CENTURY
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Opus 19/The Dreamer
——
Barber Violin Concerto
——
Stravinsky Violin
Concerto
20TH CENTURY
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Opus 19/The Dreamer
——
Barber Violin Concerto
——
Stravinsky Violin
Concerto
SEE THE MUSIC…
20TH CENTURY
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Opus 19/The Dreamer
——
Barber Violin Concerto
——
Stravinsky Violin
Concerto
À LA FRANÇAISE
New Dalbavie/Martins
(World Premiere)
——
Afternoon of a Faun
——
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
——
La Valse
20TH CENTURY
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Opus 19/The Dreamer
——
Barber Violin Concerto
——
Stravinsky Violin
Concerto
COPPÉLIA
COPPÉLIA
FEBRUARY 25 †
FEBRUARY 26
FEBRUARY 27
FEBRUARY 28 †
MARCH 1
MARCH 1 †
MARCH 2
CONTEMPORARY
CHOREOGRAPHERS
La Stravaganza
——
A Place for Us
——
Todo Buenos Aires
À LA FRANÇAISE
New Dalbavie/Martins
——
Afternoon of a Faun
——
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
——
La Valse
SCENIC DELIGHT
Bal de Couture
——
DGV: Danse à
Grande Vitesse
——
The Four Seasons
SCENIC DELIGHT
Bal de Couture
——
DGV: Danse à
Grande Vitesse
——
The Four Seasons
SEE THE MUSIC…
À LA FRANÇAISE
New Dalbavie/Martins
——
Afternoon of a Faun
——
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
——
La Valse
À LA FRANÇAISE
New Dalbavie/Martins
——
Afternoon of a Faun
——
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
——
La Valse
BALANCHINE
BLACK & WHITE
Concerto Barocco
——
The Four Temperaments
——
Stravinsky Violin
Concerto
SEE THE MUSIC... includes an orchestral demonstration
†FREE First Position Discussion on the scheduled program for all ticket holders,
20 minutes before curtain on the Fourth Ring theater right side.
Spring 2014
APRIL 29–JUNE 8
Tickets available at nycballet.com or (212) 496-0600
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sat
Sun
at 7:30 PM
at 7:30 PM
at 7:30 PM
at 8 PM
at 2 PM
at 8 PM
at 3 PM
APRIL 29 †
APRIL 30
MAY 1 †
MAY 2
MAY 3
MAY 3 †
MAY 4
21ST CENTURY
CHOREOGRAPHERS I
Barber Violin Concerto
——
This Bitter Earth
——
Herman Schmerman
Pas de Deux
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
SEE THE MUSIC…
21ST CENTURY
CHOREOGRAPHERS II
Year of the Rabbit
——
La Stravaganza
——
DGV: Danse à
Grande Vitesse
21ST CENTURY
CHOREOGRAPHERS III
Vespro
——
Sonatas and Interludes
——
Two Hearts
——
New Scarlett
21ST CENTURY
CHOREOGRAPHERS I
Barber Violin Concerto
——
This Bitter Earth
——
Herman Schmerman
Pas de Deux
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
21ST CENTURY
CHOREOGRAPHERS II
Year of the Rabbit
——
La Stravaganza
——
DGV: Danse à
Grande Vitesse
21ST CENTURY
CHOREOGRAPHERS III
Vespro
——
Sonatas and Interludes
——
Two Hearts
——
New Scarlett
21ST CENTURY
CHOREOGRAPHERS I
Barber Violin Concerto
——
This Bitter Earth
——
Herman Schmerman
Pas de Deux
——
Namouna, A Grand
Divertissement
MAY 6 †
MAY 7
MAY 8
MAY 9 †
MAY 10 †
MAY 10
MAY 11 †
ALL BALANCHINE
Raymonda Variations
——
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
——
Le Tombeau de Couperin
——
Symphony in C
ALL BALANCHINE
Raymonda Variations
——
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
——
Le Tombeau de Couperin
——
Symphony in C
SPRING GALA
at 7 PM
New Stevens/Peck
(World Premiere)
——
Additional Ballets TBA
ALL ROBBINS
Glass Pieces
——
Opus 19/The Dreamer
——
The Concert
ALL ROBBINS
Glass Pieces
——
Opus 19/The Dreamer
——
The Concert
ALL BALANCHINE
Raymonda Variations
——
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
——
Le Tombeau de Couperin
——
Symphony in C
ALL BALANCHINE
Raymonda Variations
——
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
——
Le Tombeau de Couperin
——
Symphony in C
MAY 13
MAY 14 †
MAY 15
MAY 16 †
MAY 17
MAY 17
MAY 18 †
ALL BALANCHINE
Raymonda Variations
——
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
——
Le Tombeau de Couperin
——
Symphony in C
ALL BALANCHINE
Robert Schumann’s
“Davidsbündlertänze”
——
Union Jack
ALL BALANCHINE
Robert Schumann’s
“Davidsbündlertänze”
——
Union Jack
TRADITION AND
INNOVATION
A Place for Us
——
Todo Buenos Aires
——
Robert Schumann’s
“Davidsbündlertänze”
ALL BALANCHINE
Robert Schumann’s
“Davidsbündlertänze”
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Union Jack
ALL ROBBINS
Glass Pieces
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Opus 19/The Dreamer
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The Concert
ALL ROBBINS
Glass Pieces
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Opus 19/The Dreamer
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The Concert
MAY 20 †
MAY 21 †
MAY 22
MAY 23
MAY 24
MAY 24 †
MAY 25 †
ALL BALANCHINE
Robert Schumann’s
“Davidsbündlertänze”
——
Union Jack
TRADITION AND
INNOVATION
A Place for Us
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Todo Buenos Aires
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Robert Schumann’s
“Davidsbündlertänze”
CLASSIC NYCB I
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
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New Stevens/Peck
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The Four Temperaments
JEWELS
JEWELS
JEWELS
JEWELS
MAY 27 †
MAY 28
MAY 29
MAY 30 †
MAY 31
MAY 31
JUNE 1
CLASSIC NYCB II
Concerto Barocco
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Other Dances
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New Dalbavie/Martins
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Who Cares?
CLASSIC NYCB II
Concerto Barocco
——
Other Dances
——
New Dalbavie/Martins
——
Who Cares?
CLASSIC NYCB I
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
——
New Stevens/Peck
——
The Four Temperaments
CLASSIC NYCB II
Concerto Barocco
——
Other Dances
——
New Dalbavie/Martins
——
Who Cares?
CLASSIC NYCB I
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
——
New Stevens/Peck
——
The Four Temperaments
CLASSIC NYCB I
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
——
New Stevens/Peck
——
The Four Temperaments
SEE THE MUSIC…
CLASSIC NYCB II
Concerto Barocco
——
Other Dances
——
New Dalbavie/Martins
——
Who Cares?
JUNE 3 †
JUNE 4
JUNE 5 †
JUNE 6
JUNE 7 †
JUNE 7
JUNE 8
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
SEE THE MUSIC... includes an orchestral demonstration
†FREE First Position Discussion on the scheduled program for all ticket holders,
20 minutes before curtain on the Fourth Ring theater right side.
The Repertory
AFTERNOON OF A FAUN
BAL DE COUTURE
BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO
CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
MUSIC: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (189294) by Claude Debussy
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JEROME ROBBINS
SCENERY AND LIGHTING: Jean Rosenthal
COSTUMES: Irene Sharaff
PREMIERE: May 14, 1953, New York City Ballet,
City Center of Music and Drama
ORIGINAL CAST: Tanaquil Le Clercq, Francisco
Moncion
MUSIC: Polonaise (Act III, No. 19) from Eugene
Onegin, Op. 24 (1879), Élégie in G for Strings
(1884), Entr’acte and Waltz (Act II, No. 13) from
Eugene Onegin by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky
CHOREOGRAPHY BY PETER MARTINS
COSTUMES: Valentino Garavani
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
COSTUME SUPERVISION: Marc Happel
PREMIERE: September 20, 2012, New York City
Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Maria Kowroski, Teresa
Reichlen, Rebecca Krohn, Ana Sophia Scheller,
Sterling Hyltin, Abi Stafford, Tiler Peck, Megan
Fairchild, Ashley Bouder, Janie Taylor, Jared
Angle, Ask la Cour, Jonathan Stafford, Andrew
Veyette, Robert Fairchild, Amar Ramasar, Chase
Finlay, Joaquin De Luz, Gonzalo Garcia,
Sébastien Marcovici
MUSIC: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14
(1941) by Samuel Barber
CHOREOGRAPHY BY PETER MARTINS
COSTUMES: William Ivey Long
LIGHTING: Jennifer Tipton
PREMIERE: May 12, 1988, New York City Ballet,
American Music Festival, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Merrill Ashley, Adam Lüders,
Kate Johnson, David Parsons
MUSIC: Le carnaval des animaux (1886) by
Camille Saint-Saëns, additional musical arrangements by Andrea Quinn
CHOREOGRAPHY BY
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON
NARRATION: John Lithgow
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Jon Morrell
LIGHTING: Natasha Katz
PREMIERE: May 14, 2003, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Yvonne Borree, Kyra Nichols,
Christine Redpath, Rachel Rutherford, Pascale
van Kipnis, John Lithgow, Charles Askegard,
James Fayette, Arch Higgins, PJ Verhoest
Debussy’s music, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un
faune, was composed between 1892 and 1894. It
was inspired by a poem of Mallarme’s which the
poet began writing in 1876. The poem describes
the reveries of a faun recalling a real or imagined
encounter with nymphs. In 1912 Nijinsky presented his famous ballet, drawing his ideas from many
sources, including Greek sculpture and painting.
This pas de deux, choreographed by Jerome
Robbins, is a variation on these themes. It was
first performed in 1953 by New York City Ballet,
and is dedicated to Tanaquil Le Clercq, for whom
the ballet was choreographed.
Set to selections from Tschaikovsky’s 1879 opera Eugene Onegin (including the well-known
polonaise and waltz), Bal de Couture was first
performed at the 2012 Fall Gala, honoring the
legendary 80-year-old fashion designer Valentino Garavani. He designed the dazzling black
and white ball gowns and the three tutus (one
each in black, white, and red) worn by the ballerinas, along with the men’s elegant black suits, for
this series of celebratory dances and a romantic
pas de trois that echoes the opera’s plot.
Barber Violin Concerto contrasts classical composure and modern sensibility. It is a work in
three movements for two couples performed in
a series of mixed and matched pas de deux. All
are dressed in white with the classical dancers
performing in pointe shoes and ballet slippers
while the modern dancers are typically barefoot.
The first two movements are sensuously melodic and passionately inquisitive. The work’s third
movement, a fast-paced scherzo, provides the
opportunity for a rousing chase that brings the
work to its breathless conclusion.
Carnival of the Animals is a delightfully lighthearted ballet that centers on a young boy named
Oliver who falls asleep while on a class trip to New
York City’s famed American Museum of Natural
History. A kindly night watchman—first performed
by actor John Lithgow, who wrote the ballet’s
text—discovers the young lad and leads the audience into the world of his dreams. The museum’s
inhabitants come to life in a magical menagerie
of characters that strangely resemble Oliver’s
friends, school chums, teachers, and parents.
His professor is suddenly a Lion, and his schoolmates are rambunctious Weasels and Rats, while
their parents have become Hens and Cockerels
who strut and bob in their finest. Throughout the
night, the nocturnal parade continues: The librarian, a Kangaroo, is transformed in her own dreams
into an ethereal mermaid; a group of Jackasses,
the school wrestling squad, engages in an athletic
romp. Oliver recalls an outing to the ballet with his
elegant great aunt, who briefly takes to the stage
as a Swan in her own reverie of days gone by. Although his worried parents appear briefly during
the night as Cuckoos and dance a poignant pas
de deux, all ends happily as the night watchman
orchestrates a tender reunion that brings the
young boy’s midnight adventures to a close.
The Repertory (cont.)
THE CONCERT
CONCERTO BAROCCO
COPPÉLIA
MUSIC: Frédéric Chopin
1. Polonaise “Militaire” (1838)
2. Berceuse, Op. 57 (1843-44)
3. Prelude, Op. 28, No. 18 (1836-39)
4. Prelude, Op. 28, No. 16 (1836-39)
5. Waltz in E Minor (Posth.) (1830)
6. Prelude, Op. 28, No. 7 (1836-39)
7. Prelude, Op. 28, No. 4 (1836-39)
8. Mazurka in G Major (Posth.) (1842)
9. Ballade, Op. 47, No. 3 (1840-41)
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JEROME ROBBINS
DÉCOR: Saul Steinberg
COSTUMES: Irene Sharaff
LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
PREMIERE: March 6, 1956, New York City Ballet,
City Center of Music and Drama
ORIGINAL CAST: Tanaquil Le Clercq, Todd Bolender, Yvonne Mounsey, Robert Barnett, Wilma
Curley, John Mandia, Shaun O’Brien, Patricia
Savoia, Richard Thomas
MUSIC: Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins,
B.W.V. 1043 (1717) by Johann Sebastian Bach
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: June 27, 1941, American Ballet
Caravan, Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro
ORIGINAL CAST: Marie-Jeanne, Mary Jane Shea,
William Dollar
MUSIC: Coppélia, ou La Fille aux Yeux d’Émail
(1870) by Léo Delibes with excerpts from Sylvia
(1876) and La Source (from the ballet Naila, 1866)
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
AND ALEXANDRA DANILOVA, AFTER PETIPA
(1884)
BOOK: Charles Nuitter, after E.T.A. Hoffmann’s
Der Sandmann
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Rouben TerArutunian
DAWN, PRAYER, SPINNER, AND
CHILDREN’S COSTUMES: Karinska
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: July 17, 1974, New York City Ballet,
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
ORIGINAL CAST: Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson, Shaun O’Brien, Marnee Morris, Merrill
Ashley, Christine Redpath, Susan Hendl, Colleen
Neary, Robert Weiss
One of the pleasures of attending a concert is the
freedom to lose oneself in listening to the music. Quite often, unconsciously, mental pictures
and images form, and the patterns and paths of
these reveries are influenced by the music itself,
or its program notes, or by the personal dreams,
problems, and fantasies of the listener. Chopin’s
music in particular has been subject to fanciful
“program” names such as the Butterfly Etude,
the Minute Waltz, the Raindrop Prelude, etc.
Balanchine said of this work: “If the dance designer sees in the development of classical dancing a
counterpart in the development of music and has
studied them both, he will derive continual inspiration from great scores.” In the first movement of
the concerto, the two ballerinas personify the
violins, while a corps of eight women accompany
them. In the second movement, a largo, the male
dancer joins the leading woman in a pas de deux.
In the concluding allegro section, the entire ensemble expresses the syncopation and rhythmic
vitality of Bach’s music.
This work began as an exercise by Balanchine
for the School of American Ballet, was performed by American Ballet Caravan on its historic tour of South America, and later entered the
repertory of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. In
1951 Balanchine permanently eliminated the
original costumes and dressed the dancers in
practice clothes, probably the first appearance
of what has come to be regarded as a signature
Balanchine costume for contemporary works.
On October 11, 1948, Concerto Barocco was one
of three ballets on the program at New York City
Ballet’s first performance.
Coppélia, traditionally considered one of the
triumphant comic ballets of the 19th Century,
marked the passing of ballet supremacy from
France to Russia. Originally choreographed by
Arthur St. Léon in Paris in 1870, it was restaged
by Marius Petipa in St. Petersburg in 1884 and
revised again by Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti in 1894. None of St. Léon’s choreography
remains in today’s production, although Acts I
and II retain his ideas and the story of mischievous young lovers. Balanchine provided entirely
new choreography for Act III.
In 1974, Balanchine decided to add Coppélia to
the Company’s repertory, and he took the opportunity to gently update the ballet, adding
some male solos, more pas de deux, and a
new third act. He enlisted Madame Alexandra
Danilova to restage the dances she knew so
well for the first two acts and to coach the principal roles: Patricia McBride as Swanilda, Helgi
Tomasson as Frantz, and Shaun O’Brien as Doctor Coppélius. In her memoirs, Danilova wrote,
“I would show [Ms. McBride] the steps, and
then Balanchine would come in at the end of
our rehearsal and add a little, finishing up what
I had started… In my acts, the choreography remained basically the same as before, but sometimes we found it too simple—there were empty
spaces, and Balanchine filled them in. He made
the dancing a little more up-to-date and complicated the movement, mostly in the variations
and parts of the adagio. The dances between
Swanilda and her friends and the business
with Coppélius and the doll, he didn’t touch.”
“Mr. B. always said that Madame had a great
memory, that she remembered every step of
the ballets she brought from Russia, and that
was definitely true of Coppélia,” said Ms. McBride. “And she had such incredible energy; she
taught Helgi, Shaun, and me our roles by dancing them all for us! This made the rehearsals
such fun, and it also gave us a great view of her
as a ballerina. We felt like we were part of history,
watching Mr. B. and Madame working together.
They worked so quickly, and they had great respect for each other.”
Merrill Ashley was also in the original cast of
Coppélia; Balanchine choreographed a solo for
her (“Dawn”). For Ms. Ashley, Coppélia is an important part of the Company’s repertory: “I think
Balanchine was doing Coppélia as a tribute to
Madame [who herself danced the “Prayer” variation during her time with the State Academic
Theater for Opera and Dance in Russia, and
was later highly-acclaimed for her portrayal of
Swanilda during her time with Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo]—he very much valued her knowledge and her artistic vision, and he wanted to
expose us to those aspects of her, so that we
could pass them on. He felt that she represented something precious that should not be lost.”
The Repertory (cont.)
DANCES AT A GATHERING
DGV: DANSE À GRANDE VITESSE
DUO CONCERTANT
EPISODES
MUSIC BY FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (in order of
performance):
1. Mazurka, Op. 63, No. 3 (1846)
2. Waltz, Op. 69, No. 2 (1829)
3. Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3 (1837-38)
4. Mazurka, Op. 6, No. 2 (1830)
5. Mazurka, Op. 6, No. 4 (1830)
6. Mazurka, Op. 7, No. 5 (1831)
7. Mazurka, Op. 7, No. 4 (1831)
8. Mazurka, Op. 24, No. 2 (1834-35)
9. Waltz, Op. 42 (1840)
10. Waltz, Op. 34, No. 2 (1843)
11. Mazurka, Op. 56, No. 2 (1843)
12. Étude, Op. 25, No. 4 (1832-34)
13. Waltz, Op. 34, No. 1 (1835)
14. Waltz, Op. 70, No. 2 (1841)
15. Étude, Op. 25, No. 5 (1832-34)
16. Étude, Op. 10, No. 2 (1830)
17. Scherzo, Op. 20, No. 1 (1831-32)
18. Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 1 (1830-31)
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JEROME ROBBINS
COSTUMES: Joe Eula
LIGHTING: Jennifer Tipton
PREMIERE: May 22, 1969, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Allegra Kent, Sara Leland, Kay
Mazzo, Patricia McBride, Violette Verdy, Anthony
Blum, John Clifford, Robert Maiorano, John Prinz,
Edward Villella
MUSIC: MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) (1993)
by Michael Nyman
CHOREOGRAPHY BY
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Jean-Marc Puissant
LIGHTING: Jennifer Tipton
LIGHTING RECREATED BY: Jesse Belsky
PREMIERE: November 24, 2006, The Royal
Ballet, Royal Opera House, London
NYCB PREMIERE: January 28, 2012, New York
City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
NYCB ORIGINAL CAST: Teresa Reichlen, Craig
Hall, Ashley Bouder, Joaquin De Luz, Maria Kowroski, Tyler Angle, Tiler Peck, Andrew Veyette
MUSIC: Duo Concertant (1931-32) by
Igor Stravinsky
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: June 22, 1972, New York City Ballet,
Stravinsky Festival, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Kay Mazzo, Peter Martins
MUSIC: Symphony, Op. 21 (1928), Five Pieces,
Op. 10 (1911-13), Concerto, Op. 24 (1934), Ricercata
in Six Voices from Bach’s “A Musical Offering”
(1934-35), Variations, Op. 30 (1940) by Anton von
Webern
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 19, 1959, New York City Ballet,
City Center of Music and Drama
ORIGINAL CAST: Violette Verdy, Diana Adams,
Allegra Kent, Melissa Hayden, Jonathan Watts,
Jacques d’Amboise, Paul Taylor, Nicholas Magallanes, Francisco Moncion
Mr. Robbins dedicated this ballet to the memory
of lighting designer Jean Rosenthal (1912-1969).
DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse (high speed dance),
created for The Royal Ballet in 2006 and set to
music by Michael Nyman, is the 19th ballet by
Christopher Wheeldon to enter the New York City
Ballet repertory.
Michael Nyman’s minimalist score, MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse), was commissioned to
celebrate the inauguration of the North-European
line of the French high-speed train, the TGV. The
score’s driving force and relentless speed suggest an ongoing journey.
The ballet features four principal couples and
an ensemble of 18 dancers. Four pas de deux
form the essence of this work. The movement in
DGV reflects the rhythm of the musical score in
its continuity, successive movements, and symmetries that evoke never-ending travel, even in
moments of silence.
A contemporary set design—large metallic
sculptural pieces that extend across the length
of the stage—and sleek costumes by Jean-Marc
Puissant, along with contrasting sharp and dark
lighting by Jennifer Tipton are integral components of DGV; they serve as a base from which
the music and movement advance the action of
the ballet along its inevitable journey.
Stravinsky dedicated Duo Concertant to Samuel
Dushkin, a well-known violinist he met in 1931. The
composer premiered the work with Dushkin in
Berlin in 1932, and the pair gave recitals together
across Europe for the next several years. The
piece had long been a favorite of Balanchine’s
who had first heard it performed by Stravinsky and
Dushkin soon after it was composed. He did not
decide to choreograph it until years later, when he
was planning the 1972 Stravinsky Festival.
The performance of the musicians onstage is
integral to the conception of the ballet. Standing
at the piano with the musicians, the dancers listen to the first movement. During the next three
movements they dance, mirroring the music and
each other, and pause several times to rejoin the
musicians and to listen. In the final movement,
the stage is darkened and the dancers perform
within individual circles of light.
Episodes grew out of Balanchine’s enthusiasm
for Webern’s music, to which he had been introduced by Stravinsky. Balanchine wrote that Webern’s orchestral music:
...fills air like molecules: it is written for atmosphere. The first time I heard it...the music
seemed to me like Mozart and Stravinsky, music that can be danced to because it leaves
the mind free to see the dancing. In listening
to composers like Beethoven and Brahms,
every listener has his own ideas, paints his
own picture of what the music represents. ...
How can I, a choreographer, try to squeeze a
dancing body into a picture that already exists
in someone’s mind? It simply won’t work. But
it will with Webern.
-Balanchine’s Complete Stories of the
Great Ballets, Francis Mason, 1977
Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein invited Martha
Graham to choreograph a joint work with Balanchine using all of Webern’s orchestral pieces.
The result was not a true collaboration, but a work
comprised of two separate sections. Graham’s
contribution, Episodes I, was danced by her company plus four dancers from New York City Ballet.
Episodes II, created by Balanchine, was danced
by New York City Ballet and Paul Taylor, who was
then a dancer in Graham’s company. After 1960,
Graham’s section and the solo variation were no
longer regularly performed at New York City Ballet.
The Repertory (cont.)
THE FOUR SEASONS
THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS
GLASS PIECES
JEU DE CARTES
MUSIC: Excerpts from I Vespri Siciliani (1855),
I Lombardi (1843), and Il Trovatore (1853) by
Giuseppe Verdi
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JEROME ROBBINS
SCENRY AND COSTUMES: Santo Loquasto
LIGHTING: Jennifer Tipton
PREMIERE: January 18, 1979, New York City Ballet, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: David Richardson, Joseph
Duell, Heather Watts, Peter Frame, Francis
Sackett, Kyra Nichols, Daniel Duell, Jerri Kumery,
Stephanie Saland, Bart Cook, Maria Calegari,
Patricia McBride, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jean-Pierre
Frohlich, Gerard Ebitz
MUSIC: The Four Temperaments: Theme with
Four Variations for String Orchestra and Piano
(1940) by Paul Hindemith
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: November 20, 1946, Ballet Society,
Central High School of Needle Trades, New York
ORIGINAL CAST: Mary Ellen Moylan, Tanaquil
Le Clercq, William Dollar, Fred Danieli, Todd
Bolender, Beatrice Tompkins, Elise Reiman,
Gisella Caccialanza, José Martinez, Lew
Christensen, Francisco Moncion
MUSIC: Rubric and Façades from Glassworks
(1981) and excerpts from the opera Akhnaten
(1983) by Philip Glass
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JEROME ROBBINS
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Jerome Robbins and
Ronald Bates
COSTUMES: Ben Benson
LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
PREMIERE: May 12, 1983, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Heléne Alexopoulos, Peter
Frame, Lourdes Lopez, Joseph Duell, Lisa Hess,
Victor Castelli, Maria Calegari, Bart Cook
MUSIC: Jeu de Cartes (1936) by Igor Stravinsky
CHOREOGRAPHY BY PETER MARTINS
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Ian Falconer
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 28, 1992, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Darci Kistler, Albert Evans,
Damian Woetzel, Nilas Martins
When opera was presented in Paris in the late 19th
Century, the composer was obliged to include a
ballet at the beginning of the third act, whether or
not it had anything to do with the plot of the opera. Usually it didn’t, but it gave the Jockey Club,
a group of wealthy subscribers, a chance to look
over their favorite beautiful ladies of the ballet at
a convenient time of the evening, and these patrons were attentively in their seats for the ballet,
if not for the rest of the opera. The tradition of the
third act divertissement was so firmly established
that when Wagner put his Venusberg ballet at the
very beginning of Act I of Tannhäuser, there were
such forcible protests by the Jockey Club that the
whole opera was nearly withdrawn.
Fortunately for us, Verdi was less revolutionary
about Parisian conventions and composed many
third act opera ballets. Although seldom included
in today’s productions, they contain some of the
most delightful dance music of the period. For
I Vespri Siciliani, he devised a ballet called The
Four Seasons. His libretto called for Janus, the
God of New Year, to inaugurate a series of dances by each of the seasons in turn. Verdi’s notes
suggest such notions as ballerinas warming
themselves in winter by dancing, spring bringing
on warm breezes, indolent summer ladies being
surprised by an autumnal faun, etc. The present
ballet follows his general plan. The original score
is augmented by a few selections of his ballet
music from I Lombardi and Il Trovatore.
Balanchine choreographed The Four Temperaments for the opening program of Ballet Society, forerunner of New York City Ballet. It is one
of his earliest experimental works, fusing classical steps with a lean and angular style. The
ballet is inspired by the medieval belief that human beings are made up of four different humors that determine a person’s temperament.
Each temperament was associated with one
of the four classical elements (earth, air, water,
and fire), which in turn were the basis of the four
humors (black bile, blood, phlegm, and bile) that
composed the body.
In a healthy body, the humors were in balance.
But if one became predominant it determined an
individual’s temperament. Thus a person dominated by black bile was melancholic (gloomily
pensive); by blood, sanguinic (headstrong and
passionate); by phlegm, phlegmatic (unemotional
and passive); and by bile, choleric (bad-tempered
and angry). The titles of the ballet’s four movements—Melancholic, Sanguinic, Phlegmatic, and
Choleric—reflect these principles.
Hindemith’s music was commissioned by
Balanchine, an accomplished pianist, who
wanted a short work he could play at home with
friends during his evening musicales. It was
completed in 1940 and had its first public performance at a 1944 concert with Lukas Foss as
the pianist.
HERMAN SCHMERMAN
MUSIC: Just Ducky (1992) by Thom Willems
CHOREOGRAPHY BY WILLIAM FORSYTHE
PRODUCTION DESIGN: William Forsythe
COSTUMES: Gianni Versace
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 28, 1992, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Kyra Nichols, Margaret Tracey,
Wendy Whelan, Jeffrey Edwards, Ethan Stiefel
In a conversation about Herman Schmerman,
Mr. Forsythe said, “I first heard that phrase [‘Herman Schmerman’] used by Steve Martin in the
film Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. I think it’s a
lovely title that means nothing. The ballet means
nothing, too. It’s a piece about dancing that will
be a lot of fun. It’s just five talented dancers
dancing around–and that’s good, isn’t it?” This
ballet is the second work New York City Ballet
commissioned from Mr. Forsythe, as is the electronic score from composer Thom Willems. In
1993 Forsythe added a pas de deux for principal
dancer Wendy Whelan and guest artist Kevin
O’Day. When NYCB revived the ballet in 1999,
Forsythe decided to present just the pas de
deux. It has been performed that way ever since.
“Years ago, George Balanchine suggested that I
choreograph Stravinsky’s Jeu de Cartes, not as a
ballet about a card game but as an abstraction.
I wasn’t interested. But when I heard the score
recently, I was struck by its jazzy vitality, and I’ve
decided to take Mr. B’s advice.” -Peter Martins
Stravinsky composed Jeu de Cartes (Card Game:
A Ballet in Three Deals) for the first Stravinsky
Festival mounted by Balanchine at The Metropolitan Opera in 1937. In the original version,
dancers were costumed to represent the four
suits in a deck of cards, and the joker was the
central character.
In 2002, Peter Martins returned to this traditional
thematic look for his ballet. He commissioned
Ian Falconer to fashion a new set and costumes.
Falconer designed a colorful card table and
chips backdrop and clothed the corps in bright
white with emblems representing the suits of a
deck of cards. The leading ballerina is colorfully
attired as the queen of hearts. She is escorted
through the ballet by three men, each representing clubs, diamonds, and, for the leading
male role, the ace of spades. The jazzy teasing
interplay between the changing partners is now
further enlivened by the “shuffling of the deck”
the representational costumes allow.
The Repertory (cont.)
JEWELS
KAMMERMUSIK NO. 2
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
MUSIC: Emeralds: music from Pelléas et
Mélisande (1898) and Shylock (1889) by Gabriel
Fauré
Rubies: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1929)
by Igor Stravinsky
Diamonds: Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29
(1875) by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY: Peter Harvey
COSTUMES: Karinska
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: April 13, 1967, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Violette Verdy, Mimi Paul, Sara
Leland, Suki Schorer, Conrad Ludlow, Francisco
Moncion, John Prinz; Patricia McBride, Patricia
Neary, Edward Villella; Suzanne Farrell, Jacques
d’Amboise
MUSIC: Kammermusik No. 2 (1924) by Paul
Hindemith
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
COSTUMES: Ben Benson
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: January 26, 1978, New York
City Ballet, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Karin von Aroldingen, Colleen
Neary, Sean Lavery, Adam Lüders
MUSIC: by Felix Mendelssohn
1. Overture and incidental music to A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Op. 21 and 61 (1826, 1842)
2. Overtures to Athalie, Op. 74 (1845), and
The Fair Melusine, Op. 32 (1833)
3. The First Walpurgis Night, Op. 60 (1841)
4. Symphony No. 9 for Strings (first three
movements) (1823)
5. Overture to Son and Stranger, Op. 89 (1829)
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY AND ORIGINAL LIGHTING: David
Hays, assisted by Peter Harvey
COSTUMES: Karinska
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: January 17, 1962, New York City Ballet,
City Center of Music and Drama
ORIGINAL CAST: Melissa Hayden, Violette
Verdy, Jillana, Patricia McBride, Suki Schorer,
Gloria Govrin, Edward Villella, Arthur Mitchell,
Conrad Ludlow, Francisco Moncion, Nicholas
Magallanes, Bill Carter, Roland Vazquez
Jewels is unique: a full-length, three-act plotless
ballet that uses the music of three very different composers. Balanchine was inspired by the
artistry of jewelry designer Claude Arpels and
chose music revealing the essence of each
jewel. He explained:
f course, I have always liked jewels; after all, I
O
am an Oriental, from Georgia in the Caucasus.
I like the color of gems, the beauty of stones,
and it was wonderful to see how our costume
workshop, under Karinska’s direction, came so
close to the quality of real stones (which were
of course too heavy for the dancers to wear!).
Each section of the ballet is distinct in both music and mood. Emeralds, which Balanchine considered “an evocation of France—the France of
elegance, comfort, dress, perfume,” recalls the
19th-century dances of the French Romantics.
Rubies is crisp, witty, and jazzy, epitomizing the
collaboration of Stravinsky and Balanchine. Diamonds recalls the order and grandeur of Imperial Russia and the Maryinsky Theatre where Balanchine was trained. Mary Clarke and Clement
Crisp have written: “If the entire imperial Russian inheritance of ballet were lost, Diamonds
would still tell us of its essence.”
A ballet requiring great energy, speed, and precision, Kammermusik No. 2 has a complex structure, which echoes that of the music; one of the
dancers in the original cast likened it to a computer. The ballet is performed by two couples and
an eight-man ensemble. The men, with their jagged lines and stylized gestures, dance to the music of the orchestra. The soloists, dancing to the
complex passages for piano, are in counterpoint
to the ensemble. There are pas de deux for the
couples, duets for the women, and a fast duet for
the male soloists. The score is one of seven kammermusik, or “chamber music” pieces, written
by Hindemith between 1923 and 1933, when the
composer turned to a neoclassical style evoking
the Baroque.
There may be no greater celebration of the artistic
process than William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Balanchine, who performed
in the play as a youngster in Russia and could
recite it by memory, knew this and made it the
subject of his first wholly original full-length ballet in 1962. The choreography, in two acts and six
scenes, follows the poet’s tale of merry romance,
mischievous make-believe, and mistaken identity. The first act, set in an invisible fairy kingdom
ruled by Oberon and Titania, tells the story of the
mix up of two wooing mortal couples in the forest,
the warring desires of the forest’s enchanted first
couple, and the theatrical aspirations of Bottom
and his band of would-be thespians. Act Two is a
nuptial celebration uniting all in a series of grand
divertissements, beginning with the familiar Wedding March and ending as Puck sweeps the forest clean of the romantic foibles that characterize
spirits and humans alike.
NAMOUNA,
A GRAND DIVERTISSEMENT
MUSIC: Namouna (1881-1882) by Édouard Lalo
CHOREOGRAPHY BY ALEXEI RATMANSKY
COSTUMES: Marc Happel and
Rustam Khamdamov
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: April 29, 2010, New York City Ballet,
David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Wendy Whelan, Robert
Fairchild, Jenifer Ringer, Sara Mearns, Megan
Fairchild, Daniel Ulbricht, Abi Stafford
Mystery, wit, drama, and romance share star turns
in Alexei Ratmansky’s original and aptly named
“grand divertissement.” With Édouard Lalo’s lively
score from a 19th–century French ballet about a
slave girl named Namouna as inspiration, Ratmansky has used what he calls “the clichés of
classical ballets” in a new, endlessly inventive, and
light-hearted way. A large corps, intriguing dance
patterns, and virtuoso soloists fill out the playful
plot involving a young man searching for this love.
Using the props detailed in Lucien Petipa’s original 1882 production, alluring women dance for the
young man as cymbals clang and a seductress
tempts through a fog of cigarette smoke. Many distractions and whimsically-wigged look-alikes confound, confuse, and stand in the way before boy
finally finds girl for a joyful, athletic, and romantic
climactic pas de deux.
The Repertory (cont.)
OPUS 19/THE DREAMER
A PLACE FOR US
PRODIGAL SON
RAYMONDA VARIATIONS
MUSIC: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major (1917) by
Sergei Prokofiev
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JEROME ROBBINS
COSTUMES: Ben Benson
LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
PREMIERE: June 14, 1979, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Patricia McBride,
Mikhail Baryshnikov
MUSIC: “Interlude” from Sonata for Clarinet and
Piano (2010) by André Previn; Sonata for Clarinet
and Piano (1942) by Leonard Bernstein
CHOREOGRAPHY BY
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON
COSTUMES: Joseph Altuzarra
COSTUME SUPERVISION: Marc Happel
LIGHTING: Penny Jacobus
PREMIERE: May 8, 2013, New York City Ballet,
David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Tiler Peck, Robert Fairchild
MUSIC: Le Fils Prodigue, Op. 46 (1928-29)
by Sergei Prokofiev
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
LIBRETTO: Boris Kochno
DÉCOR: George Rouault
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 21, 1929, Diaghilev’s Ballets
Russes, Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris
ORIGINAL CAST: Felia Doubrovska, Serge Lifar,
Michael Federov, Eleanora Marra, Nathalie Branitzka, Léon Woizikowski, Anton Dolin
NYCB PREMIERE: February 23, 1950,
City Center of Music and Drama
MUSIC: Excerpts from Raymonda (1896-97)
by Alexander Glazounov
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY: Horace Armistead
COSTUMES: Karinska
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: December 7, 1961, New York
City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama
ORIGINAL CAST: Patricia Wilde, Jacques
d’Amboise
Prokofiev’s first violin concerto was written in 1917
but did not have its premiere until 1923. It has been
described as “Classical in its form, Romantic in its
passion, and Twentieth Century in its harmonies.”
OTHER DANCES
MUSIC: Mazurka, Op. 17, No. 4; Mazurka, Op. 41,
No. 8; Waltz, Op. 64, No. 3; Mazurka, Op. 63, No. 2;
and Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JEROME ROBBINS
COSTUMES: Santo Loquasto
LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
PREMIERE: May 9, 1976, Metropolitan
Opera House
ORIGINAL CAST: Natalia Makarova,
Mikhail Baryshnikov
NYCB PREMIERE: November 26, 1976,
New York State Theater
Christopher Wheeldon subtitled this charming
pas de deux “For Jerome Robbins. A thank you,”
and used a title from West Side Story, one of
Robbins’ most acclaimed works. The two dancers, moving in a shifting pattern of spotlights, give
a seemingly spontaneous and natural performance similar to the feeling that marked so many
of Robbins’ ballets.
The music, performed by a solo clarinet and
piano, begins with the “Interlude” from Andre
Previn’s clarinet and piano sonata. As the spotlight moves about, changing shapes, joining
and separating the dancers, the pair seems to
respond and react as though improvising. When
the music changes to Leonard Bernstein’s jazzier Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, the couple
becomes more playful, swaying, clapping, and
spinning in motions that pay homage to many of
Robbins’s moves. At one point the man stands
back to watch and applaud as his partner shows
off—and the audience follows suit.
The 1929 premiere of Prodigal Son opened what
was to be the last Paris season of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The story of Prodigal Son
comes from the parable in the Gospel According
to St. Luke. Boris Kochno added much dramatic
material and, to emphasize the themes of sin and
redemption, ended the story with the prodigal’s return. When the ballet was revived in 1950, the title
role was danced by Jerome Robbins.
Balanchine’s choreography upset Prokofiev,
who conducted the premiere. The composer’s
concept of the Siren, whom he saw as demure,
differed radically from Balanchine’s. Prokofiev refused to pay Balanchine royalties for his choreography. However, Prodigal Son was enthusiastically
received by both audiences and critics and was
one of the first of Balanchine’s ballets to achieve
an international reputation.
Throughout his life, Balanchine was attracted
to Glazounov’s music for Raymonda. He loved
what he called the music’s “grand and generous manner, its joy and playfulness.” As a student in St. Petersburg, Balanchine danced in the
Maryinsky Theatre production that had originally
been choreographed by Marius Petipa. After
leaving Russia, Balanchine and ballerina Alexandra Danilova mounted the full-length Raymonda for the Ballet Russe in 1946. At New York
City Ballet, Balanchine produced three works
to portions of the Raymonda score: Pas de Dix,
Cortège Hongroise, and Raymonda Variations.
The music in Pas de Dix and Cortège Hongroise
was taken mostly from the last act of Raymonda.
For Raymonda Variations, Balanchine drew on
music from the first act.
The Repertory (cont.)
ROBERT SCHUMANN’S
“DAVIDSBÜNDLERTÄNZE”
MUSIC: Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 (1837) by
Robert Schumann
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Rouben TerArutunian
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: June 19, 1980, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Karin von Aroldingen, Adam
Lüders, Suzanne Farrell, Jacques d’Amboise,
Heather Watts, Peter Martins, Kay Mazzo, Ib
Andersen
Robert Schumann’s “Davidsbündlertänze” was
one of Balanchine’s last major works. Against a
setting inspired, in part, by the works of the 19thcentury German Romantic painter Caspar David
Friedrich, a series of dances unfolds for four
couples. While not literally a biographical narrative, the ballet draws on the life of Schumann, its
alternating moods suggesting the episodes of
joy and depression that marked the composer’s
short career.
Schumann composed the 18 piano pieces that
comprise Davidsbündlertänze to celebrate his
reconciliation with sweetheart Clara Wieck after
a 16-month estrangement in 1837; the work was
published, at his own expense, the next year. The
title, which literally translates as “Dances of the
League of David,” refers to an imaginary society
of artists created by Schumann whose members
represent different aspects of his personality.
Their common aim: to fight the Philistines, those
who oppose art or innovation in the arts.
SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE
SOIRÉE MUSICALE
SONATAS AND INTERLUDES
MUSIC: from On Your Toes (1936) by Richard
Rodgers, orchestrated by Hershy Kay
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY: Jo Mielziner
COSTUMES: Irene Sharaff
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 2, 1968, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Suzanne Farrell, Arthur Mitchell
MUSIC: Souvenirs Ballet Suite by Samuel Barber
CHOREOGRAPHY BY
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON
COSTUMES: Holly Hynes
LIGHTING: Penny Jacobus
PREMIERE: June 6, 1998, School of American
Ballet Workshop, The Julliard Theater
NYCB PREMIERE: May 8, 2013, New York City
Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
NYCB ORIGINAL CAST: Lauren Lovette, Brittany Pollack, Sara Adams, Kristin Segin, Indiana
Woodward, Chase Finlay, Taylor Stanley, Harrison
Ball, Peter Walker, Ralph Ippolito
MUSIC: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared
Piano (1960) by John Cage
CHOREOGRAPHY BY RICHARD TANNER
COSTUMES: Carole Divet
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: April 17, 1982, Eglevsky Ballet,
Long Island, New York
NYCB PREMIERE: May 5, 1988, American Music
Festival, New York State Theater
NYCB ORIGINAL CAST: Heather Watts, David
Moore
Balanchine originally choreographed Slaughter
on Tenth Avenue in 1936 for the musical On Your
Toes, in which Ray Bolger played The Hoofer and
Tamara Geva portrayed The Stripper. The show
was a parody of Broadway, Russian ballet, and
the mob. Briefly told, it is the story of a jealous
Russian premier danseur who hires a mobster
to kill a rival during the premiere of a new ballet.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is the story of a tacky
strip joint and the customer who falls in love with
the Big Boss’s girl.
On Your Toes was the first of four Rodgers and Hart
musicals choreographed by Balanchine. It was followed by Babes in Arms, I Married an Angel, and
The Boys From Syracuse.
Christopher Wheeldon was still a 25-year-old
soloist with New York City Ballet when he created
the first Soirée Musicale for the School of American Ballet Workshop in 1998, demonstrating
early the talent that would make him one of the
world’s premiere choreographers. This new version featuring many of the Company’s younger
dancers retains the exuberance and lighthearted air of the original, with the addition of a new
pas de deux. Ball gowns of layered net for the
women and tuxedo-like attire for the men add to
the festive feel of the ballet.
Wheeldon chose a Barber score that was originally used for Todd Bolender’s 1955 Souvenirs,
a comic sketch about silent-movie vamps.
The playful suite consists of six pieces, each
a change of mood and pace. Clever shifting
pairings and interplay among the dancers begin with a swirling waltz, followed by a sprightly
schottische, and then a whimsical tango with an
ever-growing line of suitors vying to partner a
lone ballerina. A lively two-step and intimate pas
de deux lead up to a gala finale.
Richard Tanner created this ballet using five
pieces—Entre (Sonata III), Pas de Deux (Sonata
XIII), Variation (First Interlude), Variation (Sonata
V), and Coda (Sonata XI)—from Cage’s much
longer work. The ballet’s two dancers, dressed
in white unitards, are joined on stage by a pianist
as the choreography unfolds in a shimmering,
pearl-gray world of its own.
The term “prepared piano” refers to a concept
developed by Cage around 1938. Cage experimented with changing the piano’s sound by
inserting bits of wood, paper, screws, or other
objects between or on the strings at various
points to produce a more percussive sound.
Instructions, either written or described in diagrams, are given in the front of the score in minute detail. The pianist follows these instructions
to prepare the piano.
The Repertory (cont.)
LA SONNAMBULA
THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER
LA STRAVAGANZA
STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO
MUSIC: by Vittorio Rieti based on themes from
operas by Vincenzo Bellini, including La Sonnambula, I Puritani, Norma, and I Capuletti ed i
Montecchi (1830-35)
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Alain Vaes
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: February 27, 1946, Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo, City Center of Music and Drama
ORIGINAL CAST: Alexandra Danilova, Nicholas
Magallanes, Maria Tallchief, Michel Katcharoff
MUSIC: Jeux d’Enfants, Opp. 22-26, Nos. 3, 6, 11,
12 (1871) by Georges Bizet
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: David Mitchell
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: July 30, 1975, New York City Ballet,
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
ORIGINAL CAST: Patricia McBride, Peter
Schaufuss
MUSIC: La Stravaganza, Op. 4 (1712-13), and Dixit
Dominus, Laudate pueri Dominum by Antonio
Vivaldi; Source of Uncertainty by Evelyn Ficarra;
Eclats de Voix by Robert Normandeau; Naives by
Serge Morand; Laureats by Åke Parmerud
CHOREOGRAPHY BY ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ
SCENERY: Maya Schneizer
COSTUMES: Herve-Pierre
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 22, 1997, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Samantha Allen, Stacey Calvert, Emily Coates, Rachel Rutherford, Kathleen
Tracey, Melissa Walter, Tom Gold, Alexandre
Iziliaev, Sébastien Marcovici, Benjamin Millepied,
Alexander Ritter, Christopher Wheeldon
MUSIC: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in
D Major (1931) by Igor Stravinsky
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: June 18, 1972, New York City Ballet,
Stravinsky Festival, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Karin von Aroldingen, Kay
Mazzo, Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, Peter Martins
Set in a darkly mysterious masked ball, the oneact La Sonnambula tells the story of a Poet who
pays suit to a Coquette, who is escorted by the
Host. After a series of exotic divertissements, the
elegantly attired guests go in to supper, leaving
the Poet to himself. An apparition in white descends from a tower and enters the ballroom.
She is a beautiful Sleepwalker, wife of the Host.
Entranced, the Poet tries repeatedly to wake
her, but she eludes him. The jealous Coquette
informs the Host of the Poet’s advances to the
Sleepwalker; enraged, he stabs the Poet. The
Sleepwalker reappears to bear the Poet’s lifeless
body away.
The atmosphere of sinister menace that shadows the story is underscored by the Coquette’s
elaborate, encircling movements, the ball’s social dances, and the divertissements like the
Moorish dance or danse exotique, and the harlequin dance. The combination of these choreographic elements with the central pas de deux for
the Poet and Sleepwalker delineate the spirit of
the 19th-century Romantic movement in stark
contrast to the conventions it abhorred.
The Steadfast Tin Soldier, based loosely on a
Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, focuses on the
wistful courtship and love between a tin soldier
and a paper doll ballerina. The work was commissioned by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
The present pas de deux stems from a 1955
collaboration in which Balanchine, Francisco
Moncion, and Barbara Milberg choreographed
all of Bizet’s Jeux d’Enfants. Both the context
and the woman’s variation of The Steadfast Tin
Soldier were derived from this earlier work. The
soldier’s variation was rechoreographed for the
new pas de deux.
Contemporary culture meets 17th-century society
in this 1997 Diamond Project ballet created for an
ensemble of 12 dancers. Excerpts from Vivaldi
as well as electronic music provide the accompaniment. Despite the modern appearance of
the choreography, particularly the head movements, this work stands upon a strong classical
ballet foundation. La Stravaganza opens with an
innocent curiosity but then encounters ambiguity, sensuality, and violence in the human landscape. Three modern couples burst through the
allegro with lightning speed, athleticism, and
energetic partnering. Their Vermeer-like counterparts, in contrast, proceed in slow, repetitive,
stylized movements reminiscent of their daily
tasks. A surprising pas de deux for a young modern woman and a 17th-century man brings the
ballet to a climax. Mr. Preljocaj merges fantasy
and reality throughout this work, a hallmark of his
choreographic style.
In 1941, Balanchine choreographed Balustrade for
the Ballet Russe to Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in
D. When he returned to the score three decades
later, he could no longer remember his original
choreography. But Balanchine was not at all disturbed by the loss. “What I did then was for then,”
he said, “and what I wanted to do to this music for
our Stravinsky Festival … represented more than
30 years’ difference.” The new choreography
follows the score directly: an opening toccata
and a final capriccio enclose two central arias,
which form contrasting pas de deux for two different couples.
The Repertory (cont.)
SWAN LAKE
MUSIC: Swan Lake (1875-76) by Peter Ilyitch
Tschaikovsky
CHOREOGRAPHY BY PETER MARTINS,
AFTER MARIUS PETIPA, LEV IVANOV, AND
GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Per Kirkeby
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: October 27, 1996, Royal Danish
Ballet, Royal Theatre, Copenhagen
ORIGINAL CAST: Silja Schandorff,
Kenneth Greve
AMERICAN PREMIERE: April 29, 1999, New York
City Ballet, New York State Theater
NYCB ORIGINAL CAST: Darci Kistler, Damian
Woetzel
In 1996 the Royal Danish Ballet presented Peter
Martins’ new full-length version of Swan Lake,
the last of the enduring 19th-century Russian
ballets. Although it was also the last of the famed
Tschaikovsky-Petipa classics, Swan Lake was
actually the composer’s first ballet score. It was
commissioned in 1875 by the Moscow Imperial
Theater, now the Bolshoi Ballet. Tschaikovsky,
who thought that ballet was “the most innocent,
the most moral of the arts,” suggested the libretto. Years earlier he had composed as a family entertainment a short ballet based on a German fairy tale about a wicked sorcerer who turns
young girls into birds.
Amazingly, the choreographer of the 1877 Moscow premiere (not Petipa) was not inspired by
Tschaikovsky’s glorious music, the conductor
didn’t like the score either, and the ballerina declared it too difficult to dance to and substituted
her favorite music and choreography from other
ballets. The composer blamed himself for the
failure and would not write another ballet score for
12 years. When he resumed, it was to compose
The Sleeping Beauty in 1890 and The Nutcracker
in 1892. Tschaikovsky died the following year. As
a memorial, the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg
mounted a production of just the first lakeside
scene, Tschaikovsky’s second act, where the
Prince meets the Swan Queen. Czar Nicholas II
was so impressed by the new choreography of
Petipa’s assistant Lev Ivanov that he ordered the
entire ballet be produced, with Petipa staging the
first and third acts. The full St. Petersburg production of 1895 with the dual role of Odette and Odile
is the classic ballet that we see today.
While retaining the well-known set pieces from
the traditional version by Petipa and Ivanov, Mr.
Martins has imbued his production of Swan Lake
with the speed and clarity of New York City Ballet. The lakeside scenes are based on the choreography of Balanchine’s one-act version, which
Martins judges superior to the Petipa/Ivanov version. For the divertissements of the “Black Swan”
scene, Martins has created a sensuous Russian
dance intended as an homage to the exoticism of
the early 20th-century Russian artist Leon Bakst.
Mr. Martins also has set a pas de quatre for three
ballerinas and a danseur with complex step combinations and intricate partnering unheard of in
the 19th century. And he has given the ballet an
innovative ending that 20th-century critics have
called “intellectually provocative.”
For this production Martins invited Denmark’s
leading artist, Per Kirkeby, to design the scenery and décor. Mr. Kirkeby’s paintings, sculpture,
and graphic art have been exhibited at the Royal
Museum of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, the Venice Biennale, New York’s Museum of Modern Art,
Prague’s National Gallery, the Dallas Museum of
Fine Art, London’s Barbican Center, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, as well
as numerous galleries throughout the world, including the Michael Werner Gallery in New York.
Kirkeby is also a writer, geologist, filmmaker, and
performance artist who has published more
than 60 books of poetry, novels, and essays.
Kirkeby’s costumes for New York City Ballet’s
Swan Lake are based on the original costumes
he designed in collaboration with Kirsten Lund
Nielsen for the Danish production. The evocative lighting design is by Mark Stanley.
SYMPHONY IN C
SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS
MUSIC: Symphony No. 1 in C Major (1855)
by Georges Bizet
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
COSTUMES: Marc Happel
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: July 28, 1947, Paris Opera Ballet,
Théâtre National de l’Opéra as Le Palais de Cristal
ORIGINAL CAST: Lycette Darsonval, Tamara
Toumanova, Micheline Bardin, Madeleine Lafon,
Alexandre Kalioujny, Roger Ritz, Michel Renault,
Max Bozzoni
MUSIC: Symphony in Three Movements (194245) by Igor Stravinsky
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: June 18, 1972, New York City Ballet,
Stravinsky Festival, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Sara Leland, Marnee Morris,
Lynda Yourth, Helgi Tomasson, Edward Villella,
Robert Weiss
Bizet composed his Symphony in C Major when
he was a 17-year-old pupil of Charles Gounod at
the Paris Conservatory. The manuscript was lost
for decades and was published only after it was
discovered in the Conservatory’s library in 1933.
Balanchine first learned of the long-vanished
score from Stravinsky. He required only two
weeks to choreograph it as Le Palais de Cristal
for the Paris Opera Ballet, where he was serving
as a guest ballet master. When he revived the
work the following year for the first performance
of New York City Ballet, he simplified the sets and
costumes and changed the title.
The ballet has four movements, each featuring a
different ballerina, danseur, and corps de ballet.
The entire cast of 52 dancers from all four movements gathers for the rousing finale. The New
York City Ballet premiere took place on October
11, 1948, at the City Center of Music and Drama.
The original NYCB costume design for the
ballet performed in 1948 was by long-time
Balanchine collaborator Barbara Karinska. In 2012
Peter Martins, NYCB Ballet Master in Chief, felt
the costumes for this iconic ballet needed to be
refreshed and Marc Happel, NYCB’s Director of
Costumes, took up the challenge. He adorned
the pure white tutu’s and the dark men’s tunics
of his own design with a generous array of glittering Swarovski crystals. He therefore retained
the dark and light contrast of Karinska’s designs
while giving the new version a visually shimmering brilliance.
Introduced on opening night of the 1972 Stravinsky
Festival, Symphony in Three Movements, a large
ensemble work, is startling in its breadth of energy,
complexity, originality, and contrasts. Balanchine
responded to the jazz flavor in Stravinsky’s score
by using angular, turned-in movements and brisk,
athletic walking sequences.
Stravinsky composed the symphony’s three
movements at different times for three different
films, although they were never actually used on
screen. He said the music expressed his impressions of World War II but vigorously denied that
the composition was programmatic in any way—
a denial shared by Balanchine. “Choreographers
combine movements, and the ones I arranged
for this music follow no story line or narrative,”
Balanchine said. “They try to catch the music and
do not, I hope, lean on it, using it instead for support and time frame.”
THIS BITTER EARTH
MUSIC: Dinah Washington and Max Richter
CHOREOGRAPHY BY
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON
COSTUMES: Valentino Garavani
COSTUME SUPERVISION: Marc Happel
LIGHTING: MARY LOUISE GEIGER
NY PREVIEW: September 20, 2012, New York
City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Wendy Whelan, Tyler Angle
New York City Ballet’s 2012 Fall Gala included the
New York preview of This Bitter Earth, a pas de
deux from a new ballet by Christopher Wheeldon,
Five Movements, Three Repeats, which was created for Fang-Yi Sheu & Artists. The full ballet received its New York premiere during the 2012 Fall
for Dance Festival at City Center.
The Repertory (cont.)
TODO BUENOS AIRES
TWO HEARTS
UNION JACK
LA VALSE
MUSIC: Pachouli, Escualo, La Mufa, Todo
Buenos Aires, and Michelangelo 70 by Astor
Piazzolla; arranged by Ron Wasserman
CHOREOGRAPHY BY PETER MARTINS
COSTUMES: Holly Hynes
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 3, 2000, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Wendy Whelan, Albert Evans,
Philip Neal, Darci Kistler, Nikolaj Hübbe, Robert
Tewsley
MUSIC: Two Hearts (2012) by Nico Muhly
CHOREOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN MILLEPIED
COSTUMES: Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte
COSTUME SUPERVISION: Marc Happel
LIGHTING: Roderick Murray
PREMIERE: May 10, 2012, New York City Ballet,
David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Tiler Peck, Tyler Angle
MUSIC: traditional British sources adapted by
Hershy Kay: “Keel Row,” “Caledonian Hunt’s Delight,” “Dance wi’ My Daddy,” “Regimental Drum
Variations,” Scottish theme from the Water Music
by George Frederick Handel, “Amazing Grace,”
“A Hundred Pipers”; music-hall songs (ca. 18901914): “The Sunshine of Your Smile,” “The Night
the Floor Fell In,” “Our Lodger’s Such a Naice
Young Man,” “Following in Father’s Footsteps,”
“A Tavern in the Town”; traditional hornpipe
melodies, “Rule Brittania”
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY AND COSTUMES: Rouben
Ter-Arutunian
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 13, 1976, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Helgi Tomasson, Jacques
d’Amboise, Sara Leland, Peter Martins, Kay
Mazzo, Karin von Aroldingen, Suzanne Farrell,
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Patricia McBride, Victor
Castelli, Bart Cook
MUSIC: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911,
orchestrated 1912), La Valse (1920) by Maurice
Ravel
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY: Jean Rosenthal
COSTUMES: Karinska
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: February 20, 1951, New York
City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama
ORIGINAL CAST: Diana Adams, Tanaquil Le
Clercq, Yvonne Mounsey, Patricia Wilde, Herbert
Bliss, Frank Hobi, Nicholas Magallanes,
Francisco Moncion
Danced against lush black and purple drapery,
this ballet offers different interpretations of tango.
LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN
MUSIC: Le Tombeau de Couperin (1919, orchestrated 1920) by Maurice Ravel
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
ORIGINAL LIGHTING: Ronald Bates
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 29, 1975, New York City Ballet,
Ravel Festival, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Judith Fugate, Wilhelmina
Frankfurt, Muriel Aasen, Susan Hendl, Marjorie
Spohn, Delia Peters, Susan Pilarre, Carol Sumner,
Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Victor Castelli, Francis Sackett, David Richardson, Hermes Condé, Richard
Hoskinson, Richard Dryden, Laurence Matthews
This suite of dances in 18th-century courtly
style divides eight couples into left and right
quadrilles. Each quadrille forms geometric patterns—diagonals, diamonds, squares—as they
dance in unison or echo the movements of the
opposite side. Tombeau means “memorial” or
“tomb.” Ravel composed the dances in 1919 as a
commemorative suite for piano in memory of six
friends who died in World War I. He orchestrated
and shortened the suite the following year. In
the title, Ravel honors the French Baroque composer François Couperin, court musician and
composer to Louis XIV, the Sun King.
Two Hearts is the fourth collaboration between
choreographer Benjamin Millepied and composer Nico Muhly. Millepied did not choreograph a
narrative for Two Hearts. The pas de deux danced
by the lovers are supported by twelve corps dancers who interact with each other and the principal
couple. The sense of community created onstage
is deliberate. “I wanted to have everyone together,
like the ensemble work in Balanchine’s Le Tombeau de Couperin,” Millepied has said. Millepied’s
ballet, unlike the Balanchine ballet for corps de
ballet dancers that inspired it, has a lead couple
as well as corps dancers and is driven by the choreographer’s images of the music itself, not the
ballad that inspired the composer.
Nico Muhly was inspired by choral music from an
early age and often writes for choirs. His inspiration for this commissioned score was the 18thcentury North European ballad “Lord Thomas
and Fair Eleanor,” which unites beautiful melody
and gruesome detail to tell the story of a man torn
between marrying for love or for money and the
murders and suicide that result. The lyrics are
sung at the end of the ballet, during the final pas
de deux for the leads, perhaps symbolizing the
uniting of two lovers kept apart in life. However, it
is the phrase structure of the ballad that informed
the score for all sections of the ballet itself, if not
the exact story. Muhly wanted the music to feel
like folk music in the sense that it feels familiar.
According to the composer, “You need to access
a kind of melancholy for that.” Kate and Laura
Mulleavy of Rodarte, who designed the black
and white geometric patterned costumes for
Two Hearts, also created the ballet costumes in
the movie Black Swan. Roderick Murray has been
Millepied’s lighting designer since 2006.
Union Jack was created to honor the British
heritage of the United States on the occasion of
America’s bicentennial. Part I is based on Scottish military tattoos and folk dance forms usually
performed in the open air in castle squares. Part
II is a music hall pas de deux featuring Pearly
King, a costermonger, the Queen of London,
two little girls, and a donkey. It is danced before
a drop suggesting Benjamin Pollock’s toy theaters. Part III takes place at a dockside setting,
where a series of variations are danced to hornpipes, sea songs, work chants, jigs, and Royal
Navy drill orders. For the finale, hand flags signal
“God Save the Queen” in semaphore code as
the Union Jack unfurls.
From the first measures of Ravel’s haunting music, one is transported into the midst of a tense,
unsettled world. “We are dancing on the edge of
a volcano,” Ravel wrote in his notes to La Valse,
describing the work as “the mad whirl of some
fantastic and fateful carousel.” Ravel’s words aptly
describe both his music and Balanchine’s choreography, in which a woman in white enters a ballroom and is at once horrified and mesmerized by
the uninvited figure of Death who ultimately claims
her. Lincoln Kirstein wrote: “The big themes shatter, rhythms dissolve, a persistent beat grows
tenuous, and as a succession of feverish motifs
dissolve, the climax becomes chaos.”
Diaghilev commissioned La Valse from Ravel for
his Ballets Russes, but rejected it as “untheatrical.” When Balanchine chose to choreograph the
piece for New York City Ballet, he decided that
it was too short, and preceded it with the composer’s earlier Valses Nobles et Sentimentales.
The Repertory (cont.)
VESPRO
MUSIC: Vespro (original composition, 2002) by
Bruno Moretti
CHOREOGRAPHY BY MAURO BIGONZETTI
COSTUMES: Julius Lumsden
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 8, 2002, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Maria Kowroski, Alexandra
Ansanelli, Jason Fowler, Sébastien Marcovici,
Benjamin Millepied
Vespro is the Italian word for vespers, or evensong—music sung as twilight fades into night.
Bruno Moretti has described his composition
as little pieces of dreams. The musicians—a pianist, soprano saxophonist, and countertenor—
perform onstage with the dancers. The countertenor’s libretto is based on quotations from
the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti about beauty,
suffering, life, and desire.
The ballet features a male principal dancer, two
couples, and eight corps de ballet dancers. At
times, the male principal appears to be leading
the dancers and musicians; at others, he interrupts them. Each of the couples dances an extraordinarily intricate pas de deux that makes full
use of the dancers’ flexibility. When they are not
dancing, the corps members remain onstage
as silent witnesses to the sometimes dreamlike
actions of the principal dancers. Mr. Bigonzetti,
one of Italy’s leading choreographers, combines the classical vocabulary with modern,
angular moves using the floor and complex, innovative partnering.
WALPURGISNACHT BALLET
(FROM GOUNOD’S FAUST )
MUSIC: from Faust (1859, ballet music added
in 1869) by Charles Gounod
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
COSTUMES: Karinska
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: May 15, 1980, New York City Ballet,
New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Suzanne Farrell, Adam Lüders,
Heather Watts, Stephanie Saland, Judith Fugate
In 1925 and 1932, Balanchine choreographed
dances for a production of Gounod’s Faust given
by the Opéra de Monte-Carlo; they were danced
by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. He made dances
for other productions of the opera: in 1935, when
he was Ballet Master for the Metropolitan Opera,
and in 1945 for the Opera Nacional, Mexico City.
Walpurgisnacht Ballet was choreographed for a
1975 production of Faust by the Théatre National
de l’Opéra, danced by the Paris Opera Ballet.
The New York City Ballet premiere was the first
presentation of the choreography as an independent work.
The Walpurgisnacht scene occurs at the beginning of the opera’s last act, when Mephistopheles
brings Faust to watch the traditional celebration
on the eve of May Day when the souls of the
dead are released to wander at will. Although the
ballet does not depict Walpurgisnacht per se, it
does build on a sense of joyful revelry.
WHO CARES?
YEAR OF THE RABBIT
MUSIC: songs by George Gershwin, orchestrated by Hershy Kay (1970)
CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE
SCENERY: Jo Mielziner
COSTUMES: Santo Loquasto
LIGHTING: Mark Stanley
PREMIERE: February 7, 1970, New York
City Ballet, New York State Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Jacques d’Amboise, Karin von
Aroldingen, Patricia McBride, Marnee Morris
MUSIC: Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001), by Sufjan Stevens
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JUSTIN PECK
COSTUMES: Marc Happel
LIGHTING: Brandon Stirling Baker
PREMIERE: October 5, 2012, New York
City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater
ORIGINAL CAST: Teresa Reichlen, Ashley
Bouder, Janie Taylor, Robert Fairchild,
Joaquin De Luz, Craig Hall
In 1937, George Gershwin asked Balanchine to
come to Hollywood to work with him on Samuel
Goldwyn’s Follies. Tragically, Gershwin was felled
by a brain tumor before he completed the ballet
music for the film. Thirty-three years later, Balanchine choreographed Who Cares? to sixteen
songs Gershwin composed between 1924 and
1931, including “I Got Rhythm,” “The Man I Love,”
“Embraceable You,” and “My One and Only.”
Kay’s orchestrations draw extensively on Gershwin’s own piano arrangements of his songs. Balanchine used the songs not to evoke a particular
era, but as a way to portray an exuberance that
is both broadly American and charged with the
distinctive energy of Manhattan.
Justin Peck’s second work for New York City Ballet
is set to a propulsive, yet melodic, and rhythmic
score by acclaimed indie-rock composer, Sufjan Stevens. Peck’s inspiration for the ballet was
Stevens’ 2001 experimental electronic album and
song cycle entitled Enjoy Your Rabbit, which is
based on the Chinese Zodiac. For the ballet, the
music was orchestrated for a string orchestra, a
collaboration between the choreographer, the
composer, and orchestrator Michael P. Atkinson.
Peck selected six pieces of music from Enjoy
Your Rabbit, referring to the zodiac animals “Ox,”
“Rabbit,” “Tiger,” “Dragon,” “Rooster,” and “Boar.”
These pieces, in addition to what the composer
calls his “western music” (“The Year of Our Lord”),
are used to form a seven-part ballet featuring 18
dancers.
The visually dramatic lighting of this continually
inventive ballet complements the intricate, often
surprising, formations and patterns for the corps,
the joyful playfulness of the ensemble, the energetic, gravity-defying choreography for the six
principals, and the strikingly intense pas de deux
set to Stevens’ “western music.”
In a Playbill interview before the premiere, Peck
explained: “The [relationship to] the Chinese zodiac is very loose, but the signs interact. I play on
that chemistry by adding fragments of movement
that interrelate, micro-motifs that ripple through
the ballet. For example, the music at times feels
like a pursuit with a predator and prey, giving it
some danger. But I intend to have the ballet resolve in equilibrium, emotionally and balletically.”
The Composers
JOHN ADAMS (b. 1947) grew up in New England
and studied at Harvard with Leon Kirchner and
Roger Sessions. Influenced by the music of John
Cage and Steve Reich, Mr. Adams’ music is both
electronic and instrumental and is known for its
combination of minimalism and romanticism.
Mr. Adams’ composition On the Transmigration
of Souls, a choral work commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, won the
2003 Pulitzer Prize for Music. From 2003-2007
Adams held the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall where he founded
the annual In Your Ear festival. Mr. Adams’ memoir, Hallelujah Junction, was published in 2008.
That same year San Fransisco Ballet premiered
Joyride, a ballet choreographed by Mark Morris, to
Adams’ Son of Chamber Symphony (2007).
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) was
born into a family of musicians successful for
over two centuries. Although later in his career
he became most noted for his choral and other
church-related compositions, he also left a large
body of instrumental music for solo instruments
and ensembles. While his popular reputation was
eclipsed by the fame of his sons, he was revered
by musicians and composers. Finally, in the 19th
Century, Mendelssohn brought his music to public attention, and he became recognized as one of
the greatest of all composers.
SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981) won the Prix de
Rome and twice was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
in Music. He studied piano and conducting, as
well as singing, and began composing while still
a child. Throughout his career, Barber remained a
highly lyrical, essentially conservative composer
who dealt in unashamedly personal expression.
His harmonic language was basically that of the
late 19th Century. Virgil Thomsom has described
the composer as a producer of “elegant neoromanticism,” but in his discipline and use of traditional forms, Barber could also be considered
something of a classicist. The violin concerto, with
its angular lines and diatonic dissonance in the last
movement, demonstrated that Barber had broadened his scope of artistic choices by incorporating
elements more in common with contemporary idioms.
VINCENZO BELLINI (1801-1835) was born in Sicily and died in France. He was a celebrated and
highly popular composer of opera when vocal
melody and vocal agility were its most valued
constituents. He was a friend of Chopin, who
greatly admired his melodic gift. His operas included Norma, I Puritani, and La Sonnambula.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990), the gifted
and versatile American conductor and composer
of symphonic music and Broadway shows, was
born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. At the age of
17, he entered Harvard. He went on to study at the
Curtis Institute and then at Tanglewood. Serge
Koussevitzky took an interest in his talent and promoted his conducting career. Bernstein’s great
chance came when, on short notice, he substituted brilliantly for Bruno Walter, who had become
ill. He performed as a conductor and pianist and
lectured at universities and on television. His compositions range from the classical to the musical
stage and include Mass, Kaddish, West Side Story,
Candide, and The Age of Anxiety. He was the first
native-born American to become conductor of the
New York Philharmonic, and he conducted around
the world.
GEORGES BIZET (1838-1875) is best known for
Carmen, one of the most successful operas ever
written. However, he had more success in his lifetime with non-operatic works. He was an excellent pianist and wrote many pieces for the piano,
including Jeux d’Enfants. Many of the operas Bizet
wrote, with the exceptions of Carmen and The
Pearl Fishers, were destroyed by the composer or
never finished.
JOHN CAGE (1912-1992) was born in Los Angeles
and was involved with dance as a composer and
accompanist throughout his career. His concept
of the prepared piano, his use of rhythmic pattern
instead of pitch, and his incorporation of Eastern
philosophy into his theories have had an international impact on avant-garde music. Some of
his methods, such as the use of silence and the
introduction of chance in composition, met with
hostile reaction, but he remained in demand as
a lecturer, teacher, and a performer. Cage was
elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1978 and received the New York City Mayor’s Award of Honor for Arts and Culture in 1981.
He maintained a long artistic association with the
choreographer Merce Cunningham.
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849) was born in Poland. He was one of the most important innovators for the piano, both in terms of composition
and playing style. As a pianist he was mostly selftaught, and because he did not like to give public performances, his substantial reputation was
based on very few concerts. Chopin influenced
future composers, especially those of the French
and Russian schools. The musical level he attained made future piano innovations possible,
such as those of Debussy. Robbins’ ballets choreographed to the music of Chopin are The Concert (1956), Dances at a Gathering (1969), In the
Night (1970), and Other Dances (1976).
In recent years MARC-ANDRÉ DALBAVIE (b. 1961)
has risen to prominence as a leading member of
the new generation of French composers. Dalbavie, like several of his contemporaries, started
exploring the potential of spectral music, the redefinition of timbre, and the concept of process
in 1982. Since the 1986 premiere of his first major
work, Diadèmes, Dalbavie’s music has been performed all over the world.
Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Dalbavie studied at the
Paris Conservatoire, winning several several major
prizes, before attending Franco Donatoni’s class in
Siena and studying conducting with Pierre Boulez.
In 1985, Dalbavie joined the research department
at IRCAM. At the invitation of the German Academy
Austauschdienst (DAAD exchange program), he
moved to Berlin in the early 1990s. He was awarded the Rome Prize in 1994.
With Concerto pour violin, premiered in 1996 by
violinist Eiichi Chijiiwa and the Orchestre National
de France, Dalbavie launched a series of works
exploring the spacialization of the orchestra. The
Dream of the Unified Space, Antiphonie, and
Concertate il suono, all develop the concept of
the movement of sound in space. In 1997, he was
appointed Professor of Orchestration at the Paris
Conservatoire and won the Berlin Philharmonic’s
Salzburger Osterfestspiele Prize.
The French Ministry of Culture awarded Dalbavie
the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in January
2004. In February of the following year, the composer was invited to Paris’ Présences Festival,
where Sinfonietta and Comptine premiered and
17 of his other works were performed. During the
past ten years he has composed a piano concerto
for Leif Ove Andsnes, who recorded the work for
EMI, and soloists such as Yefim Bronfman, Emanuel Ax, Philippe Jaroussky, Magdalena Kozena as
well as the world’s leading orchestras: the Berlin
Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New
York Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra of
Amsterdam, BBC Symphony, Orchestre de Paris,
and many others.
In 2010 the Zurich Opera presented the world premiere production of Dalbavie’s new opera Gesualdo. The Financial Times wrote “Gesualdo is a rare
thing – a gripping new opera with a great libretto
that sounds beautiful. This is a score you could
listen to again and again, complex and beguiling.”
In addition to a new ballet for New York City Ballet
in 2014, Mr. Dalbavie has been commissioned to
compose a new opera for the Salzburg Festival for
the summer of 2014.
The Composers (cont.)
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) began his first
piano lessons when he was nine years old and
showed early signs of musical talent. Before
entering the Paris Conservatory at the age of 11,
he studied with Antoinette Flore Maute, a former
pupil of Chopin. During his Conservatory years,
he studied piano and composition, winning the
coveted Prix de Rome for his cantata L’Enfant
Prodigue. Debussy, who created a style called
“musical impressionism,” is considered one of
the most important and innovative composers
of his time. Although he did not write any symphonies or concerti, he wrote operas, chamber
music, orchestral works, and a large repertory of
piano music influenced by the painting and literature of his contemporaries.
LÉO DELIBES (1836-1891) was renowned as
a composer for dance, with the gift of illustrating action, creating atmosphere, and inspiring
movement. His Coppélia was the first symphonic ballet score. It includes melodic national
dances, descriptive passages introducing the
main characters, and musical effects that have
captivated audiences for more than 100 years.
GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) was Maurice Ravel’s teacher. His work bridges romantic and impressionistic styles. He wrote piano and chamber music as well as incidental music for plays
such as Pelléas et Mélisande and Shylock; he
composed operas and many songs set to the
words of French poets of the late 19th Century,
especially Verlaine.
EVELYN FICARRA was born in California in 1962.
She later moved to Britain, where she studied
composition, earning a master’s degree from the
University of Sussex in 1986. She has also studied
at Britain’s National Film and Television School.
She is especially interested in cross-arts work and
electroacoustic media. (Electroacoustic music, or
electronic music, describes the use of electronic
media to create and alter sounds.) In addition
to her concert works, she has written music for
dance, theater, film, and radio.
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937), was one of
the most important composers of the twentieth
century. His work for both musical theater and
the concert hall has proved to be of enduring
value, and the way in which he combined these
two genres has influenced countless composers
and musicians. Gershwin was born in Brooklyn,
N.Y., on September 26, 1898. He had his first hit
in 1919 with Swanee, popularized by Al Jolson. In
1924, Gershwin teamed up with his brother Ira
to create Lady, Be Good!, which was followed
by several other successful musicals, including
the Pulitzer Prize-winning Of Thee I Sing. During
these same years, Gershwin was composing for
the concert hall, starting with Rhapsody in Blue
in 1924. In 1935, with Ira and with DuBose and
Dorothy Heyward, he co-wrote Porgy and Bess,
a “folk opera” that famously used blues and jazz
idioms. Gershwin was at the peak of his career,
with numerous successes to his name and more
projects underway when he died suddenly of a
brain tumor on July 11, 1937.
PHILIP GLASS (b. 1937) graduated from the University of Chicago, studied composition with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti at the Juilliard School, as well as with Nadia Boulanger in
Paris. In 1965 his style underwent a fundamental
change, influenced by an interest in Indian music
and work with the sitarist Ravi Shankar. The new
musical style that Glass was evolving was eventually dubbed “minimalism;” however, Glass himself disliked the term and preferred to refer to it
as “music with repetitive structures.” Since 1975,
nearly all of Glass’s compositions have been written for dance, film, or theater. Mr. Glass continues
to present lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard
performances throughout the world, and still appears regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble.
ALEXANDER GLAZOUNOV (1865-1936), a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, was director of the St.
Petersburg Conservatory of Music from 1906 to
1917. It was during his tenure there that he was
called to the Maryinsky to play piano for a rehearsal of Raymonda; Balanchine was one of the dancers present. In addition to Raymonda, Glazounov
composed eight symphonies, a piano concerto,
a violin concerto, chamber music, and orchestral
tone poems.
CHARLES FRANÇOIS GOUNOD (1818-1893) was
a central figure in French music during the third
quarter of the 19th Century; his style influenced
the next generation of French composers, including Bizet, Fauré, and Massenet. Faust, produced in
1859 (the ballet music was added in 1869), made
Gounod’s reputation. Faust was drastically different from French opera of the previous 30 years
because of its lighter style and sentiment, which
relied less on the spectacular and more on the
delineation of character through the music. Gounod wrote other operas, none as successful as
Faust, and other forms of music, including songs
and Symphony No. 1 in D Major (1855), which Balanchine used for his Gounod Symphony.
PAUL HINDEMITH (1895-1963), a key representative of the neoclassical school, is considered
one of the greatest German composers of the
20th Century. He fled the Nazis (who banned
his music) and was a professor of music at Yale
from 1940 to 1953. A conductor, violinist, violist,
pianist, and theorist, he also wrote several books
on musical theory.
HERSHY KAY (1919-1981) established himself
as a preeminent orchestrator of musicals with
Leonard Bernstein’s On The Town in 1944. His
works for the ballet include Cakewalk, Western
Symphony, Stars and Stripes, Who Cares?, and
Union Jack; his works for musical theater include Peter Pan, Once Upon a Mattress, A Chorus Line, Evita, and Barnum. A composer in his
own right, Hershy Kay also reconstructed Louis
Moreau Gottschalk’s Grande Tarantelle for Piano and Orchestra, which Balanchine later used
for his ballet Tarantella.
ÉDOUARD LALO (1823-1892), a French composer, studied at the Lille Conservatory and in Habeneck’s class at the Paris Conservatoire. As a violinist and teacher in Paris in the 1850s, he showed an
unfashionable inclination toward chamber music,
playing classical string quartets and composing
string trios and a noteworthy quartet. During the
1870s he attracted attention for his instrumental
works, especially for the Symphony Espagnole
(1874), a five-movement violin concerto, and the
powerful Cello Concerto (1877). After disappoint-
ment at the poor reception of his opera Fiesque
(1866-67), he took up stage music again in 1875,
winning success with Le roi d’Ys (1888), on which
his operatic fame has rested; his ballet score Namouna (1881-82) became popular as a series of
orchestra suites. Among the hallmarks of Lalo’s
music, the vigor of which stands in contrast to the
style of Franck’s pupils and the impressionists,
are his strongly diatonic melody, piquant harmony
and ingenious orchestration.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) was a
German composer of the Romantic era. Like
Mozart, Mendelssohn was a child prodigy who
excelled in every aspect of music; he was one
of the finest pianists of his time, as well as an
excellent conductor. Mendelssohn was active
as a composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, and
founder of music festivals. He composed works
of all types: symphonies, piano music, lieder,
choral music, oratorios, and chamber music.
SERGE MORAND is a French composer of electroacoustic music.
BRUNO MORETTI (b. 1957) graduated with a degree in piano and composition from the St. Cecilia
Conservatoire in Rome. He then studied with Nino
Rota and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana
in Sienna. He made his conducting debut at the
Teatro dell’Opera in Rome with Madama Butterfly.
He has also conducted the orchestras of Teatro
La Fenice in Venice, San Carlo in Naples, Teatro
Comunale in Florence, and the Puccini Festival
in Torre del Lago, as well as in Bergamo, Brescia,
Cremona, Padova, and Bari. Abroad, Mr. Moretti
conducted at the Royal Festival Hall and at the
Barbican Center in London, at the Brucknerfestival
in Linz, and in China, Israel, Japan, Canada, and the
United States. Since 1991, Mr. Moretti has focused
on composition. Among his many works are his
ballets Comoedia and Don Giovanni, emozioni di
un Mito; his opera Lady E; an orchestral piece, il
bestiario del XXI secolo, for the Giuseppe Verdi
Orchestra; and the soundtrack for the film La ragione di un sogno. He composed the scores to
four ballets in NYCB’s repertory: Vespro (2002), In
Vento (2006), Oltremare (2008), and Luce Nacosta (2010), all choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti.
The Composers (cont.)
Composer NICO MUHLY (b. 1981) was born in
Vermont and raised in Providence, Rhode Island,
and is a 2003 graduate of Columbia University
with a degree in English Literature. In 2004 he
received a Masters in Music from the Juilliard
School, where he studied composition under
Christopher Rouse and John Corigliano. Muhly’s
orchestra works have been premiered by the
American Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard
Orchestra and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Orchestra. A work for chamber
orchestra, commissioned by the New York
Philharmonic, premiered in April 2010. He has
worked extensively with Philip Glass as editor,
keyboardist, and conductor for numerous film
and stage projects. In October 2007, American Ballet Theatre premiered Muhly and Benjamin Millepied’s collaboration From Here On
Out, and One Thing Leads to Another, another
collaboration with Millepied, was premiered
by the Dutch National Ballet on October 15,
2010. The Metropolitan Opera Lincoln Center
Theater Opera/Theater Commissions Program,
in a co-production with the English National
Opera, commissioned Two Boys, premiering
in June 2011 at the English National Opera with
a libretto by Craig Lucas, directed by Bartlett
Sher. His next opera, Dark Sisters, was commissioned by Gotham Chamber Opera, Music
Theatre Group, and the Opera Company of
Philadelphia and premiered in November 2011.
His opera Two Boys is being performed at the
Metropolitan Opera in 2013.
ROBERT NORMANDEAU was born in Québec
City in 1955 and earned a doctorate in electroacoustic composition in 1992. Mr. Normandeau
has been a lecturer in acoustics and electroacoustics at Université de Montréal since 1988 and
is an associate composer of the Canadian Music
Centre. He is a founding member of the Canadian
Electroacoustic Community.
MICHAEL NYMAN (b. 1944). As one of Britain’s
most innovative and celebrated composers, Michael Nyman’s work encompasses operas, string
quartets, film soundtracks, orchestral concertos,
choral works, and compositions for his own band,
which serves as the laboratory for his inventive
and experimental compositional work. Mr. Nyman
first made his mark in the late 1960’s when he invented the term “minimalism”. He is a composer,
performer, conductor, bandleader, pianist, author,
musicologist, photographer, and film-maker.
His most notable scores number a dozen Peter
Greenaway films, including such classics as The
Draughtsman’s Contract and The Cook, The Thief,
His Wife & Her Lover; Neil Jordan’s The End of the
Affair; several Michael Winterbottom features including Wonderland and A Cock and Bull Story,
Gattaca, his unforgettable music for Jane Campion’s 1993 film, The Piano, and the Oscar nominated Man on Wire. He has also written widely for the
stage. His operas include The Man Who Mistook
His Wife for a Hat (1986), and Facing Goya (2000),
and he has provided ballet music for a number of
the world’s most distinguished choreographers.
In 2008, Mr. Nyman published the sumptuous
photo-book Sublime. He has also collaborated
with contemporary artists Bruce McLean, Mary
Kelly, Damon Albarn, Carsten Nicolai, and Kultlug
Ataman. Mr. Nyman’s visual work has been exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the Reina
Sophia Museum in Madrid, and the Museum of
Modern Art in New York.
ÅKE PARMERUD was born in Sweden in 1953.
He has been professionally active as a composer
since 1978. He studied at the Göteborg Music
Conservatory after having worked as a professional photographer. His work includes instrumental and electroacoustic compositions, multimedia, video, and music for theater and film.
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992) was born in
Argentina and moved to New York as a child,
where he learned to play the bandoneon (similar
to the accordion). He studied in Paris with Nadia
Boulanger, who encouraged him to develop his
own native music. As founder of the Quinteto Tango Nuevo, he incorporated classical and jazz elements into an avant-garde tango style. He was an
innovative instrumentalist and arranger and also
composed for opera, theater, and film. Piazzolla
successfully brought the bandoneon and tango
music from Buenos Aires dancehalls and nightclubs to the international concert stage.
FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963), born in Paris,
was a brilliant composer from a wealthy family;
his mother, an amateur pianist, taught him to play
piano. He belonged to the Paris-based group of
composers, Les Six; the other five members were
Auric, Durey, Honnegger, Milaud, and Tailleferre.
They led the neo-classical movement, rejecting
the emotion of Romanticism. Poulenc followed
the neo-classical formation of Ravel’s piano music
and songs. He eventually rediscovered his Roman
Catholic faith and his work took on new spiritual
depth and in addition to his fine songs and piano
pieces he was an inspired composer of religious
music. His choral works Stabat Mater and Gloria
are notable, as is his music for the organ, including
a concerto considered among the most beautiful
that organists have in repertoire. He was fond of
woodwinds and planned a set of sonatas for all of
them. He lived to complete four: sonatas for flute,
oboe, clarinet, and horn. Among his important artistic contacts was Diaghilev, who commissioned
him to write for his Ballets Russes.
ANDRÉ PREVIN (b. 1929) left his native Germany
in 1938 to live in Paris and to subsequently settle
in Los Angeles in 1940. His early career of orchestrating film scores at MGM led quickly to conducting engagements of symphonic repertoire and on
to an international career as Music Director of such
orchestras as London, Los Angeles, Oslo, and
Pittsburgh. In the 1980s, he concentrated increasingly on compositions for the concert hall and
opera. His own richly lyrical style underscores his
love of the late Romantic and early 20th-century
masterpieces of which his interpretations as conductor are internationally renowned.
SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) was a leading Soviet composer and brilliant pianist. He left
Russia in 1918 and lived in Germany and Paris for
the next 16 years, with frequent trips to America
for concert appearances. In 1934, he settled
in Moscow and composed prolifically until his
death. Among his better known works are the ballet scores Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, and The
Prodigal Son; the opera Love for Three Oranges;
the children’s classic Peter and the Wolf; the film
score and cantata for Alexander Nevsky; and the
Classical Symphony.
ANDREA QUINN was born in 1964 and studied
conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with
Colin Metters, George Hurst, and John Carewe.
In 1989 she left the Academy with the Ernest
Read and Ricordi Conducting Prizes. She was
then awarded the National Association of Youth
Orchestras’ Conductor’s Bursary for further
study abroad which took her to Hungary for the
Bartok International Seminar.
Andrea Quinn has worked with many of Britain’s
leading orchestras. In 1997 Andrea Quinn made
her début at The Royal Opera House conducting
The Royal Ballet’s Anastasia. From 1998 to 2001
she was the Music Director of The Royal Ballet.
From June 2001 to June 2006 Andrea Quinn was
Music Director for New York City Ballet having
made her debut with the company in 1999. As
well as conducting for them at Lincoln Center,
she has conducted the company at the Edinburgh International Festival, at the Maryinsky
Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Kennedy Center
in Washington D.C., and in Toyko. From 2005 to
2009 Miss Quinn was the Chief Conductor of
SONO (the Symphony Orchestra of Norrlands
Opera) in Umea, Sweden.
Andrea Quinn conducted a recording of Paul McCartney’s Tuesday with the London Symphony
Orchestra for EMI Records, for which she was
nominated as Female Artist of the Year by the
British Phonographic Industry’s inaugural Classical Brit Awards.
MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) was born in
the French Basque town of Ciboure. His family moved to Paris and encouraged him to take
piano lessons. At 14 he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory, where he studied with Fauré,
who became his principal teacher of composition. His ballet scores include Pavane pour une
Infante Défunte, Jeux d’Eau, Boléro, Daphnis
et Chloe, Ma Mére l’Oye, and a ballet-opera,
L’Enfant et les Sortiléges.
MAX RICHTER (b. 1966) is an award-winning
British composer whose work includes concert
music, film scoring, and a series of acclaimed
The Composers (cont.)
solo albums. Working with a variety of collaborators including Tilda Swinton, Robert Wyatt, Future
Sound of London, and Roni Size, Mr. Richter’s
work explores the meeting points of many contemporary artistic languages, and, as might be
expected from a student of Luciano Berio, his
work embraces a wide range of influences. Recent projects include the ballet Infra for Wayne
McGregor at The Royal Ballet, with scenography
by Julian Opie, the award-winning score to Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir, and the music installation The Anthropocene, with Darren Almond at
White Cube. Mr. Richter’s music has formed the
basis of numerous dance works, including pieces
by Lucinda Childs, NDT, Ballet du Rhin, American
Ballet Theatre, Dresden Semper Oper, The Dutch
National Ballet, and Norwegian National Ballet,
among many others, while film makers using his
work include Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island). Recent commissions include the opera SUM, based
on David Eagleman’s acclaimed book, premiered
at The Royal Opera House, London, and Mercy,
commissioned by Hilary Hahn. Other projects
include Vivaldi Recomposed for Deutsche Grammophon, recorded by British violinist Daniel Hope
and the Konzerthaus Orchester, Berlin, as well as
a variety of other recording and film projects.
VITTORIO RIETI (1898-1991) was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and was educated in Milan and Rome.
He composed the music for the ballets Barabau
and Le Bal for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, both
choreographed by Balanchine. He composed
operas and orchestral and other instrumental
works in the neoclassical style. He came to the
United States in 1940 and collaborated with
Balanchine on a number of ballets, including
Waltz Academy for Ballet Theatre, Night Shadow
(now called La Sonnambula) for Ballet Russe
de Monte Carlo, The Triumph of Bacchus and
Ariadne for Ballet Society, and Native Dancers
for New York City Ballet.
RICHARD RODGERS (1902-1979) met Lorenz Hart
in 1918 and began to collaborate with him on the
lyrics for popular songs. Their first success was
Garrick Gaities in 1925. Between 1926 and 1930,
Rodgers and Hart were among America’s most
popular songwriters, producing many songs for
musicals and revues on Broadway and in Lon-
don’s West End. After four years in Hollywood
(1930-1934) writing for films, they returned to New
York in 1935. In 1936, Rodgers’ first major orchestral music for a ballet sequence was premiered in
On Your Toes; it was the ballet Slaughter on Tenth
Avenue. Hart’s death in 1943 ended a prolific partnership that had produced musicals, films, and
film versions of their stage presentations. In 1943,
Rodgers began collaborating with Oscar Hammerstein II; their first success, Oklahoma, won the
Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1944. Other works that
Rodgers and Hammerstein staged were Carousel,
Allegro, The King and I (choreographed by Jerome
Robbins), and The Sound of Music. Their work on
South Pacific brought them a Pulitzer Prize in 1950.
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) was a virtuoso pianist and organist, as well as a composer. A
child prodigy, he began performing and composing by the age of 10. Born in Paris, he received his
training under Halévy at the Paris Conservatoire.
A man of many talents, Saint-Saëns was also a
poet, dramatist, essayist, amateur scientist, and
music editor. His musical works include symphonies, symphonic poems, operas, concerti, chamber music, and church music. Among his more
well known pieces are Le carnaval des animaux
(1886), Danse Macabre (1874), and the opera
Samson et Delila (1877).
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856), to many
scholars, represents the quintessential Romantic composer, both for the emphasis on lyrical
self-expression in his work, and for the emotional
turbulence that characterized his life (his wooing
and eventual winning of his wife Clara—one of the
great pianists of the time—reads like a 19th-century
novel). Known primarily for the genius of his piano
pieces and lieder, Schumann also wrote music
criticism and headed a circle that included many
of Germany’s musical elite, including Mendelssohn and Brahms.
SUFJAN STEVENS (b. 1975) mixes autobiography,
religious fantasy, and regional history to create
folk songs of grand proportions. A preoccupation with epic concepts has motivated two state
records (Michigan and Illinois), an electronic album
for the animals of the Chinese zodiac (Enjoy Your
Rabbit), a five-disc Christmas box set (Songs for
Christmas), and a programmatic tone poem with
film accompaniment for the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway, a large-scale ensemble piece commissioned by BAM in 2007. More recently, Mr. Stevens released two albums in 2010: a generous EP
(All Delighted People) and the full-length The Age
of Adz, a collection of songs partly inspired by the
outsider artist Royal Robertson.
Born in Detroit and raised in the upper reaches of
Northern Michigan, Mr. Stevens attended Hope
College, in Holland, Michigan, and the masters
program for writers at the New School for Social
Research. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971), born in Russia,
is acknowledged as one of the great composers of the 20th Century. His work encompassed
styles as diverse as romanticism, neoclassicism, and serialism. Ballets to Stravinsky’s music done for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes include
The Firebird, Petruchka, The Rite of Spring,
and Apollo. His music has been used in over
30 ballets originating with New York City Ballet
since 1948, including Danses Concertantes,
Orpheus, The Cage, Agon, Monumentum pro
Gesualdo, Rubies, Symphony in Three Movements, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Concerto for
Two Solo Pianos, Suite from L’Histoire du Soldat,
Concertino, and Jeu de Cartes.
PETER ILYITCH TSCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
studied at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg,
where Balanchine later studied piano in addition to dance. Tschaikovsky is one of the most
popular and influential of all Romantic composers. His work is expressive, melodic, and grand
in scale, with rich orchestrations. His output
was prodigious and included chamber works,
symphonies, concerti for various instruments,
operas, and works for the piano. His creations
for the ballet, composed in close partnership with
Marius Petipa, are Swan Lake, The Nutcracker,
and The Sleeping Beauty.
GIUSEPPE VERDI (1831-1901) did not have a formal music education, but rather studied privately,
for the most part, with local musicians. He completely changed the course of Italian opera with
such masterpieces as Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aïda,
Otello, and Falstaff, popularizing the art form like
no other composer before or since. Verdi was
also a fervent supporter of the movement for Italian unification, which led to his being nominated
for a seat in the Italian Parliament.
ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741), one of the foremost Baroque composers, was born in Venice and
died in Vienna. His unique musical language is evident in the variety of form, scoring, and imaginative
conception in the more than 500 concerti that he
composed. A creator of orchestral program music,
Vivaldi made contributions to musical style, violin
technique, and orchestration.
ANTON VON WEBERN (1883-1945), an Austrian,
was part of the neoclassical movement in music. He was a musical scholar who adopted
and extended Schoenberg’s 12-tone method of
composing music, which meant basing a composition on a “row” made up of the 12 chromatic
scale notes, arranged so that no note was repeated within the row. Webern became more
and more rigorous in his attempt to compress
and simplify his own style.
DINAH WASHINGTON (1924-1963) was an American singer and pianist. Though known primarily
as a Jazz vocalist she performed and recorded in
a wide variety of styles including Blues, R&B, and
pop music. She sang with Lionel Hampton’s band
in the 1940’s and worked with many of the leading
jazz musicians of the time. Washington was well
known for singing “torch songs,” appeared at jazz
festivals, had frequent gigs at Birdland, and sang
with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
THOM WILLEMS (b.1955) was born in Arnhem,
Netherlands, and studied electronic and instrumental composition at the Royal Conservatory,
The Hague. Mr. Willems has composed works for
European television, radio, and movies. His work
has been performed by Ballett Frankfurt, l’Opéra
de Paris, San Francisco Ballet, Les Ballets de
Monte Carlo, Royal Danish Ballet, and Netherlands Dance Theatre.
The Choreographers
GEORGE BALANCHINE (1904-1983) is regarded
as one of the foremost ballet choreographers and
one of the great artists of the 20th Century. His
influence in the worlds of ballet, music, and modernism is immense, and he had a great and lasting impact on New York’s cultural scene during a
particularly creative period of the city’s history.
The son of a composer, Balanchine began studying the piano at the age of five, then studied at the
Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg from 1913
to 1921. He continued his education with three
years at the state’s Conservatory of Music, where
he studied piano and musical theory, including
composition, harmony, and counterpoint.
Balanchine made his dancing debut at the age
of 10 as a cupid in the Maryinsky Theatre Ballet
Company production of The Sleeping Beauty. He
joined the company’s corps de ballet at age 17
and also staged one work, Enigmas.
In the summer of 1924, Balanchine – along with
Tamara Geva, Alexandra Danilova, and Nicholas
Efimov – left the newly formed Soviet Union for
a tour of Western Europe. All four dancers were
invited by impresario Serge Diaghilev to join his
Ballets Russes in Paris. After watching Balanchine
stage a new version of the Stravinsky ballet Le
Chant de Rossignol, Diaghilev hired him as ballet
master to replace Bronislava Nijinska. Balanchine
served as ballet master with Ballets Russes until
the company was dissolved following Diaghilev’s
death in 1929. After that, he spent his next few
years on a variety of projects that took him all over
Europe, then returned to Paris to form his own
company, Les Ballets 1933. It was then that he met
American dance connoisseur Lincoln Kirstein.
Kirstein’s great passion for the contemporary arts
included the dream to establish an American
ballet school and an American ballet company
that would rival those of Europe. He persuaded
Balanchine to come to the United States and
help him fulfill this dream, and in 1934, the pair
founded the School of American Ballet. The
first original ballet Balanchine choreographed
in this country­
— Serenade, set to music by
Tschaikovsky—was created for dancers from the
School and had its world premiere outdoors on
the estate of Kirstein’s friend, Edward Warburg,
near White Plains, New York
The School remains in operation to this day,
training students for companies throughout the
United States and the world, but the first ballet
companies founded by Balanchine and Kirstein
were not as long-lived. American Ballet, Ballet
Caravan, and American Ballet Caravan came
and went in the years between 1936 and 1940.
In 1946, following World War II, Balanchine and
Kirstein joined forces again to form Ballet Society, a company which introduced New York
subscription-only audiences over the next two
years to such new Balanchine works as The
Four Temperaments (1946), Stravinsky’s Renard
(1947), and Orpheus (1948). Morton Baum, chairman of the City Center of Music and Drama, was
so impressed by a performance of Orpheus that
he invited Ballet Society to join City Center, but
with a new name. On October 11, 1948, New York
City Ballet was born, dancing an all-Balanchine
program consisting of Concerto Barocco, Orpheus, and Symphony In C.
Balanchine served as ballet master for New York
City Ballet from that year until his death in 1983.
An authoritative catalogue of his works lists 425
works created from 1920 to 1982, and many of
these continue to be danced today.
Born in Rome in 1960, MAURO BIGONZETTI
trained at the Rome Opera Ballet School and became a company member of the Rome Opera
Ballet in 1978, dancing works by Roland Petit, Leonide Massine, and Aurel Milloss, among others.
In 1982, he joined Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia,
where he danced works by George Balanchine,
Glen Tetley, Antony Tudor, Alvin Ailey, Jiri Kylián,
Donald Byrd, William Forsythe, August Bournonville, Amedeo Amodio, Jennifer Muller, and Lucinda Childs. “All of them have influenced me,” he
explains, “but the most important have been Jiri
Kylián and William Forsythe. I relate to their aesthetic and choreographic inspiration.”
Mr. Bigonzetti retired from dancing at the age of
30 to pursue choreography, creating ballets for
Aterballetto and many other dance companies
and festivals in Italy and around the world, including the English National Ballet, Ballet Teatro
Argentino, La Scala Ballet, Ballet du Capitole
(Toulouse), Deutsche Opera (Berlin), Kirov Ballet,
and Stuttgart Ballet. He was the artistic director
of Aterballetto from 1997 to 2008, resigning to
pursue choreography full-time. He has choreographed four works for NYCB: Vespro (2002),
In Vento (2006), Oltremare (2008), and Luce
Nascota (2010), all to scores by Bruno Moretti.
MADAME ALEXANDRA DANILOVA (1903-1997)
was an old-fashioned ballerina with a sense of the
dramatic that tied her to the 19th Century, but she
also had a vivacious charm that spoke directly to
modern audiences. This combination proved irresistible, and Madame Danilova became one of the
great ballet stars of her time. Her career spanned
the 20th Century, from her childhood appearances in the decadent ballet productions of Imperial Russia to years of acclaim as a prima ballerina
in Western Europe, and finally to a ballet school
in New York, where she imparted her artistry to
young dancers. Part of her legacy is New York City
Ballet’s production of Coppélia, which she staged
with George Balanchine in 1974.
Danilova was born in Peterhof, Russia, in 1903,
and studied dance at the Imperial Theater School
in St. Petersburg. One of her classmates was
George Balanchine; the two would later have a
four-year romance, and their professional lives
would remain entwined until Balanchine’s death.
In the early 1920s, Danilova danced both traditional roles with the corps of the State Academic
Theater for Opera and Dance and avant-garde
work with Evenings of the Young Ballet, a troupe
set up by Balanchine. In 1924, Danilova and Balanchine, along with several other dancers, left
Russia to tour Germany; when the Soviet government summoned them back, the dancers resisted, and Danilova and Balanchine stayed in Europe
and joined Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. This
was the beginning of Danilova’s fame. Diaghilev,
the great impresario, put her in some of the great
roles (Odette, Aurora, Firebird) as well as in some
of the company’s neo-classical works, including
Balanchine’s first masterpiece, Apollon Musagète
(performed today as Apollo).
Ballets Russes lasted only until 1931, but the time
with Diaghilev proved to be a launching pad for
Danilova, an introduction to a sophisticated world.
In St. Petersburg, the students and dancers were
The Choreographers (cont.)
isolated from the rest of the world; with Ballets
Russes, they met everyone, toured to cosmopolitan cities, and spent time in glamorous hotels,
restaurants, and nightclubs. Danilova danced
with Massine and Lifar, went dancing with Vladimir Horowitz, talked to Igor Stravinsky about his
childhood, visited casinos with Coco Chanel, and
received George Bernard Shaw in her dressing
room. And she had countless admirers, enthusiastic audiences, and thus began the start of her
reign as one of the world’s leading ballerinas.
After Ballets Russes dissolved, Danilova remained
in Europe to dance with the Monte Carlo Opera
Ballet, in the operetta Waltzes from Vienna, and
with de Basil’s Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.
Then, in 1938, Danilova became the prima ballerina of a new company formed by Léonide Massine and Serge Denham and named, confusingly
enough, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. It was in
this company that Danilova was paired with Frederic Franklin in what would prove to be one of the
great ballet partnerships, and it was here that she
danced Swanilda in Coppélia, a role that became
closely associated with her. In 1944, noted dance
writer Edwin Denby said of her, “Miss Danilova…
is one of the world’s greatest dancers. Her wonderfully feminine charms, her wit and dance brilliance make of the Monte Carlo Coppélia a real
event.” She had successes in the tragic roles, but
audiences loved her most for roles that displayed
her wit and vivacity.
Danilova remained with Ballet Russe until 1951
and then danced for several more years, touring
the world. After retiring as a dancer, she staged
ballets she knew well for various companies, and
in 1964, Balanchine invited her to join the faculty
of the School of American Ballet. The curriculum at SAB was based on that of the old Imperial
Theater School, and Danilova taught girls’ variations classes, coached the students, and staged
ballets for the school’s annual workshop.
To many of her students, Danilova represented
the elegant past of ballet; she was a true ballerina.
Darci Kistler, now a principal dancer at New York
City Ballet, was coached by Danilova in Swan Lake
for an SAB workshop:
Madame loved the femininity of dance,
what she called “the perfume of dance.”
She taught you the allure, the haughtiness—
she was a grande dame of ballet. For Madame, if you didn’t look like a dancer, you
weren’t a dancer; she liked girls to dress
well, to have their hair up—the old aesthetic.
She could be very tough, but she was very
generous and kind to me.
WILLIAM FORSYTHE (b. 1949) studied and later
performed with the Joffrey Ballet before joining the
Stuttgart Ballet in 1973. In 1976 he created his first
ballet, Urlicht, and has since created over thirty
works for companies in Europe and the United
States, including the Joffrey, Lyon Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet. Forsythe
was the Artistic Director of Frankfrurt Ballet from
1984 until 2005 when he founded the Forsythe
Company, which he continues to lead today. His
commissions for New York City Ballet include
Behind the China Dogs (1988) and Herman Schmerman (1992).
The Moscow born LEV IVANOV (1834-1901)
graduated from the Imperial School of Ballet in St.
Petersburg where one of his teachers was Marius
Petipa’s father, Jean Petipa. A gifted soloist and
character dancer with the Imperial Ballet, he ultimately achieved the rank of principal dancer.
He was also a natural musician who could play,
by ear, an entire ballet score on the piano. Ivanov
went on to teach at the Imperial Ballet school and
served as rehearsal master of the Maryinsky Theatre. He was officially appointed as second ballet
master, assistant to Marius Petipa, in 1885. His innate musicality influenced his choreography and
it is believed that he was the chief choreographer
of The Nutcracker (1892) though Petipa received
the official recognition. The beauty of the corps
dances for the snowflakes is believed to be Ivanov’s work. His musically sensitive choreography of the second and fourth lakeside scenes of
Swan Lake (1894-95) is heralded for its lyrical poignancy. Though destined to always be in Petipa’s
shadow, his lasting contribution to the evolution
of ballet is his influence on Michel Fokine. He
saw, in Ivanov’s choreography, how mood and
effect could be achieved by an ensemble dancing to beautiful music, thereby influencing the
creation of Fokine’s atmospheric yet plotless Les
Sylphides (1909).
Danish-born PETER MARTINS (b. 1946), one of the
greatest classical dancers of our time, has spent
more than 40 years with New York City Ballet as
dancer, choreographer, and ballet master. He has
choreographed over 75 ballets, many of which
are in New York City Ballet’s extensive repertory,
alongside the works of Balanchine and Robbins.
His dances are also in the repertory of the world’s
great ballet companies. Mr. Martins is a champion
of contemporary music and has choreographed
to a wide range of composers from George Gershwin, John Adams, Michael Torke, and Wynton
Marsalis to Tschaikovsky and Stravinsky. As Ballet Master in Chief of New York City Ballet, he is
responsible for the ongoing operations of the
Company and provides opportunities for emerging choreographers through the New York Choreographic Institute. He is also the Artistic Director and
Chairman of the Faculty of the School of American
Ballet. Mr. Martins has choreographed for Broadway and published his autobiography, Far From
Denmark, in 1982, his works have also been featured on many television programs. Mr. Martins
most recent works include the full-length production Romeo + Juliet and Grazioso (both premiered
in 2007) Naive and Sentimental Music (2009),
Mirage (2010), Ocean’s Kingdom (2011), and Mes
Oiseaux (2012).
The Choreographers (cont.)
BENJAMIN MILLEPIED (b. 1977) was born in Bordeaux, France, and began his dance training at
the age of eight with his mother, a former modern dancer, and entered the Conservatoire National in Lyon, France, at age 13. In the summer
of 1992, he studied at the School of American
Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet,
and returned with a scholarship from the French
Ministry to study full-time in the fall of 1993. Millepied originated a principal role in the world premiere of Jerome Robbins’ 2 & 3 Part Inventions
at SAB’s 1994 Spring Workshop performance.
He joined New York City Ballet in 1995, was promoted to principal dancer in 2001, and retired in
2011 to focus on choreography. Millepied began
choreographing in 2001, creating his first work,
Passages, for the Conservatorie National de Lyon.
He has since created works for American Ballet
Theatre (Everything Doesn’t Happen At Once
and From Here On Out), Pacific Northwest Ballet
(3 Movements), Paris Opera Ballet (Amoveo and
Triade), the School of American Ballet (28 Variations of a Theme By Paganini), and New York City
Ballet (Plainspoken, Quasi Una Fantasia, Why am
I not where you are, and Two Hearts). In 2005,
Millepied choreographed a full-length production of Casse-Noisette for the Grand Théâtre de
Genève, featuring sets and costumes designed
by artist Paul Cox. He collaborated with filmmaker Olivier Simola on a solo work for Mikhail
Baryshnikov in 2006, and served as Choreographer in Residence to the Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, that same year. In 2010, Millepied
choreographed and starred in Darren Aronofsky’s
award-winning feature film Black Swan. In 2012,
Millepied announced the creation of L.A. Dance
Project, an artist collective aimed at promoting the
work of emerging and established creators, and
contributing to new platforms for contemporary
dance. Beginning September 2014, Millepied will
become the new director of dance at the Paris
Opera Ballet
JUSTIN PECK (b. 1987) was born in Washington
D.C., and began his dance training in 2003 at the
School of American Ballet, the official school of
New York City Ballet, where he studied with Jock
Soto, Peter Boal, and Peter Martins. In October
2006, Peck became an apprentice with NYCB,
and he joined the Company as a member of the
corps de ballet in June 2007. He was promoted
to soloist in 2013. Since joining the Company,
Peck has performed various featured roles in
works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins,
Peter Martins, and Benjamin Millepied. He began
choreographing in 2009 and has since created
Quintet (2009), Tales of a Chinese Zodiac (2010),
In Creases (2011), and Mise En Place (2012) for
the New York Choreographic Institute; A Teacup
Plunge (2009) and Enjoy Your Rabbit (2010) for
the Columbia University Ballet Collaborative; In
Creases (2012), an elaboration of his 2011 work,
Year of the Rabbit (2012), a collaboration with acclaimed singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens, Paz
de la Jolla (2013), and Take-Offs and Landings
(2013) for New York City Ballet; Chutes and Ladders (2013) for Miami City Ballet; and Murder Ballads (2013) for L.A. Dance Project. In 2011, Peter
Martins designated Peck to receive the New York
Choreographic Institute’s first year-long choreographic residency.
MARIUS PETIPA was born in Marseilles on March
11, 1818, part of the middle of a three generation
dynasty of dancers, of which he and his brother
Lucien, long of the Paris Opera, were the most important. After an itinerant dancing career based in
France, as well as Spain and America, Petipa arrived in Russia in 1847 as the replacement for a retiring dancer. In several months he staged two recent Parisian productions in St. Petersburg. From
1847-1861 Petipa pursued a dancing career in Russia and engaged in an informal apprenticeship
with choreographer Jules Perrot (first ballet master
of the Russian Imperial Theatres from 1849 to 1860).
In the late 1850s, Petipa produced his first attributable ballets: The Star of Grenada (1855);
a divertissement, A Regency Marriage (1858);
The Parisian Market (1859); and The Blue Dahlia (1860). In 1862 he produced The Pharaoh’s
Daughter on short notice, initiating a rivalry with
Perrot’s replacement, Arthur Saint Léon, and
defining his signature genre, the ballet as grand
spectacle. Shortly after this premiere, he was
promoted to the rank of ballet master.
The years 1862-1870 were marked by the contentious Petipa/Saint Léon rivalry, of which the
artistic highlights were Saint Léon’s The Little
Humpbacked Horse (1864), Petipa’s Le Roi
Candaules (1868), the elaborate interpolated
tableau in Mazilier’s Le Corsaire called Le jardin anime (1868, to music of Delibes), and the
first production of Don Quixote (1869, Moscow).
In 1870, Petipa became first ballet master of the
Imperial Theatres upon the death of Saint Léon.
The years 1870-1885 were Petipa’s so-called
Russian period, marked by continued collaborations with Russian ballerinas (and the ascendancy of his daughter, Marie Mariusovna Petipa),
his assistant Lev Ivanov, and composer Ludwig
Minkus. The period featured productions of Don
Quixote (1871), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1876,
to the music of Mendelssohn), and La Bayadere
(1877). In 1881, Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky, a
lover of ballet, was appointed Director of Imperial
Theatres, and in 1885, Lev Ivanov was appointed
second ballet master.
Petipa’s Italian period, 1885-1901, was marked
by the ascendancy of Italian ballerinas, mostly
virtuosas, between the arrival of Zucchi and
the retirement of Pierina Legnani. In 1886, Ludwig Minkus retired as official composer of ballet music and Tschaikovsky was approached to
collaborate with Petipa. Their great collaboration
resulted in the 1889 production of The Sleeping
Beauty (Vsevolozhsky served as librettist and
costume designer).
The years 1890-1900 were Petipa’s late period,
marked by the last decade of Vsevolozhsky’s directorship of the Imperial Theatres; sensing pressure from the emergent balletic avant garde, Petipa continued to stress the first principles of his
art: brilliant spectacle and expressive choreography, even at the expense of coherent drama.
The Nutcracker was produced in 1892 (with
Tschaikovsky and Vsevolozhsky); after planning the ballet, Petipa, due to illness, yielded the
choreography to Lev Ivanov.
Petipa became a Russian citizen in 1894 and in
1895 Swan Lake was presented, in collaboration with Lev Ivanov. In December of 1896, Petipa
celebrated 50 years of service on the Imperial
stage. Raymonda was produced in 1898, and a
year later, a new director of theaters, unsympathetic to Petipa, replaced Vsevolozhsky. During
the last decade of his life Petipa struggled to
maintain his position at the Imperial Theatre, receiving support from Tschaikovsky and his dancers. Petipa died in 1910 at age 92, and his remains
are buried at Alexandre Nevsky Cemetery in St.
Petersburg. We owe the formal structure of the
full-length classical ballet, climactic pas de deux,
and entertaining divertissements to the brilliance
of this choreographer who created a great repertory of memorable ballets.
The Choreographers (cont.)
ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ (b. 1956) was born in the
Paris region, in France, and began his dance
training in classical ballet before going on to
study modern dance with Karin Waehner. In 1980,
he traveled to New York to study with Zena Rommett and Merce Cunningham, and then continued his studies in France with Quentin Rouiller,
Dominique Bagouet, and American choreographer Viola Farber. He danced with Dominiqe
Bagouet’s company until 1984, when he formed
his own company, Ballet Preljocaj. His productions are now part of the repertoire of many companies, many of which also commission original
production from him, notably La Scala of Milan,
the Paris Opera Ballet, and New York City Ballet.
In 1997, Mr. Preljocaj choreographed La Stravaganza, his first piece for New York City Ballet,
as part of the Diamond Project. He has made
short films (Le postier, Idées noires in 1991) and
several full-length films, notably Un trait d’union
and Annonciation (1992 and 2003), for which
he was awarded the Grand Prix du Film d’Art in
2003, the Vidéo-Danse First Prize in 1992 and the
Prague Video Festival Prize in 1993. In 2009, he
made Snow White, featuring his own piece, and
in 2011 he signed, for Air France, the commercial
L’Envol, based on the choreography of Le Parc.
Since then he has collaborated on several films of
his own choreographic work: Les Raboteurs with
Cyril Collard (based on the painting by Gustave
Caillebotte) in 1988, Pavillon Noir with Pierre Coulibeuf in 2006 and Eldorado/ Preljocaj with Olivier
Assayas in 2007. Throughout the course of his
career, Preljocaj has received numerous awards,
including the Grand Prix National de la Danse
awarded by the French Ministry of Culture in 1992,
the Benois de la danse for Le Parc in 1995, the
Bessie Award for Annonciation in 1997, Les Victoires de la musique for Roméo et Juliette in 1997
and the Globe de Cristal for Snow White in 2009.
He has been honored with France’s most prestigious decorations: Officer in the National Order
of Arts and Letters in 1996, Knight in the Order of
the Legion of Honor in 1998, and National Order
of Merit in 2006. Since 2006, Ballet Preljocaj and
its 26 permanent dancers have resided at the Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence, a building entirely
dedicated to dance, with Angelin Preljocaj as its
artistic director.
Russian-born ALEXEI RATMANSKY (b. 1968)
trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow and
was a principal dancer with the Ukrainian National
Ballet (1993-95) and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in
Canada (1995-97) before joining the Royal Danish
Ballet as a soloist in 1997. There, he was promoted
to principal dancer in 2000, and he returned to
Russia in January 2004 to assume the position of
Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Ballet, succeeding
Boris Akimov. In 2008, Mr. Ratmansky stepped
down as Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Ballet in
order to pursue choreography full-time. In 2009
he was appointed Artist in Residence at American
Ballet Theatre.
He participated in the Choreographer’s Workshop at the Royal Danish Ballet (1999) and the
New York Choreographic Institute at New York City
Ballet (2002). In 1998, he choreographed Poem
of Ecstasy, Middle Duet, and The Fairy’s Kiss for
the Kirov Ballet. In 2001, he created Turandot’s
Dream and a new version of The Nutcracker for
the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. In 2002,
he staged a new version of Cinderella for the Kirov
Ballet, followed by The Firebird for the Royal Swedish Ballet. In 2003, he premiered Le Carnaval des
Animaux for the San Francisco Ballet. His Charms
of the Mannerism, Dreams about Japan, and
Leah have been performed around the world by
Moscow Dance Theatre. His works for the Bolshoi are versions of Shostakovich’s banned
Stalin-era ballets, The Bright Stream and The
Bolt. Among his ballets in New York City Ballet’s
repertory are: Russian Seasons (2006), Middle
Duet (2006), Concerto DSCH (2008) and Namouna, A Grand Divertissment (2010).
In 1992, Ratmansky was awarded the Benois De
La Dance Award for his choreography for a fulllength Anna Karenina, created for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2004. Ratmansky was made Knight
of Dannebrog in 2002.
JEROME ROBBINS (1918-1998) received world
renown as a choreographer of ballets created for
New York City Ballet, Ballets U.S.A., American Ballet Theatre, and other international companies.
He received equal acclaim for his work as a director of musicals and plays for Broadway as well as
a director of movies and television programs.
His career as a gifted ballet dancer developed
with Ballet Theatre where he danced with special
distinction the role of Petrouchka, and character
roles in the works of Fokine, Tudor, Massine,
Lichine, and de Mille, and in his first choreographic sensation, Fancy Free (1944). This ballet
was followed by Interplay (1945) and Facsimile
(1946), all of which were performed by Ballet Theatre. He then embarked on an enormously successful career as a choreographer and later as a
director of Broadway musicals and plays.
Robbins’ first musical, On The Town (1945), was
followed by Billion Dollar Baby (1946), High Button Shoes (1947), Look, Ma, I’m Dancing (1948,
co-directed with George Abbott), Miss Liberty
(1949), Call Me Madam (1950), and the ballet
“Small House of Uncle Thomas” in The King and
I (1951). His work continued with Two’s Company
(1952), Pajama Game (1954, co-directed with Abbott), and Peter Pan (1954), which he directed and
choreographed. In the same year, he also
directed the opera The Tender Land by Aaron
Copland. Two years after that, he directed and
choreographed Bells Are Ringing (1956), followed by the historic West Side Story (1957),
Gypsy (1959), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). In
1988, he staged Jerome Robbins’s Broadway.
In 1949, he joined New York City Ballet as
Associate Artistic Director. Among his outstanding
works for the Company are The Guests (1949),
Age of Anxiety (1951), The Cage (1951), The Pied
Piper (1951), Afternoon of a Faun (1953), Fanfare
(1953), The Concert (1956), Dances at a Gathering
(1969), The Goldberg Variations (1971), Watermill
(1972), Requiem Canticles (1972), In G Major (1975),
Mother Goose (1975), The Four Seasons (1979),
Opus 19/The Dreamer (1979), Glass Pieces (1983),
I’m Old Fashioned (1983), Antique Epigraphs
(1984), Brahms/Handel (1984, with Twyla Tharp), In
Memory of… (1985), Ives, Songs (1988), 2 & 3 Part
Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995),
and Brandenburg (1997). For his own company,
Ballets U.S.A. (1958-1962), he created N.Y. Export:
Opus Jazz (1958), Moves (1959), and Events (1961).
For American Ballet Theatre’s 25th anniversary in
1965, he staged Stravinsky’s dance cantata, Les
Noces, a work of shattering and immense impact.
During this extraordinary career, Robbins served
on the National Council on the Arts from 1974 to
1980 and the New York State Council on the Arts/
Dance Panel from 1973 to 1988. He established
and partially endowed the Jerome Robbins Film
Archive of the Dance Collection of the New York
City Public Library at Lincoln Center. His numerous
awards and academic honors included the Handel
Medallion of the City of New York (1976), the Kennedy
Center Honors (1981), three Honorary Doctorates, an
honorary membership in the American Academy
and Institute of Arts and Letters (1985), and the
National Medal of the Arts (1988).
The Choreographers (cont.)
LIAM SCARLETT (b. 1986) was born in Ipswich
and trained at The Royal Ballet School. While at
the School he won the Kenneth MacMillan and
Ursula Moreton Choreographic Awards and was
the first recipient of the De Valois Trust Fund
Award. He choreographed Monochromatic and
Allegro de Jeunesse for The Royal Ballet School.
He joined the Company in 2005, and was promoted to First Artist in 2008. He choreographed
Despite and Vayamos al Diablo for ROH2’s ‘In
Good Company,’ and Of Mozart, Consolations,
and Liebestraum for the ‘New Works at the Linbury.’ Of Mozart was nominated for the Critic’s
Circle National Dance Award for best Choreography in 2008. His first main stage-ballet for
The Royal Ballet, Asphodel Meadows (2010),
won Best Classical Choreography at the Critic’s
Circle National Dance Awards of 2011. Edward
Villella invited Mr. Scarlett to choreograph for
Miami City Ballet after seeing this work, and Mr.
Scarlett created Viscera (2009), which later also
entered the repertory of The Royal Ballet. He
was appointed Royal Ballet Artist in Residence
in 2012. He has also participated in the New York
Choreographic Institute.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, RICHARD TANNER
received his early dance instruction from Robert
Lindgren and Sonja Tyven. He continued his
dance training while simultaneously pursuing a
course of academic study, ultimately receiving a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University
of Utah. Mr. Tanner continued his dance education at the School of American Ballet, the official
school of the New York City Ballet, where his
teachers included Stanley Williams, Pierre Vladimirov, Andre Eglevsky, and Diana Adams.
Mr. Tanner danced with Utah’s Ballet West as a
Soloist from 1967 through 1970. He then joined
New York City Ballet, where he danced for ten
years. In 1971 Mr. Tanner choreographed two
ballets for the Company: Concerto for Two Solo
Pianos (Igor Stravinsky) and Octandre (Edgar Varese). In addition to appearing in a wide variety of
roles from the Company’s extensive repertory,
Mr. Tanner participated as both a dancer and
a choreographer in the historic 1972 Stravinsky
Festival, for which he choreographed Octour.
From 1981 to 1983 Mr. Tanner served as Regisseur Generale at American Ballet Theatre, and
from 1985 to 1990 he served as Associate Artistic
Director of the Pennsylvania Ballet.
Mr. Tanner has choreographed more than two
dozen ballets for such companies as Ballet
West, Eglevsky Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet,
Ballet Oklahoma, Miami City Ballet and numerous touring groups.
In addition to his work as a choreographer, Mr.
Tanner has staged Balanchine repertory ranging
from Bourrée Fantasque (Chabrier) to Symphony
in Three Movements (Stravinsky) throughout the
United States and Europe.
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON (b. 1973, Yeovil,
Somerset, England) began his ballet training
when he was eight years old. He began studying at The Royal Ballet School at the age of 11. In
1991 he joined The Royal Ballet and won the Gold
Medal at the Prix de Lausanne competition. In
1993, he was invited to become a member of
New York City Ballet, where he was promoted
to soloist in 1998. He began choreographing for
NYCB with Slavonic Dances for the 1997 Diamond Project, and his Scènes de Ballet, a collaboration with artist Ian Falconer, was created
for the School of American Ballet’s 1999 Workshop Performances and NYCB’s 50th anniversary season.
After creating Mercurial Manoeuvres for NYCB’s
spring 2000 Diamond Project, Mr. Wheeldon retired from dancing to concentrate on his choreographic work. During the 2000-01 Season, he
served as NYCB’s first-ever Artist in Residence,
creating two ballets: Polyphonia, set to piano
music by György Ligeti, and Variations Sérieuses, set to music by Felix Mendelssohn. In July
2001 he was named NYCB’s first Resident Choreographer, a position he held until 2008. His
ballets for NYCB include Polyphonia (2001), Morphoses and Carousel (A Dance) (2002), Carnival
of the Animals and Liturgy (2003), After the Rain
and An American in Paris (2005), Klavier (2006),
The Nightingale and the Rose (2007), and Estancia (May 2010). His latest works for NYCB,
DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse (Company premiere) and Les Carillons (world premiere), both
premiered in the winter of 2012. His last ballets
for NYCB were A Place for Us and Soirée Musicale, which both entered the repertory in 2013.
Mr. Wheeldon has also been in demand with
other leading companies and has created such
notable works as Continuum for San Francisco
Ballet; Tryst, DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse, and
Electric Counterpoint for The Royal Ballet; a fulllength Swan Lake for Pennsylvania Ballet (2004);
and Misericors for the Bolshoi Ballet (2007).
Outside the ballet world, he choreographed
Dance of the Hours for the Metropolitan Opera’s
production of Ponchielli’s La Gioconda (2006),
as well as ballet sequences for the feature film
Center Stage (2000) and a Broadway version of
Sweet Smell of Success (2002).
Throughout his career, Mr. Wheeldon has been
interested in working with other artists to provoke new dance directions. Among the composers who have written scores for him are
James MacMillan, Bright Sheng, and Michael
Nyman. He has also worked with such artists as
Ian Falconer, James Buckhouse, and Jean-Marc
Puissant; designers Adrianne Lobel and Narciso
Rodriguez; the author and actor John Lithgow;
and director Nicholas Hytner.
In 2007, Mr. Wheeldon founded Morphoses/
The Wheeldon Company with the goal of introducing a spirit of innovation to classical ballet by
fostering collaboration among choreographers,
dancers, visual artists, designers, composers,
and others who can bring new life and perspective to the art form. Morphoses was launched at
the Vail International Dance Festival in August
of that year and performed at Sadler’s Wells in
London in September and New York City Center
in October. For the inaugural season, Mr. Wheeldon choreographed two new works: Fools’
Paradise and Prokofiev Pas de Deux. He served
as the company’s Artistic Director until 2010.
In 2009 Mr. Wheeldon worked with Richard Eyre
on a production of the opera Carmen at the
Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and in
2010 his new version of The Sleeping Beauty
had its premiere with The Royal Danish Ballet.
His new full-length ballet Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland was created for The Royal Ballet
and given its premiere at the Royal Opera House
in February 2011.
For Your Reference
Balanchine, George: Choreography by Balanchine: A Catalogue of Works
Balanchine, George, and Francis Mason: Balanchine’s Complete Stories of the Great Ballets
Beaumont, Cyril W.: Complete Book of Ballets
Beaumont, Cyril W.: The Sleeping Princess (from Impressions of the Russian Ballet)
Buckle, Richard: Diaghilev
Buckle, Richard, in collaboration with John Taras: George Balanchine: Ballet Master
Chujoy, Anatole, and P.W. Manchester, Eds.: The Dance Encyclopedia
Conrad, Christine: Jerome Robbins: That Broadway Man, That Ballet Man
Denby, Edwin: Dance Writings
Duberman, Martin: The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein
Garfunkel, Trudy: On Wings of Joy: The Story of Ballet from the 16th Century to Today
Kirstein, Lincoln: Movement and Metaphor
Kirstein, Lincoln: Thirty Years: New York City Ballet
Koegler, Horst: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet
Reynolds, Nancy: Repertory in Review
Sadie, Stanley, Ed.: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Schonberg, Harold C.: The Lives of Great Composers
Stravinsky, Igor, with Robert Craft: Dialogues and a Diary
Taper, Bernard: Balanchine: A Biography
Volkov, Solomon: Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky
Warrack, John: Tchaikovsky
Wiley, Roland John: Tchaikovsky’s Ballet
© 2013 New York City Ballet
Cover: Wendy Whelan, photo by Henry Leutwyler © 2012.
Most of the items listed in For Your Reference are available at the Library for the Performing
Arts at Lincoln Center.
Programs and pricing subject to change.