Featuring stunning lighting effects that create geometric patterns onstage, River of Light is an exploration in partnering, at times angular and other moments lyrical, for three interchanging couples.
The works of Charles Wuorinen — the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize — possess an angularity and experiment with a tonality reminiscent of some of Stravinsky’s pieces. As source material, he has also drawn on intellectual subjects like fractal geometry. Mr. Wuorinen’s The River of Light was written for New York City Ballet, as were the scores for Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux’s Five and Peter Martins’ Delight of the Muses. Mr. Martins’ River of Light, from 1998, features three couples who change partners in various contemporary pas de deux, like pieces on a chessboard. River of Light was choreographed as a tribute to Mr. Wuorinen, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, and the composer conducted the ballet’s premiere. In 2008, Mr. Wuorinen returned to conduct the ballet, this time to mark his 70th birthday.
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