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.

He has 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 Carnival 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 most recent works for the Bolshoi are versions of Shostakovich’s banned Stalin-era ballets, The Bright Stream and The Bolt. He created Russian Seasons for New York City Ballet during the 2006 Diamond Project and his pas de deux, Middle Duet, originally choreographed for the Kirov Ballet, entered NYCB repertory that same year.

As a dancer, Ratmansky performed leading roles such as Basil in Don Quixote, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Albrecht in Giselle, and James in La Sylphide. He worked with such choreographers as Maurice Béjart, John Neumeier, Mats Ek, and Jiri Kylián. He was awarded First Prize at the Ukrainian Ballet Competition in 1998, the Nijinsky Prize at the Moscow Diaghilev Competition in 1992, and the Benois De La Dance Award for his choreography for a full-length Anna Karenina, created for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2004. Ratmansky was made Knight of Dannebrog in 2002.

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 towards 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 disappointment 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.