New York City Ballet’s 2009 spring repertory season will open on Tuesday, April 28 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center with an all Balanchine program consisting of Concerto Barocco, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, La Valse, and Symphony in Three Movements. The season will continue through Sunday, June 21 with performances of 40 different ballets from NYCB’s unparalleled repertory.
Highlighting the season will be three full-length ballets, George Balanchine’s Coppélia and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Peter Martins’ Romeo + Juliet, which will return to the repertory for five performances, including a nationwide Live From Lincoln Center broadcast on Thursday, May 21.
The season will also feature 37 additional ballets, including world premieres by NYCB principal dancer Benjamin Millepied and Jiří Bubeníček, a principal dancer with the Dresden SemperOper Ballet.
In addition to Coppélia and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the season will include 20 works by George Balanchine, including a major revival of Scotch Symphony, which will feature a new set design by former NYCB principal dancer, and current ballet master, Karin von Aroldingen. Jerome Robbins will be represented by seven ballets, and the season will be rounded out with additional works by Melissa Barak, Douglas Lee, Angelin Preljocaj, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon.
This season NYCB will be arranging its repertory in 10 block programs, each of which will be performed two or three times, as well as an additional 18 mixed repertory programs, each of which are unique and will not be repeated. In making this announcement Peter Martins, NYCB’s Ballet Master in Chief, stated that he is introducing this new programming model to appeal to both those audience members who prefer block programming, and those who prefer to pick and choose their performances from a wider variety of options.
This season NYCB will also offer five early conclusion time programs each lasting under two hours. Three of these programs will feature George Balanchine’s Liebeslieder Walzer, set to Brahms’ score for piano duet and vocal quartet, and Jerome Robbins’ Les Noces, performed to Stravinsky’s monumental score for piano, percussion, and chorus.
The spring season will last for eight weeks, April 28 through June 21, which is one week shorter than its traditional length. The shorter season has been planned to accommodate the ongoing renovations to the David H. Koch Theater, which are scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2009.
SPRING GALA and WORLD PREMIERE BALLETS
New York City Ballet will present its annual Spring Gala performance on Wednesday, May 13, which will feature world premiere ballets by Benjamin Millepied and Jiří Bubeníček, both of whom will be making their first works for NYCB.
Born in Bordeaux, France, Millepied began his ballet training with his mother, and came to New York in 1992 to study at the School of American Ballet (the official school of NYCB). He joined NYCB’s corps de ballet in 1995, was promoted to soloist in 1998 and principal dancer in 2002. As a choreographer, Millepied has created works for American Ballet Theatre, the Paris Opera Ballet, the School of American Ballet Workshop, and Grand Théâtre de Genève, among others. In 2005, NYCB performed Double Aria, a pas de deux Millepied created for Danses Concertantes, his own company, in 2003.
A Czech citizen, Bubeníček, was born in Lubin, and studied at the Prague Dance Conservatory. He began his career as a dancer in 1993 with the Hamburg Ballet, where he was made a principal dancer in 1997. In 2006, Bubeníček joined the Dresden SemperOper Ballet as a principal dancer. As a choreographer he has created works for several European companies, including the Hamburg Ballet and the Zurich Ballet. In the fall of 2007 and 2008 Bubeníček, participated in working sessions of the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of New York City Ballet.
ROMEO + JULIET and LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER
The 2009 spring season will also feature the return to the repertory of Peter Martins’ full-length staging of Romeo + Juliet. Created in 2007, and featuring some of the Company’s youngest dancers in the principal roles, the production is set to the score by Sergei Prokofiev, and features sets by the Danish painter Per Kirkeby, costumes by Kirkeby and Kirstin Lund Nielsen, and lighting by Mark Stanley.
Romeo + Juliet will be performed five times – May 15, 16, 17, 19 and 21 – with the final performance being broadcast nationwide on PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center. This will mark the second of Mr. Martins’ full-length productions to be seen on Live From Lincoln Center, the first being a broadcast of his staging of Swan Lake, which took place in 1999.
REPERTORY HIGHLIGHTS
In addition to Romeo + Juliet, the season will include two other full-length productions, George Balanchine’s Coppélia and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Created in 1974, Coppélia is set to the beloved score by Léo Delibes, and was created by Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova, the legendary dancer and teacher who was one of the great interpreters of Swanilda, the ballet’s heroine. The first and second acts of the ballet are based on Marius Petipa’s version of Coppélia, which Balanchine and Danilova had learned as students at St. Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet School. Balanchine created all new choreography for Coppélia’s third act. The lavish production also features 24 students from the School of American Ballet, sets by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, costumes by Ter-Arutunian and Karinska, and lighting by Mark Stanley, after the original lighting design by Ronald Bates. Coppélia will be performed four times – April 29, 30, May 2 and 3 – during the first week of the 2009 spring season.
The season will close with one week of performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, from Tuesday, June 16 through Sunday, June 21. Created in 1962 to music by Felix Mendelssohn, this was Balanchine’s first wholly original full-length ballet, with the first act telling the entire story of Shakespeare’s play, and the second act being an extended wedding divertissement.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream features sets by David Hays and costumes by Karinska, with lighting by Mark Stanley, after the original lighting design by Ronald Bates.
In addition to Coppélia and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the 2009 spring season will feature 20 additional works by Balanchine, including the return to the repertory of such ballets as Allegro Brillante, Donizetti Variations, Firebird, and Liebeslieder Walzer.
The season will also include a major revival of Balanchine’s Scotch Symphony, which will feature a new set design by Karin von Aroldingen, a former principal dancer and current ballet master with NYCB, who will be creating set designs for the first time ever. Created in 1952, Scotch Symphony is set to a score by Felix Mendelssohn, and was originally designed by Horace Armistead, with costumes by Karinska. For this revival, the production will retain the original costume designs.
Jerome Robbins will be represented by seven ballets, including The Four Seasons, Glass Pieces, and The Concert. The season will also feature the return of Les Noces, Robbins’ staging of Stravinsky’s monumental score for piano, percussion and chorus. Originally created for American Ballet Theatre in 1965 and first entering the repertory of NYCB in 1998, Les Noces was revived for the 2008 Jerome Robbins Celebration in the original 1965 staging featuring on-stage chorus and musicians.
In addition to Romeo + Juliet, Martins will be represented by Hallelujah Junction and Stabat Mater. The season will also include the two new ballets by Melissa Barak and Douglas Lee, which premiered during the 2009 winter season; Angelin Preljocaj’s La Stravaganza; Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres and the complete After the Rain, which NYCB has not performed in its entirety since the 2006 winter season.
TICKET PURCHASES
Subscription tickets for NYCB’s 2009 spring season are currently on sale by mail, on the NYCB website at nycballet.com, and through the NYCB subscription office at 800-580-8730. Single tickets will be available beginning Monday, March 30, and single ticket prices will range in cost from $20 to $105.
All performances will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, which is located at Columbus Avenue and West 63rd Street. The mailing address for the New York City Ballet box office is New York City Ballet, 20 Lincoln Center, New York, NY 10023. For general information on tickets for any New York City Ballet performance, call 212-870-5570, or visit www.nycballet.com.
New York City Ballet’s programming is made possible in part by generous grants from the Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation, Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., Richard H. Lasdon, Denise Sobel and Norman Keller, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Inc., The Ambrose Monell Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, The New York Community Trust–Mary P. Oenslager Foundation Fund, The Starr Foundation, an anonymous gift in memory of Orton and Lucile Simons, Sue and Michael Steinberg, contributors to the Education and Repertory Funds, and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Major support for new work is provided by The Irene Diamond Fund and members of the New Combinations Fund.
The creation of new works through New York City Ballet's Rudolf Nureyev Fund for Emerging Choreographers is made possible in part by a lead endowment gift from the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation, with additional support provided by the Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation and the Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation.
New York City Ballet gratefully acknowledges the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund, which provides support for new work and audience development.
New York City Ballet’s musical leadership is endowed in part by the Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro Fund for Musical Excellence. Additional support for the New York City Ballet Orchestra and Music Director is provided by The Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation.
The creation and performance of works by Peter Martins is funded in part by an endowment gift from the Solomon family, given in loving memory of Carolyn B. Solomon.
New York City Ballet’s performances of George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco are endowed in part by a generous gift from Veronique and Robert W. Pittman.
New York City Ballet’s performance of works by George Balanchine are supported in part by the Balanchine Production Fund, an endowment created through The Campaign for New York City Ballet.
American Airlines is New York City Ballet’s Preferred Airline.
