New York City Ballet’s 2001 winter repertory season will begin on Tuesday, January 2 with a program of works, Scotch Symphony, Square Dance and The Four Seasons, by the Company’s co-founding choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. The season will continue through Sunday, February 25 at the New York State Theater and feature 46 ballets, including world premieres by Eliot Feld, Peter Martins and Christopher Wheeldon.
The first world premiere of the season will be by Mr. Wheeldon, and will take place on Thursday, January 4 at 8 p.m. The ballet is a work for eight dancers, and is set to piano music by György Ligeti, with costumes by Holly Hynes and lighting by Mark Stanley. Following the premiere the ballet will be repeated on Saturday, January 6 at 2 p.m., Wednesday, January 17 at 8 p.m., and on Saturday, January 20 at 8 p.m.
A former soloist with New York City Ballet, Mr. Wheeldon has been named NYCB’s first Artist in Residence, and will create two new ballets during 2001. His second ballet will premiere during the Company’s spring repertory season.
Mr. Wheeldon has previously created three works for the Company, Slavonic Dances for the 1997 Diamond Project, Scènes de Ballet for the Company’s 50th Anniversary Season, and Mercurial Manoeuvres for the 2000 Diamond Project.
The second new ballet of the season will be choreographed by Eliot Feld, and will premiere on Tuesday, January 23 at 8 p.m. as part of the Company’s fifth annual New Combinations Evening, which honors the anniversary of George Balanchine’s birth. Mr. Feld’s ballet will be the sixth world premiere ballet presented on the New Combinations Evening since its inception in 1997. Following the premiere, the ballet will be repeated on Thursday, January 25 at 8 p.m., Saturday, January 27 at 8 p.m., and on Sunday, January 28 at 3 p.m.
Mr. Feld’s new ballet will feature a cast of 63 dancers, including 30 students from the School of American Ballet. The ballet is set to organ music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The score, which will be played live, is being created digitally by Walker Technical Company, using 21st century technology to recreate the sound of an 18th century pipe organ being played in a baroque cathedral. The lighting design for the ballet will be by Allen Lee Hughes.
The founder of the Ballet Tech Company and School, Mr. Feld has choreographed 107 ballets since 1967. Mr. Feld studied ballet at the School of American Ballet and at the age of 11 danced with New York City Ballet as the Prince in George Balanchine’s original production of The Nutcracker. In 1988 Mr. Feld created The Unanswered Question for NYCB; this will be his second ballet for the Company.
The final new ballet of the season will be a world premiere by the Company’s Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins on Wednesday, February 14 at 8 p.m., with additional performances on Saturday, February 17 at 2 p.m., Tuesday, February 20 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, February 24 at 2 p.m. Mr. Martins’ newest work will be set to Richard Strauss’ Burleske, and will be the 68th ballet he has created for the Company since 1978.
The season will also feature 24 ballets by George Balanchine including the return of Variations pour une Porte et un Soupir, which has not been performed since 1994, and Prodigal Son, which was last performed in 1998. Nine ballets by Jerome Robbins will be performed, including Moves created in 1959 and Brandenburg, the last work Mr. Robbins created for New York City Ballet in 1997.
Other works returning to the repertory include four ballets from the 2000 Diamond Project: Peter Martins’ Harmonielehre and Slonimsky’s Earbox, Helgi Tomasson’s Prism and Christopher Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres.
The season will also include a special performance in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Mr. Balanchine’s La Valse, which had its world premiere on February 20, 1951. The performance will take place on Tuesday, February 20 and will also include the new ballet by Mr. Martins, as well as Mr. Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes.
New York City Ballet’s 2001 spring repertory season will open May 1 and run through July 1. Programming for the spring season will be announced at a later date.
Tickets for New York City Ballet’s 2001 winter repertory season are on sale now at the New York State Theater box office, through TicketMaster at 212-307-4100 or through the NYCB web site at www.nycballet.com. The New York State Theater is located on the Lincoln Center Plaza at Broadway at 63rd Street. For a complete listing of performance dates and times or for additional information on any NYCB performance call 212-870-5570 or visit NYCB on line at www.nycballet.com.
New York City Ballet’s special theme series and audience development programs are made possible by a major grant from the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Fund for Lincoln Center, established by the founders of The Reader’s Digest Inc.
New York City Ballet salutes the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Fund for Lincoln Center, The Irene Diamond Fund, The Norman & Rosita Winston Foundation, The Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust, and members of the New Combinations Fund for leadership support of new choreography.
Christopher Wheeldon’s work as NYCB’s inaugural Artist in Residence is made possible by generous grants from the Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts.
Major support for French programming is provided by The Florence Gould Foundation.
Special appreciation to contributors who support New York City Ballet’s Repertory Fund, helping to make possible new works, revivals, and special projects.
New York City Ballet’s family programs are made possible in part by a generous grant from the American Express Company.
New York City Ballet’s performances are made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
Leadership support for the 2001 spring season is also provided by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Ambrose Monell Foundation, Booth Ferris Foundation, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation, and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
