New York City Ballet’s 2000 Winter Repertory Season begins Tuesday, January 4, with a special "Waltz Into the Millennium" program at the New York State Theater. The season will continue through February 27 and include performances of 44 ballets. Highlights include a world premiere ballet by Twyla Tharp, her first solo work for New York City Ballet, which will premiere on January 22.

The season will also include the return of Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins’ full-length Swan Lake, George Balanchine’s Coppélia, and an evening of ballet and jazz featuring the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

On Saturday evening January 22, New York City Ballet will present the world premiere of a new ballet by Twyla Tharp as part of the Company’s fourth annual New Combinations Evening, which honors the anniversary of George Balanchine’s birth. The premiere will mark Miss Tharp’s first solo work for the Company and will be the fifth world premiere to be presented on the New Combinations Evening since its inception in 1997.

Miss Tharp has choreographed over 110 dances for companies worldwide. She has also choreographed five Hollywood movies, written an autobiography (Push Comes to Shove), and received two Emmy Awards, fifteen honorary doctorates and numerous grants, including a fellowship from the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Her previous work for New York City Ballet was a collaboration with Jerome Robbins, Brahms/Handel, which premiered in 1984.

Twyla Tharp’s new work is set to Beethoven’s "Symphony no. 7 in A Major," and will feature costumes by Isaac Mizrahi and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The ballet will be repeated on the evenings of January 25, February 1 and 3. A seminar, on January 24 at 6 P.M. at the New York State Theater, will feature a discussion with Miss Tharp and several dancers from the new ballet. The January 24 discussion is part of New York City Ballet’s 2000 Winter Season seminar series. For more information, call the New York City Ballet Education Department at 212-870-4074.

New York City Ballet begins its winter repertory season on January 4, 2000, with a special one-time-only "Waltz into the Millennium" program. The evening will include George Balanchine’s Garland Dance from The Sleeping Beauty, Valse Fantaisie and Vienna Waltzes, along with Peter Martins’ Valse-Triste and The Waltz Project.

Peter Martins’ Swan Lake returns to the repertory for five performances only on January 13, 18, and 19 at 8 P.M., January 15 at 2 P.M. and January 16 at 3 P.M. Set to the score by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky, Peter Martins’ Swan Lake received its American premiere during New York City Ballet’s 50th Anniversary Season. Swan Lake has scenery and costumes by Per Kirkeby and lighting design by Mark Stanley.

Coppélia, last presented in 1997, will be performed on February 9, 15 and 17 at 8 P.M. and on February 12 at 2 P.M. Set to the score by Léo Delibes, Coppélia received its world premiere by New York City Ballet in 1974 with choreography by Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine, after Marius Petipa.

The Jazz Program featuring the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis also returns to the repertory for three performances on January 26, 28 and 29. The Jazz Program, first presented during the Company’s 50th Anniversary season, features Peter Martins’ Jazz (Six Syncopated Movements) and Them Twos, both set to commissioned scores by Wynton Marsalis. The final ballet on the program, Duke!, is set to the music of Duke Ellington and features choreography by Robert La Fosse, Garth Fagan and Susan Stroman.

Tickets for New York City Ballet’s 2000 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 more information on any New York City Ballet performance call 212-870-5570.