Program
All Balanchine III
APR 21, 24, 25 mat, 30, MAY 2 mat, 3
Performance Dates
A RARELY-PERFORMED MOZART-SCORED WORK JOINS TWO CHERISHED MASTERPIECES SET TO STRAVINSKY
A revival of Balanchine’s 1945 ballet Symphonie Concertante leads a program that also includes two of the founding choreographer’s celebrated masterpieces. Balanchine rarely turned to the music of Mozart, but Symphonie Concertante marks a stage-filling exception. Led by two ballerinas who dance separately to the music’s violin and viola passages and featuring an ample corps de ballet of 22 women, the work has not been performed by the company since 1952, making its return a notable occasion. It is joined by two dances performed to the music of Stravinsky, like Balanchine a Russian emigré and one of the choreographer’s favorite composers: Agon, a revered Black & White leotard ballet that exemplifies neoclassicism in its purest form, and Firebird, one of the most lavish dances in the repertory, a fantastical tale of love and triumph.
Ballets on this Program
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Symphonie Concertante
The three-movement Symphonie Concertante is exemplary of choreographer George Balanchine’s genius in creating movement that becomes one with its music.
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Agon
The apex of Balanchine’s collaborations with Igor Stravinsky, Agon is an intense masterpiece and signature NYCB work, ever contemporary in its athletic competitiveness.
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Firebird
Dressed in Chagall’s exquisite sets and costumes, Firebird illustrates an enchanting Russian fairytale and the fantastical creatures of its strange world.
