New Production of John Cranko's Onegin and
New York Premiere of The Firebird by Alexei Ratmansky
to Highlight Season

Gillian Murphy and Roman Zhurbin in Le Corsaire.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 season at the Metropolitan Opera House and lead casting was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. A new production of John Cranko’s Onegin, with scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto, and the New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird will highlight the 2012 Spring Season.

Principal Dancers for the 2012 Metropolitan Opera House season include Maxim Beloserkovsky, Roberto Bolle, Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Irina Dvorovenko, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Natalia Osipova, Veronika Part, Xiomara Reyes, Cory Stearns, Ethan Stiefel and Diana Vishneva. Guest Artists for the 2012 Spring season include Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg, principal dancers with The Royal Ballet, Polina Semionova, principal dancer with the Berlin State Opera Ballet and Ivan Vasiliev, principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Spring season opens with a Gala Performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 14 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239.

All-New Production of John Cranko’s Onegin

American Ballet Theatre will premiere a new production of John Cranko’s Onegin, with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by James F. Ingalls, on Monday, June 4, 2011 with Diana Vishneva as Tatiana, Marcelo Gomes as Eugene Onegin, Natalia Osipova as Olga, Jared Matthews as Lensky and Gennadi Saveliev as Prince Gremin.

Set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, arranged and orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze, Onegin is based on the poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. John Cranko’s Onegin received its World Premiere on April 13, 1965 by the Stuttgart Ballet in Stuttgart, Germany. The ballet received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 1, 2001 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. The new production was premiered by the National Ballet of Canada on June 19, 2010 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada. Staged for ABT by Reid Anderson and Jane Bourne, Onegin will be given eight performances June 4 through 9. It was last performed by ABT in 2002.

New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird

The New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird will take place on Monday evening, June 11 with Natalia Osipova dancing the title role. This all-new production of the Igor Stravinsky classic The Firebird, with original choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, will receive its World Premiere on March 29, 2012 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The Firebird will be given eight performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, June 11 through 13 and June 21 through 23.

Based on the Russian fairy tale, the one-act ballet will feature scenery by Simon Pastukh and costumes by Galina Solovyeva. The design team previously collaborated on Ratmansky’s On the Dnieper in 2009. Ratmansky’s choreography for The Firebird will utilize the entire Stravinsky score.

Ratmansky’s The Firebird is American Ballet Theatre’s fourth production of the ballet. Originally choreographed by Michel Fokine to Stravinsky’s first score for ballet, The Firebird received its world premiere by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the ThéƒÅtre National de l’Opéra in Paris on June 25, 1910. It first entered the repertory of Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on October 24, 1945 with choreography by Adolph Bolm and scenery and costumes by Marc Chagall. A second production, with choreography by Michel Fokine and staging by Christopher Newton, was premiered by ABT in 1977 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. ABT gave the Revival Premiere of The Firebird, with choreography by Michel Fokine and produced by Nicholas Beriozoff, on January 24, 1992 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

Repertory Programs

Sharing the program with The Firebird will be Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions and George Balanchine’s Apollo for four performances beginning Monday evening, June 11. Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream will have four performances along with The Firebird from Thursday evening, June 21 through Saturday evening, June 23.

Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions is set to music by Benjamin Britten and features costumes by Bob Crowley and lighting by Brad Fields. The ballet, Wheeldon’s first work for American Ballet Theatre, was given its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on May 24, 2011.

George Balanchine’s Apollo, set to music by Igor Stravinsky, was given its world premiere by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris on June 12, 1928 with Serge Lifar as Apollo. The ballet received its first American performance by American Ballet at The Metropolitan Opera House, New York on April 27, 1937.

Apollo was first performed by American Ballet Theatre on April 25, 1943 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York with André Eglevsky as Apollo, Vera Zorina as Terpsichore, Nora Kaye as Polyhymnia, and Rosella Hightower as Calliope. Apollo was last performed by ABT in 2006.

A special 20th Anniversary Salute to ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie will take place on Tuesday, June 12 at 7:30pm. The program includes The Firebird and Thirteen Diversions with additional performances in tribute to McKenzie’s 20 years of leadership.

Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, a ballet in one act, is adapted from William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and set to music by Felix Mendelssohn. The ballet features sets and costumes by David Walker and lighting by John B. Read.
The Dream received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on April 2, 1964, danced by Antoinette Sibley (Titania), Anthony Dowell (Oberon), Keith Martin (Puck), Alexander Grant (Bottom), Carole Needham (Helena), Vergie Derman (Hermia), David Drew (Demetrius) and Derek Rencher (Lysander).

The Dream received its United States premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on April 30, 1965, danced by the same cast. The ballet was given its American Ballet Theatre Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on May 24, 2002, danced by Alessandra Ferri (Titania), Ethan Stiefel (Oberon) and Herman Cornejo (Puck).

Full-length Ballets

American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Spring Season at The Metropolitan Opera House will feature an additional six full-length ballets during the eight-week engagement.
Following the season’s Opening Night, the Company will begin the first of eight performances of Giselle on Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30pm with Julie Kent in the title role dancing opposite Marcelo Gomes as Albrecht. Polina Semionova will dance the role of Myrta for the first time with ABT on Saturday evening, May 19. Set to music by Adolphe Adam and orchestrated by John Lanchbery, Giselle is staged by Kevin McKenzie with choreography after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. The two-act ballet features scenery by Gianni Quaranta and costumes by Anna Anni. This production, with scenery by Quaranta and costumes by Anni, was created for the film Dancers in 1987.

The first of eight performances of Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadère will take place on Tuesday evening, May 22. Set to the music of Ludwig Minkus and arranged by John Lanchbery, La Bayadère features scenery by PierLuigi Samaritani, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. Conceived and directed by Makarova after Marius Petipa, La Bayadère was given its World Premiere by ABT in 1980. The season’s first performance of La Bayadère will feature Veronika Part as Nikiya, Marcelo Gomes as Solor and Gillian Murphy as Gamzatti. Polina Semionova will debut as Nikiya with ABT on Saturday evening, May 26 and Ivan Vasiliev will give his first performance as Solor with ABT on Thursday evening, May 24.

Last season’s Company Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream will be given seven performances beginning Tuesday, May 29 with Paloma Herrera, Marcelo Gomes, Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg in the leading roles. Set to Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Bright Stream, the ballet features sets by Ilya Utkin, costumes by Elena Markovskaya and lighting by Brad Fields. The libretto, by Adrian Piotrovsky and Fyodor Lopukhov, tells the story of the members of a Russian farm collective in the 1930’s and their humorous interactions with a group of visiting performers during the harvest festival. Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream received its World Premiere by the Bolshoi Ballet on April 18, 2003 with sets and costumes by Boris Messerer. The original production of The Bright Stream, with choreography by Lopukhov, was premiered on April 4, 1935 by the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater at the Maly Theatre in Leningrad.

The Bright Stream received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on January 21, 2011 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Tatiana Ratmansky assisted Mr. Ratmansky in staging the ballet for ABT.

Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet will be given eight performances beginning Thursday evening, June 14 with Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo in the title roles. Set to the score by Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. The ballet received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet in London on February 9, 1965 and was given its ABT Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 22, 1985. Guest artists Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg will dance the leading roles with ABT for the first time on Wednesday evening, June 20.

Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday, June 25 with Veronika Part and Cory Stearns leading the opening night cast. Swan Lake is set to the score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler. Soloists Isabella Boylston and Daniil Simkin will debut in the leading roles of Odette/Odile and Prince Siegfried at the Wednesday, June 27 matinee performance. This production of Swan Lake premiered on March 24, 2000 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 season will conclude with seven performances of Le Corsaire beginning Tuesday evening, July 2. With choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa, and staging by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa and Sergeyev, Le Corsaire features music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenbourg. Based on the Lord Byron poem “The Corsair” (1814), the ballet has sets and costumes by Irina Tibilova with additional costume designs by Robert Perdziola. Gillian Murphy, Marcelo Gomes, Stella Abrera, Sascha Radetsky, Ethan Stiefel and Craig Salstein will lead the season’s first performance of Le Corsaire.
Veronika Part will debut in the role of Medora and Joseph Philips will dance Birbanto for the first time at the matinee on Wednesday, July 4. On Thursday evening, July 5, Natalia Osipova, Johan Kobborg and Ivan Vasiliev will dance the leading roles of Medora, Conrad and Ali, the Slave for the first time with ABT. Arron Scott will also debut as Birbanto at the July 5 performance.

ABTKIDS

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, May 19 at 11:30 A.M. All tickets for ABTKids are $25.

ABTKids Workshop Series

ABTKids Workshop Series, one-hour activity-based programs led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to ABTKids ticket holders on Saturday, May 19
(9:30 A.M.), and to matinee ticket holders Saturday, June 2 (11:00 A.M.) and Saturday,
June 23 (11:00 A.M). Saturday workshops will be held in the rehearsal studios of the Metropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person. For tickets and more information on ABTKids Workshop series, please call 212-419-4321.

Subscriptions for American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, on sale beginning Monday, October 17, are available by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT’s website www.abt.org.

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