World Premiere of Shostakovich Trio by Alexei Ratmansky,
Company Premiere of A Month in the Country and
New Production of Le Corsaire to Highlight Season

Paloma Herrera in Le Corsaire.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2013 season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. The World Premiere of the Shostakovich trio by Alexei Ratmansky, the Company Premiere of Sir Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country and a new production of Le Corsaire will highlight the 2013 Spring Season.

Principal Dancers for the 2013 Metropolitan Opera House season include Maxim Beloserkovsky, Roberto Bolle, Herman Cornejo, Irina Dvorovenko, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Natalia Osipova, Veronika Part, Xiomara Reyes, Hee Seo, Polina Semionova, Cory Stearns, Ivan Vasiliev and Diana Vishneva. Guest Artists for the 2013 Spring season include Alina Cojocaru, principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, and Vadim Muntagirov, principal dancer with English National Ballet.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2013 Spring season opens with a Gala Performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 13 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3310.

WORLD PREMIERE

The season will be highlighted by the World Premiere of the complete three-part work by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky, set to symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich and featuring scenery by George Tsypin and costumes by Keso Dekker. The first work, Symphony #9, will have its World Premiere at New York City Center on October 18, 2012, led by Polina Semionova, Marcelo Gomes, Herman Cornejo, Simone Messmer and Craig Salstein. The second and third works, set to Shostakovich’s Symphony No.1 and Chamber Symphony for Strings (Op. 110a) respectively, will receive their World Premieres at the Metropolitan Opera House on Friday evening, May 31. The complete Shostakovich trio will receive four performances through June 3.

COMPANY PREMIERE

American Ballet Theatre will present four performances of mixed repertory
May 21-23. Sir Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country will be given its ABT Company Premiere on Tuesday evening, May 21. Based on the play of the same name by Ivan Turgenev, A Month in the Country features music by Frédéric Chopin, arranged by John Lanchbery, with designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman and lighting by John B. Read. The libretto tells the story of an elegant Russian household thrown into turmoil by the presence of a young tutor. A Month in the Country received its World Premiere by
The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on February 12, 1976, led by Lynn Seymour as Natalya Petrovna and Anthony Dowell as Belyaev. Grant Coyle will stage the ballet for ABT.

REVIVAL AND REPERTORY PROGRAM

Sharing the program with A Month in the Country will be the revival of George Balanchine’s Symphony in C and Mark Morris’ Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes. Last performed by ABT in 2002, Symphony in C features music by Georges Bizet, costumes after Karinska and lighting by Mark Stanley. It was given its World Premiere by the Paris Opera Ballet under the title Le Palais de Cristal on July 8, 1947 and received its United States Premiere by Ballet Society (now New York City Ballet) on March 22, 1948. ABT first performed the ballet at City Center in New York on October 23, 2001, led by Paloma Herrera, Ethan Stiefel, Nina Ananiashvili, Jose Manuel Carreño, Ashley Tuttle, Angel Corella, Sandra Brown and Sascha Radetsky. Symphony in C will receive its Revival Premiere on February 22, 2013 at the Hong Kong Cultural Center in Hong Kong, China. The ballet is staged for ABT by Merrill Ashley and Stacey Caddell.

Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, a work for twelve dancers, is staged by Tina Fehlandt and features music by Virgil Thomson and costumes by Santo Loquasto. Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes was given its World Premiere by ABT on May 31, 1988. An excerpt of the ballet was given its first performance at the Dancing For Life benefit at the New York State Theater on October 5, 1987.

ALL-NEW PRODUCTION OF LE CORSAIRE

American Ballet Theatre will premiere a new production of Le Corsaire, with sets by Christian Prego, costumes by Aníbal Lápiz and lighting by Roberto Oswald, on Tuesday, June 4, 2012, led by Natalia Osipova as Medora and Ivan Vasiliev as Conrad. Based on the Lord Byron poem “The Corsair” (1814), the ballet features choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa, and staging by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa and Sergeyev, with music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenbourg. Le Corsaire received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 19, 1998 with Nina Ananiashvili (Medora), Ashley Tutttle (Gulnare), Giuseppe Picone (Conrad), Angel Corella (Birbanto), Jose Manuel Carreño (Ali, the slave) and Vladimir Malakhov (Lankendem). This new production was premiered by Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 18, 2011.

FULL-LENGTH BALLETS

American Ballet Theatre’s 2013 Spring Season at The Metropolitan Opera House will feature an additional six full-length ballets during the eight-week engagement.

The Company will perform John Cranko’s Onegin beginning on Tuesday, May 14 with Julie Kent as Tatiana and Roberto Bolle as Onegin. 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. 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 with Julie Kent (Tatiana), Robert Hill (Onegin), Vladimir Malakhov (Lensky) and Maria Riccetto (Olga). This new production, with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by James F. Ingalls, was premiered by the National Ballet of Canada on June 19, 2010 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada and was first performed by ABT on June 4, 2012 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Staged for ABT by Reid Anderson and Jane Bourne, Onegin will be given eight performances May 14 through 20.

The first of eight performances of Don Quixote will be led by Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo on Friday evening, May 24. Staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones, with choreography after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, Don Quixote is set to music by Ludwig Minkus and features scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Natasha Katz. The McKenzie/Jones staging of the current production was first performed by ABT on June 12, 1995.

Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet will be given eight performances beginning Monday evening, June 10 with Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes 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.

Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday, June 17 with Polina Semionova and David Hallberg 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. This production of Swan Lake premiered on March 24, 2000 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. with Julie Kent (Odette-Odile), Angel Corella (Prince Siegfried) and Marcelo Gomes (von Rothbart).

Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes will dance the leading roles in the season’s first performance of Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia on Monday evening, June 24. A ballet in three acts, Sylvia is set to music by Léo Delibes and features costumes and scenery after original designs by Robin and Christopher Ironside. Additional designs for the
revival of Sylvia are by Peter Farmer and lighting is by Mark Jonathan. The World Premiere of the original production of Sylvia was given by The Royal Ballet on September 3, 1952 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, danced by Margot Fonteyn (Sylvia), Michael Somes (Aminta), John Hart (Orion) and Alexander Grant (Eros). The World Premiere of this revival of Sylvia by was given by The Royal Ballet on November 4, 2004 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, danced by Darcey Bussell (Sylvia), Jonathan Cope (Aminta), Thiago Soares (Orion) and Martin Harvey (Eros). Sylvia received its American Ballet Theatre Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on June 3, 2005, danced by Gillian Murphy (Sylvia), Maxim Beloserkovsky (Aminta), Marcelo Gomes (Orion) and Herman Cornejo (Eros). The ballet, staged for ABT by Christopher Newton, will receive eight performances through June 29.

The final week of the eight-week Metropolitan Opera House season will feature seven performances of The Sleeping Beauty, July 1- 6. Set to a score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed after Marius Petipa, has additional choreography and staging by Kevin McKenzie, Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov. The production features scenery by Tony Walton, costumes by Willa Kim with additional designs by Holly Hynes, and lighting by Richard Pilbrow and Dawn Chiang. Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns will lead the season’s first performance of The Sleeping Beauty on Monday evening, July 1. This production of The Sleeping Beauty received its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on June 1, 2007, with Veronika Part (Princess Aurora), Marcelo Gomes (Prince Désiré), Michele Wiles (Lilac Fairy), Martine van Hamel (Carabosse) and Herman Cornejo (Bluebird).

ABTKIDS

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, June 1 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, June 1 (9:30 A.M.), and to matinee ticket holders Saturday, June 15 (11:00 A.M.) and Saturday, June 29 (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 2013 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, on sale beginning Monday, October 15, are available by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT’s website www.abt.org.

American Airlines is the Official Airline of American Ballet Theatre.

MasterCard is the Official Credit Card of American Ballet Theatre.

Northern Trust is the Leading Corporate Sponsor of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre.

ABT is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

David H. Koch is the Lead Underwriter of the World Premiere Shostakovich Works. This production is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Foundation is a Premier Sponsor. Linda Allard is a Premier Sponsor of the costumes for the World Premier Shostakovich Works. Mary Jo and Ted Shen and an anonymous donor are Leading Sponsors of the World Premiere Shostakovich Works. Sponsorship support has also been generously provided by Michele and Steven Pesner.

American Ballet Theatre’s performances of Le Corsaire are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Irene and Fred Shen.

Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes is generously supported through an endowed gift from Monica, Stefano, Cosima and Tassilo Corsi.

Onegin is generously supported through an endowed gift from Ruth and Harold Newman.

Don Quixote is generously supported through an endowed gift from Anka K. Palitz, in memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr.

American Ballet Theatre’s performances of Romeo and Juliet are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Ali and Monica Wambold.

Swan Lake has been generously underwritten by R. Chemers Neustein. Costumes for Swan Lake are generously sponsored by the Ellen Everett Kimiatek Costume Preservation Trust.

Sylvia is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Joan Taub Ades and Alan M. Ades, Adrienne Arsht, Arlene and Harvey Blau, Devon and Peter Briger, Susan and Leonard Feinstein, Edward A. Fox, Lori and Stephen Garofalo, Julia and David H. Koch, Konrad R. Kruger, Jill L. Leinbach, Charlotte and Macdonald Mathey, and Jean and Lawrence Shaw are Co-Underwriters of The Sleeping Beauty. Additional funding provided by the NIB Foundation. Special thanks to Caroline Newhouse. This production has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The ABTKids performance is generously supported through an endowed gift from Thomas and Lydia West, in loving memory of Vivian B. West.

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