American Ballet Theatre’s 2007 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 14-July 7, was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Highlighting the engagement will be the World Premiere of an all-new production of The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by McKenzie after Marius Petipa and assisted by former ABT ballerina Gelsey Kirkland. A revival of Lar Lubovitch’s Othello, last performed by ABT in 1998, is also scheduled.

Principal Dancers for the engagement will include Nina Ananiashvili, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Jose Manuel Carreño, Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Irina Dvorovenko, Alessandra Ferri, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Vladimir Malakhov, Gillian Murphy, Xiomara Reyes, Ethan Stiefel, Diana Vishneva and Michele Wiles.

Guest artists for the engagement include Roberto Bolle, a resident guest artist with La Scala in Milan and Guillaume C≈çté, a principal dancer with National Ballet of Canada.

Countrywide Financial is the National Sponsor of American Ballet Theatre. Northern Trust and Superfund Asset Management, Inc. are the sponsors of ABT’s Metropolitan Opera House Season. The 2007 Metropolitan Opera House season is also made possible 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.

The 2007 Spring Season will open with the Spring Gala performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 14 at 6:30pm. For information about ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239.

World Premiere

The World Premiere of ABT’s all-new production of The Sleeping Beauty is scheduled for Friday evening, June 1. Set to a score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty features choreography by McKenzie, after Petipa, with assistance by Kirkland. The production, which will receive eleven performances through June 9, features scenery by Tony Walton, costumes by Willa Kim and lighting by Richard Pilbrow and Dawn Chiang. Performances of The Sleeping Beauty are made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by Sonia Florian and the NIB Foundation.

Revival Premiere

Commissioned by American Ballet Theatre in 1997, Lar Lubovitch’s Othello, last performed by ABT in 1998, will have its Revival Premiere on Tuesday evening, May 22 with Julie Kent as Desdemona and Marcelo Gomes in the title role. Choreographed by Lubovitch and set to a commissioned score by Elliot Goldenthal, the full-length work features scenery by George Tsypin, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, lighting by Pat Collins and projections by Wendall K. Harrington. Othello will be given four performances through May 24. Funding for Othello has been generously provided by the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation.

Returning Classics

Following the opening night Gala, American Ballet Theatre will present eight consecutive performances of Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadère, beginning Tuesday evening, May 15. 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 the full evening ballet La Bayadère will feature Paloma Herrera as
Nikiya, Marcelo Gomes as Solor and Gillian Murphy as Gamzatti. La Bayadère is presented in loving memory of Mrs. Caroline Newhouse.

The season’s first performance of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon is scheduled for Monday evening, June 11 with Alessandra Ferri in the title role and guest artist Roberto Bolle as Des Grieux, Herman Cornejo as Lescaut and Gillian Murphy as Lescaut’s Mistress. Set to a score by Jules Massenet and inspired by the novel Manon Lescaut, Manon was staged for ABT by Monica Parker and features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. Manon was given its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in London on March 7, 1974 and was first performed by ABT at the Metropolitan Opera House on
May 28, 1993. This production was generously supported through an endowed gift from Anka K. Palitz, in memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr.

Diana Vishneva and Angel Corella will lead the season’s first performance of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet on Monday evening, June 18. Set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. The ballet, scheduled for eight performances through June 23, 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. ABT’s production of Romeo and Juliet is generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Ali and Monica Wambold. Additional funding has been provided by the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation.

Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday evening, June 25 with Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky 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. Swan Lake is generously underwritten by The Rosh Foundation.

Last season’s Company Premiere of James Kudelka’s Cinderella will conclude the season with seven performances beginning Monday evening, July 2. The three-act ballet, set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, features scenery and costumes by David Boechler and lighting by Christopher Dennis. Kudelka’s Cinderella was given its World Premiere by The National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, Canada on May 8, 2004. This production is made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Returning Repertory

Eight performances of repertory, May 25 through May 31, will also be featured as part of American Ballet Theatre’s Spring Season. The program will include George Balanchine’s Symphonie Concertante followed by Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream.

Set to Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat Major for Violin and Viola, Symphonie Concertante was created in 1947 for Ballet Society and received its ABT Company Premiere in 1983. The ballet features costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by David K.H. Elliott. This production of Symphonie Concertante is staged by Susan Jones. The season’s first performance of the ballet on Friday evening, May 25 will feature Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes and Paloma Herrera in the leading roles. Symphonie Concertante has been made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, staged by Anthony Dowell with Christopher Carr, is set to music by Felix Mendelssohn, with sets and costumes by David Walker and lighting by John B. Reed. Ashton’s The Dream received its World Premiere by
The Royal Ballet in 1964. Adapted from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, The Dream was first performed by ABT in May 2002 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Xiomara Reyes, Ethan Stiefel and Herman Cornejo will lead the season’s first performances of The Dream on Friday evening, May 25. The Dream is presented in loving memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr. by his family. Performances of The Dream have been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Additional funding has been provided by the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation.

ABTKids

ABT’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, ABTKids, is scheduled for Saturday, June 9 at 11:30am. All tickets for ABTKids are $25. CA, Inc. is the leading corporate sponsor of ABT’s Family Programs. The ABTKids performance is generously supported through an endowed gift from Thomas and Lydia West in loving memory of Vivian B. West.

Pre-Performance Workshops

Pre-performance workshops, an activity based program led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to matinee ticket holders on Saturday, May 19 (11:00 am), Saturday, May 26 (11:00 am), Saturday, June 23 (11:00 am)., and to ABTKids ticket holders on Saturday, June 9 (9:30am). Workshops are held in the rehearsal studios of the
Metropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person and are only available to ticket holders for the matinee performance following the workshop.

American Ballet Theatre’s education programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Subscriptions for American Ballet Theatre’s 2007 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House are on sale now by phone at 212-362-6000 or online.

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