May 30, 2012
Casting Announced for Fifth and Sixth Weeks of ABT's 2012 Spring Season at Metropolitan Opera House
Natalia Osipova to Lead New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's Firebird, Monday, June 11 at 7:30 PM
20th Anniversary Salute to Kevin McKenzie Scheduled for Tuesday, June 12 at 7:30 PM
Natalia Osipova in Firebird.Casting for the fifth and sixth weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.
The fifth week will begin with four evenings of repertory programming. Maria Riccetto, Jared Matthews, Isabella Boylston, Cory Stearns, Stella Abrera, Eric Tamm, Christine Shevchenko and Blaine Hoven will lead the season’s first performance of Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions on Monday, June 11. Set to Benjamin Britten’s Diversions on a Theme, with costumes by Bob Crowley and lighting by Brad Fields, Thirteen Diversions received its World Premiere by ABT on May 24, 2011 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Thirteen Diversions is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. This ballet is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
David Hallberg will lead the season’s first performance of George Balanchine’s Apollo on June 11, with Veronika Part as Terpsichore, Stella Abrera as Calliope and Hee Seo in her debut as Polyhymnia. The matinee on Wednesday, June 13 will include debuts by Marcelo Gomes as Apollo and Devon Teuscher as Polyhymnia, with Polina Semionova as Terpsichore, dancing the role for the first time with ABT. The evening performance on Wednesday, June 13 will be led by Maxim Beloserkovsky as Apollo, Paloma Herrera as Terpsichore, Maria Riccetto as Calliope and Christine Shevchenko in her debut as Polyhymnia. Set to music by Igor Stravinsky, Apollo 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. The ballet was last performed by ABT in 2006. Apollo is generously supported through an endowed gift from Monica, Stefano, Cosima and Tassilo Corsi.
The New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird will take place on June 11 with Natalia Osipova as Firebird, Marcelo Gomes as Ivan, Simone Messmer as the Maiden and David Hallberg as Kaschei. Misty Copeland, Herman Cornejo, Maria Riccetto and Roman Zhurbin will lead the performance on Tuesday, June 12. The matinee on Wednesday, June 13, will feature Isabella Boylston as Firebird, Alexandre Hammoudi as Ivan, Kristi Boone as the Maiden and Cory Stearns in his debut as Kaschei. Set to music by Igor Stravinsky, with sets by Simon Pastukh, costumes by Galina Solovyeva, lighting by Brad Fields and projections by Wendall K. Harrington, Ratmansky’s Firebird received its World Premiere on March 29, 2012 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The World Premiere of Firebird is co-commissioned by American Ballet Theatre and Dutch National Ballet. David H. Koch is the Lead Underwriter of Firebird. Firebird is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. Linda Allard is the Leading Sponsor of costumes for Firebird. Additional costume underwriting support has been provided by Caroline Hyman. ABT gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Leading Sponsors: The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Foundation and Charlotte and Macdonald Mathey. Additional support has generously been provided by The Sol and Margaret Berger Foundation, Brian and Darlene Heidtke, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton E. James, Jill L. Leinbach, Andrew J. Martin-Weber, James M. and Nora C. Orphanides, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Support for costume and set design has generously been provided by Dr. Coco Lazaroff. Firebird has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
A 20th Anniversary Salute to ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie is scheduled for Tuesday, June 12. The program will include Thirteen Diversions, Firebird and the pas de deux from James Kudelka’s Cruel World, set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and danced by Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes. The evening will also feature the World Premiere of Triptych, a pièce d’occasion choreographed by Gomes in honor of Kevin McKenzie. Set to Passacaglia and Sarabande with Variations in G minor after Handel by Johan Halvorsen, Triptych will be performed by Paloma Herrera, Veronika Part and Xiomara Reyes. Kevin McKenzie’s 20th Anniversary Celebration is generously underwritten by the Joseph A. Wilson Challenge Grant.
Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo will lead the first of eight performances of Romeo and Juliet on Thursday, June 14. At the matinee on Saturday, June 16, Joseph Phillips will debut as Mercutio and Joseph Gorak will debut as Benvolio, alongside Gillian Murphy as Juliet and Cory Stearns as Romeo. At the matinee on Wednesday, June 20, Alexandre Hammoudi will dance the role of Romeo for the first time, opposite Hee Seo as Juliet. At the evening performance on Wednesday, June 20, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg will make their ABT debuts in the title roles. Set to a 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. American Ballet Theatre’s performances of Romeo and Juliet are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Ali and Monica Wambold.
The sixth week will be rounded out by four performances of The Dream and Firebird. Xiomara Reyes, Cory Stearns and Herman Cornejo will lead the first performance of The Dream on Thursday, June 21. Choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, The Dream is a ballet in one act 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) and Keith Martin (Puck). 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). The Dream is presented in loving memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr. by his family. The Dream has 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.
Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Metropolitan Opera House season, beginning at $20, are available online, at the Met box office or by phone at 212-362-6000. The Metropolitan Opera House is located on Broadway between 64th and 65th Streets in New York City. For more information, visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org.
Complete casting follows:
| FIFTH WEEK | |
| Mon. Eve., June 11, 7:30 P.M. | THIRTEEN DIVERSIONS – Riccetto, Matthews, Boylston, Stearns, Abrera, Tamm, Shevchenko, Hoven APOLLO – Hallberg, Part, Abrera, Seo* FIREBIRD (NEW YORK PREMIERE) – Osipova, Gomes, Messmer, Hallberg |
| Tues. Eve., June 12, 7:30 P.M. | TRIPTYCH (WORLD PREMERE) – Herrera, Part, Reyes CRUEL WORLD Pas de Deux – Kent, Gomes* THIRTEEN DIVERSIONS – Lane, Salstein++, Seo, Davis++, Murphy, Hallberg, Messmer, Hammoudi FIREBIRD – Copeland++, Cornejo++, Riccetto++, Zhurbin++ |
| Wed. Mat., June 13, 2 P.M. | THIRTEEN DIVERSIONS – Riccetto, Matthews, Copeland++, Davis, Abrera, Tamm, Shevchenko, Hoven APOLLO – Gomes*, Semionova+, Hamrick, Teuscher* FIREBIRD – Boylston++, Hammoudi++, Boone++, Stearns* |
| Wed. Eve., June 13, 7:30 P.M. | THIRTEEN DIVERSIONS – Lane, Salstein, Seo, Davis, Boone++, Forster++, Teuscher++, Mantei++ APOLLO – Beloserkovsky, Herrera, Riccetto, Shevchenko* FIREBIRD – Osipova, Gomes, Messmer, Hallberg |
| Thur. Eve., June 14, 7:30 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Reyes, Cornejo, Salstein |
| Fri. Eve., June 15, 7:30 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Vishneva, Gomes, Scott |
| Sat. Mat., June 16, 2 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Murphy, Stearns, Phillips* |
| Sat. Eve., June 16, 8 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Kent, Bolle, Matthews |
| SIXTH WEEK | |
| Mon. Eve., June 18, 7:30 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Osipova, Hallberg, Cornejo |
| Tues. Eve., June 19, 7:30 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Herrera, Gomes, Matthews |
| Wed. Mat., June 20, 2 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Seo, Hammoudi*, Scott |
| Wed. Eve., June 20, 7:30 P.M. | ROMEO AND JULIET – Cojocaru+, Kobborg+, Saslstein |
| Thur. Eve., June 21, 7:30 P.M. | THE DREAM – Reyes, Stearns, Cornejo FIREBIRD – Osipova, Gomes, Messmer, Hallberg
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| Fri. Eve., June 22, 7:30 P.M. | THE DREAM – Kent, Gomes, Simkin FIREBIRD – Boylston, Hammoudi, Boone, Stearns
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| Sat. Mat., June 23, 2 P.M. | THE DREAM – Murphy, Hallberg, Salstein FIREBIRD – Copeland, Cornejo, Riccetto, Zhurbin
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| Sat. Eve., June 23, 8 P.M. | THE DREAM – Reyes, Stearns, Cornejo FIREBIRD – Osipova, Gomes, Messmer, Hallberg |
*Editors please note first time in a role:
Wed. Mat., June 27 – Boylston (Odette-Odile), Simkin (Prince Siegfried) in Swan Lake
Tues. Eve., July 3 – Simkin (Ali, the Slave) in Le Corsaire
Wed. Mat., July 4 – Phillips (Birbanto) in Le Corsaire
Thurs. Eve., July 5 – Kobborg (Conrad) and Scott (Birbanto) in Le Corsaire
Fri. Eve., July 6 – Cornejo (Conrad) in Le Corsaire
+Editors please note first time in a role with ABT:
Sat. Mat., June 30 – Muntagirov (Prince Siegfried) in Swan Lake
Wed. Mat., July 4 – Part (Medora) and Vasiliev (Ali, the Slave) in Le Corsaire
Thurs., July 5 – Osipova (Medora) in Le Corsaire