Alicia Alonso's 90th Birthday Celebration to Feature Three Sets of Principal Dancers in Don Quixote Thursday, June 3 at 7:30 P.M.

Casting for the third and fourth weeks of American Ballet Theatre’s 2010 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

The third week will include five performances of Don Quixote, beginning with the matinee on Monday, May 31 at 2:00pm, led by Michele Wiles as Kitri and Cory Stearns in his debut as Basilio. Natalia Osipova will make her ABT debut as Kitri on Tuesday, June 1, opposite Jose Manuel Carreño as Basilio. ABT will celebrate Alicia Alonso’s 90th Birthday on Thursday, June 3, with a special performance of Don Quixote featuring three sets of Principal Dancers: Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes (Act I), Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo (Act II), and Natalia Osipova and Jose Manuel Carreño (Act III). Set to music by Ludwig Minkus, Don Quixote is staged by
Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones, after choreography by Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky. This production was generously supported through an endowed gift from Anka K. Palitz, in memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2010 Spring Season will also feature two weeks of repertory programming, beginning Tuesday, June 8 with the All-Ashton Program. At the performance on June 8, Irina Dvorovenko will debut in Sir Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, opposite Maxim Beloserkovsky, who is performing the role for the first time in New York. At the same performance, Jose Manuel Carreño will debut in Thaƒºs Pas de Deux, opposite Diana Vishneva. The All-Ashton Program on Thursday, June 10, will include New York debuts by Gillian Murphy and Eric Tamm in Birthday Offering, and debuts by Maria Riccetto in Thaƒºs Pas de Deux, Veronika Part and David Hallberg in Awakening Pas de Deux, and Cory Stearns and Daniil Simkin as Oberon and Puck, respectively, in The Dream. 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.

The fourth week will be rounded out by the All-American Program and the ABT Premieres Program. At the evening performance on Wednesday, June 9, Fancy Free will be performed by Daniil Simkin, Carlos Lopez and Sascha Radetsky, with Simkin and Radetsky making their New York debuts in these roles. The Brahms-Haydn Variations was made possible by the generous support of Patsy and Jeff Tarr and the JCT Foundation. Company B is generously supported by a gift from Marjorie S. Isaac in honor of ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Fancy Free is generously underwritten by an endowed gift from Avery and Andrew F. Barth, in honor of Laima and Rudolf Barth. On the Dnieper is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. Additional underwriting support has generously been provided by The Ross Stretton Choreography Workshop Fund and Leila and Mickey Straus. Funding is also generously provided by The Rudolf Nureyev® Dance Foundation.

J.P. Morgan is the Leading Corporate Sponsor of Make a Ballet. American Airlines is ABT’s Official Airline. Northern Trust is the Official Sponsor of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. LVMH Moƒót Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Inc. is the Official Sponsor of ABT II. Mandarin Oriental is ABT’s Preferred Hotel. ABT is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recovery Act, 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.

Tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2010 Metropolitan Opera House season, priced $20-$111, 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:

*Editors please note first time in a role:
Mon. Mat., 5/31 – Stearns (Basilio) in Don Quixote
Tues. Eve., 6/8 – Dvorovenko in Birthday Offering; Carreño in Thaƒºs Pas de Deux
Thurs. Eve., 6/10 РRiccetto in Thaļs Pas de Deux; Part and Hallberg in Awakening Pas de Deux; Stearns
(Oberon), Simkin (Puck) in The Dream

**Editors please note first time in a role with ABT:
Tues. Eve., 6/1 – Osipova (Kitri) in Don Quixote

+Editors please note first time in a role in New York:
Tues. Eve. 6/8 – Beloserkovsky in Birthday Offering
Wed. Mat. 6/9 – Murphy, Radetsky, Part, Hallberg, Lane in The Brahms-Haydn Variations
Wed. Eve.&##44; 6/9 – Abrera, Hammoudi, Stearns, Reyes, Cornejo, Seo, Saveliev , Riccetto, Simkin in
The Brahms-Haydn Variations; Simkin, Radetsky, Riccetto, Boylston in Fancy Free
Thurs. Eve., 6/10 – Murphy, Tamm in Birthday Offering
Sat. Eve., 6/12 – Abrera in Birthday Offering

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