Premieres to be Supported by The Ratmansky Project, a Five-Year Fundraising Campaign

Alexei Ratmansky in rehearsal. Photo: Renata Pavam.

American Ballet Theatre has announced the World Premieres of the full-evening Harlequinade and a new work of repertory choreographed by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky. Both works are supported through The Ratmansky Project, a $15 million campaign to fund new works by the choreographer through 2020. The World Premieres and The Ratmansky Project were announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

An all-new production of Harlequinade, staged by Ratmansky after the original by Marius Petipa, will be given its World Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 4, 2018 at the Metropolitan Opera House. A comic ballet in two-acts, Harlequinade is set to music by Riccardo Drigo and first premiered in 1900 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The new production will feature sets and costumes by Robert Perdziola. Following its World Premiere , the ballet will be given seven performances during the 2018 Spring season. Harlequinade, a co-production with Australian Ballet, is ABT’s first full-length production of the ballet.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2017 Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater will feature a new repertory work by Ratmansky. The yet-untitled ballet will have its World Premiere on the season’s opening night, October 18, 2017. The work will be given four additional performances during the Company’s Fall season.

Harlequinade and new Ratmansky work are funded through The Ratmansky Project, a five-year, $15 million fundraising initiative to support new work. The initiative, which was launched in 2016, has raised $10 million to date and has funded three current works by Ratmansky including The Golden Cockerel (2016 American Premiere), Serenade after Plato’s Symposium (2016 World Premiere) and Whipped Cream (2017 World Premiere). The Ratmansky Project will support the creation of one or more new works each year through 2020.

“I am so happy that ABT has the good fortune to have one of the creative geniuses of our time working and shaping us as we look to the future,” said McKenzie.

“We are committed to extending the repertoire of classical ballet, and we are privileged to have Alexei Ratmansky as our Artist in Residence and creative engine,” said Executive Director Kara Medoff Barnett. “The Ratmansky Project and the generous donors who support this initiative allow us to plan a robust slate of new works that challenge our dancers and inspire our audiences worldwide.”

American Ballet Theatre’s 2017 Spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House continues through July 8. To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit www.abt.org.

Leadership support for The Ratmansky Project has been provided by Hamilton E. James and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, with additional major support provided by the Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, Linda Allard, Sarah Arison, Avery and Andrew F. Barth, Lisa and Dick Cashin, The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Foundation, Brian J. Heidtke, Bernard L. Schwartz, The Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund, Melissa A. Smith, The H. Russell Smith Foundation/Stewart R. Smith and Robin A. Ferracone, Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation, and Sutton Stracke.

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