April 23, 2007
PIANIST LANG LANG TO PERFORM
AT AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE'S OPENING NIGHT SPRING GALA
A special performance by acclaimed concert pianist Lang Lang will highlight American Ballet Theatre’s Spring Gala on Monday evening, May 14 at 6:30 P.M. at the Metropolitan Opera House. The evening, which opens ABT’s 2007 Spring engagement, will feature ABT’s Principal Dancers performing highlights from the season.
In his first appearance with American Ballet Theatre, Lang Lang will perform Frédéric Chopin’s Waltz in A minor, Op. 34, No. 2, accompanied on-stage by ABT’s dancers performing a pas de deux created especially for the evening by choreographer Brian Reeder. Lang Lang will also perform Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
Additional highlights of ABT’s Opening Night performance include excerpts from the upcoming World Premiere of The Sleeping Beauty with performances by Michele Wiles, Veronika Part, Diana Vishneva, Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky. The evening will also feature Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo in the balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet, Julie Kent and Jose Manuel Carreño performing the Act I pas de deux from Manon, Nina Ananiashvili and Angel Corella in the pas de deux from Swan Lake Act III, Alessandra Ferri and Marcelo Gomes in the pas deux from Act III of Othello, and Paloma Herrera, David Hallberg, Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel performing excerpts from Act I of La Bayadère.
ABT’s Spring Gala is sponsored by Carolina Herrera, Ltd., First American Title Insurance Company of New York, Graff, Griffon Corporation, Tivia & Richard Kramer, La Prairie and RexCorp Realty. Caroline Kennedy and Blaine Trump will serve as Honorary Chairmen for The Spring Gala and Co-Chairmen for the evening include Sloan Lindemann Barnett, Tory Burch, Susan Fales-Hill and Carolina Herrera. Underwriting Co-Chairmen include Maria and Henri Barguirdjjan, Arlene and Harvey Blau, Lynne Florio and Malcolm Sage, Tivia and Richard Kramer, Nora and James Orphanides and
Debby and Scott Rechler. Vice Chairmen are Dassyi Olarte de Kanavos, Anne Grauso and Tara Rockefeller.
A Gala dinner under the Tent at Lincoln Center will immediately follow the performance. Gala benefit tickets priced at $1,500, $2,000 and $2,500 include the performance and post-performance dinner. For Gala benefit ticket information only, call American Ballet Theatre’s Special Events office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239.
Performance-only tickets are priced $27-$140 and are available at the Metropolitan Opera House box office or by calling 212-362-6000. For more information, please visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org.