SEASON TO INCLUDE NEW YORK COMPANY PREMIERE OF
ALEXEI RATMANSKY'S THE BRIGHT STREAM
AND U.S. PREMIERE OF
A NEW WORK BY BENJAMIN MILLEPIED

Revival Premiere of Antony Tudor's Shadowplay set for May 24

American Ballet Theatre’s 2011 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 16-July 9, was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Highlights of the season include World Premieres by Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon, the New York Company Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream and the U.S. Premiere of a new work by Benjamin Millepied.

Principal Dancers for the 2011 Metropolitan Opera Season include Maxim Beloserkovsky, Roberto Bolle, Jose Manuel Carreño, Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Irina Dvorovenko, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Veronika Part, Xiomara Reyes, Ethan Stiefel, Diana Vishneva and Michele Wiles. Natalia Osipova, a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, and Alina Cojocaru, a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, will return for the Spring season as guest artists.

American Airlines is the Official Airline of American Ballet Theatre. Northern Trust is the Leading Corporate Sponsor of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. Mandarin Oriental, New York is the Preferred Hotel of American Ballet Theatre. LVMH Moƒót Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the Official Sponsor of ABT II. The 2011 Metropolitan Opera House Season is also made possible with 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, in partnership with the City Council.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2011 Spring season opens with a Gala performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 16 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239.

World Premieres and Major Revival

New works by two of the dance world’s most acclaimed choreographers, Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon, will be given their World Premieres on Tuesday evening, May 24. American Ballet Theatre Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky has previously created On the Dnieper (2009), Seven Sonatas (2009) and Waltz Masquerade (2009) on the Company. Mr. Ratmansky’s all-new production of The Nutcracker will be given its World Premiere on December 23, 2010 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The World Premiere of a new work by Mr. Wheeldon will be his first creation especially for American Ballet Theatre. ABT previously gave the Company Premiere of
Mr. Wheeldon’s VIII in 2004.

The World Premieres by Mr. Ratmansky and Mr. Wheeldon will be part of an all-repertory program to be given four performances May 24-26. The program will also include the Revival Premiere of Antony Tudor’s Shadowplay and the U. S. Premiere of a work for cello by Benjamin Millepied.

Created by Antony Tudor for The Royal Ballet in 1967, Shadowplay is based on a theme from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book and is set to music by Charles Koechlin. With scenery and costumes by Michael Annals and lighting by Nananne Porcher, Shadowplay received its American Ballet Theatre Company Premiere at the New York State Theater, New York on July 23, l975, performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov (Boy With Matted Hair), Gelsey Kirkland (Celestial) and Jonas Kage (Terrestrial).

Herman Cornejo will dance the role of the Boy With Matted Hair in the Revival Premiere of Shadowplay on May 24, and Daniil Simkin will debut in the role at the matinee on Wednesday, May 25. The ballet will be staged for ABT by Christopher Newton.

Benjamin Millepied’s new work was commissioned by American Ballet Theatre for the Rostropovich Festival in honor of the birthday of the late Mstislav Rostropovich. The new work, Mr. Millepied’s third for ABT, will be given its World Premiere on March 29, 2011 in Moscow. His previous works for the Company include From Here On Out (2007) and Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once (2009).

New York Company Premiere

The Bright Stream, a comic ballet in two acts choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, will be given its New York Company Premiere on Thursday evening, June 9 with Paloma Herrera, Marcelo Gomes, Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg in the leading roles. Set to Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Bright Stream, the ballet features sets by Yevgeny Monakhov and Illya Utkin, costumes by Yelena Markavska and lighting by Brad Fields. The libretto, by Adrian Piotrovsky and Fyodor Lopukhov, tells the story of the members of a Russian farm collective in the 1930’s and their humorous interactions with a group of visiting performers during the harvest festival. Mr. Ratmansky’s
The Bright Stream received its World Premiere by the Bolshoi Ballet on April 18, 2003 with sets and costumes by Boris Messerer. The original production of The Bright Stream, with choreography by Lopukhov, was premiered on April 4, 1935 by the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater at the Maly Theatre in Leningrad.

The Bright Stream will receive its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on January 21, 2011 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Tatiana Ratmansky will assist Mr. Ratmansky in staging the ballet for ABT.

Full-Length Ballets

American Ballet Theatre’s 2011 Spring Season at The Metropolitan Opera House will feature an additional seven full-length ballets during the eight-week engagement.

The season’s first performance of Don Quixote will be led by Paloma Herrera and Jose Manuel Carreño on Tuesday evening, May 17. Staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones, with choreography after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, Don Quixote is set to music by Ludwig Minkus and features scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto
and lighting by Natasha Katz. The McKenzie/Jones staging of the current production was first performed by ABT in June 1995.

Eight performances of Giselle will be given beginning Friday evening, May 27 with Diana Vishneva in the title role dancing opposite Marcelo Gomes as Albrecht. Hee Seo will make her debut in the title role dancing opposite David Hallberg as Albrecht at the matinee on Wednesday, June 1. Set to music by Adolphe Adam and orchestrated by John Lanchbery, Giselle is staged by Kevin McKenzie with choreography after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. The two-act ballet features scenery by Gianni Quaranta and costumes by Anna Anni. This production, with scenery by Quaranta and costumes by Anni, was created for the film Dancers in 1987.

John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias will be given seven performances beginning Friday evening, June 3 with Julie Kent as Marguerite and Roberto Bolle as Armand. Set to music by Frédéric Chopin, Lady of the Camellias was choreographed by Mr. Neumeier after the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The ballet features scenery and costumes by J√ºrgen Rose with original lighting design by Mr. Neumeier, reconstructed by Ralf Merkel. Lady of the Camellias was given its World Premiere by the Stuttgart Ballet at the Weurttemberg Staatstheatre, Stuttgart, Germany on November 4, 1978, with Marcia Haydée and Egon Madsen in the leading roles. The ballet received its United States premiere by the Stuttgart Ballet at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. on May 15, 1979, with the same cast. Lady of the Camellias was given its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on May 25, 2010 at The Metropolitan Opera House with Julie Kent as Marguerite and Roberto Bolle as Armand. Kevin Haigen and Victor Hughes will stage Lady of the Camellias for ABT.

Frederic Franklin’s staging of Coppélia will have its Revival Premiere on Thursday evening, June 16 with Xiomara Reyes as Swanilda and Herman Cornejo as Franz. Staged and directed by Mr. Franklin after Nicholas Sergeyev and the original staging by Arthur Saint Léon, Coppélia features music by Léo Delibes, scenery by Tony Straiges, costumes by Patricia Zipprodt and lighting by Brad Fields.

Coppélia received its World Premiere on May 25, l870 at the Theatre Imperial de l’Opera, Paris, danced by Giuseppina Bozacchi (Swanilda) and Eugenie Fiocre (Franz). It received its American Ballet Theatre premiere at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City on September 1, l942, with choreography by Simon Semenoff, in one act and three scenes, from the original by Arthur Saint Léon, with scenery and costumes by Roberto Montenegro and danced by Irina Baronova (Swanilda) and Anton Dolin (Franz).

A production of the full-length Coppélia, with choreography by Enrique Martinez from the original by Saint-Léon and scenery and costumes by William Pitkin, was given its American Ballet Theatre premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on December 24, 1968, danced by Carla Fracci (Swanilda) and Erik Bruhn (Franz). A new production with choreography by Enrique Martinez, scenery by Tony Straiges, and costumes by Patricia Zipprodt, received its ABT premiere at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. on January 18, 1991, danced by Cheryl Yeager (Swanilda) and Julio Bocca (Franz). Frederic Franklin’s new staging received its ABT premiere at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California on February 14, 1997, danced by Paloma Herrera (Swanilda) and Angel Corella (Franz). The ballet was last performed by ABT in 2004.

Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg will lead the season’s first performance of James Kudelka’s Cinderella on Tuesday evening, June 21. American Ballet Theatre will give seven performances of the ballet through Saturday evening, June 25. This production of Cinderella was given its World Premiere by The National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, Canada on May 8, 2004. The ballet received its American Ballet Theatre Company Premiere on June 2, 2006 at the Metropolitan Opera House, danced by Julie Kent (Cinderella) and Marcelo Gomes (Her Prince Charming).

Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday, June 27 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.

American Ballet Theatre’s final week of its eight-week Metropolitan Opera House season will feature seven performances of The Sleeping Beauty, July 5-9. Set to a score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed after Marius Petipa, has additional choreography and staging by Kevin McKenzie, Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov. The production features scenery by Tony Walton, costumes by Willa Kim with additional costume designs by Holly Hynes, and lighting by Richard Pilbrow and Dawn Chiang. Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes will lead the season’s first performance of The Sleeping Beauty on Tuesday evening, July 5. This production
of The Sleeping Beauty received its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on June 1, 2007.

Jose Manuel Carreño Farewell

Principal Dancer Jose Manuel Carreño will give his final New York performance with American Ballet Theatre on Thursday evening, June 30. The evening will be highlighted by a special performance of Swan Lake featuring Mr. Carreño in the role of Prince Siegfried dancing opposite Julie Kent as Odette and Gillian Murphy as Odile. Tickets for Carreño’s farewell performance are priced from $30-$115.

ABTKids

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, May 21 at 11:30 A.M.. All tickets for ABTKids are $25. The ABTKids performance is generously supported through an endowed gift from Thomas and Lydia West, in loving memory of Vivian B. West.

ABTKids Workshop Series

ABTKids Workshop Series, activity-based programs led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to ABTKids ticket holders only on Saturday, May 21 (9:30 A.M.). On Saturday, June 18, ABT will hold a Coppélia Workshop at 11:00 A.M. and a Cinderella Workshop on Saturday, June 25 at 11:00 A.M.. Saturday workshops will be held in the
rehearsal studios of the Metropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person. For tickets and more information on ABTKids Workshop series, please call 212-419-4321.

Early Bird 7:30 P.M. Friday Series

American Ballet Theatre introduces a new Early Bird Series with 7:30 P.M. curtain times for all Friday evening performances. Performances Monday through Friday will begin at 7:30 P.M., with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:00 P.M. Saturday evening performances will remain at 8:00 P.M.

Subscriptions for American Ballet Theatre’s 2011 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, on sale beginning Friday, October 15, are available by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT’s website www.abt.org.

Back To ABT News >>