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BOSTON BALLET’S 2008 SEASON FEATURES ACCLAIMED CLASSICS, WORLD PREMIERES AND REPERTORY FAVORITES
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE COMPANY PREMIERE OF JOHN CRANKO’S ROMEO & JULIET,
THREE WORLD PREMIERES
AND MIKKO NISSINEN’S SWAN LAKE
BOSTON, MA – January 10, 2008 – Capping its Fall Season with the Company’s 40th consecutive year performing The Nutcracker, Boston Ballet opens its 2008 winter/spring season with the Company premiere of John Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet. The 2008 season will feature Boston Ballet in classical story ballets, world premieres from on-the-rise contemporary choreographers, and modern masterpieces.
The Company launches its 2008 season on Valentine’s Day with John Cranko’s acclaimed staging of Romeo & Juliet. With this production, Boston Ballet becomes only the second U.S. ballet company to perform Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet and the only American company to have three of Cranko’s greatest works as part of its extensive repertoire (The Taming of The Shrew, Onegin and Romeo & Juliet). This is the third full-length masterpiece by Cranko to enter Boston Ballet’s repertory. Romeo & Juliet is followed by Next Generation, which features the world premiere of three new ballets and the U.S. and Company premiere of Ein von Viel.
Romeo & Juliet
Music: Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography: John Cranko
Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet premiered in 1962 and was first performed by the Stuttgart Ballet. His exquisitely rendered ballet, set to Sergei Prokofiev’s magnificent score, is an inspired realization of William Shakespeare’s timeless tale. While Prokofiev’s original composition initially faced heavy criticism, it has become one of the most popular of all ballet compositions. When the Stuttgart Ballet danced the American premiere of John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet in 1969, Clive Barnes wrote in The New York Times that this staging of Prokofiev’s score “is, quite simply, the best of a surprisingly distinguished bunch. Many choreographers have attempted the score . . . but it has been left to Cranko to give the work its complete fulfillment.”
Next Generation
World Premiere
Music: Eugene Ysaye
Choreography: Jorma Elo
World Premiere
Music: Franz Schubert
Choreography: Heather Myers
World Premiere
Music: Michael Nyman, Jan Garbarek and Philip Glass
Choreography: Helen Pickett
Ein von Viel
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Choreography: Sabrina Matthews
Boston Ballet presents Next Generation a showcase and celebration of the next generation of choreographic talents. Four ballets, including three world premieres, highlight some of today’s most exciting young choreographers. The program features a new piece by Resident Choreographer Jorma Elo, whose recent works for Boston Ballet and companies around the world have been met with outstanding reviews.
All four choreographers featured on the Next Generation program were discovered and promoted by Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen. Resident Choreographer Jorma Elo received his first major commission from Nissinen at Alberta Ballet, and Helen Pickett received her first major commission from Nissinen at Boston Ballet. The upcoming world premiere by Boston Ballet dancer Heather Myers will be her first for a major company. And Ein von Viel was commissioned in 2001 by Nissinen at Alberta Ballet, where Sabrina Matthews was a dancer and emerging choreographer.
Nissinen has conceived a unique piece to open the program. For the first time ever, all four choreographers will perform in a short opening piece to set the tone for the evening.
Swan Lake
Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Mikko Nissinen after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Nissinen’s 2004 production of Swan Lake was called “a must-see” by Christine Temin in The Boston Globe. With the passionate score of Tchaikovsky and the exquisite sets by Peter Cazalet and costumes of John Conklin, this Swan Lake thrilled Boston audiences when it premiered in 2004. The Petipa/Ivanov version of Swan Lake, known as the traditional interpretation today, was first performed by the Mariinsky Ballet on January 15, 1895.
Three Masterpieces
Concerto Barocco
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Choreography: George Balanchine
Dark Elegies
Music: Gustav Mahler
Choreography: Antony Tudor
In the Upper Room
Music: Philip Glass
Choreography: Twyla Tharp
In Three Masterpieces, Boston Ballet presents works by three of the 20th century’s most notable and acclaimed choreographers: George Balanchine (1904-1983) Antony Tudor (1909-1987) and Twyla Tharp (born 1941).
Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco is an abstract one-act ballet performed to Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Two Violins. Balanchine said of this work: "If the dance designer sees in the development of classical dancing a counterpart in the development of music and has studied them both, he will derive continual inspiration from great scores." This piece is pure dancing at its best and highlights Balanchine’s choreographic brilliance and musicality. It premiered in June 1941 at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janiero, Brazil by American Ballet Caravan. Concerto Barocco was originally performed in more elaborate costumes, but in 1951 Balanchine dressed the dancers in practice clothes which are often the signature costume for his contemporary works. Boston Ballet last performed Concerto Barocco in 1989. Concerto Barocco will be staged by Margaret Tracey. Tracey is Associate Director of Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education and a former Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. In staging this work, she is representing the Balanchine Trust.
Anthony Tudor was a major British choreographer who made a huge impact in America. He is best known for his compelling psychological ballets, dances that probe the heart and mind in minute detail, often to heartbreaking effect. Dark Elegies, danced to Gustav Mahler’s poignant song cycle Kindertotenlieder, is one of his most powerful works, a deep and moving exploration of grief and mourning.
Dark Elegies is performed by an ensemble of twelve dancers plus an onstage singer. Their costumes indicate they are peasants, and much of the movement springs from folk dances. Tudor was a master of drama in his approach to choreography and storytelling, and feelings in his ballets are conveyed through subtlety – subtle gestures, subtle body language, subtle, yet profound dramatic expression. Tudor wanted the characters in his ballets to look natural, like real people rather than highly polished classical dancers. Dark Elegies is a Company premiere.
Popular American contemporary choreographer Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than 135 dances, five Hollywood movies and three Broadway Shows. Her 1986 piece, In The Upper Room, is an explosive and energetic work created to a pulsing composition by Philip Glass. The mastery of Tharp’s choreography is evident and the excitement infectious during this critically acclaimed work. Costumes for In The Upper Room are by Norma Kamali and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The piece was last performed by Boston Ballet in 1995.
All performances are held at Citi Performing Arts CenterSM Wang Theatre.
Boston Ballet Spring Season at a Glance:
Romeo and Juliet
February 14-17; February 28-March 2, 2008
Music: Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography: John Cranko
Next Generation – 4 Ballets, 3 World Premieres
March 6-9, 2008
World Premiere
Music: Eugene Ysaye
Choreography: Jorma Elo
World Premiere
Music: Franz Schubert
Choreography: Heather Myers
World Premiere
Music: Michael Nyman, Jan Garbarek and Philip Glass
Choreography: Helen Pickett
Ein von Viel
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Choreography: Sabrina Matthews
Swan Lake
May 1-11, 2008
Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Mikko Nissinen after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Three Masterpieces
May 15-18, 2008
Concerto Barocco
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Choreography: George Balanchine
Dark Elegies
Music: Gustav Mahler
Choreography: Antony Tudor
In the Upper Room
Music: Philip Glass
Choreography: Twyla Tharp
Tickets
Tickets for season ballets can be purchased by phone through Telecharge at 800.447.7400, online at www.telecharge.com, or in person at the Citi Performing Arts CenterSM Wang Theatre box office, located at 270 Tremont Street in Boston's Theatre District, open Monday- Saturday from 10am - 6pm. Prices for Romeo & Juliet range from $25 - 110. ($25 price available in person only) Discounted group tickets (10 or more) are available by calling Boston Ballet's Group Sales at 617.456.6343. Rush tickets are available. Contact the Boston Ballet box office at 617.695.6955 or visit www.bostonballet.org for details.
About Boston Ballet
Founded in 1963, Boston Ballet is one of the leading dance companies in North America. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen and Executive Director Valerie Wilder, the Company has 50 dancers and maintains an internationally acclaimed repertoire of classical, neo-classical and contemporary works, ranging from full-length story ballets to new works by some of today’s finest choreographers.
Boston Ballet’s second company, Boston Ballet II, is made up of pre-professional dancers who gain experience by performing with Boston Ballet and as an independent group, presenting lecture-demonstrations and unique programs to audiences throughout the Northeast. The Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education reaches and instructs more than 3,000 students of all ages each year through Boston Ballet School, Young Dancers Summer Workshop, Summer Dance Program, DanceLab, Citydance, Adaptive Dance and Taking Steps.
Boston Ballet gratefully acknowledges the following institutional partners:
State Street Corporation, 2007 Sponsor, The Nutcracker
Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation/Linda S. Waintrup, Trustee
Massachusetts Cultural Council
National Endowment for the Arts
Boston Organ & Piano, Official Piano Supplier of Boston Ballet
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