American Ballet Theatre Celebrates 70th Anniversary Season

American Ballet Theatre's 2010 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 17-July 10, will celebrate the Company's 70th Anniversary with a tribute to legendary ballerina Alicia Alonso and the 30th Anniversary of Natalia Makarova's production of La Bayadère. The season will also feature the Company Premiere of John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias. Tickets for ABT's Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House go on sale at the box office on March 28.

Principal Dancers for the 2010 Metropolitan Opera season will 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. Alina Cojocaru, a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, and Natalia Osipova, a leading soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, will appear as guest artists during the season.

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 Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the Official Sponsor of ABT II. Mandarin Oriental is ABT's preferred hotel. The 2010 Metropolitan Opera House season is also made possible with 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.

American Ballet Theatre's 70th Anniversary season celebration will open with an Opening Night Gala performance featuring ABT's Principal Dancers on Monday, May 17 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT's Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239. ABT's Spring Gala is sponsored by NBC Universal and Graff.

Company Premiere

John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias will be given its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on Tuesday evening, May 25 with Julie Kent as Marguerite and Roberto Bolle as Armand. Set to music by Frédéric Chopin, Lady of the Camellias was choreographed by Neumeier after the novel of Alexandre Dumas fils. The ballet features scenery and costumes by Jürgen Rose with original lighting design by Neumeier, reconstructed by Rolf 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. American Ballet Theatre will present eight performances of the full-length ballet, May 25-27 and June 4-7.

Full-Length Ballets and 30th Anniversary of La Bayadère

In addition to the Company Premiere of Lady of the Camellias, American Ballet Theatre will perform five full-length ballets during the 2010 Spring season beginning with La Bayadère on Tuesday evening, May 18. Diana Vishneva (Nikiya), Marcelo Gomes (Solor), and Gillian Murphy (Gamzatti) will lead the season's first performance of the three-act classic. The season's eight performances of La Bayadère, May 18-24, mark the 30th anniversary of the ballet. Natalia Makarova first staged "The Kingdom of the Shades" scene for ABT in 1974 and subsequently produced and choreographed the complete version (in three acts) for American Ballet Theatre in 1980. The World Premiere of Makarova's production was given on May 21 of that year, danced by Makarova (Nikiya), Anthony Dowell (Solor) and Cynthia Harvey (Gamzatti).

Set to music by Ludwig Minkus, arranged by John Lanchbery, La Bayadère was conceived and directed by Makarova. The ballet features scenery by PierLuigi Samaritani, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. Dina Makarova serves as production coordinator.

The season's first performance of Don Quixote will be led by Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella on Friday evening, May 28. 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.

The Sleeping Beauty returns to the repertory for eight performances, June 14-19. 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. Gillian Murphy and Jose Manuel Carreño will lead the season's first performance of The Sleeping Beauty on Monday, June 14. Guest artist Alina Cojocaru will dance opposite Jose Manuel Carreño at the matinee performance on Saturday, June 19. This production of The Sleeping Beauty received its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on June 1, 2007.

Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday, June 21, with Veronika Part and Roberto Bolle 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.

The final week of American Ballet Theatre's eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House will feature eight performances of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet beginning Monday evening, July 5 with Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes in the title roles. Set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. The ballet received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet in London on February 9, 1965 and was given its ABT Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 22, 1985.

 

A Celebration for Alicia Alonso

As part of American Ballet Theatre 70th Anniversary season, the Company will celebrate the life and career of legendary dancer and ballet director Alicia Alonso. Alonso joined Ballet Theatre in 1940 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1946. Famed for her interpretation of the title role in Giselle, Alonso also starred in the World Premieres of ABT's most critically-hailed works, including George Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Antony Tudor's Undertow and as The Accused in Agnes De Mille's Fall River Legend; all roles that were created on her. Alonso's 90th birthday will be marked by a special performance of Don Quixote on Thursday evening, June 3, featuring three Principal casts. Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes will dance the lead roles of Kitri and Basilio in Act I, Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo take over the leads for Act II and Natalia Osipova and Jose Manuel Carreño perform the leading roles in Act III at the birthday celebration.

 

Repertory Festival

American Ballet Theatre will offer two weeks of repertory programs June 8-12 and continuing on June 28 through July 3. The programs include an All-Ashton program featuring Sir Frederick Ashton's Birthday Offering, The Dream and the Company Premieres of The Awakening Pas de Deux from Ashton's The Sleeping Beauty and Thaïs Pas de Deux. On Tuesday evening, June 8, Diana Vishneva and Jose Manuel Carreño will dance the Company Premiere of Thaïs Pas de Deux and Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns will perform the ABT Premiere of the Awakening Pas de Deux. On the same evening, the season's first performance of Ashton's The Dream will be performed by Gillian Murphy as Titania, David Hallberg as Oberon and Herman Cornejo as Puck.

American Ballet Theatre's repertory festival also includes an All-American Program featuring Twyla Tharp's The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Paul Taylor's Company B and Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free. An All-Classic Master's Program presented on June 29, June 30 matinee and July 2 will include George Balanchine's Allegro Brillante, pas de deux from Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Manon and Antony Tudor's Romeo and Juliet, as well as ballets from the All-Ashton and All-American programs.

An ABT Premieres program on the evenings of June 9, June 11, June 28 and July 1 will feature Tharp's The Brahms-Haydn Variations, along with Alexei Ratmansky's On the Dneiper and Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free.

Memorial Day Matinee

A special Memorial Day matinee performance will take place on Monday, May 31 with a performance of Don Quixote. Tickets for the matinee are specially priced from $20 to $95. For more information, please visit, www.abt.org.

ABTKids

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre's annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, June 5 at 11:30am. Following the ABTKids performance, Angelina Ballerina^TM will greet all ticket holders and pose for photos. 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, June 5 (9:30 am). On Saturday, June 19, ABT will hold a Sleeping Beauty Workshop at 11:00am. 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.

The Metropolitan Opera House box office opens Sunday, March 28 at 12 Noon for single ticket sales. Tickets, priced from $20-$111, are also on sale by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT's website www.abt.org. The Metropolitan Opera House box office is located at Lincoln Center, Broadway between 62nd and 65th Streets in New York City.