2014 Lincoln Center Festival to Kick Off 7/7; Single Tickets On Sale 3/31

Single tickets will go on sale on March 31 for ALL Lincoln Center Festival presentations. The festival, which runs from July 7 through August 16, 2014, with performances by artists and ensembles from 11 countries, and a co-presentation with Park Avenue Armory, will take place in six venues on and off the Lincoln Center campus.

Lincoln Center Festival single tickets are available through CenterCharge at 212.721.6500, online at LincolnCenterFestival.org and at the Avery Fisher Hall box office, 65th Street and Broadway.

The combined forces of The Bolshoi Ballet, Opera, Orchestra and Chorus-340 strong, including world famous artists as well as rising stars-will grace Lincoln Center's stages in productions that showcase the depth and range of the 238-year-old theater's rich artistic tradition. The Bolshoi Ballet will dance three, evening-length ballets: Swan Lake, Don Quixote, andSpartacus (July 15-27).

Celebrated conductor Gennadi Rozhdhestvensky will lead The Bolshoi Opera, Orchestra and Chorus in two performances (July 12 and 13) of the concert version of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera rarity, The Tsar's Bride, a fantastical tale about a single mysterious event during the long reign of 16th-century Tsar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), whose third wife Marfa died just days after their wedding.

The Bolshoi Ballet (Sergei Filin, Artistic Director) dances three programs at the David H. Koch Theater: Yuri Grigorovich's 2001 production of Swan Lake, music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, one of the company's defining works (July 15-20); Alexei Fadeyechev's 1999 production of Don Quixote, based on choreography by Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky after the novel of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes, with music by Ludwig Minkus (July 22-23); and Grigorovich's 1968 grand spectacle, Spartacus, with music by Aram Khachaturyan (July 25-27).

Last seen in New York in 2012 with its acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya, Sydney Theatre Company returns to the Festivalwith international stage and screen stars Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert, joined by young newcomer Elizabeth Debickiin the U.S. premiere of Benedict Andrews' production of Jean Genet's dark, unsettling play, The Maids, in a new translation by STC Artistic Director Andrew Upton and Benedict Andrews.

The haunting Houston Grand Opera production of The Passenger, Mieczyslaw Weinberg's uncompromising 1968 Holocaust opera about two young women, an overseer and Polish prisoner entangled at Auschwitz, staged and translated by David Pountney, had its triumphant world premiere this February. The production will have its New York premiere performances, July 10, 12 and 13. This co-presentation of Lincoln Center Festival and Park Avenue Armory features an enormous, multi-tiered set that takes full advantage of the scale of the Armory's soaring Wade Thompson Drill Hall.

On opening night, July 7, the Festival welcomes Japan's leading Kabuki theater company, Heisei Nakamura-za, returning for its third Festival appearance with its definitive production of a classic revenge tale, Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki ("The Ghost Tale of the Wet Nurse Tree"), adapted from a 19th-century rakugo narrative by San'yutei Encho. Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki is a tour-de-force for the lead actor, Nakamura Kankuro VI. He is required to play three different roles (an artist, a faithful servant, and a villain) in this story of love, plots, and betrayal, culminating in a spectacular fight in a waterfall, in which he essentially fights himself - as he changes instantly between two characters as if by magic. Joining him onstage will be his brother, Nakamura Shichinosuke II, also a noted Kabuki actor, who specializes in onnagata roles, in which a male actor plays a female character (all of the parts in Kabuki theater are played by men). There will be eight performances of this production in the Rose Theater, July 7-12.

In addition to the performances, a Japanese Artisan Village outside the David H. Koch Theater on Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza will open a door into Japanese culture and the art of Kabuki theater. Booths will feature traditional Japanese handicrafts for sale, ranging from wood-fired pottery and handmade textiles to delicately crafted dolls and kanzashi (hair ornaments). The Artisan Village will be on the Plaza for two weeks, from July 1 through July 13.

Rosas, the renowned Brussels-based dance company founded by dancer/choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker,marks its 30th anniversary and makes its first appearance at Lincoln Center Festival in 15 years, with four, early seminal works. De Keersmaeker, who is credited with establishing Belgium's position as an important locus of modern dance, is scheduled to dance in the company's two earliest works: Fase (July 8-9) and Elena's Aria (July 13-14). Other works on the program are Rosas danst Rosas (July 11-12) and Bartók/Mikrokosmos (July 15-16), which is danced to live music performed by members of Ictus. Performances take place at Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College.

Since its inaugural season in 1996, Lincoln Center Festival has received worldwide attention for presenting some of the broadest and most original performing arts programs in Lincoln Center's history. The 2014 Festival will have 49 performances. Entering its 19th year, the Festival will have presented nearly 1,322 performances of opera, music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary forms by internationally acclaimed artists from more than 50 countries. To date, the Festival has commissioned more than 42 new works and offered some 139 world, U.S., and New York premieres. It places particular emphasis on showcasing contemporary artistic viewpoints and multidisciplinary works that challenge the boundaries of traditional performance.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers 15 series, festivals, and programs including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Artist Program, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Books, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, Midsummer Night Swing, Martin E. Segal Awards, Meet the Artist, Mostly Mozart Festival, Target Free Thursdays, and the White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a $1.2 billion campus renovation, completed in October 2012.

Lincoln Center is committed to providing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. For information, call the Department of Programs and Services for People with Disabilities at (212) 875-5375

Photo Credit: Lincoln Center