New York City Ballet Announces 2011 Season

New York City Ballet's 2011 winter repertory performances will begin on Tuesday, January 18, kicking off with an all-Balanchine program consisting of Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Duo Concertant, Valse-Fantaisie and The Four Temperaments, and will continue for six weeks, through Sunday, February 27, with performances of more than 27 different ballets from NYCB's unparalleled repertory. All performances will take place at the Company's home, the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

World Premiere by Susan Stroman

Highlighting the winter performances will be the world premiere of Tony-Award winning Broadway director and choreographer Susan Stroman's new work For the Love of Duke, which will premiere at the Company's annual New Combinations evening on January 28. Each year since 1997, NYCB has presented a world premiere ballet on, or around, January 22 to honor the anniversary of Balanchine's birth. The January 28 program will also include Alexei Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH and Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia.

Set to the music of Duke Ellington, For the Love of Duke will include Stroman's 1999 ballet for NYCB Blossom Got Kissed and a new companion piece Frankie and Johnny...and Rose. Stroman is the winner of multiple Tony Awards for her work on such Broadway shows as The Producers, Contact, and Crazy for You. Stroman last worked with NYCB in 2004 when she created the full-length Double Feature. This will be her third work for the Company. Saturday At The Ballet With George

On Saturday, January 22 NYCB will celebrate the birthday of its Co-Founder George Balanchine with a full day of performances and free events all taking place at the David H. Koch Theater. Saturday At The Ballet With George will begin at 10:30 AM with a free screening of the renowned 1984 Dance in America documentary film Balanchine. The 2 PM matinee performance will offer an all-Balanchine program including Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Duo Concertant, The Four Temperaments and Cortège Hongrois. Between the matinee and evening performances will be a free Studio Talk on the Promenade of the David H. Koch Theater with Company artists discussing the timelessness of George Balanchine and his work as well as a rare viewing of a School of American Ballet class taught onstage by Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins. The day will conclude with live music on the Promenade before the 8 PM performance which will feature an all-Balanchine program of Mozartiana, Prodigal Son, and Stars and Stripes. A complete schedule of events follows.

Saturday At The Ballet With George

January 22, 2011 at the David H. Koch Theater 10:30 AM Film Screening - 1984 Dance in America Documentary Balanchine (FREE) 2:00 PM Matinee Performance - All Balanchine Program 5:00 PM Studio Talk - Balanchine Now (FREE) 6:00 PM Onstage SAB Class Demonstration with Peter Martins (FREE) 7:00 PM Live Music on the Promenade of the DHKT (FREE with performance ticket) 8:00 PM Evening Performance - All Balanchine Program The film screening, Studio Talk, and onstage class demonstration are free events but tickets are required. Tickets for the performances and free events can be obtained at the theater's box office, at www.nycballet.com, and through Center Charge at 212-721-6500. (Please note: tickets for the free events ordered online or via Center Charge are subject to a handling fee. There is no handling fee when ordering a free event ticket in person at the David H. Koch Theater Box Office. Standard handling fees apply when purchasing performance tickets.) For more information and a detailed schedule of events for Saturday At The Ballet With George visit www.nycballet.com/balanchine.

Peter Martins' Swan Lake This winter Peter Martins' full-length staging of Swan Lake returns to the repertory for eight performances starting February 13. Created in 1996 for the Royal Danish Ballet and first performed by NYCB in 1999, Martins' Swan Lake features sets and costumes by the acclaimed Danish painter Per Kirkeby. A streamlined version of the classic full-length work, Martins' staging of Tschaikovsky's Swan Lake eliminates much of the mime sequences, as well as two of the ballet's three intermissions.

See The Music Inaugurated during the Company's repertory performances this past fall, NYCB's new performance series See the Music returns this winter with three performances specially tailored to provide an inside look at NYCB's incomparable musical repertory and the 62-piece NYCB Orchestra. Each See the Music performance will begin with a brief discussion, followed by the NYCB Orchestra performing an excerpt from one of the ballet scores on the program. See the Music performances this winter will explore a range of works in NYCB's musical repertory.

The January 20 program will look at Tschaikovsky's score for George Balanchine's Mozartiana; the February 1 program will focus on Thomas Adès' violin concerto Concentric Paths which accompanies Wayne McGregor's Spring 2010 work Outlier; and on February 19 the program will highlight Esa-Pekka Salonen's commissioned score for Peter Martins' most recent work Mirage. Repertory Highlights In addition to the world premiere work by Susan Stroman, the winter performances will also include 12 ballets by Balanchine, 5 by Robbins, 4 by Martins as well as works by Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon. Works returning to the repertory include George Balanchine's Valse-Fantaisie, Peter Martins' Hallelujah Junction, Alexei Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH, and Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia. NYCB's recent revival of Peter Martin's The Magic Flute returns fresh from the Company's fall performances.

Also returning this winter are some of NYCB's newest works including Peter Martins' Mirage, Benjamin Millepied's Plainspoken and Wayne McGregor's Outlier. Ticket Purchases Create-Your-Own subscriptions for the 2010-2011 Season, which provide savings of up to 20% off single ticket prices, are available through the NYCB subscription office at 800-580-8730, and online at www.nycballet.com. Single tickets for the winter repertory performances start at just $20. -more-

Tickets for all performances and events can be obtained at the theater's box office, at www.nycballet.com and through Center Charge at 212-721-6500. All performances will take place at the David H. Koch Theater, which is located on the Lincoln Center Plaza at Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street. For general information on tickets for any New York City Ballet performances, call 212-870-5570, or visit www.nycballet.com.

Major annual funding for New York City Ballet is provided by: Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation/Miss Gillian Attfield Mary P. Oenslager Foundation Fund of the New York Community Trust Denise Sobel and Norman Keller The Rockefeller Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Howard Solomon John L. and Barbara Vogelstein Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin Public support for NYCB is provided by: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts Major support for new work is provided by: Members of the New Combinations Fund The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation Rudolf Nureyev Fund for Emerging Choreographers: Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation New York City Ballet gratefully acknowledges the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund, which provides support for new work and audience development.

New York City Ballet's musical leadership is endowed in part by the Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro Fund for Musical Excellence. The creation and performance of works by Peter Martins is funded in part by an endowment gift from the Solomon family, given in loving memory of Carolyn B. Solomon. New York City Ballet's performances of works by George Balanchine are supported in part by the Balanchine Production Fund, an endowment created through The Campaign for New York City Ballet.