New York City Ballet to Present 2023 Fall Gala Featuring Jerome Robbins' GLASS PIECES & More

New York City Ballet, which will celebrate its 75th Anniversary during its 2023-24 season, will present its annual Fall Gala on Thursday, October 5, 2023 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, honoring the Company’s co-Founding Choreographers, fashion, and New York City.

Balanchine once said that “New York is the only place in the world where we could have built this company,” and the annual Fall Gala will celebrate New York City and George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, the Company’s founding choreographers. The evening will feature Robbins’ Glass Pieces to the music of Philip Glass and excerpts from Balanchine’s Who Cares? to the music of George Gershwin.

An annual celebration of dance and fashion, for this year’s Fall Gala, Who Cares? will feature new costume designs by Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera. Who Cares? premiered in 1970 with original costumes by Karinska, redesigned in 2013 by Santo Loquasto, sets designed by Jo Mielziner, and lighting by Ronald Bates, with current lighting by Mark Stanley. Glass Pieces premiered in 1983, with costumes designed by Ben Benson, production design by Robbins and Bates, and lighting by Bates.

George Balanchine’s Who Cares?

Costumes Redesigned by WES GORDON for Carolina Herrera

Wes Gordon serves as the Creative Director of Carolina Herrera New York. Appointed by the brand’s founder, Carolina Herrera, Gordon leads the global creative strategy of the label across all brand platforms including ready-to-wear, fragrance, beauty, and eyewear.

Raised in Atlanta, Gordon attended Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London. Upon graduation in 2009, the designer moved to New York City to launch his eponymous line of womenswear and presented his collection in New York from 2010 to 2016. During this time, Gordon received the Fashion Group International’s Rising Star Award and was a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.

In March 2017, Gordon began consulting with Carolina Herrera before being appointed Creative Director in 2018. His first runway show for the House was Spring 2019, which was presented on September 10th, 2018 in New York City. Most recently, Gordon was inducted into Business of Fashion’s venerable #BoF500 list.

Carolina Herrera is a New York-based fashion house recognized for creating beautifully crafted collections synonymous with fearless and fabulous style infused with bold elegance. Founded in 1981 by Carolina Herrera, the brand’s in-house atelier blends the traditions of haute couture and craftsmanship with the wear ability and ease known to American fashion.

NYCB’s annual Fall Gala celebration of ballet and fashion was conceived by NYCB Board Vice Chair Sarah Jessica Parker, and launched in 2012 with a gala celebration of the legendary designer Valentino. Since then, NYCB’s Fall Gala has featured costumes designed by Virgil Abloh of Off-WhiteTM, Rosie Assoulin, Thom Browne, Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, Tsumori Chisato, Peter Copping for Oscar de la Renta, Esteban Cortázar, Giles Deacon, Alberta Ferretti, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim of MONSE and Oscar de la Renta, Prabal Gurung, Carolina Herrera, Mary Katrantzou, Humberto Leon of Opening Ceremony and Kenzo, Hanako Maeda of ADEAM, Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida of Marques’Almeida, Zuhair Murad, Alejandro Gómez Palomo for Palomo Spain, Zac Posen, Gareth Pugh, Narciso Rodriguez, Christopher John Rogers, Jonathan Saunders, Raf Simons, Anna Sui, Olivier Theyskens, Iris van Herpen, Dries Van Noten, and Jason Wu. All of the designs have been created in house at the New York City Ballet Costume Shop in collaboration with the designers and NYCB’s Director of Costumes Marc Happel.

Since its inception in 2012, this annual celebration of ballet and fashion has raised more than $27 million for New York City Ballet. The Chairs for the eleventh edition of the event will include Parker and co- Chairs Georgina Bloomberg, Andy Cohen, Laverne Cox, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Jill Kargman, Diane Kruger, Mazdack and Zanna Rassi, Jordan Roth, and Lizzie Tisch.

New York City Ballet’s 2023 Fall Gala is generously sponsored by Vacheron Constantin with additional support from The Macallan.

Benefit-priced tickets for the gala evening, which include the 7pm performance, a pre-performance reception, and black-tie supper ball following the performance, are available through the NYCB Special Events Office at 212-870-5585 and at nycballet.com/fallgala. Tickets for the performance only start at $38 and will be available beginning August 8 at nycballet.com, by calling 212-496-0600, or at the David H. Koch Theater box office, located at West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue.