Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts Presents Moscow Festival Ballet's ROMEO AND JULIET/CARMEN, 3/5

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2015-16 season with Moscow Festival Ballet's double bill of one-act ballets, Romeo and Juliet and Carmen, on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 8pm. Tickets are $36-45 and can be purchased at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling the box office at 718-951-4500 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-6pm).

The power of love and the finality of death collide as two of the greatest tragic masterpieces of all time are paired in an evening of one-act ballets. The program begins with a restaging of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, set to the music of Tchaikovsky and choreographed by legendary Bolshoi principle dancer Elena Radchenko. This is followed by Alberto Alonso's fiery Carmen, inspired by Bizet's sensuous and spirited opera.

Moscow Festival Ballet's 2016 spring tour of Romeo and Juliet will feature Maria Kluyeva, Maria Sokolnikova, and Olga Gudkova sharing the role of the ill-fated Juliet, with her star-crossed lover Romeo double-cast with Nurlan Kinerbaev and Dmitry Sitkevich. The rest of the cast includes Evgeniy Rudakov (Tibald), Anton Baglikov (Mercutio), Denis Onufriychuk (Paris), Dmitry Romanov (Lord Capulet), Natalia Ivanova (Lady Capulet), Alina Stenina (Nurse), and Ivan Zviagincev (Priest).

Created especially for celebrated Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya (1925-2015), Carmen features a score by Plisetskaya's husband Rodion Shchedrin (inspired heavily by Georges Bizet's opera) with choreography by Alberto Alonso. It received its world premiere in 1967 in Moscow. Casting for Carmen includes Maria Klyeva (Carmen), Alexander Daev (Don José), Denis Onufriychuk (the Toreador), Evgeniy Rudakov (Corregidor), and Elena Khorosheva (Fate), with Olga Sharikova, Malika Tokkozhina, Hanna Zimovchenko, and Daria Lednikova as the Tobacco Girls.

About Moscow Festival Ballet

The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989 when legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Radchenko sought to realize his vision of a company which would bring together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies in an independent new company within the framework of Russian classic ballet. Under his direction, an exciting new company of leading dancers from across Russia have staged new productions of timeless classics such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita and Carmen.

Since its inception, the Moscow Festival Ballet has completed two tours of Europe, with extraordinary receptions in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. Two tours of the United Kingdom, including capacity audiences at London's famed Coliseum, have resulted in reengagements during the 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, and 1999-2000 seasons. The Moscow Festival Ballet first toured the United States in the Winter/Spring of 1997 and has returned seven times since then.

The company has also performed with great success in Turkey at the Istanbul Festival and in Greece at the Athens Festival, and recently completed a two-month tour of Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Under the direction of Sergei Radchenko, the Moscow Festival Ballet continues to expand its repertoire. In addition to commissioning new works from within Russia and abroad, the company specializes in Twentieth Century full-length ballets such as Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Legend of Love, Stone Flower, and The Golden Age. Mr. Radchenko has researched the original choreography and stage productions of several of Marius Petipa's classic ballets, including new productions in the year 2000 of Don Quixote and Paquita, and a recreation of Jules Perrot's and Jean Corallli's Giselle.

About Sergei Radchenko, Artistic Director

Born in 1944, Sergei Radchenko graduated from the Moscow School of Dance in 1964 and then joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where he worked for 25 years. He danced the entire repertoire at the Boshoi, but enjoyed a special reputation for Spanish dance, particularly the role of the bullfighter in the Bizet-Schedrin Carmen Suite. He is the founder and artistic director of the Moscow Festival Ballet and has achieved a remarkable feat in the establishment and development of this young-but-great Russian ballet company. Mr. Radchenko presents a large number of master-classes, inviting leading teachers from the Bolshoi and Mariinksky theatres to ensure the continuation of the rich traditions of the Russian classical school.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts' presentation of Moscow Festival Ballet's Romeo and Juliet / Carmen is made possible, in part, by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and The Harkness Foundation for Dance.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College

2 train to Brooklyn College/Flatbush Avenue

BrooklynCenter.orgor 718-951-4500 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-6pm)

About Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Founded in 1954, Brooklyn Center for the PerformingArts at Brooklyn College presents outstanding performing arts and arts education programs, reflective of Brooklyn's diverse communities, at affordable prices. Each season, Brooklyn Center welcomes over 65,000 people to the 2,400 seat Whitman Theatre, including up to 45,000 schoolchildren from over 300 schools who attend their SchoolTime series, one of the largest arts-in-education programs in the borough.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts' programs are supported, in part, by public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Brooklyn Center's 2015-16 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Major support for the 2015-16 season is provided by: Brooklyn College, Con Edison, TD Bank, National Grid, Shanachie Entertainment Corp, the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Jazz Touring Network, the Alice Lawrence Foundation, the Macy's Foundation, the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the TD Charitable Foundation. Additional support provided by CNG Publications, The Brooklyn Eagle, Brooklyn Media Group, and WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM. The Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott New York Brooklyn is the official hotel of Brooklyn Center's 2015-16 season. Backstage catering is graciously provided by Applebee's. Pianos for select performances provided by Steinway & Sons.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges generous support from New York City Council Member Jumaane D. Williams; New York City Council Cultural Affairs Commitee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer; New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Tom Finkelpearl.

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