THE WINTER'S TALE & More Set for American Ballet Theatre 2025 Summer Season

American Ballet Theatre will celebrate its 85th anniversary at the Metropolitan Opera House during its six week Summer season, running June 10 – July 19, as announced today by Artistic Director Susan Jaffe. The anniversary season also marks 30 years of ABT Studio Company and 20 years of the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. 
 
The Summer season will feature Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale and will see the return of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works, Giselle, Sylvia, and two weeks of Kevin Mckenzie’s Swan Lake, which celebrates its 25th year in 2025. 
 
Principal Dancers for the 2025 Summer season include Joo Won Ahn, Aran Bell, Isabella Boylston, Skylar Brandt, Daniel Camargo, Herman Cornejo, Thomas Forster, Isaac Hernández, Catherine Hurlin, Chloe Misseldine, Gillian Murphy, Calvin Royal III, Hee Seo, Christine Shevchenko, Cory Stearns, Devon Teuscher, Cassandra Trenary, James Whiteside, and Roman Zhurbin.  
 
Reece Clarke, principal dancer at The Royal Ballet, will make his Guest Artist debut with ABT as Aminta in Sylvia, performing at the matinee performance on Wednesday, July 9, and at the evening performance on Saturday, July 12. Olga Smirnova, principal dancer at the Dutch National Ballet, will return to ABT as a Guest Artist at the evening performance on Saturday, June 21 in the title role from Giselle. 
 
American Ballet Theatre’s New York Premiere: The Winter’s Tale 
American Ballet Theatre’s New York Premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale will open on Tuesday evening, July 1 at 7:30 P.M. Considered a modern ballet classic, The Winter’s Tale follows a marriage through jealousy, heartbreak, remorse, and redemption. The Winter’s Tale received its world premiere by The Royal Ballet, co-commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada, on April 10, 2014, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. The award-winning production will receive its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on April 3, 2025, at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. At the Metropolitan Opera House, the ballet will be given seven performances through Saturday, July 5, featuring music by Joby Talbot, set and costume design by Bob Crowley, lighting design by Natasha Katz, video design by Daniel Brodie, and silk design by Basil Twist. 
 

Full-Length Productions 

Celebrating 25 years since its World Premiere, Kevin Mckenzie’s Swan Lake will kick off the 2025 Summer season with eight performances led by Isabella Boylston as Odette/Odile and Daniel Camargo as Prince Siegfried on Tuesday, June 10 at 7:30 P.M. Swan Lake will return for eight performance in the fifth week of ABT’s Summer season, led by Catherine Hurlin as Odette/Odile and James Whiteside as Prince Siegfried on Monday, July 14 at 7:30 P.M. Set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake is choreographed by Kevin Mckenzie after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov and features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler.  
 
In the second week of its Summer season, ABT will present Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works for five performances, beginning on Tuesday, June 17 at 7:30 P.M. led by Devon Teuscher and James Whiteside. Woolf Works features choreography by Wayne McGregor and music by Max Richter, with set design by Ciguë (“I now, I then”), We Not I (“Becomings”), and Wayne McGregor (“Tuesday”); costume design by Moritz Junge; lighting design by Lucy Carter; video design by Ravi Deepres; sound design by Chris Ekers; make up by Kabuki; and dramaturgy by Uzma Hameed. Woolf Works is produced in association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.  
 
From Saturday, June 21 through Saturday, June 28, ABT will offer 10 performances of Giselle with the opening matinee performance on Saturday, June 21 at 2:00 P.M. being led by Christine Shevchenko in the title role and Calvin Royal III as Albrecht. Staged by Kevin Mckenzie with choreography after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa, Giselle is set to music by Adolphe Adam, orchestrated by John Lanchbery, with scenery by Gianni Quaranta, costumes by Anna Anni, and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The current staging is by McKenzie, using the Quaranta and Anni designs. 
 
Sylvia will return to American Ballet Theatre in the fourth week of the Summer season, beginning on Tuesday, July 8 at 7:30 P.M. and running for seven performances. The opening night cast of Sylvia will be led by Catherine Hurlin as Sylvia and Isaac Hernández as Aminta, both in their debuts. With choreography by Frederick Ashton, music by Léo Delibes, and staging by Christopher Newton, Sylvia is set in mythical Greece and tells the story of the chaste nymph Sylvia who is united by the deity Eros with the lovelorn shepherd Aminta. Sylvia features scenery and costumes by Christopher and Robin Ironside, with additional designs by Peter Farmer and lighting by Mark Jonathan. This production received its revival premiere by The Royal Ballet on November 4, 2004, at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. American Ballet Theatre presented the United States Revival Premiere on June 3, 2005. The ballet was last performed by ABT in 2016. 
 

ABTKids 

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet for families, is scheduled for Saturday, June 14 at 11:00 A.M. Tickets start at $25.  
 

2025 Summer Season Celebratory Evenings 

American Ballet Theatre will celebrate many milestones during the 2025 Summer season through a series of post-performance toasts. Admission is extended to that evening’s ticket holders with the purchase of an additional reception ticket for $98. 
 
The celebratory evenings will be as follows:  

Celebrating ABT’s 85th Anniversary & 25 Years of Kevin Mckenzie’s Swan Lake: Tuesday, June 10 
Hee Seo & Cory Stearns’s 20th Anniversary Toast: Friday, June 27 
American Ballet Theatre’s New York Premiere of The Winter’s Tale: Tuesday, July 1 
Honoring ABT’s Corps de Ballet: Friday, July 11 
Gillian Murphy’s Swan Song: Friday, July 18 
 
ABT Masters Series 

ABT will hold three ABT Masters Series programs during the 2025 Summer season. Designed for adults 20-years or older with beginner to advanced-beginner ballet experience, participants will spend the day at ABT’s 890 Broadway studios for body conditioning, ballet technique, and a 90-minute repertoire workshop. That evening, participants will attend a pre-show talk before watching the corresponding ABT performance at the Metropolitan Opera House. The day-long experience can be purchased for $350 and will run on Saturday, June 21 (Giselle); Saturday, July 12 (Sylvia); and Saturday, July 19 (Swan Lake). For more information, please visit www.abt.org/abt-masters-series.