Tune In Tonight For New York City Ballet's 2021 Spring Gala

Tune in tonight at 8 PM ET for New York City Ballet's 2021 Spring Gala-the Company's first-ever virtual gala event.

The film will be shot entirely on location at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, NYCB's home since 1964, by Coppola and acclaimed cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd, and will feature choreography by NYCB's Co-Founding Choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and current Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor Justin Peck.

Coppola is a writer, director, and producer, who made her feature-length directorial debut in 1999 with The Virgin Suicides. In 2004, Coppola received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, for which she was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, becoming only the third woman in history to be recognized in that category. In 2010 she became the first American woman to win the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, for her film Somewhere; and in 2017 she became the second woman to win the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for The Beguiled. Other films written and directed by Coppola include Marie Antoinette (2006), The Bling Ring (2013), and On the Rocks (2020). In 2016 Coppola made her debut as an opera director, collaborating with Valentino on Verdi's La Traviata for Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Le Sourd, who received a 2013 Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography for The Grandmaster, has previously worked with Coppola on The Beguiled and On the Rocks.

CHANEL'S support of this film underscores the House's rich history of patronage of dance and cinema. A longstanding patron of the arts, Gabrielle Chanel catalyzed artistic connections across disciplines throughout her career, defining a distinctly modern approach that continues today.

Coppola's film for New York City Ballet will feature members of the Company performing five works: a World Premiere by Peck featuring NYCB Principal Dancer Anthony Huxley set to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings; excerpts from three works by Balanchine-Duo Concertant, featuring NYCB Principal Dancers Ashley Bouder and Russell Janzen; Liebeslieder Walzer, featuring NYCB Principal Dancers Maria Kowroski and Ask la Cour; and the finale of Divertimento No. 15, featuring NYCB Principal Dancers Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette, Soloists Emilie Gerrity, Lauren King, Ashley Laracey, Unity Phelan, and Daniel Applebaum, and corps de ballet member Andrew Scordato-and a solo from Jerome Robbins' Dances at a Gathering, featuring NYCB Principal Dancer Gonzalo Garcia. The musical soundtrack for the film will be performed by New York City Ballet Orchestra members and Company pianists under the direction of NYCB Music Director Andrew Litton.

"We are thrilled to have Sofia Coppola bring her extraordinary artistic vision to New York City Ballet for this special film premiere for our 2021 virtual Spring Gala and digital season, and grateful to CHANEL for their generous underwriting of Ms. Coppola's film, and to Emily and Len Blavatnik, Lead Benefactors, for their extraordinary support," said NYCB Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford. "After more than a year off the stage, this project has been conceived as a celebration of our wonderful artists, unparalleled repertory, and magnificent theater as we begin to look to a return to live performances at Lincoln Center in September."