BENJAMIN MILLEPIED DANSES CONCERTANTES Returns to the Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater will present the return of Benjamin Millepied Danses Concertantes, a company that features several dancers from American Ballet Theatre.  This week-long season – featuring live accompaniment by the distinguished pianists Pedja Muzijevic and Natasha Paremski – will be presented from December 9-14.  The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue in Chelsea.  To purchase tickets, please call JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or via the internet at www.Joyce.org.  

Under the title Danses Concertantes, Benjamin Millepied has presented performances since 2002.  The December Joyce program features twelve American Ballet Theatre (ABT) dancers in a repertoire that includes a world premiere, all accompanied by live music.  George Balanchine’s Sonatine* (music by Maurice Ravel) and 28 Variations on a Theme by Paganini** (music by Johannes Brahms) choreographed by Mr. Millepied, both will be accompanied by pianist Natasha Paremski.  The program concludes with a Millepied world premiere Without (music by Frédéric Chopin) featuring the pianist Pedja Muzijevic.  Dancers are Gemma Bond, Isabella Boylston, Celine Cassone, Thomas Forster, Nicole Graniero, Alexandre Hammoudi, Blaine Hoven, Sarah Lane, Luis Ribagorda, Maria Riccetto, Eric Tamm, Cory Stearns and Melissa Thomas. Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner, former dancers from ABT and noted teachers and coaches, will be the ballet staff for Danses Concertantes. Christine Redpath, an Assistant Ballet Master with the New York City Ballet, will stage Sonatine. Brad Fields, Lighting Director for ABT, will light all works. Mr. Millepied’s work was last seen at The Joyce in March 2006 with four world premieres, featuring choreography by Mr. Millepied, Luca Veggetti, Aszure Barton and Andonis Foniadakis. 

Sonatine had its world premiere on May 15, 1975 by the New York City Ballet. The premiere cast was Violette Verdy and Jean-Pierre Bonnefous. It was the opening work of the Ravel Festival of the NYC Ballet which included the premieres of eight Balanchine Works.

28 Variations on a theme by Paganini is a revised version of the ballet originally choreographed by Benjamin Millepied for the 2005 School of American Ballet Workshop. 

Benjamin Millepied is a principal dancer at New York City Ballet. He was born in Bordeaux, France, and began his training at the age of eight with his mother, a former dancer. Mr. Millepied entered the Conservatoire National in Lyon, France, at age 13, where he studied until he was 16 years old.  He took summer classes at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in the summer of 1992 and returned with a scholarship from the French Ministry (Bourse Lavoisier) to study full-time in the fall of 1993.  Mr. Millepied originated a principal role in Jerome Robbins' world premiere of 2 & 3 Part Inventions set to music by Bach at SAB's 1994 Spring Workshop. He was invited to become a member of New York City Ballet's corps de ballet in 1995, was promoted to the rank of soloist in 1998 and to principal dancer in the spring of 2002.

Mr. Millepied has been choreographing since 2001. His most recent work, 3 Movements to a score by Steve Reich, is a Joyce Theater 25th Anniversary Commission and will have its world premiere with Pacific Northwest Ballet in November 2008. The Paris Opera Ballet premiered, Triade, in September 2008 to a commissioned score by Nico Muhly as part of the Company's homage to Jerome Robbins. The work was filmed for television and will be shown early in 2009. American Ballet Theatre presented his world premiere, From Here on Out, in 2007, also to an original score by Mr. Muhly. He has made two works for the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Petrouchka (2007) and the full-length Casse-Noisette (2005). Other commissions include Capriccio (2006) for ABT II, Years Later (2006), a solo for Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Amoveo (2006) for the Paris Opera Ballet with set design by Paul Cox and costumes by Marc Jacobs.

Pianist Natasha Paremski has appeared with orchestras and in recital across the US and Europe, including a debut with San Francisco Performances and her Spanish debut with recitals in Las Palmas and Oviedo.  Past engagements include performances with the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Houston Symphony, New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, San Diego Symphony, the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists (with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich), Residentie Orchestra and RoyAl Scottish National Orchestra.  Pianist Pedja Muzijevic has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, Dresden Philharmonic, Shinsei Nihon Orchestra in Tokyo, Orquesta Sinfonica in Montevideo, Zagreb Philharmonic, Boston Pops and he made his Carnegie Hall debut with Oberlin Symphony and Robert Spano in 2007.  He has played solo recitals at Alice Tully Hall, Casals Hall and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile, The Fricke Collection, and Great Britain’s Aldeburgh Festival.  He has toured with Mikhail Baryshnikov throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America, and with Simon Keenlyside in Trisha Brown’s staged version of Schubert’s Winterreise at Lincoln Center, London’s Barbican, La Monnaie in Brussels and Opera National de Paris.  

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