Posted 04 March 2006 - 04:16 PM
Here's the SFB press release, from the company website:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 02, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ANNOUNCES FIRST ENGAGEMENT AT NEW YORK'S LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL, JULY 25-30
San Francisco Ballet Returns to New York City after Four Years with Three Programs including Six New York Premieres
SAN FRANCISCO, Thursday, March 2, 2006—San Francisco Ballet has announced it will perform at New York’s Lincoln Center Festival July 25 through 30, 2006. Over six days and six performances, the Company will present three programs at New York’s State Theater, including a special, one-night only performance, Opening Night Celebration with San Francisco Ballet; the New York premiere of Mark Morris’ Sylvia, a ballet in three acts; and a mixed-repertory program. San Francisco Ballet last performed in New York at City Center in 2002.
“We are delighted to be returning to New York, with three programs and six New York premieres, for our first-ever engagement at Lincoln Center Festival,” remarked San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson. “I feel the breadth of programming, from an Opening Night Celebration to Mark Morris’ Sylvia and a mixed-repertory program, showcases the Company’s depth of talent and diversity.”
Opening Night Celebration with San Francisco Ballet
The one-time only performance, Opening Night Celebration with San Francisco Ballet, will take place on Tuesday, July 25 at 8:00 p.m. and features contemporary and classical works to be announced, including the New York premieres of a pas de deux from Principal Dancer Yuri Possokhov’s Reflections and Helgi Tomasson’s Concerto Grosso. The Company will also perform a rarely seen version of George Balanchine’s Harlequinade Pas de Deux, choreographed in 1955, and set to the music of Riccardo Drigo. The work had its San Francisco Ballet premiere on the Opening Night Gala in January 2006.
Mark Morris’ Sylvia
The New York premiere of Mark Morris’ Sylvia will be performed Wednesday, July 26, Thursday, July 27, and Friday, July 28 (all performances at 8:00 p.m.). The work, set to a score by Léo Delibes, premiered during San Francisco Ballet’s 2004 Repertory Season to critical acclaim. Created for San Francisco Ballet, Morris’ Sylvia is the first full-length version of the work to be staged in the United States and is also Morris’s first full-evening work for a ballet company. The work features scenic design by Allen Moyer, costume design by Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting design by James F. Ingalls. Sylvia is the sixth work Morris has choreographed for San Francisco Ballet and will be reprised during the Company’s 2006 Repertory Season. The Financial Times called it, “nothing less than a career landmark, an enchanting blend of movement vocabularies and a wondrous demonstration of the power of tonal nuance.”
Mixed-Repertory Program
The mixed-repertory program will be performed Saturday, July 29 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, July 30 at 3:00 p.m., and includes three New York premieres: Helgi Tomasson’s 7 for Eight, Christopher Wheeldon’s Quaternary, and William Forsythe’s Artifact Suite. Set to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Tomasson’s 7 for Eight was first performed in February 2004 and most recently, in July 2005, at Les Étés de la danse de Paris. Of the work, the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed, “7 for Eight is a dance dedicated to pure movement and even purer passion.” Christopher Wheeldon’s Quaternary, based on the four seasons, was premiered by the Company in 2005 at Les Étés de la danse de Paris. Set to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, John Cage, Arvo Pärt, and Steven Mackey, the work is Wheeldon’s fourth created for San Francisco Ballet. William Forsythe’s Artifact Suite was created for the Scottish Ballet in 2004 and is a re-working of his full-evening work, Artifact, created in 1984. San Francisco Ballet will present the U.S. premiere of this work during its 2006 Repertory Season. Artifact Suite is set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chaconne in D Minor as well as the music of Eva Crossman-Hecht.
Lincoln Center Festival
Launched in 1996, the Lincoln Center Festival brings the finest in classical and contemporary works from cultures across the world for three stimulating weeks each July. It is considered to be one of the premiere performing arts festivals in the world, adding to cross-cultural communication through such events as the Ta’ziyeh from Iran, Nakamura-za from Japan, The Peony Pavilion from China, Pansori from South Korea, and France’s Le Dernier Caravansérail. Since its inception, the Lincoln Center Festival has presented over 1000 performances by artists from more than 50 countries, including 110 premieres and 30 commissioned or co-commissioned new works.
San Francisco Ballet
As America’s first professional ballet company, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and rich tradition of artistic “firsts” since its founding in 1933, including performing the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first twentieth-century American Coppélia. San Francisco Ballet is one of the three largest ballet companies in the United States. Guided in its early years by American dance pioneers and brothers Lew, Willam and Harold Christensen, San Francisco Ballet currently presents more than one hundred performances annually, both locally and internationally. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson for more than two decades, the Company has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in the world. In 2005, San Francisco won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award, its first, in the category of “Outstanding Achievement in Dance,” for its 2004 London tour. In 2006, San Francisco Ballet was the first non-European company elected “Company of the Year” in Dance Europe magazine’s annual reader’s poll.
* * *
SAN FRANCISCO BALLET LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL ENGAGEMENT
JULY 2006
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL
New York City
July 25-30, 2006
Opening Night Celebration with San Francisco Ballet: a special, one-night only performance—July 25 (8:00 p.m.)
Pas de deux from Reflections (Possokhov)*
Concerto Grosso (Tomasson)*
Harlequinade Pas de Deux (Balanchine)
Additional programming to be announced
Mark Morris’ Sylvia—July 26, 27 & 28 (all performances at 8:00 p.m.)
Sylvia (Morris)*
Mixed Repertory Program—July 29 & 30 (July 29 at 8:00 p.m., July 30 at 3:00 p.m.)
7 for Eight (Tomasson)*
Quaternary (Wheeldon)*
Artifact Suite (Forsythe)*
*New York Premiere
Schedule and programming subject to change.
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