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ABT-MET 2012


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According to NYT, the season will include Giselle, Apollo, the new Firebird and The Dream. Hmmm..., I Vaseliev as Puck?

I can't find this on the NY Times site. Do you have a link?

In a fund-raising letter I got last week from ABT, they say that subscriber brochures for the 2012 Met season will go out in October 2011. The mailings from a year ago for subscribers included casting, along with programming, so I hope they do the same this year. Has anybody seen any early press release yet? I don't see anything on the ABT site, not even dates for the season.

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California, I think Bingham may be imparting the information from tomorrow's edition of the NYTimes, which I think will be the annual season preview issue. Some people receive advance copies (subscribers), but it will probably be on the NY Times tomprrow.

Abatt , you are right. It's from the season preview. Bright Stream is also in next season's list. sorry I was not clear enough of my source.

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Here's the article from the Sunday NY Times on-line:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/arts/dance/congo-and-kabuki-and-salutes-to-mr-b.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=dance%20american%20ballet%20theatre&st=cse

The key passage:

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER The company returns to City Center, and so does Twyla Tharps exhilarating In the Upper Room, celebrating its 25th anniversary. There will be a premiere, from the Stuttgart Ballets Demis Volpi, but otherwise its modern dance all the way: Merce Cunninghams Duets, Martha Clarkes Garden of Villandry and, appropriately, Paul Taylors Great Depression-era Black Tuesday. (There will, dont worry, be plenty of ballet-ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House season, including The Dream, Giselle, Apollo and The Bright Stream.)

I'd guess they'll include Bayadere, as they're doing that at Kennedy Center in February. When the subscriber brochure (or a press release) goes out in October, please let us know the list. With luck, dates and casting should appear on the ABT site shortly after that.

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I'm not actually replying to this topic (though the news about David and the Bolshoi is shocking--great for David, but still pretty shocking). I want to alert the site's administrator that the topic "Useful links to American Ballet Theatre" should be either revised or removed. It's almost ten years old and at least half of the websites listed are inactive or defunct. (Don't shoot the messenger!)

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Official release:

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE ANNOUNCES

2012 SPRING SEASON AT METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

MAY 14-JULY 7, 2012AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE ANNOUNCES

2012 SPRING SEASON AT METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

MAY 14-JULY 7, 2012

NEW PRODUCTION OF JOHN CRANKO’S ONEGIN

AND NEW YORK PREMIERE OF THE FIREBIRD BY ALEXEI RATMANSKY

TO HIGHLIGHT SEASON

American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 season at the Metropolitan Opera House and lead casting was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. A new production of John Cranko’s Onegin, with scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto, and the New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird will highlight the 2012 Spring Season.

Principal Dancers for the 2012 Metropolitan Opera House season include Maxim Beloserkovsky, Roberto Bolle, Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Irina Dvorovenko, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Natalia Osipova, Veronika Part, Xiomara Reyes, Cory Stearns, Ethan Stiefel and Diana Vishneva. Guest Artists for the 2012 Spring season include Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg, principal dancers with The Royal Ballet, Polina Semionova, principal dancer with the Berlin State Opera Ballet and Ivan Vasiliev, principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Spring season opens with a Gala Performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 14 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239.

All-New Production of John Cranko’s Onegin

American Ballet Theatre will premiere a new production of John Cranko’s Onegin, with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by James F. Ingalls, on Monday, June 4, 2011 with Diana Vishneva as Tatiana, Marcelo Gomes as Eugene

Onegin, Natalia Osipova as Olga, Jared Matthews as Lensky and Gennadi Saveliev as Prince Gremin.

Set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, arranged and orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze, Onegin is based on the poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. John Cranko’s Onegin received its World Premiere on April 13, 1965 by the Stuttgart Ballet in Stuttgart, Germany. The ballet received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on June 1, 2001 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. The new production was premiered by the National Ballet of Canada on June 19, 2010 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada. Staged for ABT by Reid Anderson and Jane Bourne, Onegin will be given eight performances June 4 through 9. It was last performed by ABT in 2002.

New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird

The New York Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird will take place on Monday evening, June 11 with Natalia Osipova dancing the title role. This all-new production of the Igor Stravinsky classic The Firebird, with original choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, will receive its World Premiere on March 29, 2012 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The Firebird will be given eight performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, June 11 through 13 and June 21 through 23.

Based on the Russian fairy tale, the one-act ballet will feature scenery by Simon Pastukh and costumes by Galina Solovyeva. The design team previously collaborated on Ratmansky’s On the Dnieper in 2009. Ratmansky’s choreography for The Firebird will utilize the entire Stravinsky score.

Ratmansky’s The Firebird is American Ballet Theatre’s fourth production of the ballet. Originally choreographed by Michel Fokine to Stravinsky’s first score for ballet, The Firebird received its world premiere by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra in Paris on June 25, 1910. It first entered the repertory of Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on October 24, 1945 with choreography by Adolph Bolm and scenery and costumes by Marc Chagall. A second production, with choreography by Michel Fokine and staging by Christopher Newton, was premiered by ABT in 1977 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. ABT gave the Revival Premiere of The Firebird, with choreography by Michel Fokine and produced by Nicholas Beriozoff, on January 24, 1992 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

Repertory Programs

Sharing the program with The Firebird will be Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions and George Balanchine’s Apollo for four performances beginning Monday evening, June 11. Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream will have four performances along with The Firebird from Thursday evening, June 21 through Saturday evening, June 23.

Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions is set to music by Benjamin Britten and features costumes by Bob Crowley and lighting by Brad Fields. The ballet, Wheeldon’s first work for American Ballet Theatre, was given its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on May 24, 2011.

George Balanchine’s Apollo, set to music by Igor Stravinsky, was given its world premiere by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris on June 12, 1928 with Serge Lifar as Apollo. The ballet received its first American performance by American Ballet at The Metropolitan Opera House, New York on

April 27, 1937.

Apollo was first performed by American Ballet Theatre on April 25, 1943 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York with André Eglevsky as Apollo, Vera Zorina as Terpsichore, Nora Kaye as Polyhymnia, and Rosella Hightower as Calliope. Apollo was last performed by ABT in 2006.

Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, a ballet in one act, is adapted from William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and set to music by Felix Mendelssohn. The ballet features sets and costumes by David Walker and lighting by John B. Read.

The Dream received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on April 2, 1964, danced by Antoinette Sibley (Titania), Anthony

Dowell (Oberon), Keith Martin (Puck), Alexander Grant (Bottom), Carole Needham (Helena), Vergie Derman (Hermia), David Drew (Demetrius) and Derek Rencher (Lysander).

The Dream received its United States premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on April 30, 1965, danced by the same cast. The ballet was given its American Ballet Theatre Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on May 24, 2002, danced by Alessandra Ferri (Titania), Ethan Stiefel (Oberon) and Herman Cornejo (Puck).

Full-length Ballets

American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Spring Season at The Metropolitan Opera House will feature an additional six full-length ballets during the eight-week engagement.

Following the season’s Opening Night, the Company will begin the first of eight performances of Giselle on Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30pm with Julie Kent in the title role dancing opposite Marcelo Gomes as Albrecht. Polina Semionova will dance the role of Myrta for the first time with ABT on Saturday evening, May 19. Set to music by Adolphe Adam and orchestrated by John Lanchbery, Giselle is staged by Kevin McKenzie with choreography after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. The two-act ballet features scenery by Gianni Quaranta and costumes by Anna Anni. This production, with scenery by Quaranta and costumes by Anni, was created for the film Dancers in 1987.

The first of eight performances of Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadère will take place on Tuesday evening, May 22. Set to the music of Ludwig Minkus and arranged by John Lanchbery, La Bayadère features scenery by PierLuigi Samaritani, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. Conceived and directed by Makarova after Marius Petipa, La Bayadère was given its World Premiere by ABT in 1980. The season’s first performance of La Bayadère will feature Veronika Part as Nikiya, Marcelo Gomes as Solor and Gillian Murphy as Gamzatti. Polina Semionova will debut as Nikiya with ABT on Saturday evening, May 26 and Ivan Vasiliev will give his first performance as Solor with ABT on Thursday evening, May 24.

Last season’s Company Premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream will be given seven performances beginning Tuesday, May 29 with Paloma Herrera, Marcelo Gomes, Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg in the leading roles. Set to Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Bright Stream, the ballet features sets by Ilya Utkin, costumes by Elena Markovskaya and lighting by Brad Fields. The libretto, by Adrian Piotrovsky and Fyodor Lopukhov, tells the story of the members of a Russian farm collective in the 1930’s and their humorous interactions with a group of visiting performers during the harvest festival. Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream received its World Premiere by the Bolshoi Ballet on April 18, 2003 with sets and costumes by Boris Messerer. The original production of The Bright Stream, with choreography by Lopukhov, was premiered on April 4, 1935 by the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater at the Maly Theatre in Leningrad.

The Bright Stream received its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on January 21, 2011 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Tatiana Ratmansky assisted Mr. Ratmansky in staging the ballet for ABT.

Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet will be given eight performances beginning Thursday evening, June 14 with Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo in the title roles. Set to the score by Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. The ballet received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet in London on February 9, 1965 and was given its ABT Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 22, 1985. Guest artists Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg will dance the leading roles with ABT for the first time on Wednesday evening, June 20.

Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday, June 25 with Veronika Part and Cory Stearns leading the opening night cast. Swan Lake is set to the score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler. Soloists Isabella Boylston and Daniil Simkin will debut in the leading roles of Odette/Odile and Prince Siegfried at the Wednesday, June 27 matinee performance. This production of Swan Lake premiered on March 24, 2000 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 season will conclude with seven performances of Le Corsaire beginning Tuesday evening, July 2. With choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa, and staging by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa and Sergeyev, Le Corsaire features music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenbourg. Based on the Lord Byron poem “The Corsair” (1814), the ballet has sets and costumes by Irina Tibilova with additional costume designs by Robert Perdziola. Gillian Murphy, Marcelo Gomes, Stella Abrera, Sascha Radetsky, Ethan Stiefel and Craig Salstein will lead the season’s first performance of Le Corsaire.

Veronika Part will debut in the role of Medora and Joseph Philips will dance Birbanto for the first time at the matinee on Wednesday, July 4. On Thursday evening, July 5, Natalia Osipova, Johan Kobborg and Ivan Vasiliev will dance the leading roles of Medora, Conrad and Ali, the Slave for the first time with ABT. Arron Scott will also debut as Birbanto at the July 5 performance.

ABTKIDS

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, May 19 at 11:30 A.M. All tickets for ABTKids are $25.

ABTKids Workshop Series

ABTKids Workshop Series, one-hour activity-based programs led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to ABTKids ticket holders on Saturday, May 19

(9:30 A.M.), and to matinee ticket holders Saturday, June 2 (11:00 A.M.) and Saturday,

June 23 (11:00 A.M). Saturday workshops will be held in the rehearsal studios of the Metropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person. For tickets and more information on ABTKids Workshop series, please call 212-419-4321.

Subscriptions for American Ballet Theatre’s 2012 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, on sale beginning Monday, October 17, are available by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT’s website www.abt.org.

American Airlines is the Official Airline of American Ballet Theatre.

Northern Trust is the Leading Sponsor of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre.

Mandarin Oriental, New York is the Preferred Hotel of American Ballet Theatre.

MasterCard is the official credit card of American Ballet Theatre.

ABT is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Onegin is generously supported through an endowed gift from Ruth and Harold Newman.

David H. Koch is the Lead Underwriter of The Firebird. The Firebird is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. Additional support has been provided by The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Thirteen Diversions is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. Additional support has been provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. This ballet is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

Apollo is generously supported through an endowed gift from Monica, Stefano, Cosima, and Tassilo Corsi.

The Dream is presented in loving memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr. by his family. The Dream has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

American Ballet Theatre's performances of Giselle are generously supported through an endowed gift from Sharon Patrick. ABT gratefully acknowledges Linda Allard as the Leading Costume Sponsor of Giselle.

La Bayadère is generously sponsored by an endowed gift from Drs. Philip and Marjorie Gerdine. La Bayadère presented in loving memory of Mrs. Caroline Newhouse.

The Bright Stream is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. This production has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support has generously been provided by Leila and Mickey Straus and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

American Ballet Theatre's performances of Romeo and Juliet are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Ali and Monica Wambold.

Swan Lake has been generously underwritten by R. Chemers Neustein. Costumes for Swan Lake are generously sponsored by the Ellen Everett Kimiatek Costume Preservation Trust.

American Ballet Theatre's performances of Le Corsaire are generously underwritten through an endowed gift from Irene and Fred Shen.

The ABTKids performance is generously supported through an endowed gift from Thomas and Lydia West, in loving memory of Vivian B. West.

CA Technologies is the sponsor of ABT’s Family Initiatives.

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There are some striking combos in there for "La Bayadere": Cojocaru, Vasiliev, and Boylston in one cast, Vishneva, Gomes, and Osipova in another, and Cojocaru, Cornejo, and Osipova in the last performance.

Vasiliev was cast as Golden Idol when I saw the Bolshoi in Berkeley a couple of years ago. Here he gets Solor.

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Does anyone know why there is no performance listed on the ABT calendar for the closing Sat. evening show of the season, Sat July 7?

Good question. I'm looking at the schedule for this spring and the last performance was Saturday, July 9 at 8:00 pm. Perhaps that didn't sell well? Or perhaps the next group moving in needs to get moving on their change-over?

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I was justed told by the Met that if I want a subscription, my request for a particular seat is given to a seating committee. How does that work? In truth, I prefer to buy individual tickets, but I want priority in seat selection and performance selection, as well as any available discount, so I was planning to buy a subscription and then exchange certain tickets, while keeping others in the subscription. Last year, I obtained front row tickets for three individual performances, which is where I prefer to sit. I want to go to at least five and maybe eight performances. I need an advanced degree for this analysis, and spreadsheet creation training... maybe a glass of wine... and a heavy dose of patience. Can I hire anyone on BA for this project? :<

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... every year I say it's like a Rubik's Cube trying to put together the best Met season I can. Welcome to the club.

Not to mention trying to coordinate with what nights I'll want to be at NYCB! Last spring/summer, with all the visiting companies, was a particular logistical nightmare. There has to be a better way! I wish the companies would make their schedules available in a subscribable i-Cal calendar. It would be great to be able to import each company's schedule and overlay it all so you can see what's going on each night.

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The missing performance info for Sat July 7 at 8 PM has now been added to the ABT calendar. I guess they are reading this board.

Maybe, that will be Ethan's ABT farewell performance?

if it is Ethan's farewell, couldn't think of a better cast/ballet for it to be

Also, does anyone find it a little strange/scary that ABT is ending the MET season with Le Corsaire...not to get ahead of ourselves, but considering what happened last season with the men...(i'm going to refrain from actually finishing that thought)

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The missing performance info for Sat July 7 at 8 PM has now been added to the ABT calendar. I guess they are reading this board.

Maybe, that will be Ethan's ABT farewell performance?

if it is Ethan's farewell, couldn't think of a better cast/ballet for it to be

Also, does anyone find it a little strange/scary that ABT is ending the MET season with Le Corsaire...not to get ahead of ourselves, but considering what happened last season with the men...(i'm going to refrain from actually finishing that thought)

spinning2night, what happened? I don't know about that!

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Also, does anyone find it a little strange/scary that ABT is ending the MET season with Le Corsaire...not to get ahead of ourselves, but considering what happened last season with the men...(i'm going to refrain from actually finishing that thought)

spinning2night, what happened? I don't know about that!

there were a LOT of injuries last season. see the "ABT male principal problem" thread...ABT was left scrambling to find enough guest artists who could fill roles. So while that was definitely flukey that all of it happened in the same season, it still feels like ABT but all their eggs in a basket by putting Corsaire as the finale for the 2012 season

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