KEIGWIN + COMPANY Celebrates Bernstein ALONZO KING LINES BALLET HOUSTON BALLET
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2017 // 18 SEASON SPRING PROGRAM HOUSTON BALLET Sat, Apr 7, 7:30 pm Sun, Apr 8, 1:30 pm Swan Lake with live orchestra KEIGWIN + COMPANY Celebrates Bernstein featuring The University Symphony Orchestra Sat, Apr 14, 7:30pm ALONZO KING LINES BALLET Tue, May 1, 7:30 pm The Propelled Heart Biophony Presents WELCOME to the spring season of Northrop Dance I hope you enjoy the final three programs of our 2017-18 season, and I hope they leave you performances! wanting more! Northrop’s 2018-19 season will be upon us in just a few short months. I hope you will make a commitment today to join us. Thank you for joining us today. It’s very likely that you will be juggling TWO brochures today: There’s this, the program Sincerely, guide to the remaining events in our 2017-18 season. And there is also our new 2018-19 season brochure, announcing a fantastic Northrop dance lineup that starts this fall. (NOW, by the way, is the perfect time to order your season tickets!) Christine Tschida, Director of Northrop This time of year, Northrop staff have the not-at-all unpleasant sensation that we’re just swimming in dance, juggling the culmination of one season with the launch of another. Before we get to the fall, let’s explore the three exciting events that round out our 2017-18 season. There will Christine Tschida Christine Rummelhoff Photo©Tim be glorious dancing on the stage, to be sure, but each one of these programs has a very distinctive “orchestral” soundtrack component as well. Swan Lake is often considered the epitome of classical ballet, with a compelling story of good and evil, betrayal and heartbreak, and ultimately, love triumphing over all. Stanton Welch’s sumptuous production for HOUSTON BALLET is a wonderful way to experience this ballet for the very first time, or to be reminded why it remains a classic worth enjoying again and again. We’re thrilled to have a full orchestra pit made up of local musicians once again to play Tchaikovsky’s immortal score. Like Tchaikovsky’s ballet music, the music of Leonard Bernstein has inspired choreographers all over the world. As we approach the centennial of his birth (Aug 25, 2018), it’s a great time to celebrate this iconic American composer. We do so by shining the spotlight on our own University of Minnesota Symphony – 90 students strong! With the guidance of conductor Mark Russell Smith, they’ve made the music of Leonard Bernstein the subject of a semester’s study. Jerome Robbins once said, “The one thing about Lenny’s music which was so tremendously important was that there always was a kinetic motor. There was a power in the rhythms of his work which had a need for it to be demonstrated by dance.” Choreographer Larry Keigwin’s Broadway-influenced style is a perfect match for that kinetic motor and we welcome KEIGWIN + Company’s Northrop debut in a program they created for the Kennedy Center and The National Symphony Orchestra. SPRING PROGRAM In our final program of the season, it’s nature’s own orchestrations that provide the backdrop. Alonzo King LINES Ballet returns to Northrop for the first time since 2005 to perform two works showcasing King’s distinctive contemporary ballet style. While the dancers luxuriate in the ethereal beauty of Lisa Fischer’s voice in the soundtrack for Propelled Heart, the fascinating natural soundscape created by Bernie Krause and composer Richard Blackford reveals an intricate living sonic environment of animal calls. 2017 // 18 SEASON 18 // 2017 2 3 Northrop Presents HOUSTON BALLET Sat, Apr 7, 7:30 pm HOUSTON BALLET Sun, Apr 8, 1:30 pm Carlson Family Stage Swan Lake with live orchestra Amitava Sarkar Amitava © Photo Swan Lake SPRING PROGRAM 2017 // 18 SEASON 18 // 2017 Sara Webb and Connor Walsh with Artists of Houston Ballet in 5 Northrop at the University of Minnesota Presents ABOUT THE COMPANY Houston Ballet has evolved into a company of 60 dancers with a budget of $33 million HOUSTON BALLET (making it the United States’ fifth-largest ballet company). With a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company, which is the largest professional dance facility in America, Houston Ballet’s $46.6 million Center for Dance opened in April 2011, with an endowment of just over $74.1 million (as of July 2017). HOUSTON BALLET Swan Lake Australian Choreographer Stanton Welch AM has served as Artistic Director of Houston Ballet since 2003, raising the level of the company’s classical technique and with live orchestra commissioning works from dance makers such as Christopher Bruce, Alexander Ekman, Music by: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Trey McIntyre, Julia Adam, Edwaard Liang and George Choreography by: Stanton Welch AM Balanchine. Executive Director James Nelson serves as the administrative leader of Choreographed after: Marius Petipa (1818-1910) and Lev Ivanov (1834-1901) the company, a position he assumed in February 2012 after serving as the company’s Scenic and Costume Designs by: Kristian Fredrikson (1940-2005) General Manager for over a decade. Lighting Design by: Lisa J. Pinkham Houston Ballet has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Over the past Orchestra Conductor: Ermanno Florio 15 years, the company has appeared in London at Sadler’s Wells, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia, in six cities in Spain, in Montréal and Ottawa, at The Kennedy Center in Petipa and Ivanov Premiere: Washington, D.C., in New York at City Center and The Joyce Theater, at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, at The Arts Center Melbourne State Theatre in Melbourne, Jan 27, 1895 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Australia, in Los Angeles at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and in cities Staging by : Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov; Designs by Mikhail Bocharov and Heinrich Levogt large and small across the United States. Houston Ballet has emerged as a leader in the Odette/Odile : Pierina Legnani expensive, labor-intensive task of nurturing the creation and development of new Prince Siegfried : Pavel Gerdt full-length narrative ballets. Stanton Welch AM Premiere: Writing in Dancing Times in June 2012, dance critic Margaret Willis praised Houston Ballet Feb 13, 2006, by Houston Ballet in the Brown Theater at Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas. and highlighted the fact that “During his own tenure, (Stanton) Welch has upped the Odette/Odile: Mireille Hassenboehler standard and Houston Ballet now shows off a group of dancers in splendid shape. With Prince Siegfried: Andrew Murphy fast and tidy footwork, they are technically skillful and have strong, broad jumps and expansive, fluid movements. The dancers’ musicality shines through their work, dancing as one with elegance and refinement – and they are a handsome bunch too!...if ballet were an Olympic sport, see Houston Ballet well on the way to achieving gold.” Houston Ballet Orchestra was established in the late 1970s and consists of 61 professional musicians who play for Houston Ballet’s performances at Wortham Theater Center under Music Director Ermanno Florio. Fayez Sarofim and Company Tour Fund Houston Ballet’s Education and Community Engagement Program reaches over 60,000 Houston Ballet’s tour is generously sponsored by United Airlines, Houston First Corporation, Houston Methodist, and the Fayez individuals in the Houston area annually. Houston Ballet Academy teaches over one Sarofim and Company Tour Fund. This production is generously thousand students every year, and approximately 50% of the current company was Amitava Sarkar Amitava underwritten by Houston Ballet Trustee Margaret Alkek Williams. SPRING PROGRAM © trained by the Academy. Photo This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National For more information on Houston Ballet visit houstonballet.org. Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov. Swan Lake This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from Wells Fargo. 2017 // 18 SEASON 18 // 2017 Houston Ballet 6 7 SYNOPSIS OF SWAN LAKE HOUSTON BALLET TOURING STAFF ACT I Stanton Welch AM, Artistic Director Scene I: Deep in the Heart of a Dark Wood James Nelson, Executive Director Ermanno Florio, Music Director Odette, a young maiden, is in the forest. The evil knight Rothbart appears and captures her, turning her into a white swan. She is cursed to remain a swan during the day, and a maiden Lisa J. Pinkham, Resident Lighting Designer HOUSTON BALLET at night. Louise Lester, Ballet Master Scene II: A Royal Hunt at the Edge of the Wilderness Barbara Bears, Ballet Master Later, the young Prince Siegfried and his entourage arrive in the forest and set up camp, Kelli Gilson, Associate Director of Artistic Operations celebrating the day's hunt. The Queen calls her son aside and reminds him that tomorrow is Michelle de los Reyes, Company Manager an important day. She introduces him to four eligible young princesses, but he is distant and uninterested. The Queen sternly warns him that this is the last night of his youth and that he Mary Elsey, Associate Production Manager must soon take on the responsibility of adulthood. Upset, Siegfried decides to leave the camp Travis Richardson, Technical Director and venture out into the woods alone. Vanessa Chumbley, Stage Manager/Assistant Production Manager Scene III: In the Forest Jenna Link, Stage Manager/Assistant Production Manager Deep in the forest that evening along the edge of the lake, Siegfried sees a young maiden.