Friday, July 27 6 P.M. Saturday, July 28 6 P.M
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PROGRAM NOTES 2018 PERFORMANCES FRIDAY, JULY 27 6 P.M. SATURDAY, JULY 28 6 P.M. JULY 23–28, 2018 CHAIR Randee Seiger STEERING COMMITTEE Amy Baldwin Barbara J. Fife Maureen Graf Judy MacLeod Bonnie Sacerdote Phoebe Tudor Jane Tyler Cathy Weinroth Marcia Welch DANCE FESTIVAL ADVISORS Nan Geschke John W. Loose Marion Martin David Ross Denise Saul Cover photo and this page: Kris Kinsley Hancock COMMITTEE Carol Atkinson John Falk Orla Murphy-LaScola Margaret Ruttenberg Mary-Randolph Ballinger Lisa Huertas Franci Neely Samantha Sandler Jody Berger Barbara Jones Annie Nielsen Elizabeth Shepard Pamela Berry Carol Levinger Valerie Paley Catharine Soros Laura Buck Janet Lindgren Liz Peek Esta-Lee Stone Roxanne Casscells Mary Jane McLean Mary Ann Peglar Merrielou Symes Jeanne Cohane Jeanne Miller Steve Perelman Barbara G. Cohen Pat Moran Karen Rainwater Joan L. Gulley, Chair Norbert P. Donelly, Vice Chairr NANTUCKET ATHENEUM David Ross, Treasurer Edward J. McCarthy, Asst. Treasurer BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2018 Randee Seiger, Secretary Samuel Bailey Jr. Hudson Holland III TRUSTEES EMERITI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Kathryn Cramer Brownell Elizabeth McHenry Nan Geschke Molly Anderson Annye Camara Hillary Hedges Rayport Nancy A. Newhouse Porter G. Dawson Bonnie J. Sacerdote Clementina V. Durkes Jane A. Tyler HONORARY TRUSTEES Douglass N. Ellis Cathy Weinroth Margaret Ritchie Battle Barbara J. Fife Marcia P. Welch Mr. and Mrs. Robert Diamond Jr. Tracy Flannery Lucile W. Hays Samuel A. Flax Mr. and Mrs. Richard Menschel Maureen Graf CHAIRS EMERITI Patricia Harding Alice F. Emerson Patrick Hehir Robert A. Greenspon John W. Loose NANTUCKET ATHENEUM DANCE FESTIVAL THE COMPANY Featuring stars from the ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Tyler Angle AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE DANCERS HOUSTON BALLET AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE Skylar Brandt NEW YORK CITY BALLET PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET HOUSTON BALLET Yuriko Kajiya Connor Walsh NEW YORK CITY BALLET Maria Kowroski Sara Mearns Sara Adams Lauren King Meagan Mann Lydia Wellington Jared Angle Devin Alberda Daniel Applebaum Ralph Ippolito Andrew Scordato PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET Noelani Pantastico Lucien Postlewaite GUEST ARTIST Patricia Delgado MUSICIANS PIANO Jeffrey Moore Susan Walters CELLO John Popham VIOLIN Alex Fortes Pala Garcia VIOLA Photo: Kris Kinsley Hancock Christian Frederickson JULY 23–28, 2018 3 PROGRAM FRIDAY SATURDAY JULY 27 JULY 28 NANTUCKET HIGH SCHOOL MARY P. WALKER AUDITORIUM PROGRAM Chaconne Music Christoph Willibald von Glück, Orfeo And Euridice Choreography George Balanchine Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere January 22, 1976 Dancers Maria Kowroski, Tyler Angle Solo For Pat Music Béla Bartók, Violin Duets #32, #26, #43, #35 Choreography Pam Tanowitz Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere August 2017 Dancer Patricia Delgado 4 NANTUCKET ATHENEUM DANCE FESTIVAL PROGRAM Emergence Music Owen Belton Choreography Crystal Pité Original Lighting Alan Brodie Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere 2009 Dancers Noelani Pantastico, Lucien Postlewaite Madame Butterfly Music Giacomo Puccini, Madame Butterfly Choreography Stanton Welch Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere 1995 Dancers Yuriko Kajiya, Connor Walsh Allegro Brilliante Music Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 3 Choreography George Balanchine Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere March 1, 1956 Dancers Sara Mearns, Tyler Angle Sara Adams, Lauren King, Meagan Mann, Lydia Wellington, Devin Alberda, Daniel Applebaum, Ralph Ippolito, Andrew Scordato JULY 23–28, 2018 5 PROGRAM — Intermission — Liturgy Music Arvo Pärt, Fratres Choreography Christopher Wheeldon Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere May 31, 2003 Dancers Maria Kowroski, Jared Angle Cendrillon Music Sergei Prokofiev, Cinderella Op. 87 Choreography Jean-Christophe Maillot Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere 1999 Dancers Noelani Pantastico, Lucien Postlewaite American Trio Music Antonin Dvořák, String Quartet No. 12 Choreography Melissa Barak Original Lighting John Cuff Lighting Mark Stanley Premiere 2016 Dancers Skylar Brandt, Patricia Delgado, Jared Angle, Connor Walsh 6 NANTUCKET ATHENEUM DANCE FESTIVAL PROGRAM World Premiere Music Christian Frederickson Choreography Austin Goodwin Lighting Mark Stanley Dancers Sara Adams, Lauren King, Meagan Mann, Lydia Wellington, Devin Alberda, Daniel Applebaum, Ralph Ippolito, Andrew Scordato PROGRAM NOTES NANTUCKET ATHENEUM DANCE FESTIVAL 2018 By Joseph Carman New York City Ballet principal dancer Tyler Angle embarks on his sixth season as Artistic Director of the Nantucket Atheneum Dance Festival this year. That makes him the longest standing director in the festival’s eleven-year run. Angle has imprinted his winning aesthetics onto the festival, which runs from July 23–28: Smart choices in repertoire, an abundance of live music (the six musicians this year include two pianists, two violinists, a cellist and a violist), a variety of dance styles, thoughtful planning and zero overplayed warhorse ballet excerpts that so often dominate ballet programs. The splendid dancers hail from, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, New York City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. George Balanchine said that his effervescent work Allegro Brillante contained “everything I know about classical ballet in thirteen minutes.” Exploring the broad range of the andante and adagio passages of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Allegro Brilliante propels the dancers—a lead couple and four additional couples—through a lexicon of ballet vocabulary as patterns change with the rise and fall of the score. The dancers are seemingly windswept across the stage. JULY 23–28, 2018 7 PROGRAM NOTES Balanchine choreographed Allegro Brillante in 1956 on the great Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief of New York City Ballet. The piano’s virtuosic passages guide the ballerina through the rapturous moves that elevate the role to one of the highlights of any ballerina’s dream. The additional male and female dancers dance more than most principal dancers do in other ballets. Late in his life, in 1893, Tchaikovsky refashioned his Piano Concerto No. 3 from material for a proposed symphony he had earlier abandoned. But the concerto, like many of Tchaikovsky’s dynamic compositions, almost seems to have been commissioned for the ballet stage. He truly understood the precise rhythms, spacious passages and dramatic undertones that dance requires. Balanchine once said, “I entertain with steps.” Allegro Brilliante is supremely emblematic of that ethos, a superbly crafted showcase of ebullient dancing. For a Nantucket 2018 world premiere, Angle chose recent Juilliard graduate Austin Goodwin to choreograph a piece to a commissioned score by Christian Frederickson. The 23-year-old prodigy has already had his work shown in Miami and at the Kennedy Center and is recognized as one of the most promising new voices in choreography. Goodwin’s signature choreographic style conveys a sensuous, sinewy movement flow. Frederickson, a Juilliard- trained viola player, began playing music with artists and rockers and now composes music for theater and contemporary dance. His compositions emphasize atmospheric and cinematic tones, which should meld well with Goodwin’s choreographic energy. “I’m excited, too, because this is the first year we’ve branched out and commissioned a piece of music for the dance festival,” says Angle. When Christopher Wheeldon, Artistic Associate for London’s Royal Ballet and international renowned choreographer, made the pas de deux Liturgy for New York City Ballet in 2003, it was instantly recognized as a 21st century ballet masterpiece. Liturgy was created for the magnificent NYCB ballerina Wendy Whelan and her frequent partner Jock Soto to the compelling score Fratres for violin, strings, and percussion by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The dance echoes the quiet, mystical score, as the dancers part and reunite in elaborate embraces before they’re enveloped by the dark. Liturgy explores the spiritual solemnity of the music in a way that seems almost ritualistic. The result is one of ballet’s great tour de forces, albeit delivered in hushed tones. 8 NANTUCKET ATHENEUM DANCE FESTIVAL PROGRAM NOTES This program’s pas de deux from Balanchine’s Chaconne, set to ballet music from the opera Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Glück, was originally choreographed in 1976 on the legendary New York City Ballet ballerina Suzanne Farrell and former New York City Ballet director Peter Martins. Combining sweetness with a profound sense of beauty, the principal dancers move through the choreography in ways poignant, sculptural and courtly. Chaconne possesses a purity that is evident in the angelic atmosphere and silky movement. Alastair Macaulay, the chief dance critic of The New York Times, has said that, “Chaconne is a distillation of the French Baroque spirit in all its ultra elegant subtlety.” Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly, originally choreographed for the Australian Ballet in 1995, has been performed as a full-length story ballet by Houston Ballet (where Welch is the artistic director), Ballet West and the National Ballet of Canada, as well as the Australian company. The heart-rending story of Cio-Cio San and her tragically fatal love for Lieutenant Pinkerton has moved audiences as an opera and subsequently as a ballet. Puccini’s classic score delivers the emotional lyricism and verismo impact that symbolizes Italian opera. The excerpt seen here, the blissful post-wedding pas deux that ends the first act, demands bravura partnering skills, acute timing and deep characterization. “I think Puccini is the best dance music,” says Welch. “There’s