Fall Season Concludes with Mixed Programme of Etudes & Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort Principal Casting Announced

November 19, 2019 … Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National of Canada, today announced the principal casting for Etudes by Danish choreographer Harald Lander, ’s Piano Concerto #1 and the company premiere of Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort. The mixed programme is onstage November 27 – December 1, 2019 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. #EtudesNBC #PianoConcerto1NBC #PetiteMortNBC

Created in 1948 for The , Etudes is Harald Lander’s most popular work, a celebration of ballet technique, set to piano exercises by Carl Czerny (arranged and orchestrated by Knudåge Riisager). The opening night cast on November 27 features Principal Dancers Heather Ogden, Harrison James and Naoya Ebe in the lead roles.

Alexei Ratmansky’s Piano Concerto #1 is the third part of his Shostakovich Trilogy, which pays tribute to Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. A work of great beauty and power, Piano Concerto #1 contains some of the most compelling choreography in the trilogy. The opening night cast features Principal Dancers , Harrison James, Naoya Ebe and First Soloist Koto Ishihara in principal roles.

Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián originally created Petite Mort for the 1991 Salzburg Festival to mark the second centenary of the death of Mozart. Set to movements from two of Mozart’s most famous piano concertos, Petite Mort is a dynamic short ballet that evokes the intense yearning and latent eroticism of the music. Playing on sexual innuendo in the phrase “petite mort” or “little death”, a cast of six male and six female dancers move and spar with one another in beautiful and unexpected ways.

Etudes Heather Ogden (November 27, 29, 30 at 7:30 pm) Jillian Vanstone* (November 28 at 7:30 pm/November 30, December 1 at 2:00 pm)

Harrison James*, Naoya Ebe* (November 27, 30 at 7:30 pm) Donald Thom*, Siphesihle November* (November 28 at 7:30 pm/November 30 at 2:00 pm) Harrison James, Skylar Campbell* (November 29 at 7:30 pm) Donald Thom, Skylar Campbell* (December 1 at 2:00 pm)

Piano Concerto #1 Svetlana Lunkina and Harrison James (November 27, 29, 30 at 7:30 pm) Elena Lobsanova and Brendan Saye* (November 28 at 7:30 pm/November 30, December 1 at 2:00 pm)

Koto Ishihara* and Naoya Ebe* (November 27, 29 at 7:30 pm) Tina Pereira* and Skylar Campbell* (November 28 at 7:30 pm/November 30 at 2:00 pm) Koto Ishihara and Spencer Hack* (November 30 at 7:30/December 1 at 2:00 pm)

Petite Mort Elena Lobsanova, Joe Chapman Jenna Savella, Skylar Campbell Jillian Vanstone, Donald Thom Tina Pereira, Spencer Hack Hannah Fischer, Brendan Saye Greta Hodgkinson, Guillaume Côté (November 27, 29, 30 at 7:30 pm)

Antonella Martinelli, Larkin Miller Koto Ishihara, Isaac Wright Svetlana Lunkina, Brent Parolin Tanya Howard, Naoya Ebe Heather Ogden, Ben Rudisin Sonia Rodriguez, Piotr Stanczyk (November 28 at 7:30 pm/November 30 at 2:00 pm)

Antonella Martinelli, Larkin Miller Jenna Savella, Isaac Wright Svetlana Lunkina, Brent Parolin Tanya Howard, Naoya Ebe Heather Ogden, Ben Rudisin

Sonia Rodriguez, Piotr Stanczyk (December 1 at 2:00 pm)

* Debut

All casting is subject to change.

More information about Etudes & Piano Concerto #1 & Petite Mort

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BMO Financial Group presents the 2019/20 Season. Lead philanthropic support for Piano Concerto #1 is provided by an anonymous friend of the National Ballet and The Producers’ Circle. The Producers’ Circle: John & Claudine Bailey, Susanne Boyce & Brendan Mullen, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan, Kevin Garland & Roger Garland, C.M., Emmanuelle Gattuso, C.M. and Allan Slaight, C.M., The William & Nona Heaslip Foundation, Rosamond Ivey, Hal Jackman Foundation, Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C., Judy Korthals & Peter Irwin, Judith & Robert Lawrie, Mona & Harvey Levenstein, Jerry & Joan Lozinski, The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., Julie Medland, Sandra Pitblado & Jim Pitblado, C.M., Lynda & Jonas Prince, Susan Scace & Arthur Scace, C.M. Q.C., Sandra Simpson and Noreen Taylor, C.M. & David Staines, C.M., O.Ont. Etudes is a gift from The Volunteer Committee, The National Ballet of Canada. Skylar Campbell is sponsored through Dancers First by Tricia Younger. Guillaume Côté is sponsored through Dancers First by Emmanuelle Gattuso, C.M. and Allan Slaight, C.M. Naoya Ebe is sponsored through Dancers First by Gretchen Ross. Harrison James is sponsored through Dancers First by Lucy White. Elena Lobsanova is sponsored through Dancers First by Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan. Svetlana Lunkina is sponsored through Dancers First by Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C. Heather Ogden is sponsored through Dancers First by Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin. Brendan Saye is sponsored through Dancers First by Robin Vaile Robinson. Jillian Vanstone is sponsored through Dancers First by George & Kathy Dembroski. Hannah Fischer is sponsored through Dancers First by an anonymous donor. Tina Pereira is sponsored through Dancers First by The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C. Ben Rudisin is sponsored through Dancers First by an anonymous donor. Jenna Savella is sponsored through Dancers First by Elvio & Marlene DelZotto. Siphesihle November is sponsored through Dancers First by Jerry & Joan Lozinski.

The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Arts Council; the City of through the Economic Development & Culture Department; the – Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism; and the Government of Ontario through The Honourable Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. For more information, please contact:

Catherine Chang Francine Labelle Senior Communications Manager Publicist 416 345 9686 x302 416 345 9686 x312 [email protected] [email protected] national.ballet.ca national.ballet.ca

Harald Lander Choreographer and Lighting Designer, Etudes

Harald Lander trained at The Royal Danish Ballet School and became a member of The Royal Danish Ballet in 1923. He began his choreographic career in 1929 with his first ballet Don Pedro in which he also starred. Mr. Lander was appointed Artistic Director of The Royal Danish Ballet in 1932, a position he held until 1951. Under his leadership, The Royal Danish Ballet thrived artistically and commercially for the first time in decades, bringing them international success.

Mr. Lander choreographed over 30 in his career, with Etudes, choreographed in 1948, achieving enduring popularity and worldwide acclaim.

Mr. Lander joined the staff of the Paris Opéra Ballet as in 1951. In 1959, he became Director of the Paris Opéra Ballet School and held both positions until 1963. He also became a Knight of Dannebrog and was decorated by the Swedish, Belgian and French governments.

Mr. Lander died in on September 14, 1971.

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Thomas Lund Stager, Etudes

Thomas Lund is Director of The Royal Danish Ballet School. He completed his dance training at the very same school and went on to be a with the Royal Danish Ballet and guest around the world. He has performed leads in Bournonville ballets such as , , The Kermesse in Bruges, Abdallah, and The Flower Festival in Genzano and classical/neo- classical ballets such as , , A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Etudes, Gaité Parisienne, Caroline Mathilde, , Rubies and Tarantella. Mr. Lund also regularly stages Harald Lander’s Etudes at companies around the world. He is also a teacher in the Bournonville style in Demark and has given a number of master classes abroad. Mr. Lund is a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, 1st class.

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Alexei Ratmansky Choreographer, Piano Concerto #1

Alexei Ratmansky was born in St. Petersburg and trained at the School. His performing career included positions as Principal Dancer with Ukrainian National Ballet, Canada’s Royal Ballet and The Royal Danish Ballet. He has choreographed ballets for , The Royal Danish Ballet, , Het Nationale Ballet, , , , Kiev Ballet and the , as well as for , and . His 1998 work, Dreams of Japan, earned a prestigious Golden Mask Award by the Union of . In 2005, he was awarded the Benois de la Danse prize for his choreography of Anna Karenina for The Royal Danish Ballet. He was made Knight of Dannebrog by Queen Margrethe II of in 2001. He won his second Benois de la Danse for Shostakovich Trilogy in 2014.

Mr. Ratmansky was named Artistic Director of The Bolshoi Ballet in January 2004. Under his direction, The Bolshoi Ballet was named Best Foreign Company in 2005 and 2007 by The Critics’ Circle in London and he received a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for The Bright Stream in 2006. In 2007, he won a Golden Mask Award for Best Choreographer for his production of Jeu de Cartes for The Bolshoi Ballet. In 2009, Mr. Ratmansky choreographed new dances for the Metropolitan ’s production of Aida. He joined as Artist in Residence in January 2009 and was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2013.

Felipe Diaz Stager, Piano Concerto #1

Felipe Diaz was born in Bogota, Colombia where he began his training with his parents Ana Consuelo Gomez and Jaime Diaz. Mr. Diaz continued his training at San Francisco Ballet School.

Over a career spanning 22 years, Mr. Diaz danced as a soloist with San Francisco Ballet, and Het Nationale Ballet. He has performed numerous lead roles including the Prince in ’s Cinderella, Basilio in Alexei Ratmansky’s , Cavalier in Christensen/Helgi Tomasson’s and Eagling/van Schaik’s The Nutcracker, James in La Sylphide, Lensky in ’s , Petrouschka in Petrouschka, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and leading roles in works by renowned choreographers such as , , Harald Lander, Helgi Tomasson, , Hans van Manen, Alexei Ratmansky and William Forsythe, among others.

After retiring from the stage, Mr. Diaz began working as ballet master for Het Nationale Ballet and has been a guest teacher for several ballet companies in Europe, the US and Asia.

George Tsypin Set Designer, Piano Concerto #1

George Tsypin designs for opera have been produced all over the world, including Salzburg Festival, Opéra Bastille in Paris, Covent Garden in London, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, in St. Petersburg, in Moscow and Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Mr. Tsypin was chosen to exhibit his work at the Venice Biennale in 2002. His monograph, George Tsypin Opera Factory: Building in the Black Void, was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2005 and won a Golden PEN Award. His second book, George Tsypin Opera Factory: Invisible City was published in 2016. Mr. Tsypin’s Broadway credits as a set designer for a musical include Disney Theatrical Production’s The Little Mermaid. He also designed the set for the new musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark which received a Tony Award nomination and won the Outer Critics Circle Award. Mr. Tsypin designed, co-scripted and co-directed the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Keso Dekker Costume Designer, Piano Concerto #1

Dutch-born visual artist Keso Dekker has designed sets and costumes for over 500 theatre productions, with over 70 directors and choreographers across Europe and the US. Initially a painter and designer of private and public spaces and museum exhibitions, Mr. Dekker also taught, published and wrote for television and organized exhibitions on the subjects of design, fashion, dance and the visual arts. Foremost are his stage designs for modern dance and ballet, for which he has received a Dutch Design Award.

Pivotal throughout Mr. Dekker’s career has been his close bond with choreographer Hans van Manen. Mr. Dekker designed Mr. van Manen’s entire body of work since 1978, totaling 70 creations. Mr. Dekker first collaborated with Alexei Ratmansky on Souvenir d'un lieu cher in 2012 for Het Nationale Ballet, later followed by the Shostakovich Trilogy for American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet.

Jennifer Tipton Lighting Designer, Piano Concerto #1

Jennifer Tipton is well known for her work in theatre, dance and opera. Her recent work in theatre includes To Kill A Mockingbird on Broadway and David Cale’s We Are Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time at the Public Theater in New York City. Her recent work in opera includes David Lang’s The Loser at the Los Angeles Opera and in dance, ’s Principia for New York City Ballet. Ms. Tipton teaches lighting at the Yale School of Drama. She received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001, The Jerome Robbins Award in 2003 and in April 2004 the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture in New York City. In 2008 she was made a Artists Gracie Fellow and a MacArthur Fellow.

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Jiří Kylián Choreographer, Set, Costume and Lighting Designer, Petite Mort

Jiří Kylián was born in the Czech Republic in 1947 and started his dance career at the age of nine at the School of the National Ballet in Prague. He left Prague when he received a scholarship for School in London in 1967. Mr. Kylián left to join the , led by John Cranko and in 1975, he became Artistic Director of (NDT). In 1978, Mr. Kylián put the company on the international map with Sinfonietta. That same year, he founded NDT 2, and also initiated NDT 3 in 1991, the company for older dancers. This three-dimensional structure was unique in the world of dance. After an extraordinary record of service, with an oeuvre of almost 100 ballets, Mr. Kylián handed over the artistic leadership in 1999 and remained associated to the dance company as house choreographer until December 2009. In the last 10 years, Mr. Kylián has directed four films, Car-Men, Between Entrance & Exit, Schwarzfahrer and the award- winning Scalamare.

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Roslyn Anderson Stager, Petite Mort

Born in , Roslyn Anderson studied with Phyllis Danaher and at The , from which she graduated to The Australian Ballet. After six years, she joined Nederlands Dans Theater, then directed by Jaap van Flier, as a result of their Australian tour in 1972. She danced until 1986, working with choreographers Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, John Butler, Hans van Manen, Louis Falco, Jennifer Muller, Christopher Bruce and Jiří Kylián, having many works created for her. After ending her dance career, Ms. Anderson became the Rehearsal Director for Nederlands Dans Theater from 1986 to 2008. Since 1979, she has been assisting Mr. Kylián and others on numerous works and has staged numerous ballets for Mr. Kylián all over the world.

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Joke Visser Costume Designer, Petite Mort

After 10 years as a freelance designer for companies such as Het Nationale Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and the Dutch Opera Foundation, Joke Visser joined Nederlands Dans Theater officially in 1987. In 1989, she was appointed head of the NDT costume department and since then, Jiří Kylián has worked with Ms. Visser to design and fabricate the costumes for almost all of his dance productions. Her work for Mr. Kylián’s pieces includes Bella Figura, Wings of Wax, A Way A Lone, One of a Kind, Indigo Rose, Half Past, Doux Mensonges, Arcimboldo 2000, Click-Pause-Silence, Birth-day, 27’52”, Claude Pascal, When Time takes Time, Far too close, Last Touch, Sleepless, Toss of a Dice, Chapeau, Tar and Feathers, Vanishing Twin, Gods and Dogs and en Mémoires d’oubliettes. Next to collaborating with other choreographers, Ms. Visser also supervises and organizes the costumes of Mr. Kylián’s works around the world.

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Joop Caboort Lighting Designer, Petite Mort

Born in The Hague in 1944, Joop Caboort joined Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in 1965 as a junior electrician. He has been NDT’s technical director from 1970 to 1995. In 1970, he also became the company’s house lighting designer and has since designed numerous works including ballets by Hans van Manen, Jirí Kylián, , Jennifer Muller, Louis Falco, Glen Tetley, Maurice Béjart, Nils Christe and others. He has also worked in close collaboration with set designers Jean-Paul Vroom, Keso Dekker, William Katz, Walter Nobbe, Nadine Bayliss, John F. Macfarlane, Michael Simon, and many others.

Mr. Caboort has worked in over 100 and opera houses around the world, among them the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opéra, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerisches Staatsballett in , and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. In 1995, he started his own bureau for Lighting Design & Theater Consultancy, working freelance. Mr. Caboort also lectures at the Graphic Lyceum in Rotterdam on theatre techniques.

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