NEW YORK CITY BALLET - DAVID H. KOCH THEATER

Jerome Robbins was a great admirer of the Russian stars Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, who each famously defected and made new careers in America. ...

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of his happiest and most loved comedies. It is called a "Dream" because of the unrealistic events the ...

Balanchine said of this work: "If the dance designer sees in the development of classical dancing a counterpart in the development of music and has ...

Peter Martins’ newest work will be set to the bright colors and bold rhythms of a commissioned score by Marc-André Dalbavie, their second collaboration in ...

Balanchine had an early opportunity to work with George Gershwin: In 1937 Gershwin asked Balanchine to come to Hollywood to work with him on Goldwyn’s ...

Soloist Justin Peck's fourth work for NYCB is set to a commissioned score by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens....

The score for this ballet was commissioned by George Balanchine from Paul Hindemith in 1940. The ballet, together with Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, ...

In 1925, Balanchine choreographed dances for a production of Gounod’s Faust given by the Opéra de Monte-Carlo; they were danced by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. He ...

Balanchine choreographed Diamonds, the third section of George Balanchine's three-part masterpiece Jewels, to Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29. Tschaikovsky ...

The music for Emeralds, the first section of George Balanchine's three-part masterpiece Jewels, is taken from the respective concert suites Gabriel Fauré derived from the ...

Igor Stravinsky composed his three-movement Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, the music for Rubies, in 1928-29. He intended it as a vehicle for his own ...

Wheeldon’s most recent work for NYCB is a pas de deux to scores for clarinet and piano by André Previn and Leonard Bernstein....

Robert Schumann's "Davidsbündlertänze" was one of Balanchine's last major works. Against a setting inspired, in part, by the works of the 19th century German Romantic ...

Danced against lush black and purple drapery, the six dances that comprise this work offer different interpretations of tango. The original production of the ballet, ...

Union Jack was created to honor the British heritage of the United States on the occasion of its Bicentennial. Part I is based on Scottish ...

Although Philip Glass’s work is often labeled as minimalist, he prefers to call it “music with repetitive structures.” His early compositions were greatly influenced by ...

Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, which premiered in 1923, has become one of the most beloved works for violin in the classical ...

One of the pleasures of attending a concert is the freedom to lose oneself in listening to the music. Quite often, unconsciously, mental pictures and ...

The Royal Ballet’s Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett has been making waves both across the pond in his native England and here in America. His ...

Georges Bizet composed his Symphony in C Major when he was a 17-year-old pupil of Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatory. The manuscript was lost ...

In 1919 Maurice Ravel composed "Le Tombeau de Couperin” (“The Tomb of Couperin”), a commemorative suite for piano in six movements, in memory of six ...

Balanchine admired Glazounov's score for the three-act ballet Raymonda, calling it "some of the finest ballet music we have." As a student in St. Petersburg, ...

The Steadfast Tin Soldier, based loosely on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, focuses on the wistful courtship and love between a tin soldier and ...

Peter Martins created his Barber Violin Concerto to Samuel Barber’s 1941 Violin Concerto, Opus 14, which has become one of the 20th century’s most frequently ...

William Forsythe choreographed Herman Schmerman, his second work for NYCB, as part of the 1992 Diamond Project. Originally choreographed for five dancers, Forsythe said at ...

This brief but heartfelt dance for a man and woman dressed in understated yet elegant Valentino costumes explores Dinah Washington’s soulful rendition of “This Bitter ...

Created in 2006 for The Royal Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon's DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse is set to Michael Nyman's score, MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse). ...

Contemporary culture meets 17th century society in this 1997 Diamond Project ballet created for an ensemble of twelve dancers. Excerpts from Vivaldi as well as ...

Richard Tanner created Sonatas and Interludes for the Eglevsky Ballet in 1982, and the work entered the repertory of New York City Ballet during the ...

Marking the fourth collaboration between Benjamin Millepied and composer Nico Muhly, the score for Two Hearts, commissioned by New York City Ballet, draws inspiration from ...

Vespro is the Italian word for vespers, or evensong — music sung as twilight fades into night. M. Bruno Moretti has described his composition as ...

This score was composed in 1931, and for the premiere Igor Stravinsky conducted, with Samuel Dushkin as the violin soloist. In writing the score, Stravinsky ...

Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune was composed between 1892 and 1894. It was inspired by a poem by Mallarmé that was begun in 1865, ...

"We are dancing on the edge of a volcano," Maurice Ravel wrote in his notes to La Valse. His words are an apt description of ...

Created for NYCB’s 2012 Fall Gala tribute to the legendary designer Valentino, Bal de Couture is set to selections from Tschaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and features ...

When opera was presented in Paris in the late nineteenth century, the composer was obliged to include a ballet at the beginning of the third ...

Coppélia, traditionally considered one of the triumphant comic ballets of the 19th century, marked the passing of ballet supremacy from France to Russia. Originally choreographed ...

For the Fall Gala premiere, Preljocaj will collaborate with the Belgian designer Olivier Theyskens, who is currently the Artistic Director of the American fashion house ...

New York City Ballet after a 13-year absence. Inspired by Chopin’s piano music, Robbins quickly began choreographing in the rehearsal studio. When he showed 25 ...

A ballet requiring great energy, speed, and precision, Kammermusik No. 2 has a complex structure that echoes the music; one of the dancers in the ...

George Balanchine redefined classical ballet with his groundbreaking “black and white” canon, works that forego decorative costumes and sets to focus attention on music and ...

Stravinsky dedicated Duo Concertant to Samuel Dushkin, a well-known violinist he met in 1931. The composer premiered the work with Dushkin in Berlin in 1932, ...

These dances were made on the occasion of an homage to Anton von Webern, which included all his orchestral works and in which Martha Graham ...

Serge Diaghilev, who founded Ballets Russes in 1911, was a ballet and opera impresario who brought together the best of new music, dance, and visual ...

Balanchine choreographed this work (then called Night Shadow) in 1946, for Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, with Alexandra Danilova, Nicholas Magallanes, and Maria Tallchief. He ...

The original Slaughter on Tenth Avenue was created for the 1936 Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes, and featured Ray Bolger as "The Hoofer" ...

An animated ballet set to a vivacious score, Soirée Musicale’s youthful cast entices you to dance the night away under a blanket of stars....

With delightful narration written by John Lithgow, Carnival of the Animals imagines a schoolboy’s night in the Museum of Natural History and the outlandish museum ...

Stravinsky composed Jeu de Cartes (Card Game: A Ballet in Three Deals) for the first Stravinsky Festival mounted by Balanchine at the Metropolitan Opera in ...

Escape the routine with this collection of whimsical works crafted for audiences of all ages. Opening with a poker table backdrop for dancers dressed as ...

Bringing together contemporary innovation and long-time favorites, these three works all feature onstage accompaniment for an intimate musical experience. The curtain rises on Vespro, drawing ...

In 1996 the Royal Danish Ballet presented Peter Martins’ new full-length version of Swan Lake, the last of the enduring 19th-century Russian ballets. Although it ...

Peck’s second work for New York City Ballet, Year of the Rabbit, is a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens and is set to Stevens’ ...

Balanchine’s timeless choreography brings to life Shakespeare’s magical and humorous story of a fairy kingdom and the humans that enter into it. This tale features ...

Precursor to the full-length stage and screen productions of On the Town, Fancy Free presents the footloose escapades of three sailors on shore leave in ...

A whimsical display of classical technique, Jeu de Cartes adorns its dancers as a deck of cards and pairs fleet-footed choreography with Stravinsky’s boisterous and ...

Opening on a romantic note, each section of Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 swells with ardor, culminating in a radiant, majestic finale....

Forgoing scenery, elaborate costumes, and even musical accompaniment, this ballet in silence enthralls with the unexpected intensity it evokes through movement alone....

For this brilliant, folk-influenced but contemporary work, Ratmansky weaves a vivid tapestry of human experience detailed with love, humor, and loss....

Part of NYCB's first performance in 1948, this classical masterpiece returns from a four-year hiatus with new costumes to dazzle audiences with its crystalline luminosity, ...

One of Balanchine’s greatest masterpieces, Concerto Barocco embodies Bach’s double violin concerto with brilliant but understated virtuosity....

Set to music originally composed for Swan Lake, this virtuosic ballet is beautiful and beloved—a 9-minute adrenaline rush for dancers and audiences alike....

NYCB’s own Benjamin Millepied is one of the busiest choreographers on today’s scene. Millepied’s new ballet will be set to a commissioned score by his ...

NYCB’s former first-ever Resident Choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon now travels the world as one of the most in-demand dance makers. Wheeldon returns to choreograph a world ...

Susan Stroman pays tribute to the silver screen era and performers such as Fred Astaire and Buster Keaton with a full-length work that, like its ...

Endlessly fascinated with the music of Chopin, Robbins presents three vastly contrasting sets of lovers, from innocent to impetuous, who meet beneath a midnight sky....

Peter Martins’ latest creation, premiering at the 2012 Spring Gala, continues his fervent passion for contemporary music with a commissioned score from Marc-Andre Dalbavie. Dalbavie ...

Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet was the first abstract work Balanchine designed for the stage of the New York State Theater, which replaced the smaller City Center of ...

Set in an elegantly appointed ballroom to 18 Brahms waltzes, this lyrical and intimate two-part ballet finds its four couples in the midst of romance....

With the playful jazz accents of Ravel’s Concerto in G and fashionable scenery and costumes by Erté, this light-hearted ballet suggests a chic Rivera setting....

Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky (1840-1893) studied at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, where Balanchine later studied piano in addition to his studies in dance. Tschaikovsky is ...

gor Stravinsky (1882-1971) entered law school in 1901, at the age of nineteen. That year he also gave his first public piano recital and began ...

Originally created for The Royal Ballet, DGV propels 26 dancers through space with a supercharged, minimalist score by Michael Nyman...

Balanchine's Firebird was one of the choreographer's first creations for the young New York City Ballet, using elaborate sets and costumes. The story, the choreography, ...

The first ballet Balanchine choreo-graphed in America is a romantic work of immense sweep, set to a transcendent Tschaikovsky score....

Requiring great energy, speed, and precision, the striking choreography for Kammermusik No. 2 echoes the intricacies of its modernist score with jagged lines and stylized ...

Agon is the Greek word for contest; the movements of the ballet are named after French court dances. The score was commissioned by New York ...

Balanchine’s ingenious choreography for this signature “black and white” ballet accentuates the symmetries within Stravinsky’s brilliant score....

Allegro Brillante is characterized by what Maria Tallchief (the ballerina on whom the bravura leading role was created) calls "an expansive Russian romanticism." The music's ...

Prokofiev, Tschaikovsky/Martins. A folk-accented dance for two, Zakouski is set to a series of short works for violin and piano from four brilliant Russian composers....

Featuring Shakespeare’s immortal tale, Prokofiev’s score, and designs by Per Kirkeby is an intense and powerful staging of the most famous of romantic tragedies....

Distinctly American and youthful in spirit, Interplay reveals the best of jazz and boogie-woogie while its dancers take part in playful competition....

Featuring a dual leading role performed by a dancer and a singer, this thrilling cabaret-style ballet tells the cautionary tale of Anna, whose journey for ...

A work of monumental scale with a magnificent finale, Vienna Waltzes is set in moonlit Austrian forests and the regal ballrooms of Vienna....

Regarded as one of Wheeldon’s breakthrough contemporary works, Polyphonia’s four couples wind their way through ten eerily melodious Ligeti selections....

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was born in Poland. He was one of the most important innovators for the piano, both in terms of composition and playing ...

NYCB brings together the legendary Sir Paul McCartney and Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins for a hallmark collaboration. Ocean’s Kingdom marks the first time ...

Hans Christian Andersen's charming fairytale The Steadfast Tin Soldier presents romance under the Christmas tree between a paper doll ballerina and a smitten toy soldier....

Mirroring Gershwin’s brassy melodies, Balanchine’s big city ballet Who Cares? is full of jazzy, syncopated rhythms and balmy, romantic duets....

Rooted in the court dances of 18th-century France, Le Tombeau de Couperin mesmerizes with its seamless patterns and sym-metrical groupings of dancers....

Balanchine hails Brittannia with a spectacle of 74 dancers—a dazzling tour de force including sailors, music-hall humor, kilts, and clans....

Welcome to the world of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™. This is the production that is the heart of New York City’s year-end holiday season. Whether ...

Perhaps the most avant-garde of Balanchine's "black and white" ballets, this work uses Webern's edgy tones as the basis for a series of four neoclassical ...

Set on a rugged Old West street populated by cowboys and dance hall girls, Western Symphony nevertheless is very much a classical work. The steps ...

J.S. Bach wrote these piano studies, Inventions and Sinfonias, between 1720 and 1723 to help instruct his son in the playing and handling of two- ...

Fearful Symmetries is an ever-changing cascade of dancers costumed in vibrant tones of red with a racing score by celebrated American composer John Adams....

Deceit, desire, and death shadow La Sonnambula’s aristocratic masked ball, entertaining with its fanciful divertissements and haunting the imagination with its poignant story....

With utter simplicity, Liturgy depicts the intersection of two souls, creating a realm in which movement itself becomes a form of worship....

Vivaldi, Corelli/Balanchine. With the exhilaration of a traditional hoedown, Balanchine distills the essence of the square dance to its purest form in movement alone: fascinating ...

A modern love story based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story Suite brings audiences to the feuding streets of 1950s New York City ...

Inspired by a visit to Van Cleef & Arpels, Balanchine distilled the brilliant facets of precious stones into a grand display. "Emeralds" moves at Fauré’s ...

A dynamic work with intricate, weaving patterns, Mercurial Manoeuvres distills Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 into a rapidly-changing, geometric kaleidoscope....

Balanchine regarded Apollo as his artistic coming of age. He said that through the creation of this work, he learned he could "dare not use ...

An iconic “black and white” ballet, The Four Temperaments, is classically grounded but definitively modern movement – a timeless favorite to be enjoyed over and ...

Following sold-out performances for two years running, Peter Martins' bold and provocative Swan Lake returns for one week only with its timeless Tschaikovsky score and ...

The serene and elegiac In Memory of... recalls the life of a young woman who encounters death, transfiguration, and ultimately the acceptance of mortality....