American Ballet Theatre Opens THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Tonight

Paloma Herrera, Cory Stearns, Veronika Part and Martine van Hamel will lead the season's first performance of The Sleeping Beauty tonight, July 1. On Tuesday, July 2, Hee Seo and Leann Underwood will debut as Princess Aurora and the Lilac Fairy, respectively, and Guest Artist Vadim Muntagirov will dance the role of Prince Désiré for the first time with ABT. On Wednesday, July 3, Daniil Simkin will debut as Prince Désiré at the matinee and Guest Artist Maria Kochetkova will dance the role of Princess Aurora for the first time with ABT at the evening performance. Exchange Artist Alban Lendorf of the Royal Danish Ballet will make his ABT debut as Prince Désiré, at the matinee on Saturday, July 6, opposite Xiomara Reyes as Princess Aurora.

Set to a score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed after Marius Petipa, has additional choreography and staging by Kevin McKenzie, Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov. The production features scenery by Tony Walton, costumes by Willa Kim with additional designs by Holly Hynes, and lighting by Richard Pilbrow and Dawn Chiang.

This production of The Sleeping Beauty received its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on June 1, 2007. Joan Taub Ades and Alan M. Ades, Adrienne Arsht, Arlene and Harvey Blau, Devon and Peter Briger, Susan and Leonard Feinstein, Edward A. Fox, Lori and Stephen Garofalo, Julia and David H. Koch, Konrad R. Kruger, Jill L. Leinbach, Charlotte and Macdonald Mathey, and Jean and Lawrence Shaw are Co-Underwriters of The Sleeping Beauty. Additional funding provided by the NIB Foundation. Special thanks to Caroline Newhouse. This production has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets for American Ballet Theatre's 2013 Metropolitan Opera House season, beginning at $20, are available online, at the Met box office or by phone at 212-362-6000. The Metropolitan Opera House is located on Broadway between 64th and 65th streets in New York City. For more information, visit ABT's website at www.abt.org.

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