New York City Ballet to Host 2026 Spring Gala Featuring World Premiere

On Thursday, May 7, 2026, New York City Ballet will present its 2026 Spring Gala, Set in Stone: Creation & Preservation, with a one-time only gala program featuring a World Premiere by choreographer and NYCB Principal Dancer Tiler Peck, her second commissioned work for NYCB following her acclaimed Winter 2024 commission, Concerto for Two Pianos. The evening will also feature a performance of George Balanchine's Diamonds from Jewels, in an evening celebrating NYCB's longstanding commitment to the creation of new works as well as the enduring legacy of its co-founding choreographer, George Balanchine. Tiler Peck's World Premiere will be set to Édouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole. Featuring a cast of more than 30 dancers, the work will have costumes designed by acclaimed ballet, theater, and opera designer Robert Perdziola and lighting by Tony Award-nominated lighting designer Brandon Stirling Baker.

The gala performance will feature the three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn as Solo Violinist, performing with the New York City Ballet Orchestra. Hahn will also perform on May 17 at 3pm, and May 27 and 28 at 7:30pm. Tai Murray will perform as Solo Violinist for the performances on May 9 at 2pm and May 12 at 7:30pm. Following the Spring Gala performance, the new Tiler Peck work will be programmed for the remainder of the Spring Season with Jerome Robbins' Opus 19/The Dreamer, and Alysa Pires' Standard Deviation.

The gala evening will conclude with a performance of George Balanchine's Diamonds, the third section from the three-part masterpiece Jewels. Set to Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29, the ballet, which premiered on April 13, 1967, will be performed for the gala evening as a toast to the forthcoming Diamond Anniversary of Jewels (in 2027).

The 2026 Spring Gala will be co-chaired by Donya Bommer, Melanie Hamrick, and Brynn Putnam, all members of NYCB's Board of Directors. The evening will begin at 5:30pm with a cocktail reception hosted by Ruinart Champagne, followed by the performance at 7pm, concluding with a black-tie dinner and dancing on the theater's Promenade.

Benefit-priced tickets for the gala evening at the David H. Koch Theater, which includes the 7pm performance, pre-performance cocktail reception, and the black-tie supper ball, are available through the NYCB Special Events Office at 212-870-5585 or at nycballet.com/springgala (online sales available starting February 18). Tickets for the performance only are available at nycballet.com, by calling 212-496-0600, or at the David H. Koch Theater box office (West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue).

Tiler Peck is a choreographer and Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. Peck made her choreographic debut at the Vail Dance Festival in 2018 and choreographed her first piece for NYCB, Concerto for Two Pianos, during the 2024 Winter Season. She has also choreographed for Boston Ballet, BalletX, Cincinnati Ballet, Northern Ballet, and for her curated evening Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends at New York City Center, which has toured to Sadler's Wells in London, where it will return in March 2026. She choreographed for the feature film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and has choreographed and appeared in the TV series Tiny Pretty Things and Ray Donovan. She also curated the program BalletNOW for the Los Angeles Music Center, which is captured in the feature documentary film Ballet Now.

Peck began her dance training at the age of 2 at her mother's dance studio, Bakersfield Dance Company, and studied ballet in the Los Angeles area before entering the School of American Ballet, the official school of NYCB. She joined NYCB in 2005, was promoted to Soloist in 2006, and to Principal Dancer in 2009. Her repertory at NYCB includes featured roles in numerous works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and she has originated roles in works by many choreographers including Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Kyle Abraham, Mauro Bigonzetti, Wayne McGregor, Peter Martins, Benjamin Millepied, Angelin Preljocaj, Susan Stroman, and Christopher Wheeldon.

Additional credits include the title role in the 2014 Kennedy Center production of Little Dancer; performances in On the Town (Ivy) and in Meredith Willson's The Music Man, both on Broadway; New York Philharmonic's Live From Lincoln Center production of Carousel; The Hip Hop Nutcracker on Disney+; Josh Groban's Great Big Radio City Show PBS special; The Ellen DeGeneres Show; Dancing with The Stars; Julie's Greenroom; and the Kennedy Center Honors. She is also the subject of PBS's Great Performances documentary Suspending Time.

Three-time GRAMMY Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn melds expressive musicality and technical expertise with a diverse repertoire guided by artistic curiosity. She is known for performing music ranging from solo Bach and the classical repertoire to today's major composers; she has personally championed works by more than 40 living composers. Hahn was named a member of the Juilliard School's string faculty in 2025. She has previously served as visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and artist-in-residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

Hahn's wide repertoire is reflected in her 23 feature recordings, which have all opened in the top ten of the Billboard charts. Recent releases include Night After Night, a collection of James Newton Howard's scores for the films of M. Night Shyamalan, and a Gramophone Award-winning recording of Eugène Ysaÿe's six sonatas for solo violin. Her #100daysofpractic project, launched in 2017, has transformed practice into a community-building celebration of artistic development with nearly one million posts across platforms, while her BYOBaby concerts create a welcoming space for families with infants to enjoy classical music together.

Hahn studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, and holds honorary doctorates from Curtis, Middlebury College, and Ball State University. In recent seasons, Hahn has received the Avery Fisher Prize, was named Musical America's Artist of the Year, and received the Herbert von Karajan and Glasshütte Original Music Festival awards, the latter of which she donated to the Philadelphia music education nonprofit Project 440.

Tai Murray is an award-winning violinist and an Associate Professor, Adjunct, of violin at the Yale School of Music, where she teaches applied violin and coaches chamber music. Her musical background and influences, principally, include Yuval Yaron (a student of Gingold & Heifetz) and Franco Gulli. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2004, Murray was named a BBC New Generation Artist (2008 through 2010). As a chamber musician, she was a member of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society II (2004-2006).

She has performed as guest soloist on the main stages worldwide, performing with leading ensembles such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Symphony Orchestra, and all of the BBC Symphony Orchestras. She is also a dedicated advocate of contemporary works (written for the violin). Among others, she performed the world premiere of Malcolm Hayes' violin concerto at the BBC PROMS, in the Royal Albert Hall. As a recitalist Tai Murray has visited many of the world's capitals having appeared in Berlin, Chicago, Hamburg, London, Madrid, New York's Carnegie Hall, Paris, and Washington D.C., among many others.

Tai Murray's critically acclaimed debut recording for harmonia mundi of Eugène Ysaÿe's six sonatas for solo violin was released in February 2012. Her second recording with works by American composers of the 20th century was released by the Berlin-based label eaSonus, and her third disc with the Bernstein Serenade on the French label mirare. She earned artist diplomas from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music and the Juilliard School.

Robert Perdziola has designed sets and costumes for American Ballet Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet, Boston Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Garsington Opera, Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Australia, Opera Boston, Metropolitan Opera, Opera Monte Carlo, Saito Kinen Festival, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Santa Fe Opera, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Among these designs have been Capriccio and Il Pirata for the Met, Giselle for the Bolshoi, Arabella for Opera Australia, and Harlequinade for American Ballet Theatre. In 2023 he created sets and costumes for Die tote Stadt with Opera Colorado, La Bohéme for Veroza Opera in Japan, and Don Giovanni for the Hyogo Performing Arts Center. Upcoming work for 2026 includes costumes for The Magic Flute at the Santa Fe Opera and King Roger for the Des Moines Metro Opera.

Brandon Stirling Baker is a Tony Award-nominated lighting designer working internationally. His work can be seen on many of the world's most celebrated stages including Broadway, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Australian Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Royal Ballet London, Royal Danish Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Park Avenue Armory, American Repertory Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Semperoper Dresden, Finnish National Ballet, and many others.

Baker received a Tony Award nomination for his lighting of ILLINOISE on Broadway and is a recipient of the Knight of Illumination Award for his work in dance. Baker has designed more than 30 premieres worldwide for choreographer Justin Peck, and works frequently with William Forsythe, Jamar Roberts, and Pam Tanowitz, among others.

He is the Resident Lighting Designer of Boston Ballet and a Lecturer of Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.