American Ballet Theatre News

Festival Ballet Theatre: Gala of the Stars is set for the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Friday, August 16, 2013 at 7pm.

Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch has announced the company's 2013-2014 season. Eight new works enter Houston Ballet's repertoire, including world premieres by James Kudelka, Garrett Smith and Melissa Hough in September 2013; the North American premiere of David Bintley's Aladdin in February 2014; company premieres of Jiri Kylian's Sechs Tanze, Christopher Bruce's Intimate Pages and Stanton Welch's Of Blessed Memory as well as a world premiere A Young Person's Guide to Orchestra by Mr. Welch in March 2014.

The theatre programme for the Manchester International Festival 2013 has been announced. MIF13 commissions include: The Machine, The Old Woman, Macbeth, The Masque of Anarchy and The Rite of Spring.

Banff National Park welcomed visitors from across Canada and around the world this past Canada Day weekend with clear blue skies and temperatures soaring into the 30s. The weather lifted spirits, setting the stage for a sizzling month ahead for the arts scene as the Banff Summer Arts Festival kicks into high gear.

American Ballet Theatre's 2013 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House previously announced the cast of THE SLEEPING BEAUTY.

Andris Liepa was born in 1962 into a famous artistic family; his father Maris Liepa was one of the Bolshoi's legendary dancers. Andris trained at Moscow Ballet School and then joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company, dancing the leads in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Swan Lake and many more.

The World Premiere of The Tempest by Alexei Ratmansky will highlight American Ballet Theatre's inaugural Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater, October 30-November 10, 2013. The Fall 2013 season, announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, will also feature revivals of Bach Partita by Twyla Tharp, Les Sylphides by Michel Fokine, Gong by Mark Morris and Clear by Stanton Welch.

The New York Philharmonic will present A Dancer's Dream: Two Works by Stravinsky, a multidisciplinary, theatrical reimagining of the ballets The Fairy's Kiss and Petrushka, created by Giants Are Small. Sara Mearns, New York City Ballet principal dancer, will star in the production, which will be conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, directed and designed by Doug Fitch, choreographed by Karole Armitage, and produced by Edouard Getaz - tonight, June 27, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, June 28 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, June 29 at 8:00 p.m.

Yesterday, we learned that Atlanta's Theater of the Stars had cancelled the July 9 - 14 engagement of Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story at the Fox Theatre. Today we've learned is that the entire theater is in jeopardy if they are unable to raise $1 million dollars by August 30th, with the first $500,000 by July 12th.

Casting for the final two weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2013 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House has been announced by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

The ABT's current version of 'Swan Lake' is an lavish spectacle. Yet the company fails to do much with the intellectual and emotional depth of this most famous ballet.

Mikhail Baryshnikov, founder and artistic director of the Baryshnikov Arts Center, critically acclaimed film, television and theater actor and one of the world's greatest ballet dancers, will receive an honorary degree and deliver the main address at Northwestern University's 155th commencement.

For the past 32 years, Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet, has welcomed ballet students from across the United States and around the world to its Summer Intensive program. Princeton Ballet School's Summer Intensive is one of the oldest and most selective in the country. The 95 dancers, who auditioned this past winter, come from across the United States and from Canada, China, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, and South Africa. The students live in dorms on Princeton University's campus and train daily at the Princeton Ballet School's location in the Princeton Shopping Center.

The American Ballet Theater launches an ambitious production of the historically problematic Le Corsaire.

Casting for the final two weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2013 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House has been announced by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

American Ballet Theatre has named Keith Roberts, former Principal Dancer with ABT, to the post of Ballet Master. The appointment, which was announced yesterday by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, becomes effective September 2013.

Marni Nixon, who dubbed the singing role for Natalie Wood, along with Bert Michaels (Snowboy), Eddie Verso (Juano) and Harvey Evans (Mouth Piece), will participate in a roundtable discussion about WEST SIDE STORY at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall tonight, June 14 from 7 p.m.to 7:30 p.m. Jonathan Palevsky, program director of WBJC 91.5 FM radio and host of 'Cinema Sundays' at The Charles Theater, will moderate. Please see below for complete program details.

Based upon the popular story by Sir James M. Barrie, Peter Pan is a magical ballet set to the music of Sir Edward Elgar in an arrangement by Niel DePonte and features spectacular flying sequences, swashbuckling swordfights, giant puppets, colorful masks, as well as costumes inspired by punk fashion. With elaborate, magical sets by Thomas Boyd and imaginative costumes by Broadway designer Jeanne Button, the production reinterprets the classic story with verve and wit. Houston Ballet will give seven performances of Peter Pan at Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston. Tickets may be purchased by calling 713 227 2787 or by visiting www.houstonballet.org.

Due to injury, American Ballet Theatre Guest Artist Alina Cojocaru will withdraw from her scheduled performance as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty on July 3, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Guest Artist Maria Kochetkova will replace Cojocaru opposite Herman Cornejo in The Sleeping Beauty. As previously announced, Kochetkova, a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet, will also replace Cojocaru in the role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake on Friday, June 21.

American Repertory Ballet Artistic Director Douglas Martin is please to announce its 2013-2014 Company Dancers, including the addition of Company Dancer Nanako Yamamoto and the promotion of dancers Andrea D'Annunzio and Mattia Pallozzi from Trainee to full Company Dancer. Yamamoto, D'Annunzio, and Pallozzi will join returning dancers: Cameron Auble-Branigan, Euphrosyne Avery, Stephen Campanella, Alice Cao, Alexander Dutko, Shaye Firer, Monica Giragosian, Samantha Gullace, Joshua Kurtzberg, Karen Leslie Moscato, Marc St-Pierre, Edward Urwin, and Claire van Bever. The 2013-2014 Season will be Auble-Branigan's and Firer's second season with ARB. It will be the third season for Avery, Cao, Giragosian, and van Bever. Campanella, Gullace, Moscato, St-Pierre, and Urwin are entering their fourth season, Dutko his fifth, and Kurtzberg is entering his sixth season with ARB.