Peter Quanz Preimeres New Ballet With Pennsylvania Ballet

Peter Quanz, the talented and acclaimed young choreographer, will premiere a new ballet "Jupiter Symphony" on Friday June 6th for the Pennsylvania Ballet (Roy Kaiser, Artistic Director) at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Also on the program will be Chris Wheeldon's Carnival of the Animals (John Lithgow will narrate for Carnival) and a new work by Matthew Neenan.

"Jupiter Symphony" has Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, "Jupiter Symphony, Symphony in C, No. 41 K551"; Costumes by Holly Hynes; Lighting by John Hoey; and the Conductor is Beatrice Jona Affron.  The last of Mozart's symphonies, Jupiter Symphony was completed on August 10, 1788. In the course of little more than six weeks Mozart had written three symphonies. The composition is full of emotion, fun, life and shows the vitality of the young composer. With a sense of spirited fun, energy and at times, tragic emotion, the symphony has a wide spectrum of human experience. The choreography is classical in its aesthetic, but full of  reminders that this is a ballet created in the 21st century. It has a cast of twenty dancers (3 Ballerinas, 4 Male Principals, 10 Corps de Ballet Women, 4 Corps de Ballet Men) and there will be two different casts.

The acclaimed Peter Quanz has choreographed for American Ballet Theatre, the Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, the Sacramento Ballet, the Chemnitz Ballet in Germany and the Banff Centre for the Arts. He has been invited twice to attend the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of the New York City Ballet.  He has also created experimental works for choreographic workshops with the Stuttgart Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Peter was invited to create a new work for the Fire Island Dance Festival 2006 (Dancers Responding to AIDS) collaborating with dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Some past highlights include American Ballet Theatre's world premiere of Kaleidoscope, the company's only new creation in 2005. The Chemnitz Ballet premiered Peter's first full evening story ballet, Charlies Kreuzfahrt (Charlie's Cruise), to critical acclaim. A new arrangement of Cole Porter melodies was commissioned for this work about Charlie Chaplin.

This past year, at the invitation of Valery Gergiev, Peter created a 30-minute ballet for the Kirov Ballet for their White Nights Festival.  The ballet "Aria Suspended" uses the music of Stravinsky's Symphony in C and  has a cast of 32 dancers (1 Ballerina & 3 Principal men plus demi soloists and corps de ballet).  Holly Hynes designed the costumes.  The World Premiere was July 7, 2007 on the Mariinsky stage. Peter is the first Canadian to choreograph for the world famous Kirov Ballet.

In Montréal last month for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens Peter premiered a new version of "Kaleidoscope" (on a program with Rubies and Episodes).  Later this month, the talented choreographer will return to Russia and the Mariinsky Theatre (Kirov Ballet).

Peter received the 2005 Clifford E. Lee Award, Canada's national award for young choreographers as well as grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Chalmers Foundation (guest of the Royal Ballet,  Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet) and Judy and Henny Jurriens Choreographic Fellowship.

Some of the upcoming projects include world premieres for the Kirov Ballet (St. Petersburg), the National Ballet of Canada, the Pennsylvania Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Leipziger Ballett, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.  The in-demand young choreographer has works booked into 2010 in North American and Europe.

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