Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen announced today the complete program and casting for Boston Ballet’s one-night-only, all-star performance, Night of Stars, which takes place Saturday, October 23 at 7:30pm. The performance, a sell-out in 2009, marks the start of Boston Ballet’s second season at The Boston Opera House, and a first chance to see the new company dancers as well as repertoire highlights for the coming season. Night of Stars features the full company, as well as students of Boston Ballet School, the Boston Ballet Orchestra, and internationally renowned guest stars Laëtitia Pujol and Alessio Carbone of Paris Opera Ballet.
“Night of Stars is a breathtaking evening of dance and, every year, is a thrilling season kick-off for the company,” said Nissinen. “It’s an evening that brings together the best of dance, and this year we welcome many new dancers with an expanded Company roster, students from Boston Ballet School and international stars from Paris Opera Ballet.”
The evening will open with an excerpt from the company’s upcoming world premiere of La Bayadère. The Shades scene from La Bayadère is one of the greatest and most beautiful masterpieces of academic classical ballet requiring technical precision from the corps de ballet. Other highlights include Le Corsaire pas de deux performed by new soloists Adiarys Almeida and Joseph Gatti as well as several masterpieces by George Balanchine, including Tarantella, Scherzo a la Russe, featuring Boston Ballet School students, and Apollo, praised by The New York Times as “outstanding… the action suspenseful. [With] that most crucial sense of wanting to know what would happen next.” The program will also include a world premiere by Helen Pickett and a piece d’occasion choreographed by principal dancer Yury Yanowsky.
Laëtitia Pujol and Alessio Carbone, both stars with Paris Opera Ballet, will be the guest artists for the evening. Pujol trained with Paris Opera Ballet School before joining the company where she has for over 15 years, achieving the rank of Étoile in 2002. Carbone joined Paris Opera Ballet in 1997 and has danced in various galas throughout the world. Carbone will perform Maurice Bejart’s Arepo, a 1986 work which premiered at Paris Opera Ballet. Together they will perform an excerpt from José Martinez’s Les Enfants du Paradis, a tribute ballet to the 1943 film of the same title.
Special events for Night of Stars include a three-course dinner for presenting sponsors preceding the performance and a ticketed post-performance event of light appetizers, cocktails, and dancing, with music by DJ Ms Thang. For more information and tickets for Night of Stars special events: www.bostonballet.org/support/night-of-stars.html.
The complete Night of Stars programming follows:
Casting and repertoire subject to change.
The Shades (excerpt from La Bayadére)
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Choreography: Florence Clerc by Marius Petipa
Dancers: Company
Apollo (excerpt)
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Choreography: George Balanchine
Dancers: Pavel Gurevich and Kathleen Breen Combes
Arepo
Music: Charles Gounod
Choreography: Maurice Béjart
Dancer: Alessio Carbone
Courtesy of Paris Opera Ballet
Le Corsaire (pas de deux)
Music: Adolphe Adam
Choreography: Mikko Nissinen after Marius Petipa
Dancers: Adiarys Almeida and Joseph Gatti
Plan to B
Music: Henrich von Biber
Choreography: Jorma Elo
Dancers: Company
Scherzo a la Russe
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Choreography: George Balanchine
Dancers: Maria Alvarez, Melanie Riffee and students of Boston Ballet School
Tarantella
Music: Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Choreography: George Balanchine
Dancers: Whitney Jensen and Jeffrey Cirio
WORLD PREMIERE
Music: TBD
Choreography: Yury Yanowsky
Dancers: Rie Ichikawa, John Lam, Jaime Diaz
Don Quixote (pas de deux)
Music: Ludwig Minkus
Choreography: Mikko Nissinen after Marius Petipa
Dancers: Lia Cirio and Lasha Khozashvili and Erica Cornejo and Nelson Madrigal
Layli and Majnun – WORLD PREMIERE
Music: Arvo Pärt
Choreography: Helen Pickett
Dancers: Larissa Ponomarenko and Yury Yanowsky
Robert Macair (excerpt from Les enfants du Paradis)
Music: Domenico Scarlatti
Choreography: José Martinez
Dancers: Laëtitia Pujol and Alessio Carbone
Theme and Variations (excerpts)
Music: P. I. Tchaikovsky
Choreography: George Balanchine
Dancers: Misa Kuranaga and James Whiteside and Company
2010-2011 Season Tickets
Subscriptions, individual tickets and tickets for The Nutcrakcer are on sale now. Subscriptions and all tickets will be available for sales online 24 hours a day at www.bostonballet.org or by phone at 617.695.6955 or in person at the box office at 19 Clarendon Street, Boston, Mon–Fri, 9am-5pm and on performance days on Sat and Sun, 11am – 4pm. Prices for season ballets start at $25. Tickets to The Nutcracker start at $35. Discounted group tickets (10 or more for season ballets and 20 or more for The Nutcracker) are available by calling Boston Ballet’s Group Sales at 617.456.6343. Contact the Boston Ballet Box Office at 617.695.6955 or visit www.bostonballet.org for details.
About Boston Ballet
Since 1963, Boston Ballet has been one of the leading dance companies in the world on stage, in the studio and in the community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen and Executive Director Barry Hughson, the Company maintains an internationally acclaimed repertoire and the largest ballet school in North America, Boston Ballet School.
Boston Ballet maintains a repertoire of classical, neo-classical and contemporary works, ranging from full-length story ballets to new works by some of today's finest choreographers. Boston Ballet's second company, Boston Ballet II, is comprised of pre-professional dancers who gain experience by performing with the Company and independently, presenting lecture-demonstrations and special programs to audiences throughout the Northeast.
Boston Ballet School, the official school of Boston Ballet, has a long-standing dedication to excellence and access and reaches more than 10,000 students ages 2-adult each year through Boston Ballet School classes, Summer Dance Workshop, Summer Dance Program, Citydance, Taking Steps, and Adaptive Dance. The wide array of dance programs are held at three studio locations in Boston, Newton, and Marblehead with additional programs throughout New England, as well as community centers and in Boston Public Schools.
Boston Ballet gratefully acknowledges the following institutional partners:
State Street Corporation, 2010 Presenting Sponsor, The Nutcracker
Jane’s Trust
Massachusetts Cultural Council
National Endowment for the Arts
