A dazzling and dynamic program that you won’t forget.
October 24-November 3, 2024
Crystal Pite The Seasons’ Canon | Lia Cirio After World Premiere
Sabrina Matthews Ein von Viel | Jorma Elo Plan to B
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Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon by Lindsay Thomas courtesy of Pacific Northwest Ballet
October 24-November 3, 2024
Crystal Pite The Seasons’ Canon | Lia Cirio After World Premiere
Sabrina Matthews Ein von Viel | Jorma Elo Plan to B
Artists of Boston Ballet in Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon by Rosalie O’Connor
A highlight of the entire season, Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon is a powerhouse ballet featuring 54 dancers on stage. It was originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet and will be her first work in Boston. Set to Max Richter’s take on Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, her choreography draws on human emotion from her own life experiences.
“For me, the process of creation is like looking through a lens. It’s an opportunity to see the world in greater detail and clarity. It’s a magnified experience. Choreography is a way for me to grapple with the very meaning of creation. It is the crafting, colliding, collaging, framing, layering and excavating—the acts of making, and of seeing—that most deeply connect me to nature and all the beauty and brutality it contains. The Seasons’ Canon is a gesture, an offering. It’s my way of confronting the vastness and complexity of the living world, while at the same time giving thanks for it.”
—Crystal Pite
Artists of Boston Ballet in Lia Cirio’s After by Rosalie O’Connor
Principal Dancer Lia Cirio has been an artist with the Company for 20 years, and this world premiere marks her second choreographic work for the Boston Ballet main stage. Her ballet will feature neo-classical pointe work. Cirio’s ballets showcase a brilliant pairing of her own personal style and technique with her ability to highlight the unique talent of her fellow dancers.
“‘I hope that I can be that someone for that dreaming young ballerina, that might see me and think, ‘That’s me. I can do that too,’” she said. “Every time I go out there, I think of that and hope I inspire someone.'”
—Lia Cirio, WBUR
Jeffrey Cirio with Sienna Tabron in Sabrina Matthews’ Ein von Viel by Christopher Duggan
Set to Bach’s beloved Goldberg Variations, Sabrina Matthews’ ballet is an intimate dance between two artists and a solo pianist. The piece was originally commissioned by Mikko Nissinen for Alberta Ballet in 2001 for two male dancers.
“Matthews matches the clarity of Bach’s score while consciously subverting the elegance with bits of “you lookin’ at me?” attitude and quirky nuances. Dynamics shift with quicksilver speed, long lines dissolve into squiggles, complemented by playful gestures – feet that paw the ground, hands that cover the face, backward runs. But it’s all fairly subtle, cast in phrases of tensile fluidity from which erupt brilliant leaps and turns in vivid asymmetric shapes.”
—Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe
Ángel García Molinero with Artists of Boston Ballet in Jorma Elo’s Plan to B by Rosalie O’Connor
Jorma Elo’s Plan to B is one of the most dynamic and thrilling ballets ever created. Six dancers captivate in a flurry of solos, duets, and trios that move with passion and velocity to the vivacious music of Henrich Ignaz Von Biber. The ballet reflects on the inevitable unpredictability of life and the hesitation and nervous energy we experience when we take leaps into the unknown.
“(Elo) knows classical technique and how to use it in new ways, how to transform it. Plan to B is a high-tech ballet in human terms, and its impact as pure movement is explosive. If movement were sound, Plan to B would be called high-decibel choreography.”
—Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times
PERFORMANCE CALENDAR
Thursday, October 24 at 7:30 pm
Friday, October 25 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, October 26 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 27 at 1:30 pm
Thursday, October 31 at 7:30 pm
Friday, November 1 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 2 at 1:30 and 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 3 at 1:30 pm
With Appreciation
The Company gratefully acknowledges Barbara and Amos Hostetter for their outstanding support of our commitment to amplifying diverse artistic voices.
Boston Ballet’s production of Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon has been made possible by a generous gift from Lisa and Tom Blumenthal. Additional support provided by the Krupp Endowment for Contemporary Dance.
This production and the commission of Jorma Elo’s Plan to B were made possible by the generosity of Sylvia T. Pope.
Lia Cirio’s world premiere has been made possible by a generous gift from an anonymous donor. Additional support provided by the Robert Ho Sherblom Dancer Fund.
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Run time: Approximately two hours with one intermission.
Please Note: The music in some ballets may be loud depending on where you are sitting and your own comfort level. Please plan accordingly.
Choreography
Lia Cirio
Music
Lera Auerbach’s 24 Preludes for violin and piano selections, by arrangement with Boosey and Hawkes, Inc, publisher and copyright owner
Set Design
John Farrell
Lighting Design
Brandon Stirling Baker
Costume Design
Marija Djordjevic
Choreography
Sabrina Matthews
Music
Johann Sebastian Bach, Goldberg Variations selections
Costume Design
Sabrina Matthews
Lighting Design
Brandon Stirling Baker
World Premiere
October 6, 2001, Alberta Ballet
Boston Ballet Premiere
March 6, 2008, Wang Theater, Boston
Choreography
Jorma Elo
Music
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber; Select movements from:
Sonata No 81 in A Major
Sonata III in F Major
Sonata No. 1 in A Major
Sonata No. 2 in D Dorian
Original Lighting
Pierre Lavoie and John Cuff
Lighting Design
Brandon Stirling Baker
Costume Design
Jorma Elo
World Premiere
March 25, 2004, Boston Ballet
Choreography
Crystal Pite
Music
Max Richter (Recomposed by Max Richter: Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons, 2012)
Scenic Design and Reflected Light Backdrop Concept
Jay Gower Taylor
Reflected Light Backdrop Design
Jay Gower Taylor and Tom Visser
Costume Design
Nancy Bryant
Lighting Design
Tom Visser
Staging
Eric Beauchesne and Anna Herrmann
World Premiere
September 26, 2016, Paris Opera Ballet
The Seasons’ Canon is a co-production with Boston Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet.