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Fall Experience 2024

Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon by Lindsay Thomas courtesy of Pacific Northwest Ballet

Fall Experience 2024

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

 

The Seasons' Canon

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

After

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

Ein von Viel

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

Plan to B

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.
Supporting Sponsor MaxMara

For important information about attending performances, CHECK OUT OUR FAQs.

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.

THE DETAILS (in program order)

After World Premiere

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

Ein von Viel

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

Plan to B

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

The Seasons’ Canon

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.

Fall Experience October 24–November 3, 2024