MIAMI CITY BALLET 2017-2018 SEASON
Highlights Includes:
- George Balanchine’s Jewels returns to the repertoire after a 10-year absence, in celebration of its 50th Anniversary
- Acclaimed designers Isabel and Ruben Toledo create vibrant new sets and costumes for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, a beloved holiday classic. All performances to be accompanied by live music, performed by Opus One Orchestra
- A celebration of Jerome Robbins, featuring six works, featuring six works, including three company premieres, in honor of the centennial of his birth
- Company premiere of Concerto DSCH, MCB’s third collaboration with Alexei Ratmansky
- A world premiere from Brian Brooks, with a commissioned score
- George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, La Valse and Apollo return to repertoire
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez has announced Miami City Ballet’s 32nd season, opening on October 20, 2017 with an Anniversary celebration of George Balanchine’s Jewels, the first time the company has performed Balanchine’s masterpiece in a decade. A highlight of the season will be a new production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, designed by acclaimed Cuban-American designers Isabel and Ruben Toledo.
The season will pay tribute to Jerome Robbins, one of America’s most celebrated choreographers, in honor of the 100th Anniversary of his birth. MCB will present six acclaimed works, including the company premieres of Circus Polka, The Cage and Other Dances, and the return of company favorites The Concert (Or, the Perils of Everybody), In the Night and West Side Story Suite.
The crown jewel of the season will be the new production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® with vibrant, magical sets and costumes designed by designer-artist power couple Isabel and Ruben Toledo, but of course retaining Balanchine’s iconic choreography and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s cherished score. Projection designer Wendall K. Harrington and lighting designer James F. Ingalls, who helped create The Fairy’s Kiss, will round out the artistic team.
The new George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® is a co-commission with The Music Center in Los Angeles, and will have its premiere at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, December 7 – 10, 2017. The Miami premiere on December 15 will be preceded by a gala dinner and post-show cast party on stage.
The New York Times called MCB “an exceptional troupe, by Balanchine standards, anywhere in the world.” Reflecting that excellence, the season features the return of three additional Balanchine works: the lavish Theme and Variations, set to the soaring music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; La Valse, featuring 34 dancers with gripping music by Maurice Ravel, and Apollo, one of Balanchine’s earliest international successes and his first collaborations with Igor Stravinsky.
A world premiere by Brian Brooks, inaugural Choreographer in Residence at the Harris Theater in Chicago, will feature a commissioned score by Michael Gordon, American composer and co-founder of Bang on a Can. Known for his contemporary work in dance and theater, Brooks expands his adventurous collaborations with classically trained dancers, in his first piece for MCB.
Alexei Ratmansky’s triumphant The Fairy’s Kiss had its world premiere at MCB last season. MCB continues its collaboration with the acclaimed Russian-American choreographer with the company premiere of Concerto DSCH, an amazingly inventive and exciting ballet, set to a seething Dmitri Shostakovich piano concerto. Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times had this to say: “Its dances pour forth in a continuous stream of galvanizing excitement and affectionate intimacy… The most captivating classical ballet I have seen in years.”
The company’s 53-member roster for the 2017-18 season includes several promotions, including Jennifer Lauren to principal, Lauren Fadeley to principal soloist and Ashley Knox to soloist, and the addition of seven new dancers: former longtime MCB dancer Katia Carranza will return as a principal dancer, Alexander Peters as a principal soloist and Eric Beckham, Julia Cinquemani, Aaron Hilton, Harrison Monaco and Alyssa Schroeder as corps de ballet dancer. A complete list of company members can be found here: MCB 2017-18 Company
THE 2017 – 18 SEASON
(in Chronological Order)
Miami City Ballet performs in three locations across South Florida: in Broward, Miami – Dade and Palm Beach counties. Further details on performance schedules, prices and venues is available at miamicityballet.org
PROGRAM ONE: JEWELS (1967)
October 20 – 22 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami
October 28 – 29 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale
November 17 – 19 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach
Emeralds
Music by Gabriel Fauré
Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
Rubies
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
Diamonds
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
GEORGE BALANCHINE’S THE NUTCRACKER®**
December 7 – 10 at The Music Center, Los Angeles
December 15 – 24 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami
December 28 – 30 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
Scenic & Costume Design: Isabel and Ruben Toledo
Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls
Projection Design: Wendall K. Harrington
**New Production
PROGRAM TWO: JEROME ROBBINS CELEBRATION
January 12 – 14 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami
January 27 – 28 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale
February 2 – 4 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach
Circus Polka*(1972)
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
The Cage* (1951)
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Other Dances* (1976)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Choreography: Jerome Robbins
In the Night (1970)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
West Side Story Suite (1995)
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Co-choreographed by Peter Gennnaro
* Company Premiere
PROGRAM THREE
February 9 – 11 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami
March 2 – 4 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach
March 17 – 18 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale
Theme and Variations (1947)
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
The Concert (or, the Perils of Everybody) (1956)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Brian Brooks World Premiere (2018)
Music by Michael Gordon
Choreography by Brian Brooks
PROGRAM FOUR
April 6 – 8 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach
April 13 – 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami
April 28 – 29 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale
Concerto DSCH* (2008)
Music by Dmitri Shostakovich
Choreography by Alexei Ratmansky’s
Apollo (1928)
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Choreography George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
La Valse (1951)
Music by Maurice Ravel
Choreography George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
