FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - San Francisco Ballet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: 

Kyra Jablonsky 

415.865.6603, kjablonsky@sfballet.org 

Lauren White 

415.865.6610, lwhite@sfballet.org 

SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ANNOUNCES PROGRAM AND CASTING 

FOR ITS 79 th REPERTORY SEASON OPENING NIGHT GALA 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012 AT 8PM 

Evening Includes Three Benefit Dinners and a One-Time-Only Gala Performance 

SAN FRANCISCO, Thursday, January 19, 2012—Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer 

Helgi Tomasson has announced the repertory for the 2012 Opening Night Gala, with the theme 

of Bella Notte, on Thursday, January 19 at 8pm at the War Memorial Opera House. San 

Francisco Ballet is America’s oldest professional ballet company with an illustrious history of 

“firsts,” including the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker. 

Ten classical and contemporary works and excerpts will be presented as part of this one-nightonly 

program. 

Gala Performance 

The gala performance will open with an excerpt from Yuri Possokhov’s Classical Symphony. 

Set to a score by Sergei Prokofiev and choreographed in 2010 as a tribute to his esteemed 

teacher Peter Pestov, the work fuses pure Russian ballet technique with a unique, modern 

sensibility. Jaime Garcia Castilla, Isaac Hernandez, Matthew Stewart, Benjamin Stewart, 

Steven Morse, and Diego Cruz will perform this excerpt. Set to the music of Dmitry 

Shostakovich and choreographed by David Bintley, The Dance House had its world premiere by 

SF Ballet in 1995. The work was inspired by the death of one of Bintley’s friends and informed 

by a medieval poem, and features scenic and costume designs by Robert Heindel. Sarah Van 

Patten, Tiit Helimets, and Pascal Molat will dance an excerpt from the work. Val Caniparoli’s 

Aria, created on Yuri Possokhov in 1997, is set to “Overture” and “Lascia ch’io pianga (Air de 

Almirena)” from George Frideric Handel’s opera Rinaldo. The work is in the repertory of a 

number of companies including SF Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, and Staatsballett 

Berlin, among others. Damian Smith will perform the solo work. Vanessa Zahorian and Davit 

Karapetyan will perform George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, set to music that the 

composer originally created for Act III of Swan Lake. Christopher Wheeldon’s Continuum, one 

of his earliest works for the Company, debuted in 2002. The ballet is set to a score by György 

Ligeti and displays many hallmarks of Wheeldon’s contemporary choreographic style. The pas de 

deux—last performed during former Principal Dancer Muriel Maffre’s retirement gala in 2007— 

will be danced by Sofiane Sylve and Vito Mazzeo. First performed by the Kirov Ballet in 1932, 

Vassili Vainonen’s Flames of Paris is set to a score by Boris Assafiev and draws thematic 

-more-

Page 2 

inspiration from the French Revolution. The pas de deux, which was last danced as part of the 

SF Ballet Opening Night Gala in 1997, is considered one of the finest showcases for dazzling 

classical technique. The work will be performed by Frances Chung and Taras Domitro. 

Following a brief intermission, the gala program will continue with Hans van Manen’s Solo, 

which features three male dancers engaging in a display of choreographic one-upmanship as 

they take turns showcasing their abilities. The work, set to a score by Johann Sebastian Bach, 

was first performed in 1997 by Nederlands Dans Theater and received its SF Ballet premiere 

two years later in 1999. Last presented during the Farewell Celebration for former dancers 

Stephen Legate, Yuri Possokhov, and Peter Brandenhoff in May 2006, the virtuoso work will 

be performed by Gennadi Nedvigin, Garen Scribner, and Hansuke Yamamoto. Maria 

Kochetkova and Joan Boada will perform the SF Ballet premiere of Sir Frederic Ashton’s 

Voices of Spring. The vibrant work is set to music by Johann Strauss and was first performed 

in 1977 as part of the Royal Opera’s production of Die Fledermaus. Yuan Yuan Tan and Guest 

Artist Alexander Riabko, a principal with Hamburg Ballet, will perform a pas de deux from 

John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias. Based on the Alexandre Dumas novel by the same 

title, Lady of the Camellias is set to the music of Frédéric Chopin and was first performed by 

the Stuttgart Ballet in 1978. Although this performance will be the SF Ballet premiere of the 

work, Tan previously performed the pas de deux as part of the 37 th Nijinsky Gala in Hamburg, 

Germany in July 2011. The gala program will conclude with Wheeldon’s Number Nine. Set to 

the energetic music of Micheal Torke’s “Ash,” the ballet features four principal couples in a 

swift flourish of contemporary choreography. Upon its premiere last season, the San Francisco 

Chronicle described it as a “delectable paint-box of a dance…” The work will be performed by 

an ensemble featuring Dores Andre and Pascal Molat, Courtney Elizabeth and Isaac 

Hernandez, Dana Genshaft and Ruben Martin Cintas, and Elana Altman and Anthony 

Spaulding. 

Program, program order, and casting are subject to change. 

Dinners Benefit San Francisco Ballet 

Prior to the Gala performance, three black-tie fundraising dinners will be held in City Hall. All 

proceeds from the dinners benefit San Francisco Ballet’s annual fund. 

The San Francisco Ballet Auxiliary will host the Grand Benefactor, Benefactor, and Patron 

dinners in City Hall. All three dinners will have the theme of Bella Notte. 

For all dinners, catering will be by McCall Associates, with wine provided by William Hill® 

Estate Winery, and water by Crystal Geyser. Sparkling wine is courtesy of La Marca 

Prosecco. 

The evening begins with a cocktail reception at 5pm in the South Light Court of City Hall for 

-more-

Page 3 

guests of the Grand Benefactor, Benefactor, and Patron dinners. 

The Grand Benefactor dinner will be held in City Hall’s Rotunda, and the Benefactor dinner 

and the Patron dinner will both be held in the North Light Court and the Rotunda Mezzanine. 

All dinners begin at 6pm. Marie Hurabiell Trader is the Auxiliary Gala chair; Carla Wytmar is 

the Gala dinner chair; and Dr. Carolyn Chang is the décor chair. 

At City Hall, the dinner décor for the evening will be created by J. Riccardo Benavides of Ideas. 

San Francisco’s historic City Hall will serve as the backdrop for this year’s Italian Renaissance 

theme, Bella Notte. Each room will be uniquely appointed in its own color palette, with bold 

textured fabrics, statues, busts, architectural décor pieces, and elegant furnishings inspired by 

the leading artistic innovators of the Italian Renaissance. The color palette will reflect the bold 

and fanciful hues found in Michelangelo’s frescos and Botticelli’s paintings. The costumes and 

designs featured in Helgi Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet, which will be presented as part of SF 

Ballet’s 2012 Repertory Season, were inspired by the fashions of Renaissance-era Verona. 

While feasting in the Palazzo-inspired atmosphere of the Rotunda, Grand Benefactors will be 

able to admire a 22-foot tall reproduction of Michelangelo’s “David.” Custom fabric arches 

displaying artistic busts and columns adjoining the grand staircase, will capture the style of art 

exalted by the Renaissance. Rotunda tables will be enveloped in persimmon and ceruleancolored 

linens embellished with gold accents. Ornate urns and candlesticks will elevate lush 

floral centerpieces in olive and fig tones. 

As a reception area, the South Light court will feature an antique Old World bar on display 

with a floral focal point in the center. A panoramic view of “Verona” (18-feet-tall by 50-feetwide) 

will be viewed from the salon furnished with plush textiles and gold finishes. Italian 

architectural elements and life-size statues will also adorn the room. 

North Light Court Benefactors and Patrons will enjoy a resplendent experience with copious 

gold drapery and towering urns on columns surrounding the tables. Ambient lighting used 

throughout the room and on the ceiling will contribute to an idyllic atmosphere. Blush and 

raspberry colored linens, along with pomegranate and cherry hues featured in the 

centerpieces, will complement the opulent setting. 

The Lead Sponsor is Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the Grand Benefactor Dinner 

Sponsor is U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. The Benefactor Dinner is 

sponsored by KPMG, and the Patron Dinner is sponsored by J.P. Morgan. The Post- 

Performance Party is sponsored by HSBC Private Bank. The Bob Ross Foundation provided 

support for the Gala performance. Nob Hill Gazette is the Grand Benefactors Dinner media 

sponsor and Scene Magazine is the Gala Performance and Post-Performance media sponsor. 

-more-

Page 4 

Athena and Timothy Blackburn hosted the Grand Benefactor and Benefactor Party. The Patron 

Party was hosted by Christina C. Giguere and David R. Kvarats. The invitation sponsor is 

Pacific Union—Christie’s International Real Estate. 

In addition, ENCORE!, the social and networking group of young professionals supporting SF 

Ballet, will host a cocktail reception in the South Light Court beginning at 6:15pm. The 

reception will feature three specialty Ketel One Vodka cocktails and hors d’ouvres by McCall 

Associates. Wine is provided by William Hill® Estate Winery, and water by Crystal Geyser. 

Sparkling wine is courtesy of La Marca Prosecco. Robin Farmanfarmaian is ENCORE! 

President and Gala Chair. 

For those attending the Gala performance only, the prosecco promenade will begin at 7pm in the 

Opera House main lobby. The promenade is open to all ticket holders. 

Post-Performance Party 

The La Dolce Vita Post-Performance Party will be held in City Hall from approximately 10pm– 

1am. The party will include live entertainment by the rock band Notorious, DJ Solomon and SF 

Ballet Dancer Sebastian Vinet, and feature dancing, refreshments, Italian antipasto, and 

desserts. Tickets for the La Dolce Vita Post-Performance Party are $100 for SF Ballet 

subscribers and $125 for non-subscribers. To purchase tickets to the La Dolce Vita Post- 

Performance Party, visit sfballet.org or call 415.865.2000. 

Tickets 

Gala performance tickets are currently on sale to the public and are $40–300. Tickets for the 

Post-Performance Party are $125 for the general public, $100 for subscribers. To order, visit 

sfballet.org or call Ticket Services at 415.865.2000, Monday through Friday from 10am–4pm. 

THE GRAND BENEFACTOR DINNER IS SOLD-OUT. 

About San Francisco Ballet 

As America’s oldest professional ballet company, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and 

rich tradition of artistic “firsts” since its founding in 1933, including performing the first 

American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first 20th-century 

American Coppélia. San Francisco Ballet is one of the three largest ballet companies in the 

United States. Guided in its early years by American dance pioneers and brothers Lew, Willam 

and Harold Christensen, San Francisco Ballet currently presents more than 100 performances 

annually, both locally and internationally. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson for more 

than two decades, the Company has achieved an international reputation as one of the 

preeminent ballet companies in the world. In 2005, San Francisco Ballet won the prestigious 

Laurence Olivier Award in the category of “Outstanding Achievement in Dance” and in 2006, it 

was the first non-European company elected “Company of the Year” in Dance Europe 

magazine’s annual readers’ poll. In 2008, the Company marked its 75th anniversary with a 

-more-

Page 5 

host of initiatives including an ambitious New Works Festival. Recent highlights include a tour 

to the People’s Republic of China, the celebration of Artistic Director & Principal 

Choreographer Helgi Tomasson’s 25th anniversary with the Company, and the United States 

premiere of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, which was broadcast internationally, as well 

as nationally on PBS’s Great Performances “Dance in America” in December 2011. 

* * * 

CALENDAR EDITORS - PLEASE NOTE: 

San Francisco Ballet Opening Night Gala, Bella Notte 

Tickets 

Performance-only tickets are currently on sale to the public and are $40-300. Tickets for the 

Post-Performance Party are $125 for the general public or $100 for SF Ballet subscribers. To 

order, visit sfballet.org or call the Ticket Services Office at 415.865.2000, Monday through 

Friday from 10am–4pm. 

* * *

SAN FRANCISCO BALLET 

OPENING NIGHT GALA 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012 

REPERTORY AND CASTING 

Contact: 

Kyra Jablonsky 415.865.6603 

Lauren White 415.865.6610 

Excerpt from 

CLASSICAL SYMPHONY 

Composer: Sergei Prokovfiev 

Choreography: Yuri Possokhov 

Costume Design: Sandra Woodall 

Lighting Design: David Finn 

Conductor: Martin West 

Casting: Jaime Garcia Castilla, Diego 

Cruz, Isaac Hernandez, Steven Morse, 

Benjamin Stewart, Matthew Stewart 

Pas de deux from 

THE DANCE HOUSE 

Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich 

Choreography: David Bintley 

Scenic and Costume Design: Robert Heindel 

Lighting Design: Lisa J. Pinkham 

Pianist: Michael McGraw 


Casting: Sarah Van Patten*, Tiit Helimets, 

Pascal Molat 

ARIA 

Composer: George Frideric Handel 

Choreography: Val Caniparoli 

Lighting Design: Lisa J. Pinkham 

Soprano: Nicolle Foland 


Casting: Damian Smith 

INTERMISSION 

TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX © 

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

Choreography: George Balanchine 

Staged by: Helgi Tomasson 

Costume Design after Karinska 


Casting: Vanessa Zahorian, Davit 

Karapetyan* 

Pas de deux from CONTINUUM© 

Composer: György Ligeti 

Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon 

Lighting based upon original by: Natasha 

Katz 

Pianist: Michael McGraw 


Casting: Sofiane Sylve*, Vito Mazzeo* 

Pas de deux from FLAMES OF PARIS 

Composer: Boris Assafiev 

Choreography: Vassili Vainonen 

Staged by: Joan Boada 


Casting: Frances Chung, Taras Domitro 

-more-

Repertory and Casting/Page 2 

SOLO 

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach 

Choreography: Hans van Manen 

Staged by: Mea Venema 

Costume Design: Keso Dekker 

Lighting Design: Joop Caboort 

Casting: Gennadi Nedvigin, Garen 

Scribner*, and Hansuke Yamamoto* 

San Francisco Ballet Premiere 

VOICES OF SPRING 

Composer: Johann Strauss II 

Choreography: Sir Frederic Ashton 

Staged by: Grant Coyle 

Costume Design: Julia Trevelyan Oman 


Casting: Maria Kochetkova*, Joan Boada* 

NUMBER NINE 

Composer: Michael Torke 

Choreographer: Christopher Wheeldon 

Costume Design: Holly Hynes 

Lighting Design: Mary Louise Geiger 


Casting: Elana Altman, Dores Andre, 

Courtney Elizabeth, Dana Genshaft*, Isaac 

Hernandez, Pascal Molat, Ruben Martin, 

Anthony Spaulding* 

* Indicates premiere in role 

^Indicated guest artist 

Program and casting subject to change 

Pas de deux from 

LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS 

Composer: Frédéric Chopin 

Choreography and Lighting Design: 

John Neumeier 

Costume Design Jürgen Rose 


Piano Soloist: Roy Bogas 

Casting: Yuan Yuan Tan, 

Alexander Riabko^ 

* * * *


OPENING NIGHT GALA 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012 

PERFORMANCE RUN TIMES 

Announcements/Star-Spangled Banner 

Men’s dance from Classical Symphony 

Excerpt from The Dance House 

Aria 

Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux 

Pas de deux from Continuum 

Pas de deux from Flames of Paris 

13 min 

3 min 

7 min 

6 min 

10 min 

6 min 

7 min 

INTERMISSION 

Solo 

Voices of Spring 

Pas de deux from Lady of the Camellias 

Number Nine 

Final bows 

Total Running Time 

A 30-second pause will follow each piece. 

Program lengths include tunes and bows, but not late starts. 

7 min 

5 min 

9 min 

15 min 

3 min 

1 hr, 56 min 

-more-

Run Times and Credits/Page 2 

PRODUCTION CREDITS: 

Men’s dance from Classical Symphony — Music: Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 “Classical 

Symphony.” Costumes constructed by Birgit Pfeffer, Groveland, California. 

Pas de deux from The Dance House — Music: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 35. Design 

Assistant/Costume Supervisor, Wizzy Shawyer. Additional costume work by Suzanne Parkinson and Sarah 

Costa; dyeing and painting by John Cowell; printing (death mask) by David Jamison. Scenic construction 

and painting by San Francisco Ballet Carpentry and Scenic Departments, at the San Francisco Opera 

Scenic Studios. 

Aria — Music: “Overture” and “Lascia ch’io pianga (Air de Almirena)” from Handel’s opera Rinaldo. 

Mask constructed by Richard Battle and Annie Hallatt. 

Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux — The music for this pas de deux was originally intended for the pas de 

deux in Act III of Swan Lake. Because it was not published with the rest of the score, it remained 

unknown to Petipa and Ivanov when they were preparing to stage the St. Petersburg version. They 

substituted music from Act I which became the famous Black Swan pas de deux. The music lay 

unnoticed in the Tchaikovsky Museum in Klin until it was discovered by the efforts of the Tchaikovsky 

Foundation of New York. Costumes constructed by Barbara Matera, Ltd., New York, New York. 

Pas de deux from Continuum — Music: Works for keyboard, Musica Ricercata No. 11, “Andante 

misurato e tranquillo,” used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors LLC sole US & 

Canadian agent for Schott Musik International, publisher and copyright holder. Costumes constructed by 

Nancy Endy. 

Solo — Music: Violin Suite No. 1 in D minor “Correnta” and “Double” (presto), BWV 1002 (1720); 

recorded performance, violinist: Sigiswald Kuijken, used by permission of BMG Classics, New York, NY. 

Costumes constructed by Ann Beck Dance and Specialty Costumes, San Francisco, California. 

Voices of Spring — Music: “Voices of Spring,” Op. 410. Costumes constructed by Nancy Endy, Taisia 

Nikonishchenko and Nina Parker. 

Pas de deux from Lady of the Camellias — Music: Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op. 23. Costumes 

courtesy of Hamburg Ballet. 

Number Nine — Music: Ash by Michael Torke used by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., 

publisher and copyright owner. Costumes constructed by Tricorne LLC, NY. 

San Francisco Ballet wishes to express its gratitude to all of the choreographers and The George 

Balanchine Trust© for allowing us to present their work on this evening’s performance. 

* * * *

CONTACT: 

Kyra Jablonsky 415.865.6603 

Lauren White 415.865.6610 

2012 REPERTORY SEASON LISTING 

PROGRAM 1 

FULL LENGTH 

ONEGIN^ 

Tchaikovsky/Cranko/Loquasto/Ingalls 

Jan 27 eve, 28 mat & eve, 29 mat, 

31 eve, Feb 1 eve, 2 eve 

PROGRAM 2 

CHROMA 

Talbot, White III/ 

McGregor/Pawson/Junge/Carter 

BEAUX* 

Martinů/Morris/Mizrahi/Chybowski 

NUMBER NINE 

Torke/Wheeldon/Hynes/Geiger 

Feb 14 eve, 15 eve, 17 eve, 19 mat, 23 eve, 

25 mat & eve 

PROGRAM 3 

LE CARNAVAL DES ANIMAUX 

Saint-Saëns/Ratmansky/ 

Woodall/Connaughton 

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI* 

Tchaikovsky/Possokhov/Nichols/Woodall/ 

Dennis 

TRIO 

Tchaikovsky/Tomasson/Nichols/Zappone/ 

Dennis 

Feb 16 eve, 18 mat & eve, 21 eve, 22 eve, 24 eve, 

26 mat 

PROGRAM 4 

FULL LENGTH 

ROMEO & JULIET 

Prokofiev/Tomasson/Worsaae/Skelton 

March 6 eve, 7 eve, 8 eve, 9 eve, 10 mat & eve, 

11 mat 

* World Premiere 

^ San Francisco Ballet Premiere 

- more -

2012 Repertory Season Listing/Page 2 

PROGRAM 5 

THE FIFTH SEASON 

Jenkins/Tomasson/Woodall/Mazzola 

LIANG WORLD PREMIERE* 

Rachmaninov/Liang/Zappone/Mueller 

GLASS PIECES 

Glass/Robbins/Benson/Bates 

March 21 eve, 22 eve, 24 mat & eve, 

27 eve, 30 eve, April 1 mat 

PROGRAM 6 

RAYMONDA, ACT III 

Glazunov/Nureyev after Petipa/Kay/Read 

RAkU 

Eshima/Possokhov/Nichols/Zappone/ 

Dennis 

PAGE WORLD PREMIERE* 

Adams/Page/Morrell/Finn 

PROGRAM 7 

DIVERTIMENTO No. 15 

Mozart/Balanchine/after Karinska/Stanley 

SCOTCH SYMPHONY 

Mendelssohn/Balanchine/after Karinska 

THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS 

Hindemith/Balanchine 

April 12 eve, 13 eve, 14 mat & eve, 15 mat, 

17 eve, 18 eve 

PROGRAM 8 

FULL LENGTH 

DON QUIXOTE 

Minkus/Gorsky after Petipa/Tomasson/ 

Possokhov/Pakledinaz/Ingalls 

Apr 27 eve, 28 eve, 29 mat, May 1 eve, 2 eve, 3 

eve, 5 mat 

March 23 eve, 25 mat, 28 eve, 29 eve, 

31 mat & eve, April 3 

* World Premiere 

^ San Francisco Ballet Premiere 

2012 REPERTORY SEASON TICKETS 

War Memorial Opera House 

301 Van Ness at Grove, San Francisco 

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 

evenings at 8pm. Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm. 

Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. 

Individual tickets are available for advance sale 

online at sfballet.org beginning November 16, 2011 or 

by calling Ticket Services at 415.865.2000, starting 

January 9, 2012. Phone hours are Monday through 

Friday, 10am to 4pm. For group rates for 20 or more, 

call 415.865.6785. 

* * * *


ARTISTS OF THE COMPANY 

2012 REPERTORY SEASON 

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & PRINCIPAL CHOREOGRAPHER 

Helgi Tomasson 

PRINCIPAL DANCERS 

Joan Boada Frances Chung Taras Domitro 

Lorena Feijoo Jaime Garcia Castilla Tiit Helimets 

Davit Karapetyan Maria Kochetkova Kristin Long 

Vitor Luiz Rubén Martín Cintas Vito Mazzeo 

Pascal Molat Gennadi Nedvigin Damian Smith 

Sofiane Sylve Yuan Yuan Tan Sarah Van Patten 

Pierre-François Vilanoba 

Vanessa Zahorian 

PRINCIPAL CHARACTER DANCERS 

Ricardo Bustamante Val Caniparoli Jorge Esquivel 

Anita Paciotti 

SOLOISTS 

Elana Altman Victoria Ananyan Daniel Deivison-Oliveira 

Courtney Elizabeth Dana Genshaft Isaac Hernández 

Pauli Magierek Elizabeth Miner Carlos Quenedit 

Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun Garen Price Scribner James Sofranko 

Anthony Spaulding 

Hansuke Yamamoto 

CORPS DE BALLET 

Gaetano Amico III Dores Andre Daniel Baker 

Clara Blanco Kimberly Braylock Nicole Ciapponi 

Charlene Cohen Diego Cruz Sasha De Sola 

Jordan Hammond Koto Ishihara Madison Keesler 

Patricia Keleher Kristina Lind Alexandra McCullagh 

Alexandra Meyer-Lorey Steven Morse Francisco Mungamba 

Mariellen Olson Sean Orza Rebecca Rhodes 

Shannon Marie Roberts Lily Rogers Jeremy Rucker 

Danielle Santos Dustin Shane Spero Jennifer Stahl 

Benjamin Stewart Matthew Stewart Myles Thatcher 

Raymond Tilton Sebastian Vinet Lonnie Weeks 

Quinn Wharton Luke Willis Caroline Diane Wilson 

WanTing Zhao 

APPRENTICES 

Sean Bennett Megan Amanda Ehrlich Ellen Rose Hummel 

Elizabeth Powell Henry Sidford Shion Yuasa

Company Roster/Page 2 

BALLET MASTER & ASSISTANT TO THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 

Ricardo Bustamante 

Bruce Sansom 

BALLET MASTERS 

Betsy Erickson 

Anita Paciotti 

Katita Waldo 

COMPANY TEACHERS 

Helgi Tomasson 

Lola de Avila 

Ricardo Bustamante 

Bruce Sansom 

CHOREOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE 

Yuri Possokhov 

MUSIC DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR 

Martin West 

* * * *

HELGI TOMASSON 


Helgi Tomasson has held the position of artistic director for San Francisco Ballet since July 1985. 

Since th en, th e C ompany h as e volved f rom a re spected regional troupe to an international 

company praised for its broad repertory, dancers of uncommon range and skill, and a vision that 

continually sets the standard for the international dance world. 

San Francisco Ballet is dancing better than it has at any point in its history. As a choreographer, 

teacher, and co ach, T omasson h as f ostered a n u ncompromising cl assicism th at h as b ecome th e 

bedrock of the Company’s training. T he da ncers a re e nergized a nd i nspired b y th is ri gorous 

training and continue to rise to new heights with each passing year. 

Born in R eykjavik, I celand, T omasson b egan h is e arly b allet tra ining th ere with an Icelandic 

teacher a nd th en j oined th e N ational T heatre’s a ffiliated sch ool, w hich w as led by Danish 

instructors Erik and Lisa Bidsted. At 15, the emerging dancer began his professional career with 

the ce lebrated P antomime T heatre i n C openhagen’s T ivoli G ardens. T wo ye ars later, Jerome 

Robbins met Tomasson and, impressed by his dancing, arranged a scholarship for him to study at 

the School of A merican B allet in N ew Yo rk Cit y. S oon after, T omasson b egan h is p rofessional 

career with The Joffrey Ballet and two years later joined The Harkness Ballet. Over the next six 

years, he became one of the company’s most celebrated principal dancers. 

In 1 969, T omasson e ntered th e F irst I nternational Ballet Competition in M oscow a s a U nited 

States representative and returned with the Silver Medal (the Gold Medal was awarded to Mikhail 

Baryshnikov). The following year, Tomasson joined New York City Ballet as a principal dancer and 

over the course of his career became one of the finest classical dancers of his era. He was one of the 

foremost interpreters of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and both men created several 

roles e xpressly for him . I n 1 982, T omasson c horeographed his fir st ballet for the S chool of 

American B allet W orkshop, w hich e licited e ncouragement from Balanchine to continue 

choreographing. 

Tomasson a ccepted th e i nvitation f rom S an F rancisco B allet to b ecome a rtistic di rector of 

America’s oldest professional ballet co mpany i n 1985, drawing to a close a gl orious p erforming 

career. Since assuming this role with the Company, Tomasson has choreographed over 40 ballets, 

including stunning full-length productions of Don Quixote (co-staged by Yuri Possokhov), Giselle, 

Romeo & Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, and two productions of Swan Lake (1988 and 2009). His 

intricate a nd v aried w orks, su ch a s 7 for Eight, Chi-Lin, Concerto Grosso, The Fifth Season, 

Handel—a Celebration, Meistens Mozart, Nanna’s Lied, and Sonata, showcase the u nique 

qualities of individual dancers. Tomasson’s Prism, which debuted in 2000 at New York City Ballet, 

received rave reviews and was deemed a “triumph” by The New York 

-more-

Tomasson/Page 2 

Times. In 2004, his new production of Nutcracker, created in collaboration with an internationally 

recognized design te am, debuted to e nthusiastic critic and audience re sponse. The New York 

Times proclaimed, “T his i s a Nutcracker on a gra nd sca le…striking, e legant and beautiful.” On 

December 17, 2008, Tomasson’s Nutcracker was broadcast nationally on Great Performances 

on PBS, in partnership with KQED Public Television in San Francisco. 

The stro ng cl assical base i nstilled b y Tomasson enables th e da ncers to e ffortlessly navigate a 

myriad of styles by a range of internationally distinguished ch oreographers. T hose i nvited b y 

Tomasson to cre ate w orks o n th e C ompany h ave included David Bintley, Val Caniparoli, Jorma 

Elo, William For sythe, J ames K udelka, L ar L ubovitch, Mark M orris, Yuri Pos sokhov, A lexi 

Ratmansky, Paul Tay lor, S tanton W elch, a nd Chr istopher Whe eldon. T omasson ha s a lso 

continued to e xpand S an F rancisco Ballet’s repertory through acquiring w orks b y re nowned 

choreographers su ch a s S ir F rederick A shton, G eorge Balanchine, August Bournonville, Michel 

Fokine, Hans van Manen, Wayne McGregor, Sir Kenneth McMillan, Agnes de Mille, Nacho Duato, 

Flemming F lindt, Roland Petit, J erome Robbins, and Antony Tudor, among others. Tomasson’s 

own w orks h ave b een p erformed by N ew Y ork C ity B allet, R oyal Da nish B allet, Ho uston B allet, 

Alberta Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón, and 

Asami Maki Ballet. In Denmark, Tomasson’s 1993 staging of The Sleeping Beauty was the most 

lavish production ever produced in the Royal Danish Ballet’s history and was f ilmed for Danish 

public television in April 1995. 

Under Tomasson’s direction, San Francisco B allet has toured the world, receiving praise for its 

purity a nd v erve. En gagements in N ew Yor k Cit y (1 991, 1 993, 1 995, 1 998, 2 002, 2 006, 2008 ), 

London (1999, 2001, 2004), Copenhagen (1998, 2010), and Paris (1989, 1994, 2001, 2005) are 

among the highlights of the Company’s history. For the Company’s 2004 London engagement, San 

Francisco B allet w on th e p restigious L aurence Ol ivier A ward, its f irst, in the ca tegory o f 

Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Of the tour, The Guardian (UK) noted, “As director of San 

Francisco Ballet, Helgi Tomasson has sta rted to a cquire a n a ura o f i nfallibility, h is e xpertise i n 

laying down repertory, and in balancing great evenings of dance, is held in envy by the rest of the 

profession.” 

Tomasson’s vision, commitment, and dedication to the art of classical dance were demonstrated 

when he conceived UNited We Dance: A n I nternational F estival, p roduced i n S an F rancisco i n 

May 1995. Created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter, 

it included 12 international companies of the highest caliber that Tomasson had invited to present 

new works created by native choreographers. Never b efore h ad a da nce e vent b rought to gether 

over 150 artists for an unprecedented two weeks of creative exchange and inspiration. In spring 

2008, as part of its yearlong 75 th anniversary celebration, San Francisco Ballet presented a New 

Works Festival of 10 w orld pr emieres b y 1 0 of t he dance world’s m ost di verse a nd a cclaimed 

choreographers. The festival was called “ambitious and unprecedented” by The Washington Post 

and the San Francisco Chronicle hailed it as a “daring onslaught of fresh work… this is what the 

ballet world needs now.” 

Tomasson’s ach ievements h ave gar nered h im nume rous aw ards and honors, and he has 

participated as a judge for ballet competitions in Italy, Russia, France, Finland, and Japan. 

-more-

Tomasson/Page 3 

During the 1970s in his homeland of Iceland, he was named a Knight of the Order of the Falcon 

for his achievements as a dancer. In 1989, he received Dance Bay Area’s Isadora Duncan Award 

for h is o utstanding ch oreography o f Swan Lake. In June 1990, T omasson was named 

Commander of the Order of the Falcon by then-President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, for 

his c ontinuous ac hievements i n the arts. In r ecognition o f h is ar tistic e xcellence, T omasson 

received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 1992. That 

same year, he received the Dance Magazine Award in recognition of his contributions to the 

dance w orld. In 1 995, Tomasson j oined th e A rtistic Advisory Board of The B allet Theatre in 

Prague, d irected b y J ana K urová. Also i n 1 995, T omasson w as h onored w ith th e C ultural 

Award of The American-Scandinavian Foundation. In 1996, he was presented with a Doctor of 

Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Dominican College of San Rafael, in recognition of his 

value as a role model, his extraordinary career, and his community-service accomplishments. 

That same year, he was awarded the Isadora Duncan Special Award for UNited We Dance: An 

International Festival. 

Currently, Tomasson serves on the Board of Directors of the School of American Ballet and the 

Artistic Committee for the New York Choreographic Institute, and has served as a me mber of 

the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Advisory Panel. In May 2001, Tomasson was 

granted th e r ank o f Officier in th e F rench Or der o f A rts and L etters, e stablished i n 1 957 to 

recognize th ose w ho h ave co ntributed significantly to f urthering th e ar ts i n F rance and 

throughout the world. Hugues Gall, then director of the Opéra National de Paris, presented the 

award in a ce remony attended by the President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson, following 

San Francisco Ballet’s triumphant opening at the Palais Garnier. In spring 2002, the Board of 

Trustees o f N ew Y ork’s J uilliard S chool unani mously v oted to bestow an honorary doctoral 

degree upon Tomasson, as one of five doctorates given annually in different artistic disciplines. 

In 2005, Tomasson was awarded the prestigious Lew Christensen Medal in honor of his 20 th 

anniversary as ar tistic d irector o f S an F rancisco Ballet. In spring 2007, T omasson w on a 

sustained achievement award from the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, also in recognition of 

his distinguished, ongoing tenure as artistic director. In May of the same year, during a tour to 

Iceland’s R eykjavik Arts F estival, Grimsson awarded Tomasson th e G rand C ross S tar o f th e 

Order o f th e F alcon, th e c ountry’s mo st p restigious h onor. In 2008, he w as a warded t he 

Commonwealth C lub o f C alifornia’s D istinguished C itizen Award. In January 2010, the 

Company’s Op ening N ight G ala, Silver Celebration, h onored T omasson’s r emarkable 

achievements to date. 

In addition to his role as artistic director and principal choreographer of the Company, Tomasson 

is the director of the San Francisco Ballet School. For Tomasson, the School is central to the life 

and de velopment o f th e C ompany. J ust a s h e e xpects the finest dancing and most meticulous 

attention to detail from his dancers, he demands the highest standards for training the students in 

the School. 

Tomasson lives in San Francisco with his wife, Marlene, who was dancing with The Joffrey Ballet 

when they met. They have two sons, Erik and Kris. 

* * * *

HELGI TOMASSON 


REPERTORY 

Choreographed for San Francisco Ballet: 

Trio (2011) 

Swan Lake (2009) 

On a Theme of Paganini (2008) 

On Common Ground (2007) 

Blue Rose (2006) 

The Fifth Season (2006) 

Bagatelles (2005) 

Nutcracker (2004) 

7 for Eight (2004) 

Don Quixote (2003) 

Concerto Grosso (2003) 

Chi-Lin (2002) 

Bartok Divertimento (2002) 

Chaconne for Piano and Two Dancers (1999) 

Giselle (1999) 

Silver Ladders (1998) 

Two Bits (1998) 

Twilight (1998) 

Criss-Cross (1997) 

Pandora Dance (1997) 

Soirées Musicales (1996) 

Tuning Game (1995) 

Sonata (1995) 

When We No Longer Touch (1995) 

Quartette (1994) 

Romeo & Juliet (1994) 

Nanna’s Lied (1993) 

Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) (1992) 

Forevermore (1992) 

Two plus Two (1992) 

Aurora Polaris (1991) 

Meistens Mozart (1991) 

“Haffner” Symphony (1991) 

The Sleeping Beauty (1990) 

Con Brio (1990) 

Valses Poeticos (1990) 

Handel—a Celebration (1989) 

Swan Lake (1988) 

Intimate Voices (1987) 

Bizet pas de deux (1987) 

Concerto in d: Poulenc (1986) 

Confidencias (1986) 

Additional Ballets: 

Prism (2000), choreographed for New York City Ballet 

“Much Ado…” (1999), choreographed for Alberta Ballet 

Simple Symphony (1996), choreographed for SF Ballet 

School Showcase. 

Beads of Memory (1985), choreographed i n 19 85 f or 

Houston Ballet 

Little Waltz (1985), choreographed for N ew Y ork C ity 

Ballet’s Gala on students of School of American Ballet 

Menuetto (1984), choreographed for New York City Ballet 

Contredanses (1984), choreographed in 1984 for Finis 

Jhung’s Chamber Ballet USA 

Ballet d’Isoline (1983), choreographed for School of 

American Ballet 

Giuliani: Variations on a Theme (1982), choreographed for 

School of American Ballet

MARTIN WEST 

MUSIC DIRECTOR & PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR 

Martin West is ac knowledged as o ne o f th e f oremost co nductors o f b allet, gar nering c ritical 

acclaim throughout th e w orld. B orn i n B olton, E ngland, h e s tudied math at S t. C atharine’s 

College, C ambridge Un iversity, before studying at the S t. P etersburg C onservatory o f M usic 

and London’s Royal Academy of Music. 

In fall 1997, West made his debut with English National Ballet and was immediately appointed 

resident conductor. There, h e co nducted al most h alf o f th e company’s p erformances 

throughout E ngland and ab road. F rom 2 004-07 he held the position of principal conductor, 

before r elinquishing th e p ost to al low h im th e f lexibility to gue st with other companies. In 

recent seasons, he has worked with many of the top companies in North America, such as New 

York City Ballet, Houston Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. 

In recent seasons, West has worked with the Hallé Orchestra, Holland Symfonia and the Royal 

Liverpool P hilharmonic Or chestra as w ell as r ecording a disc of Mozart Piano Concerti w ith 

Odense S ymphony, D enmark. He mad e h is U .S. s ymphonic c onducting debut with Silicon 

Valley Symphony, resulting in an i mmediate re-invitation. From 1998 to July 2005, West was 

the mus ic d irector o f th e C ambridge P hilharmonic, o ne o f E ngland’s o ldest and highestachieving 

amateur music societies. In addition, he had a l ong association with Pimlico Opera, 

touring frequently with them, including conducting West Side Story inside a p rison with the 

inmates as part of the cast. 

In f all 2 005, W est j oined S an F rancisco B allet, h aving b een a frequent guest since his debut 

two years earlier. Recent recordings w ith the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra include the 

complete score of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker on the Koch label and a C D of Shostakovich and 

Tchaikovsky cello music released on the Telarc label in January 2009. 

* * * *

GLENN McCOY 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

Glenn McCoy’s career in the performing arts spans more than 30 years of operations and 

marketing management, in both ballet and opera. He first joined San Francisco Ballet in 1987, 

and during h is more than 2 0-year tenure he has held the positions o f company manager, 

general manager, and managing director. He was elected to the position of executive director 

in April 2002. 

McCoy has overseen the production of more than 50 new repertory and full-length ballets for 

San F rancisco B allet and mo re than 4 0 d omestic and i nternational to urs, i ncluding 

engagements at the Palais Garnier in Paris; London’s Royal Opera House; the John F. Kennedy 

Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; and the New York State Theater. McCoy 

supervised San F rancisco B allet’s o perations f or th e c ritically ac claimed i nternational d ance 

festival UNited We Dance in 1995; San Francisco Ballet’s 75 th Anniversary Season in 2008; as 

well as the tapings of Lar Lubovitch’s Othello and Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker, both 

broadcast on PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York’s performing arts series Great Performances. 

Prior to j oining S an F rancisco B allet, M cCoy h eld mar keting p ositions at th e S an Francisco 

Opera and at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where as advertising manager, he was 

responsible f or p romoting T he M et s easons o f A merican B allet T heatre, as w ell as o ther 

international d ance co mpanies i ncluding P aris Op éra B allet, The R oyal B allet, th e B olshoi 

Ballet, and Japan’s Grand Kabuki. 

McCoy se rves o n the B oard o f T rustees o f D ance/USA, the n ational s ervice o rganization f or 

professional dance. A native of New Bern, North Carolina, McCoy earned his Bachelor of Arts 

degree in theater and communication arts from Appalachian State University in North 

Carolina. 

* * * *

YURI POSSOKHOV 

CHOREOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE 

After receiving his dance training at the Moscow Ballet School, Yuri Possokhov danced with the 

Bolshoi Ballet for ten years, working primarily with Ballet Master Yuri Grigorovich. During th is 

decade, h e w as p romoted through the ra nks to p rincipal da ncer. In 1 992, he jo ined t he Ro yal 

Danish B allet as a p rincipal d ancer, at the invitation of Ballet M aster F rank A ndersen. T he 

following December, Possokhov was cast as P rince De siré i n He lgi T omasson’s The Sleeping 

Beauty and after being i nvited to perform in SF B allet’s o pening ni ght gala, he moved West. In 

1994, he joined SF Ballet as a principal dancer. 

In 1999, Possokhov organized and performed in a Russian tour entitled “Ballet Beyond Borders.” 

Sixteen dancers from SF Ballet performed on the tour, which traveled to cities throughout Russia. 

As a choreographer, Possokhov’s credits include Songs of Spain, choreographed in 1997 for former 

SF Ballet Principal Dancer Muriel Maffre; A Duet for Two, created the same year for former SF 

Ballet Principal Dancer Joanna Berman; a nd Impromptu Scriabin, for former SF B allet Soloist 

Felipe Diaz. In 2000 he completed a new work for a dancer at the Mariinsky Ballet, as well as 5 

Mazurkas for the Marin Dance Theatre. 

Possokhov’s Magrittomania, a w ork i nspired b y th e p aintings o f R ené M agritte, w as 

commissioned for SF Ballet’s Discovery Program in 2000, and in April 2001, Possokhov received 

an I sadora Du ncan Da nce A ward f or o utstanding ch oreography f or the work. In 2001 , f or t he 

“Stars on Ice” Program, Possokhov c horeographed a r outine for ic e s katers Renée Ro ca and 

Gorsha Sur to “ne me q uitte pas” by Nina Simone. For the 2 002 R epertory S eason, Pos sokhov 

created Damned, based on Euripides’ play Medea, which the Company also took on tour to New 

York City Center in fall 2002. In 2003, Possokhov collaborated with Tomasson on a new staging of 

the full-length Don Quixote, which was also performed on subsequent seasons and on tour to Los 

Angeles and Paris. 

Possokhov’s Study in Motion, set to the music of Alexander Scriabin, premiered on the Company’s 

2004 Repertory Season, and was also performed on tour to London that same year and during the 

following season. Also in 2004, Possokhov’s Firebird premiered at Oregon Ballet Theatre to critical 

acclaim, and the following year, he created another work for the company, La Valse. For SF 

Ballet’s 2 005 R epertory S eason, P ossokhov cre ated Reflections, set to th e m usic of Felix 

Mendelssohn. In February 2006, the Bolshoi Ballet premiered Possokhov’s Cinderella and it was 

subsequently p erformed b y th e co mpany i n L ondon a nd W ashington, D. C. In spring 2006, 

Possokhov created Ballet Mori, which marked San Francisco’s earthquake centennial, in 

collaboration with Maffre. Following his retirement as a principal dancer from the Company. 

-more-

Possokhov/Page 2 

Possokhov was named ch oreographer in residence in M ay 2006. Hi s f inal engagement with the 

Company a s a p rincipal da ncer w as o n to ur to New York’s Lincoln Center F estival i n s ummer 

2006. 

In November 2006, Berman and SF Ballet Principal Dancer Damian Smith premiered Possokhov’s 

Once More, se t to th e m usic o f César Franck, for the New Century C hamber Orch estra G ala, 

presented a t S an F rancisco’s He rbst T heatre. On P rogram 2 o f th e 2 007 Repertory Season, 

Possokhov’s Firebird had its SF Ballet premiere. In addition, Possokhov collaborated with Maffre 

on Bitter Tears, a new work p resented o n the 2007 G ala. In F ebruary 2008, Th e G eorgia S tate 

Ballet gave the American premiere of Possokhov’s one-act work, Sagalobeli, which was performed 

on the company’s first-ever American tour. In 2008, Possokhov’s Fusion premiered as part of SF 

Ballet’s 75 th anniversary New Works Festival, and a year later, the Company premiered Diving into 

the Lilacs. During the 2010 Repertory Season, Possokhov’s Classical Symphony debuted to critical 

and audience acclaim. Recent work includes Bells for The Joffrey Ballet, which premiered in May 

2011; a pas de deux entitled Talk to Her (hable con ella) for SF Ballet’s 2011 Opening Night Gala; 

RAkU, which premiered on Program 2 of the 2011 Repertory Season; and an all-new production of 

Don Quixote for The Joffrey Ballet in fall 2011. His latest work for the Company, Francesca da 

Rimini, will premiere on Program 3 of the 2012 Repertory Season. 

* * * *

CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON 

CHOREOGRAPHER 

Born in Yeovil, Somerset, England, Wheeldon began his ballet training at eight years old and 

began studying at The Royal Ballet School at eleven. Wheeldon joined The Royal Ballet in 1991 

and w on th e G old M edal at the P rix d e Lausanne c ompetition th at y ear. I n 1 993, Wheeldon 

was invited to become a member of New York City Ballet, where he was promoted to soloist in 

1998. He choreographed his first work for NYCB, Slavonic Dances, for the 1997 Diamond 

Project a nd, i n c ollaboration w ith ar tist I an F alconer, and created Scènes de Ballet for t he 

School of American B allet’s 1999 Workshop P erformances a nd N YCB’s 5 0th anni versary 

season. 

After c reating Mercurial Manoeuvers for NYCB’s Sp ring 2000 D iamond Pr oject, Wh eeldon 

retired from dancing to concentrate on choreography. In NYCB’s 2000-2001 season, he served 

as the company’s first Artist in Residence, creating two ballets: Polyphonia, set to piano music 

by Györgi Ligeti, and Variations Sérieuses, set to a score by Felix Mendelssohn. In July 2001, 

Wheeldon w as na med N YCB’s f irst R esident C horeographer. D uring h is ap pointment, 

Wheeldon c horeographed works that i ncluded Morphoses and Carousel (A Dance) (2002); 

Carnival of the Animals and Liturgy (2003); After the Rain and An American in Paris (2005); 

Klavier (2006), The Nightingale and the Rose (2007) a nd Rococo Variations (2008). 

Among the celebrated ballets Wheeldon has created for other companies are: Continuum for 

San Francisco Ballet (2002); Tryst, DGV (Danse à Grande Vitesse), and Electric Counterpoint 

for Th e R oyal B allet ( 2002, 2 006, a nd 2 008, r espectively); a f ull-length Swan Lake for 

Pennsylvania B allet ( 2004); “ Dance of th e Hours” in Ponchielli's La Gioconda and 

choreography f or Sir Richard E yer’s new p roduction of Carmen both at T he Metropolitan 

Opera(2006 a nd 2010); Misericordes for t he B olshoi Ba llet (2 007); The Wanderers for t he 

Royal Danish Ballet (2008); The Christening Suite for the Norwegian National Ballet for the 

opening of the Oslo Opera House (2008); a s well as ballet s equences for t he feature film 

Center Stage (2000) and a stage version of Broadway’s Sweet Smell of Success (2002). 

In h is p ursuit o f i nnovation f or th e ar t f orm, W heeldon has co llaborated w ith c omposers 

James MacMillan, Bright Sheng, and Michael Nyman; artists Ian Falconer, James Buckhouse, 

and Jean Marc Puissant; designers Adrianne Lobel and Narciso Rodriguez; author and actor 

John Lithgow; and director Nicholas Hytner. 

Wheeldon was th e r ecipient o f th e D ance M agazine A ward a nd the L ondon C ritics’ C ircle 

Award f or Best New B allet f or Polyphonia in 2005; a p erformance o f th e w ork by NYCB 

dancers received the Olivier Award. In 2006, DGV (Danse à Grande Vitesse) was nominated 

for an Ol ivier A ward. Additional honors i nclude the M artin E . S egal A ward f rom L incoln 

Center and the American Choreography Award. 

-more-

Wheeldon/Page 2 

Wheeldon’s extensive work with San Francisco Ballet includes six world premiere works: Sea 

Pictures, Continuum, Rush, Quaternary, Within the Golden Hour, and Ghosts. The Company 

has also staged versions of his Polyphonia, pas de deux from After the Rain, and Carousel (A 

Dance). In 2003, San Francisco Ballet took a full evening of Wheeldon works on tour to the 

Edinburgh Festival, where it received the prestigious Herald Angel Award for excellence at the 

festival. 

Wheeldon founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company in 2007 with the goal of introducing a 

new spirit of innovation to classical ballet by fostering collaboration among choreographers, 

dancers, vi sual a rtists, de signers, c omposers, and o thers w ho c an b ring n ew l ife and 

perspective to ballet. As Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Wheeldon choreographed a number 

of n ew w orks f or Mor phoses, in cluding Fools’ Paradise and Rhapsodie Fantaisie, amo ng 

others. Launched a t t he Vail I nternational Dance F estival i n A ugust 2 007, Morphoses 

performed as Guest Resident Company at b oth Sadler’s Wells in London and New York City 

Center. Morphoses won the prestigious South Bank Show Award for its 2007 London season. 

In February 201 0, Wheeldon r esigned from h is p osition with Mor phoses. He continues t o 

choreograph ne w w orks f or an i nternational array o f to p d ance c ompanies. Recent projects 

included a full-length production of Alice in Wonderland for London’s Royal Ballet. 

* * * *

HANS VAN MANEN 

CHOREOGRAPHER 

Hans van Manen began his ballet career in 1951 as a member of Sonia Gaskell's Ballet Recital. 

In 1952 he joined the Nederlands Opera Ballet, where he created his first ballet, Feestgericht, 

in 1 957. H e la ter jo ined R oland P etit's company in Paris. In 1960, he began to work with 

Nederlands Dans Theater, as a dancer (until 1963), choreographer, and artistic director (from 

1961 until 1971). For the following two years he worked as a freelance choreographer, until his 

appointment in 1973 as choreographer/regisseur to Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam. 

In addition, van M anen h as s taged h is b allets f or co mpanies i ncluding th e S tuttgart B allet, 

Bayerisches S taatsballett M unchen, B erlin Op era, Ho uston B allet, T he N ational B allet of 

Canada, P ennsylvania B allet, T he R oyal B allet, th e R oyal D anish B allet, th e S tate Opera in 

Vienna, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. 

In September 1988 van Manen rejoined Nederlands Dans Theater as resident choreographer, 

creating numerous works for the company, and serving there until 2003. 

In 1991 van Manen received the Sonia Gaskell prize for his repertoire and in particular for the 

three duets he created during the season 1990/91: Two, Theme, and Andante. He received the 

choreography prize f or Two from th e V SCD, th e uni ted D utch th eater d irectors, i n 1 991. I n 

1992, the year of his 35th anniversary as a choreographer, van Manen was given a Knighthood 

in the Order of Orange Nassau by the Queen of The Netherlands. In 1993 he was awarded the 

German Dance Prize for his influence in the German dance world over the past twenty years. 

In addition, van Manen is a photographer and his work can be admired in exhibitions all over 

the world. 

* * * *

SIR FREDERICK ASHTON 

FOUNDER CHOREOGRAPHER OF THE ROYAL BALLET 

Frederick Ashton was born in Guayaquil in Ecuador on 17 September 1904. He was brought up 

in P eru, and i t w as th ere, i n 1 917, th at h e s aw h is f irst b allet. He was enthralled by Anna 

Pavlova's performance, and decided that he wanted to dance. Having come to England to work, 

he began to study with Léonide Massine, but family disapproval forced him to keep this secret. 

However, in 1926, after two years' tuition, Massine was no longer able to teach the 22-year-old 

Ashton and recommended him to M arie R ambert. I t w as s he w ho c onvinced h im o f h is 

potential as a ch oreographer, and he created his first choreography, A Tragedy of Fashion, a 

short while later. 

In 1928, he joined Ida Rubinstein's company as a dancer under Bronislava Nijinska. Whilst he 

was with the company he b ecame s omething o f an ap prentice to N ijinska. S he w as a h ard 

taskmaster, but Ashton learnt a lot from her. He al so d anced i n mo st o f th e c ompany's 

performances, including Ida Rubenstein's famous interpretation of Bolero. However, Nijinska 

found having to give I da R ubinstein a r ole i n e very ne w b allet v ery d ifficult and l eft th e 

company. So, a year l ater, A shton r eturned to Rambert's company f or f urther instruction i n 

choreography. Over the next few years, with works such as Capriol Suite (1930) and Façade 

(1931), he became known as a c horeographer and was appointed Chief Choreographer of the 

Vic-Wells Ballet in 1935. He was to hold this position, in various guises, for 35 years. Many of 

his most celebrated ballets date from his time with the Company, as the Vic-Wells ballet, later 

Sadler's W ells B allet a nd u ltimately Th e R oyal B allet. These include Les Patineurs (1937), 

Dante Sonata (1940), Symphonic Variations, Scènes de ballet and Cinderella (1948). In 1950 

he was made a CBE. 

In 1952 he was made Associate Director of The Royal Ballet and he continued to choreograph. 

Two of his best-known works, La Fille mal gardée (1960) and The Two Pigeons (1961), date 

from this time. In 1962 he was knighted and made a C hevalier of the Légion d'honneur and a 

year later was appointed Director of the Royal Ballet. The Dream, Monotones (I and II) and 

Enigma Variations were all p remiered w ith Th e R oyal B allet i n t he la te 1 960s b efore h is 

retirement in 1970. 

After his retirement, Ashton continued to choreograph and worked on three ballet films. One 

of these was The Tales of Beatrix Potter, in which he appeared himself, as Mrs Tiggy Winkle. 

He created his last work, Rhapsody, in 1980 and died in Sussex in 1988, aged 84. 

Biography courtesy of Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

* * * *

DAVID BINTLEY 

CHOREOGRAPHER 

David Bintley was born in Huddersfield. From an early age he wanted to dance and he wanted 

to choreograph. He always had clear and ambitious ideas of what he intended to do, but even 

he could hardly have imagined that before he reached 40 he would be director of one of the two 

Royal Ballet Companies and be recognized as one of Britain's finest choreographers, with an 

international reputation and his ballets performed by companies all round the world. 

He trained at the Royal Ballet School towards the end of what we look back on as an 

outstanding period in the Covent Garden company's history. He saw the dancing of Margot 

Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell. Even more importantly, 

he saw Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan making some of their masterworks for a 

superb company, fine-tuned to perform their creations. 

In 1976 he joined Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet) and quickly 

proved an outstanding character dancer. Those who were lucky enough to see him dance the 

leading role in Fokine's Petrushka still regard it as this generation's definitive performance. We 

shall never know if Vaslav Nijinsky was better, but we do know that Bintley was unforgettable - 

mesmerizing and brilliant. His Alain and then Widow Simone in Ashton's La Fille mal gardée, 

his Bottom in The Dream, the Ashton 'Ugly Sister' in Cinderella, the Red King in de Valois' 

Checkmate and the Rake in her Rake's Progress, were just as effectively conceived and 

exhilaratingly musical too. 

He was fortunate to have as his artistic director the wise and far-seeing Peter Wright, who from 

the first encouraged the young Bintley in his wish to choreograph. Bintley made his first ballet, 

to Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale, before he was 16. His first professional work, for his Sadler's 

Wells company, came less than two years later: The Outsider, already dramatic, already 

showing insight into character and already displaying a stimulating and knowledgeable choice 

of music in its score by Boháč. 

There is a considerable divide in ballet between what can be seen as the American influence, 

dominated by George Balanchine, and the more British tradition of Ashton, Tudor and 

MacMillan. Balanchine distrusted narrative, the telling of a story in movement, and tended to 

distrust decor as well. The British tradition, embedded in a rich theatrical heritage, tends to use 

ballet as part of a narrative, either creating a mood, or showing insight into character and 

situation and creating innovative dance that illumines both. 

Most choreographers fall into one or other of these camps and there can be little doubt that 

Bintley's allegiance lies firmly on this side of the Atlantic. What made British dance special was 

that Ashton and then MacMillan found a language that conveyed emotion, was expressive, and 

-more-

Page 2 

told the story in dance terms. This is Bintley's territory too. 

In 1982 Bintley took a three-month sabbatical, looking at American and German dance. This 

undoubtedly extended his imaginative range, but effectively only confirmed his essentially 

British approach to dance. From 1986 to 1993 he moved from being resident choreographer for 

Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet to being resident choreographer at Covent Garden. When, in 1993, 

he left to work freelance, seven different companies round the world immediately 

commissioned new work from him. In 1995 Bintley was appointed Artistic Director of 

Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

It is Bintley's impressive range as a choreographer that makes him a worthy successor to 

Ashton and MacMillan. One of his major successes was the full-length Hobson's Choice (1989), 

a broad comedy, which yet tugs at the heartstrings as Ashton's La Fille mal gardée manages to 

do. He can edge into pure dance territory, though his dancers always relate to a theme or a 

mood, as in Consort Lessons (1983), Galanteries (1986), Allegri diversi (1987) or Tombeaux 

(1993). He has an uncanny ability to imply rather than to state, so that in Flowers of the Forest 

(1985) he seems to be saying a great deal about war, about patriotism, even about the fall of 

Empire, without ever making anything explicit or spelling anything out in a laborious or 

obvious way. He manages this perfectly in the ever-popular 'Still Life' at the Penguin Café; 

(1988). He can tell a dramatic story with a sure sense of what works in the theatre, as in his 

full-length works Swan of Tuonela (1982), The Snow Queen (1986), Cyrano (1991), Far from 

the Madding Crowd (1996) and his superbly successful full-length ballet Edward II (Stuttgart 

Ballet, 1995), based on Marlowe's play, which has proved even more successful with English 

audiences than German. His full-length work, Arthur, developed even further his uncanny 

ability to transform mythology into dance and Cyrano (2007) breathed new life into Rostand's 

play. He can be serious and spiritual, as in his deeply felt The Protecting Veil (1998). He is 

wonderfully, gloriously musical, perhaps the quality he most shares with Ashton, and he can 

dazzle with the inventiveness of his approach as in his gorgeously pop version of Carmina 

burana, in which no-one can possibly guess what is coming next and each fresh twist is a new 

delight. This delight is vividly dramatic, is about believable people in a real world, and yet 

breathtakingly caught and held in fascinating dance. In the same vein he surpassed himself 

with his popular hit, The Nutcracker Sweeties, revolutionizing the very traditional Nutcracker, 

using Duke Ellington's jazz version of the score and finding fresh imagery, mingling jazz dance, 

classical ballet and all the exhibitionism of an American musical. More recently he has 

enchanted us afresh with The Shakespeare Suite, his witty exploration of love's many guises, 

with the lyricism and classical perfection of his Les Saisons for The Royal Ballet, his 

imaginative new interpretation of Beauty and the Beast and his jazz-inspired reinterpretation 

of the Orpheus legend in The Orpheus Suite. 

Bintley is now displaying a set of other qualities. He is proving a fine artistic director. He has 

-more-

Page 3 

assembled an excellent company of dancers, and has an eye for the right dancer in the right 

role. He has a gift for putting well-balanced programs together, and his own choreography does 

not hog the repertory. Watching the Company on stage, audiences know that here is a company 

confident in themselves and in what they do. And Bintley has received much deserved public 

recognition for this, most recently in the 2001 Birthday Honors list, in which he was made a 

CBE. Ballet will survive as an art form just as long as creators of Bintley's calibre want to 

express their personal vision in terms of dance. 

Bio courtesy of Nicholas Dromgoole and Birmingham Royal Ballet. 

* * * *

GEORGE BALANCHINE 

CHOREOGRAPHER 

George Balanchine (1904-1983) is regarded as one of the foremost ballet choreographers and 

one of the great artists of the twentieth century. His influence in the worlds of ballet, music, 

and modernism i s i mmense, and h e h ad a gr eat and l asting i mpact o n N ew Y ork’s c ultural 

scene during a particularly creative period of the city’s history. 

The son of a composer, Balanchine began studying the piano at the age of five, then studied at 

the Imperial B allet S chool i n S t. P etersburg f rom 1 913 to 1 921. He c ontinued h is e ducation 

with th ree y ears at th e s tate’s C onservatory o f M usic, w here h e s tudied p iano and mus ical 

theory, including composition, harmony, and counterpoint. 

Balanchine made his dancing debut at the age of 10 as a cupid in the Maryinsky Theatre Ballet 

Company production of The Sleeping Beauty. He joined the company’s corps de ballet at age 17 

and also staged one work, Enigmas. 

In the s ummer o f 1 924, B alanchine—along with Tamara Geva, A lexandra D anilova, an d 

Nicholas E fimov—left the newly formed Soviet Union for a tour of Western Europe. All four 

dancers w ere i nvited b y i mpresario S erge Di aghilev t o j oin his Ballets Russes i n Paris. After 

watching B alanchine s tage a ne w v ersion o f th e S travinsky b allet Le Chant de Rossignol, 

Diaghilev hired him as ballet master to replace Bronislava Nijinska. Balanchine served as ballet 

master with Ballets Russes until the company w as d issolved f ollowing D iaghilev’s d eath i n 

1929. After that, he spent his next few years on a v ariety of projects which took him all over 

Europe, then returned to Paris to form his own company, Les Ballets 1933. It was then that he 

met American dance connoisseur Lincoln Kirstein. 

Kirstein’s great passion for the contemporary arts included the dream to establish an American 

ballet school and an American ballet company that would rival those of Europe. He persuaded 

Balanchine to come to the United States and help him fulfill this dream, and in 1934, the pair 

founded the School of American Ballet. T he first original ballet Balanchine choreographed in 

this country—Serenade, set to music by Tchaikovsky—was created for dancers from the School 

and had its world premiere outdoors on the estate of Kirstein’s friend, Edward Warburg, near 

White Plains, New York. 

The School remains in operation to this day, training students for companies throughout the 

United States and the world, but the first ballet companies founded by Balanchine and Kirstein 

were not as long-lived. American Ballet, Ballet Caravan, and American Ballet Caravan came and 

went i n t he y ears b etween 1 936 a nd 1 940. In 1 946, f ollowing World War II, Balanchine and 

Kirstein joined forces again to form Ballet Society, a company which introduced New York 

-more-

Balanchine/Page 2 

subscription-only audiences over the next two years to such new Balanchine works as The Four 

Temperaments (1946), Stravinsky’s Renard (1947), a nd Orpheus (1948). Mor ton Ba um, 

chairman of the City C enter o f M usic and D rama, w as s o i mpressed b y th e p rogram th at h e 

invited Ballet Society to join City Center, but with a new name. On Oc tober 11, 1948, New York 

City B allet w as b orn, d ancing an al l-Balanchine p rogram c onsisting of Concerto Barocco, 

Orpheus, and Symphony In C. 

Balanchine served as ballet master for New York City Ballet from that year until his death in 1983. 

An authoritative catalogue of his works lists 425 works created from 1920 to 1982, and many of 

these c ontinue to b e d anced to day, i ncluding Firebird (1949; r estaged w ith J erome Robbins, 

1970); Bourrée Fantasque (1949); La Valse (1951); The Nutcracker, Ivesiana, and Western 

Symphony (1954); Allegro Brillante (1956); Agon (1957); The Seven Deadly Sins (a revival of the 

original Les Ballets 1933 production) and Stars and Stripes (1958); Episodes (1959); 

Monumentum Pro Gesualdo and Liebeslieder Walzer (1960); A Midsummer Night’s Dream 

(1962); Movements For Piano And Orchestra and Bugaku (1963); Don Quixote and 

Harlequinade (1965); Jewels–his only full-length plotless ballet (1967); Who Cares? (1970); Duo 

Concertant, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and Symphony In Three Movements (1972); Coppélia 

(1974); Pavane (1975); Union Jack (1976); Vienna Waltzes (1977); Ballo della Regina and 

Kammermusik No. 2 (1978); Robert Schumann’s “Davidsbündlertänze” (1980); and Mozartiana 

(1981). 

Though it is for his ballet c horeography th at B alanchine i s mo st ad mired, h e al so 

choreographed for theater, movies, and opera. He choreographed numerous musical comedies, 

including On Your Toes, Cabin in the Sky, Babes in Arms, Where’s Charley?, Song of Norway, 

I Married an Angel, The Boys from Syracuse, The Merry Widow, and The Ziegfeld Follies of 

1935. His f ilm c redits i nclude Star Spangled Rhythm, I Was an Adventuress, and The 

Goldwyn Follies. 

Balanchine’s style has been described as neo-classic. His response to the Romantic classicism was 

to de-emphasize the plot in his ballets, preferring to let “dance and music be the star of the show.” 

Balanchine always preferred to call himself a c raftsman r ather th an a c reator, co mparing 

himself to a cook or a cabinetmaker (both hobbies of his), and he had a reputation throughout 

the dance world for the calm and collected way i n w hich h e w orked w ith h is d ancers and 

colleagues. Above all, he emphasized the primacy of music, choosing important composers and 

commissioning new works rather than relying on traditional ballet scores. “Choreography can 

only be the result of great music,” he said, and “The music is always first.” 

In 1970, U.S. News & World Report attempted to summarize Balanchine’s achievements: 

“The greatest choreographer of our time, George Balanchine, is responsible for the 

successful fusion of modern concepts with older ideas of classical ballet ... often 

working with modern music, and simplest of themes, he has created ballets that 

are celebrated for their imagination and originality. He has made American dance 

the most advanced and richest in choreographic development in the world today.” 

-more-

Balanchine/Page 3 

Balanchine was the recipient of many honors in his lifetime, including one of the first Kennedy 

Center Honors; induction into Hollywood’s Entertainment Hall of Fame; a K nighthood of the 

Order of Dannebrog, First Class, by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark; the Gold Medal of Merit 

from the National S ociety of Arts and Letters; the Austrian C ross o f Ho nor f or S cience and 

Letters, First Class; the French Legion of Honor; French Commander of the Order of Arts and 

Letter decoration; and National Institute of Arts and Letters award for Distinguished Service to 

the Arts. Shortly before his death in 1983, he received his last major award: the Presidential 

Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that can be conferred upon a civilian in the United States. 

Under th e d irection o f P eter M artins, N ew Y ork C ity B allet and th e S chool of American Ballet 

remain dedicated to Balanchine’s ideals. New York City Ballet today is one of the foremost arts 

institutions in the world, dancing for 23 weeks a year at its home since 1964, the New York State 

Theater at L incoln C enter i n N ew Y ork C ity, w ith ad ditional w eeks spent at th e Saratoga 

Performing Arts Center in upstate New York, as well as tours nationally and abroad. In addition, 

Balanchine works are danced by companies all over the world. 

Biography courtesy of New York City Ballet. 

* * * *

VAL CANIPAROLI 

CHOREOGRAPHER 

Val C aniparoli’s v ersatility h as mad e h im o ne o f th e mo st s ought af ter A merican 

choreographers in the United States and abroad. 

He has contributed to the repertories of more than thirty-five dance companies, including the 

Joffrey Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, 

Pennsylvania B allet, R oyal W innipeg B allet, B allet W est ( resident choreographer 1993-97), 

Richmond Ballet, Washington B allet, I srael B allet, C incinnati B allet, Louisville B allet, 

Singapore Dance Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, State Theatre Ballet of South Africa, and Tulsa Ballet 

(resident c horeographer 2001 -06). W hen B oston B allet d anced th e c ompany p remiere o f 

Caniparoli’s full-length Lady of the Camellias in 2004, the critic for the Boston Herald wrote, 

“Why have we had to wait so long to see a ballet by this gifted choreographer?” 

Caniparoli i s mo st c losely as sociated w ith S an F rancisco B allet, his artistic home for over 

thirty-five years. He began his career under the artistic directorship of Lew Christensen, and in 

the 1 980’s w as ap pointed r esident ch oreographer o f S an F rancisco Ballet. He continues to 

choreograph f or th e co mpany und er A rtistic D irector & P rincipal C horeographer Helgi 

Tomasson. 

Caniparoli has created a body of work that is rooted in classicism but influenced by all forms of 

movement: modern d ance, e thnic d ance, s ocial d ancing, and even i ce-skating. Hi s e xtensive 

knowledge and appreciation of music is reflected in the range of composers that have inspired 

his c horeography: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Béla Ba rtók), Gustav’s Rooster 

(Hoven D roven), The Bridge (Dmitri Sh ostakovich), boink! (Juan G arcia E squivel), Aria 

(George F rederic H andel), Open Veins (Robert Mor an), Prawn-watching (Michael N yman), 

Torque (Michael T orke), Jaybird Lounge (Uri C aine), Hamlet and Ophelia, pas de deux 

(Bohuslav M artinu), Bird’s Nest (Charlie P arker), Death of a Moth (Carlos Surinach), Going 

for Baroque (Antonio Vivaldi), Aquilarco (Giovanni Sollima), Book of Alleged Dances (John 

Adams), Aubade (Francis P oulenc), Slow (Graham Fit kin), Djangology (Django R einhardt), 

Vivace (Franz Schubert), and one of his most performed works, Lambarena (Johann Sebastian 

Bach and tr aditional A frican r hythms and music), which is performed by over 16 companies 

and h as b ecome i nternationally ac claimed. Lambarena has also been f eatured o n Sesame 

Street with Lorena and Lorna Feijoo. 

Lady of the Camellias, choreographed in 1994 and co-produced by B allet F lorida and B allet 

West, w as Caniparoli’s first f ull-length w ork. He h as al so ch oreographed The Nutcracker 

(2001) for Cincinnati Ballet, The Nutcracker (2009) for Louisville Ballet, and Val Caniparoli’s 

A Cinderella Story, danced to themes by Richard Rodgers, for Royal Winnipeg Ballet (2004). 

-more-

Caniparoli/Page 2 

Caniparoli has choreographed operas for three of this country’s major companies: Chicago 

Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, he has worked on 

several occasions with the San Francisco Symphony, most memorably on the Rimsky-Korsakov 

opera-ballet Mlada, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, a major success of the 2002 Russian 

Festival. In 2005 , he received rave reviews f or h is c horeography i n C arey P erloff’s n ew 

production of A Christmas Carol at San Francisco’s esteemed American Conservatory Theatre 

(A.C.T.). Additional work with A.C.T. includes choreography for the 2004 production of Ibsen’s 

A Doll’s House and the creation, w ith C arey P erloff, o f a ne w mo vement-theatre p iece, The 

Tosca Project, which recently, was renamed Tosca Café. Tosca Café has been performed by 

Theatre Calgary and Vancouver Playhouse. 

The recipient o f te n gr ants f or c horeography f rom th e N ational E ndowment f or th e A rts, 

Caniparoli was also awarded an ar tist fellowship from the California Arts Council in 1991. He 

has t wice r eceived t he Choo-San G oh A ward f rom th e C hoo-San G oh and H. R obert M agee 

Foundation: in 1994 for Lambarena, choreographed for San Francisco Ballet, and in 1997 for 

Open Veins, c reated f or Atlanta Ballet. Lambarena was also nominated for the Benois de la 

Danse Award f rom th e I nternational D ance A ssociation at a gal a at th e N ational T heater o f 

Warsaw, Poland, in 1997. Dance Bay Area acknowledged Caniparoli’s contributions to the local 

dance scene with an Isadora Duncan Award (or Izzy) for Sustained Achievement in 1996. In 

addition, he has twice won Izzies for Outstanding Choreography. He was also honored to have 

been selected to choreograph a pas de deux for Evelyn Hart and Rex Harrington for the Royal 

Jubilee Gala for Queen Elizabeth in Toronto. 

Born in Renton, Washington, Caniparoli opted for a p rofessional dance career after studying 

music and th eatre at W ashington S tate U niversity. I n 1 972, h e r eceived a Ford Foundation 

Scholarship to atte nd San F rancisco B allet S chool. He p erformed w ith S an F rancisco Op era 

Ballet before joining San Francisco Ballet in 1973. He continues to perform with the company 

as a principal character dancer. 

* * * *

JOHN NEUMEIER 

CHOREOGRAPHER 

Since 1973 John Neumeier has been Director and Chief Choreographer of The Hamburg Ballet, 

since 1996 h e is “Ballettintendant”. Born in 1942 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A., where he 

received h is f irst d ance training. He w ent o n to s tudy ballet b oth i n C openhagen a nd at th e 

Royal Ballet School in London. He acquired a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and 

Theater Studies from Marquette University, Wisconsin. In 1963 he was “discovered” in London 

by Marcia Haydée and Ray Barra, leading John Cranko to engage him at th e Stuttgart Ballet, 

where he progressed to solo dancer and created his first choreographic works. 

In 1 969 U lrich E rfurth appointed Neumeier D irector o f B allet i n F rankfurt, w here h e s oon 

caused a sensation. This was largely due to his new interpretations of such well-known ballets 

as The Nutcracker,Romeo and Julia and Daphnis and Chloe. In 1973 August Everding brought 

him to Hamburg. Under Neumeier’s direction The Hamburg Ballet became one of the leading 

ballet companies on the German dance scene and soon received international recognition. 

As a c horeographer, Neumeier has continually focused on the preservation of ballet tradition, 

while gi ving h is w orks a mo dern dramatic f ramework. His co mmitment to th is e nd h as 

manifested itself particularly in his revised versions of the classical “Story Ballets”. For his new 

works he has created his own narrative forms, resulting in ballets such as: The Saga of King 

Arthur; a s eries o f S hakespeare ballets, i ncluding A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, 

Othello, As You Like It and VIVALDI or What You Will; t he L iterature B allets c reated f or 

Marcia Haydée: Lady of the Camellias and A Streetcar Named Desire, and his adaptation of 

Ibsen's Peer Gynt to a c ommissioned s core by A lfred S chnittke and Ho mer’s epic p oem 

Odyssey which had its world premiere in Athens in November 1995. In 1997 he created Sylvia 

for The Ballet of the Paris Opera. American Ballet Theatre gave a w orld premiere of his ballet 

Getting Closer in 1 999 and th e T okyo B allet, in F ebruary 2 000, p remiered Seasons - The 

Colors of Time. John Neumeier has received particular acclaim throughout the world for his 

choreographies on symphonies by Gustav Mahler; to Bach's Saint Matthew Passion and 

Christmas Oratorio, M ozart's Requiem and Hand el’s Messiah. John N eumeier h as always 

been f ascinated by Vaslav Nijinsky, th is f amous d ancer a nd c horeographer i nspired h im to 

create th ree b iographical ballets: Vaslav (1979), Nijinsky (2000) a nd Le Pavillon d'Armide 

(2009). Other important works for the 21st century are Winterreise in December 2001, The 

Seagull in J une 2002, Préludes CV in J une 2 003, Death in Venice in D ecember 2003 a nd 

Parzival – Episodes and Echo in December 2 006. In 2 005 h e c reated a new ballet f or th e 

Royal Danish Ballet: The Little Mermaid, a h omage to Hans Christian Andersen to celebrate 

the writer's bicentenary, which was premiered on April 15 for the opening of the new Opera 

House of Copenhagen. In 2009 he created Le Pavillon d’Armide, another b allet ab out 

Nijinsky's life, and Orpheus. 

-more-

Neumeier/Page 2 

John Neumeier has also directed operas and musicals. At the Bavarian State Opera he directed 

Verdi's Otello, a t th e Hamburg S tate Op era Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice and L eonard 

Bernstein’s West Side Story and On the Town. 

The Ballet Workshop events (lecture demonstrations in which aspects of current repertoire or 

general d ance t hemes are analyzed) e njoy great p opularity in Ha mburg. I n 1 978 Neumeier 

received the Golden Camera for a four-part television series recorded by North German Radio 

(NDR). A further four Workshops were produced for television in 1981. In addition German 

Television ( ZDF) a nd North Ge rman R adio ( NDR) have recorded f our o f Ne umeier’s b allet 

productions: Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler, Wendung (String Quintet in C-Major b y 

Franz S chubert), Scenes of Childhood and Othello. H is V ersion of Lady of the Camellias, 

produced 1986 by Polyphon GmbH, was awarded a gold medal at the International Television 

Festival in N ew York. 2 002 a live p erformance of the b allet Illusions – like Swan Lake was 

released on D VD. In 20 04 a nd 20 05 “Death in Venice” and “Saint Matthew Passion” were 

filmed by the TV station SWR at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. In 2005 Sylvia was filmed at 

the Opera Bastille in Paris with the dancers of the Ballet of the Paris Opera, as well as Lady of 

the Camellias in 2008. 

In 1975, in only his second season in Hamburg, Neumeier brought the Hamburg Ballet Festival 

into being a climax and end to the season: they culminate in the annual Nijinsky-Gala which is 

always dedicated to a dance-specific or ballet-historical theme. In summer of 2004 to mark the 

thirtieth anniversary of the company under the Artistic Direction of John Neumeier, the Ballet 

Festival saw a retrospective comprising the most important works from the company’s 

repertoire. The Ha mburg B allet h as gi ven nu merous gu est p erformances i n E urope, R ussia, 

North and South America and Asia. 

John Neumeier has worked as guest choreographer with many companies, including The Royal 

Ballet i n L ondon, T he Vienna, M unich and D resden S tate Operas, T he B allet o f th e G erman 

Opera i n B erlin, Th e S tuttgart B allet ( for w hich h e h as c reated s everal w orks), The R oyal 

Danish Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, The Finnish National Ballet, Le Ballet du XXè Siècle 

in Brussels, The Ballet of the Paris Opera, The Tokyo Ballet, The American Ballet Theater in 

New Y ork, The R oyal Winnipeg B allet, Th e National B allet o f C anada, Th e B allet o f t he 

Mariinsky Theater and the San Francisco Ballet among others. 

Since 1981 John Neumeier has been dancing the lead role of Saint Matthew Passion. In 1984 

Maurice Béjart re-choreographed Les Chaises (The Chairs), after Ionesco's play, for Neumeier 

and Marcia Haydée. This Ballet became part of the repertoire of The Hamburg and Stuttgart 

Ballets and was performed on numerous tours in cities including New York, Zurich, Buenos 

Aires, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Essen, Dresden, Paris and Copenhagen. 

-more-


In 1978 John Neumeier founded The School of The Hamburg Ballet. In the autumn of 1989 the 

school, together with the company, moved into its own “Ballettzentrum” provided by the city of 

Hamburg. Its f acilities include ni ne s tudios a nd a b oarding s chool f or over t hirty st udents. 

Today more than 80% of the company's dancers are graduates from the school. 

John Neumeier is holder of the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1983 he received 

the Dance Magazine Award. In 1987 he was awarded a honorary doctorate in the Fine Arts by 

Marquette University in Milwaukee, and was granted the title of Professor by the Senate of the 

Free and Hanseatic Town of Hamburg. In 1988 he was awarded the German Dance Prize and 

the Prix Diaghilev. In 1991 at the instigation of the French Minister of Culture he was admitted 

as Knight to the “Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”. In 1992 he received the “Benois de la Danse” in 

Moscow. I n 1 994 h e w as aw arded the M edal o f Ho nor o f th e ci ty o f T okyo, th e Carina-Ari- 

Goldmedal (Sweden’s h ighest dance aw ard), a nd th e H amburg “ Bürgerpreis”. I n 1 995 h e 

received t he “ Bible a nd Culture F oundation P rize” and i n 1 996 th e “ Nijinsky M edal” of t he 

Polish Minister of Culture. In 1997 he received in Tokyo the “Min-On International Award for 

Arts”. In 2000 John Neumeier received the “European Prince Henrik of Denmark Award” and 

the “ Medal of t he K night’s C ross o f t he D annebrog” in g old f rom Queen M argrethe I I o f 

Danemark. His ballet “Messiah” was awarded the “DANZA & DANZA Magazine Award” for the 

best production of the season 2000/2001 and he received for his choreography “Nijinsky” the 

“Bayerischer T heaterpreis 2 001”. I n 2 002 N eumeier r eceived t he h ighest theatre p rize o f 

Russia t he “Golden M ask”, th e f irst p rize f or b est co ntemporary ch oreography at the Varna 

Ballet C ompetition 2 002, the D anish “ Wilhelm H ansen Prize” and was n amed “Honorary 

Member of the Semper Oper”. In 2003 he received the “Medal for Art and Science”, the highest 

cultural d istinction o f th e c ity o f Ham burg and w as ap pointed to th e r ank of “ Knight o f t he 

Legion of Honor” by French President Jacques Chirac. In 2004 he received the “Porselli Prize - 

A L ife f or t he D ance” in R eggio E milia, I taly and w as appointed “ Hans C hristian A ndersen 

Ambassador 2005” for Germany for the worldwide celebration of the writer's bicentenary. In 

2005 h e r eceived t he S AECULUM Prize” in Dresden a nd i n N ovember th e “ Steffen K empe 

Prize” in H amburg. N eumeier's production for t he Bol shoi T heatre of h is “ A Mid summer 

Night's D ream” r eceived t he “G olden M ask” f or M oscow’s B est C ontemporary D ance 

Production in 2 005. In Ma y 2 006 he r eceived in H amburg th e “Portugaleser” i n S ilver, i n 

December t he “N ijinsky A ward 2 006” for L ifetime A chievement w as p resented t o h im b y 

Princess Caroline of Hanover in Monte-Carlo and in Hamburg he was named “Citizen of the 

Year 2006” in recognition of his contribution to culture. In May 2007 he received the “German 

Critic Prize” for Life Achievement, in June John Neumeier was made an honorary citizen of the 

city of Hamburg and in October he received in Baden-Baden the “Herbert von Karajan Music 

Prize 2 007”. I n March 2008, h e was aw arded for th e s econd time w ith th e “German D ance 

Prize” on th e o ccasion o f th eir 2 5th j ubilee - this ti me w ith a j ubilee edition for his lifetime 

work. He is the recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2009. 

-more-


In February 2006 John Neumeier established a Foundation with the aim of bringing together 

his c ollection o f D ance and B allet r elated o bjects and h is v ast o euvre. The “John Ne umeier 

Foundation” will maintain and secure for the city of Hamburg his life's work. 

John Neu meier h as b een s upporting “Hamburg L euchtfeuer” and i ts h ospice s ince i ts 

foundation. He is Board of Directors member of the Center for Cardiology and Cardiovascular 

Surgery in Hamburg. 

Biography courtesy of Hamburg Ballet. 

* * * *

NICOLLE FOLAND 

SOPRANO 

An alumna of San Francisco Opera Center’s Adler Fellowship program, Nicolle Foland began 

her career with the San Francisco Opera s inging many r oles w ith th e co mpany, i ncluding 

Musetta in La bohème, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Rosalinde 

in Die Fledermaus, and Hanna G lawari in The Merry Widow, among many others. S he has 

sung th e r ole o f V ioletta in La traviata with Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, 

and Michigan Opera Theater and has performed with Los Angeles Opera, Opera Bilbao in 

Spain, and Seattle Opera as Musetta. S he has debuted in many other leading roles with such 

American companies as New York City Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Boston Lyric 

Opera, M innesota Op era, A rizona Opera, C entral C ity Op era, and S anta F e Op era. She ha s 

made multiple appearances with the San Francisco Symphony and has sung with many other 

orchestras, including American S ymphony Or chestra, L os A ngeles P hilharmonic, M innesota 

Orchestra, and C olorado S ymphony. S he i s al so an av id recitalist, appearing on performing 

arts s eries th roughout th e U .S. A n ative o f D es M oines, Io wa, M s. F oland r eceived h er 

undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Northern Iowa. 

* * * *

ROY BOGAS 

PIANIST 

Roy B ogas i s a p ianist o f i nternational r eputation, h aving b een a L aureate o f th e Second 

International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. He has been a principal piano soloist 

at S an F rancisco B allet c ontinuously s ince 1974 when Lew Christenson w as s till acti ve as 

artistic director. He has been privileged to assist Helgi Tomasson in the genesis of many ballets 

from Aurora Polaris and Chaconne for Piano and Two Dancers, to On a Theme of Paganini. 

He looks forward to many more seasons with the Company. 

* * * *

MICHAEL McGRAW 

PIANIST 

Michael McGraw joined San Francisco Ballet as a company pianist in 1986. Previously, he worked 

at Houston Ballet, where he performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony and the Cleveland 

Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist with both companies in many cities worldwide, including 

Beijing; Copenhagen; Edinburgh; London; L os Angeles; New York; Osaka; Paris; Reykjavik; 

Shanghai; and W ashington, D. C. In 1 985, Mc Graw r eceived t he pia no pr ize a t the Moscow 

International Ballet Competition. 

He has p erformed as a soloist in many works in San Francisco Ballet’s repertory, including The 

Dance House, Valses Poeticos, Study in Motion, Liebeslieder Waltzes, The Waltz Project, After the 

Rain, Twilight, La Cathedrale engloutie, Nanna’s Lied, There Where She Loved, Magrittomania, 

Fusion, Naked, Tryst, Quartette, The Concert, Tarantella, “Rubies,” Op. 50, Seeing Stars, Dances 

at a Gathering, Artifact Suite, Quaternary, Elite Syncopations, Polyphonia, Continuum, 

Symphonic Variations, Les Carnival des Animaux, 7 for Eight, The Wanderer Fantasy, and 

“…smile with my heart.” 

* * * *

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - San Francisco Ballet

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?