Giselle, several world premieres, Balanchine and a reprise of last year’s hit Cinderella are among the highlights of the San Francisco Ballet’s 2014 season, which runs from January 25 through May 11, 2014. Presented at the War Memorial Opera House, the eight programs show off the ballet company’s technical and artistic flair, breadth and progressive edge. A bonus is the Hamburg Ballet's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a two-night-only engagement in February.
Here’s an overview of the 2014 offerings. Ticket prices are demand-based and start at $22. For more information, check San Francisco Ballet's website or call the ticket office, (415) 865-2000 (open Monday-Friday, 10 am to 4 pm, and on performance days, 10 am until show time).
One of the greatest classical romantic ballets, Giselle is about a frail peasant girl in the Rhine River’s wine country during the Middle Ages. She is loved by two men, a hunter and a count who’s engaged to a princess but who disguises himself as a farmer to woo Giselle. When Giselle learns of the count’s duplicity, she goes mad and dies of a weak and broken heart. She becomes a “wili,” a vengeful spirit who has died with her love unrequited. Destined to dance each night until dawn, the wilis haunt men—and not just give them the willies, but force them to dance to their death.
Giselle is also one of the oldest continually performed ballets. It premiered in Paris in 1841, with choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot; Marius Petipa later staged a version for the Imperial Ballet in St. Peterburg. San Francisco Ballet’s production was created by artistic director Helgi Tomasson in 1999. Giselle's role demands the utmost in classical technique as well as character-acting skills.
January 25-February 2
Hamburg Ballet artistic director John Neumeier’s ballets have wowed San Francisco in recent years: in 2010 and 2011, SF Ballet performed his magical and heart-wrenching The Little Mermaid, and in 2013, his company got standing ovations after its performances of Nijinsky. Hamburg Ballet visits again this season, bringing Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy with Neumeier’s gorgeous choreography, costumes and staging and a score by Mendelssohn and Gyorgy Ligeti.
February 12 & 13
Tears is a world premiere by Val Caniparoli, who began his career with San Francisco Ballet in the early 1970s. The ballet’s score is Steve Reich’s Variations for Strings, Winds and Keyboards.
Also on the bill are two works that premiered in the 2013 season. Inspired by folk dances, From Foreign Lands is a frolicking piece that “is like taking the audience on a joyful European tour,” according to principal dancer Pascal Molat. Its choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky, is an artist-in-residence at American Ballet Theatre and a former director at the Bolshoi. Borderlands, by Wayne McGregor, features intensive Gumby-esque movement and was inspired by Josef Albers’ artwork.
February 18-March 1
This triple bill sizzles with Yuri Possokhov’s rendition of Firebird, the famous ballet that Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company premiered in 1910 in Paris, with choreography by Michel Fokine. The score made Igor Stravinsky an overnight success. Based on Russian folk tales, the story involves a dazzling bird with magical powers, a bevy of beautiful princesses held captive by an evil sorcerer and the prince who saves them. The program also includes an excerpt from the 19th-century La Bayadere; the ballet’s “The Kingdom of the Shades” (Act II) is frequently performed on its own and features more than 30 ballerinas, all in white. Sandwiched between the classics is Christopher Wheeldon’s 2010 work Ghosts.
February 20-March 2
The return of last season’s wildly popular ballet by Christopher Wheeldon. Blending the Charles Perrault story with the Brothers Grimm, Wheeldon’s version is as much theater as it is dance. Huge puppets, slapstick, video, a Prokofiev score and sets and costumes by designer Julian Crouch are all part of this fairy tale of a production, which our review discusses in more detail.
March 11-23
American Ballet Theatre artist-in-residence Alexei Ratmansky brings to San Francisco Ballet his bold Shostakovich Trilogy, which evokes the fear, constraints, grandeur and brilliance of artists in Soviet Russia against the backdrop of three Shostakovich pieces. Its premiere at ABT in May 2013 won raves, with the New York Times calling it “poetic, enigmatic and bittersweet,” and the New Yorker noting the “musicality of Ratmansky’s choreography,” its “wild, animal energy” and the dancers’ “high-wire virtuosity” that left viewers gasping. "His stage fairly hops with activity….[T]he busyness is a thrill,” New Yorker critic Joan Acocella said. It’s also a test for the dancers: ”Not even in Balanchine’s ballets,” Acocella said, “do they have to work harder.”
April 2-13
SF Ballet artistic director Tomasson unveils Caprice, his first new ballet in several years, with music by Camille Saint-Saens. Maelstrom, Mark Morris’ first commission for San Francisco Ballet, is revived for its 20th anniversary. Yuri Possokhov's interpretation of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is reprised from 2013, when it had its global debut. The ballet depicts pagan rituals and human sacrifice; its premiere by the Ballets Russes in 1913, with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, resulted in heckling and a brawl by the audience and mixed reviews of the then-avant-garde choreography and score.
April 4-15
Liam Scarlett of London’s Royal Ballet introduces Hummingbird, an abstract work set to Philip Glass’ Tirol concerto for piano and orchestra. Scarlett, 27, began choreographing when he joined the Royal Ballet School at age 11; in 2012, he stepped aside as a Royal Ballet dancer to become its artist-in-residence, a position created specifically for him. Miami City Ballet and the Norwegian National Ballet are among the other companies that have commissioned his choreography, which British newspaper The Independent says has a “balance of geometry, musical response, physicality and an extraordinarily sensitive rendering of emotional states.”
Also on the program are Tomasson’s The Fifth Season and Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc, a dreamy, French neoclassical work that includes a big corps.
April 29-May 10
A sampler of works by two of the most prolific and famed modern choreographers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Balanchine and composer Stravinsky together created the structure and the music for Agon, a ballet for 12 dancers that’s based on 17th-century French court dances. Balanchine and Arnold Schoenberg both happened to be critical of classical chamber music; the New York City Ballet choreographer set Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet to Schoenberg's 1937 orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor. Robbins’ Glass Pieces, featuring pulsating music by Philip Glass, is a crowd-pleaser that’s both fluid and energizing.
May 1-11
Here’s an overview of the 2014 offerings. Ticket prices are demand-based and start at $22. For more information, check San Francisco Ballet's website or call the ticket office, (415) 865-2000 (open Monday-Friday, 10 am to 4 pm, and on performance days, 10 am until show time).
•Program 1: Giselle
One of the greatest classical romantic ballets, Giselle is about a frail peasant girl in the Rhine River’s wine country during the Middle Ages. She is loved by two men, a hunter and a count who’s engaged to a princess but who disguises himself as a farmer to woo Giselle. When Giselle learns of the count’s duplicity, she goes mad and dies of a weak and broken heart. She becomes a “wili,” a vengeful spirit who has died with her love unrequited. Destined to dance each night until dawn, the wilis haunt men—and not just give them the willies, but force them to dance to their death.
Giselle is also one of the oldest continually performed ballets. It premiered in Paris in 1841, with choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot; Marius Petipa later staged a version for the Imperial Ballet in St. Peterburg. San Francisco Ballet’s production was created by artistic director Helgi Tomasson in 1999. Giselle's role demands the utmost in classical technique as well as character-acting skills.
January 25-February 2
•Special Program: Hamburg Ballet's A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hamburg Ballet artistic director John Neumeier’s ballets have wowed San Francisco in recent years: in 2010 and 2011, SF Ballet performed his magical and heart-wrenching The Little Mermaid, and in 2013, his company got standing ovations after its performances of Nijinsky. Hamburg Ballet visits again this season, bringing Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy with Neumeier’s gorgeous choreography, costumes and staging and a score by Mendelssohn and Gyorgy Ligeti.
February 12 & 13
•Program 2: Tears; Borderlands; From Foreign Lands
Tears is a world premiere by Val Caniparoli, who began his career with San Francisco Ballet in the early 1970s. The ballet’s score is Steve Reich’s Variations for Strings, Winds and Keyboards.
Also on the bill are two works that premiered in the 2013 season. Inspired by folk dances, From Foreign Lands is a frolicking piece that “is like taking the audience on a joyful European tour,” according to principal dancer Pascal Molat. Its choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky, is an artist-in-residence at American Ballet Theatre and a former director at the Bolshoi. Borderlands, by Wayne McGregor, features intensive Gumby-esque movement and was inspired by Josef Albers’ artwork.
February 18-March 1
•Program 3: Firebird; Ghosts; The Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère
This triple bill sizzles with Yuri Possokhov’s rendition of Firebird, the famous ballet that Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company premiered in 1910 in Paris, with choreography by Michel Fokine. The score made Igor Stravinsky an overnight success. Based on Russian folk tales, the story involves a dazzling bird with magical powers, a bevy of beautiful princesses held captive by an evil sorcerer and the prince who saves them. The program also includes an excerpt from the 19th-century La Bayadere; the ballet’s “The Kingdom of the Shades” (Act II) is frequently performed on its own and features more than 30 ballerinas, all in white. Sandwiched between the classics is Christopher Wheeldon’s 2010 work Ghosts.
February 20-March 2
•Program 4: Cinderella
The return of last season’s wildly popular ballet by Christopher Wheeldon. Blending the Charles Perrault story with the Brothers Grimm, Wheeldon’s version is as much theater as it is dance. Huge puppets, slapstick, video, a Prokofiev score and sets and costumes by designer Julian Crouch are all part of this fairy tale of a production, which our review discusses in more detail.
March 11-23
•Program 5: Shostakovich Trilogy
American Ballet Theatre artist-in-residence Alexei Ratmansky brings to San Francisco Ballet his bold Shostakovich Trilogy, which evokes the fear, constraints, grandeur and brilliance of artists in Soviet Russia against the backdrop of three Shostakovich pieces. Its premiere at ABT in May 2013 won raves, with the New York Times calling it “poetic, enigmatic and bittersweet,” and the New Yorker noting the “musicality of Ratmansky’s choreography,” its “wild, animal energy” and the dancers’ “high-wire virtuosity” that left viewers gasping. "His stage fairly hops with activity….[T]he busyness is a thrill,” New Yorker critic Joan Acocella said. It’s also a test for the dancers: ”Not even in Balanchine’s ballets,” Acocella said, “do they have to work harder.”
April 2-13
•Program 6: Caprice; Maelstrom; The Rite of Spring
SF Ballet artistic director Tomasson unveils Caprice, his first new ballet in several years, with music by Camille Saint-Saens. Maelstrom, Mark Morris’ first commission for San Francisco Ballet, is revived for its 20th anniversary. Yuri Possokhov's interpretation of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is reprised from 2013, when it had its global debut. The ballet depicts pagan rituals and human sacrifice; its premiere by the Ballets Russes in 1913, with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, resulted in heckling and a brawl by the audience and mixed reviews of the then-avant-garde choreography and score.
April 4-15
•Program 7: Hummingbird; The Fifth Season; Suite en Blanc
Liam Scarlett of London’s Royal Ballet introduces Hummingbird, an abstract work set to Philip Glass’ Tirol concerto for piano and orchestra. Scarlett, 27, began choreographing when he joined the Royal Ballet School at age 11; in 2012, he stepped aside as a Royal Ballet dancer to become its artist-in-residence, a position created specifically for him. Miami City Ballet and the Norwegian National Ballet are among the other companies that have commissioned his choreography, which British newspaper The Independent says has a “balance of geometry, musical response, physicality and an extraordinarily sensitive rendering of emotional states.”
Also on the program are Tomasson’s The Fifth Season and Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc, a dreamy, French neoclassical work that includes a big corps.
April 29-May 10
•Program 8: Agon; Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet; Glass Pieces
A sampler of works by two of the most prolific and famed modern choreographers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Balanchine and composer Stravinsky together created the structure and the music for Agon, a ballet for 12 dancers that’s based on 17th-century French court dances. Balanchine and Arnold Schoenberg both happened to be critical of classical chamber music; the New York City Ballet choreographer set Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet to Schoenberg's 1937 orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor. Robbins’ Glass Pieces, featuring pulsating music by Philip Glass, is a crowd-pleaser that’s both fluid and energizing.
May 1-11
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