(wait for the slideshow above)
San Francisco Ballet’s 2012 season begins and ends with a full-length Big Ballet Bang; Program 1 gives us the SFB Premiere of John Cranko’s 1965 adaptation of Onegin, one of his most dramatic ballets, created on the narrative poem by Alexander Pushkin and danced to Tchaikovsky…
…and the season ends with Program 8’s return of Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov’s Don Quixote, which will sparkle with all new sets and costumes by Tony Award winning designer Martin Paklenidaz and lighting by James F. Ingalls.
And between these luscious bookends, we will be treated to no less than four World premieres by choreographers Mark Morris (his eighth ballet for SFB), Yuri Possokhov, Edward Liang, and Ashley Page, along with the return of Tomasson’s Romeo and Juliet, choreographed to Prokofiev, some of the most gorgeous ballet music in the world.
For Balanchine lovers, SFB will highlight an all-Balanchine Masterworks evening featuring Scotch Symphony, not seen here in over 4o years, while encoring 2011 Season’s successful Possokhov, Wheeldon, McGregor, and Tomasson hits, RAkU, Number Nine, Chroma, and Trio respectively.
Odette is most pleased with the return of audience favorite Jerome Robbins’ evocative Glass Pieces, choreographed to Philip Glass’ haunting score, Rudolf Nureyev’s Raymonda, not seen here in over ten years, and Alexei Ratmansky’s humorous Le Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of the Animals).
The two links below take you to the entire San Francisco Ballet 2012 Season announcement in PDF file format, which I have successfuly opened with my iPhone, but cannot access on my PC. Give it a try; the photographs are amongst the most stunning PR images I have ever seen of San Francisco Ballet:
For those of you who cannot open the files above, don’t despair; here is the entire 2012 programming:
PROGRAM 1
Onegin
Onegin
PROGRAM 2
Chroma
Morris World Premiere
Number Nine
Morris World Premiere
Number Nine
PROGRAM 3
Le Carnaval des Animaux
Possokhov World Premiere
Trio
Le Carnaval des Animaux
Possokhov World Premiere
Trio
PROGRAM 4
Romeo & Juliet
Romeo & Juliet
PROGRAM 5
The Fifth Season
Liang World Premiere
Glass Pieces
The Fifth Season
Liang World Premiere
Glass Pieces
PROGRAM 6
Raymonda—Act III
Raymonda—Act III
RAkU
Page World Premiere
Page World Premiere
PROGRAM 7
Divertimento #15
Scotch Symphony
The Four Temperaments
Divertimento #15
Scotch Symphony
The Four Temperaments
PROGRAM 8
Don Quixote
Don Quixote
Odette will be back with champagne, party favors, more photos and SFB 2012 Season commentary.
In the meantime, celebrate with a little Happy Dance…and get thee to Program 6 & 7!
See You at the Ballet!
Odette's Ordeal 