For Immediate Release

Media Relations & Tourism Sales Department of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Larry Meehan, Vice President of Media Relations & Tourism Sales, lmeehan@bostonusa.com, 617-867-8231; Joanna Blasi, Media Relations & Tourism Sales Coordinator, jblasi@bostonusa.com, 617-867-8226.

BOSTON - Following a six-week tour to Spain that launches the 2007-2008 season, Boston Ballet returns home to begin rehearsals for six programs that encompass more than 170 years of ballet and showcase the versatility of the dancers.

The Company inaugurates its Boston season on Friday, October 12 with Night of Stars: A Boston Ballet Gala Performance. Like last year’s gala performance, the first staged by Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen, this one-night-only event will feature the entire company and showcase all Boston Ballet principal dancers and internationally renowned guest artists in a special program. A week later, the Company will open its customary six-program schedule with two riveting works by George Balanchine, Monumentum pro Gesualdo and Movements for Piano and Orchestra – first danced by Boston Ballet in 2003 – which share the bill with Sorella Englund’s acclaimed staging of August Bournonville’s two-act La Sylphide. This definitive production of Bournonville’s masterpiece is one of two programs being presented by Boston Ballet in Spain; the other is an all-Balanchine triple bill featuring Serenade, Who Cares? (concert version) and The Four Temperaments. Boston Ballet will dance three additional full-length ballets during the 2007-08 season: Mikko Nissinen’s magical production of The Nutcracker in December, the company premiere of John Cranko’s beloved Romeo and Juliet in February, and a new staging of Marius Petipa’s thrilling La Bayadère in May.

Next Generation, a mixed repertory program in March, will feature three world premieres and a company premiere. Resident Choreographer Jorma Elo will create his fifth work for Boston Ballet, and Helen Pickett, whose Etesian was one of the big hits of the 2005 – 2006 season, returns to create her second piece for the Company. The third world premiere will be choreographed by Boston Ballet second soloist Heather Myers, marking her first work for a major dance company. Also on the program is the United States premiere of Ein von Viel by Canadian choreographer Sabrina Matthews, making her American debut. The season concludes in May with a triple bill spotlighting Antony Tudor’s poignant Dark Elegies, a heartbreaking depiction of grief and loss. Two additional ballets on this program will be announced at a later date.

All performances are held at Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre with the exception of The Nutcracker, which returns to The Opera House for the third consecutive year.

Monumentum pro Gesualdo, Music: Igor Stravinsky; Choreography: George Balanchine; Movements for Piano and Orchestra; Music: Igor Stravinsky; Choreography: George Balanchine

La Sylphide
Music: Herman Løvenskjold
Choreography: Sorella Englund after August Bournonville
Sets and Costumes: Peter Cazalet

The Nutcracker November 29-December 29, 2007
Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Choreography: Mikko Nissinen; Sets: Helen Pond and Herbert Senn; Costumes: David Walker and Charles Heightchew; Lighting Design: Alexander Nichols;

Romeo and Juliet (Company premiere) February 14-17, February 28-March 2, 2008
Music: Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography: John Cranko
Sets and Costumes: Susan Benson

Next Generation March 6-9, 2008
World Premiere: Choreography: Helen Pickett
World Premiere: Choreography: Heather Myers
Ein von Viel (Company Premiere)
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Choreography: Sabrina Matthews
World Premiere
Choreography: Jorma Elo

Swan Lake May 1-11, 2008
MUSIC: PI Tchaikovsky
CHOREOGRAPHY: Mikko Nissinen after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov

Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen’s 2004 production of Swan Lake was called “a must-see” by Christine Temin in The Boston Globe. “Characters under a spell themselves cast one on us too,” she wrote. You won’t want to miss the return engagement of one of the world’s most beloved ballets, danced to Tchaikovsky’s beautiful score.

3 Masterpieces May 15-18, 2008

The season concludes with three celebrated works by three master choreographers: George Balanchine’s elegant, luminous Concerto Barocco; Antony Tudor’s profoundly moving Dark Elegies, and Twyla Tharp’s explosive, exciting In the Upper Room. Created in 1937, Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies, danced to Gustav Mahler’s poignant song cycle Kindertotenlieder, is a profound and moving exploration of mourning and a community’s grief in response to tragedy. The themes of the ballet continue to resonate powerfully today with both dancers and audiences.

Concerto Barocco
MUSIC: Johann Sebastian Bach
CHOREOGRAPHY: George Balanchine

Dark Elegies
MUSIC: Gustav Mahler
CHOREOGRAPHY: Antony Tudor

In the Upper Room
MUSIC: Philip Glass
CHOREOGRAPHY: Twyla Tharp

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