Jose Carreno Announces Ballet San Jose 2013-2014 Season

NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JOSÉ MANUEL CARREÑO ANNOUNCES BALLET SAN JOSE 2013-2014 SEASON

COMPANY PREMIERES BY TWYLA THARP, PAUL TAYLOR, OHAD NAHARIN, VICENTE NEBRADA, JORGE AMARANTE, IGAL PERRY AND DWIGHT RHODEN. SPECIAL NOV. 16 BENEFIT GALA FEATURING BALLET SAN JOSE AND STARS OF AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE, ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET, NEW YORK CITY BALLET, BOSTON BALLET AND MORE

Ballet San Jose’s new Artistic Director, José Manuel Carreño, has announced details of the 2013-2014 season including Company premieres by choreographers including Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Ohad Naharin, Vicente Nebrada, Jorge Amarante, Igal Perry and Dwight Rhoden; two story ballets including Karen Gabay’s The Nutcracker and Roland Petit’s Carmen; plus the return of acclaimed and popular ballets by Jorma Elo and George Balanchine.

A special benefit gala November 16 will kick off the season featuring members of Ballet San Jose and top guest stars from companies including American Ballet Theatre, English National Ballet, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet and others. All programs including The Nutcracker feature live music with Ballet San Jose Music Director George Daugherty conducting Symphony Silicon Valley and additional guest artists. The five-program, 24-performance 2013-2014 season—comprising the November 16 gala, The Nutcracker, and three mixed-repertory programs–runs November 16, 2013, through May 11, 2014, with all performances at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.

“For my first season with Ballet San Jose I have created programs that feature choreographers whose works have excited and inspired me and audiences around the world,” says Carreño. “These ballets—from the sublime neoclassicism of Balanchine to heart-racing and athletic works of Twyla Tharp, Jorge Amarante, Vicente Nebrada and Igal Perry to the improvisations of Ohad Naharin—will dynamically demonstrate the range of technical and theatrical mastery of this tremendous Company.”

Season Opens With Star-Studded Gala November 16 Featuring Guest Artists from American Ballet Theatre, English National Ballet, New York City Ballet and Boston Ballet.

Members of Ballet San Jose and Ballet San Jose School will be joined on stage by a host of top dancers from leading American companies to welcome new Artistic Director José Manuel Carreño and support Ballet San Jose Saturday, November 16, 2013 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. The evening will begin at 5 pm with cocktails, dinner and an auction, followed by an 8 pm performance featuring guest artists from American Ballet Theatre: Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes, Misty Copeland and Gillian Murphy; from English National Ballet: Artistic Director and lead principal dancer Tamara Rojo; from New York City Ballet: Gonzalo Garcia, Joaquin De Luz, Daniel Ulbricht and Megan Fairchild; from Boston Ballet: Lorna Feijoo, Nelson Madrigal, Adiarys Almeida and Joseph Gatti; other artists and program to be announced. Tickets are available for the full evening beginning at $1,000 and for the performance only, priced $50-$250. Performance tickets will go on sale in September at www.balletsj.org .For information and an invitation contact kbertrand@balletsj.org .

Ballet San Jose 2013-2014 Season

José Manuel Carreño, Artistic Director

• Raymond Rodriguez, Associate Artistic Director
• George Daugherty, Music Director and Conductor

 

Benefit Gala

Saturday, November 16, 5 pm; performance at 8 pm

San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

An evening to benefit Ballet San Jose and honor and welcome new Artistic Director José Manuel Carreño, featuring dinner, an auction and performance by members of Ballet San Jose and Ballet San Jose School, and guest artists from American Ballet Theatre: Marcelo Gomes, Misty Copeland and Gillian Murphy; from English National Ballet: Artistic Director and lead principal dancer Tamara Rojo; from New York City Ballet: Gonzalo Garcia, Joaquin De Luz, Daniel Ulbricht and Megan Fairchild; from Boston Ballet: Lorna Feijoo, Nelson Madrigal, Adiarys Almeida and Joseph Gatti; other artists and program to be announced. The evening will conclude with a post-performance party with the artists.

The Nutcracker

December 13 – 26

All performances at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

with Symphony Silicon Valley and Ballet San Jose Music Director George Daugherty

• December 13 7 pm
• December 14 1:30 and *7 pm
• December 15 *1:30 pm
• December 20 *7 pm
• December 21 1:30 and 7 pm
• December 22 1:30 pm
• December 23 1:30 pm
• December 24 *1:30 pm
• December 26 1:30 pm

*Special Family-Priced Performances

Choreographer and former Ballet San Jose Principal Dancer Karen Gabay’s The Nutcracker is a delightful take on the holiday classic that preserves the best of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s traditional story about the Nutcracker Prince and the King of Mice amid glorious bravura dancing, good-enough-to-eat sets and costumes and Tchaikovsky’s lush and iconic score with a bit of a fresh and feminist touch to the story.

Repertory Program 1: Neoclassical to Now

• Friday, February 14, at 8 pm
• Saturday, February 15, at 1:30 and 8 pm
• Sunday, February 1, at 1:30 pm
• San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

Serenade (1949)

• Choreography: George Balanchine
• Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Music: Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48

Glow-Stop (2006)

• Choreography: Jorma Elo
• Composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Philip Glass
• Music: Symphony No. 29 in C, 4th Movement and Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, 2nd Movement

Minus 16 (1999) COMPANY PREMIERE

• Choreography: Ohad Naharin
• Music: Various Artists

From the first ballet George Balanchine created in America to last season’s runaway hit by Jorma Elo to inventive Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin’s engaging tour-de-force that sparkles with improvisation and literally brings audience members to their feet, this program has remarkable range and sophistication.

Repertory Program 2: Popular Music, Transcendent Dancing

• Friday, March 21, at 8 pm
• Saturday, March 22, at 1:30 and 8 pm
• Sunday, March 23, at 1:30 pm
• San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

Nuestros Valses (1976) COMPANY PREMIERE

• Choreography: Vicente Nebrada
• Composers: Ramón Delgado Palacios and Teresa Carreño
• Musical Arrangements: Mark Richards

Grapa Tango (2007) COMPANY PREMIERE

• Choreography: Jorge Amarante
• Composers: Carlos Libedinsky and Sverre Indris Joner

Infinity (2013) COMPANY PREMIERE

• Choreography: Igal Perry
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Music: “Hammerklavier” Sonata: Adagio

Evermore (2013) COMPANY PREMIERE

• Choreography: Dwight Rhoden
• Music: Nat King Cole

Piazzolla Caldera (1997) COMPANY PREMIERE

• Choreography: Paul Taylor
• Composer: Astor Piazzolla
• Music: Escualo

This program explores the inspiration two centuries of popular music has had on modern and contemporary choreographers. Two strikingly different works by Paul Taylor and Jorge Amarante highlighting the incendiary passions and complexities of tango demonstrate the genre’s flexibility. Dwight Rhoden mines the richly nuanced songs of Nat King Cole, while Igal Perry plumbs the monumental lyricism of the adagio from one of Beethoven’s most enduringly popular piano sonatas (the “Hammerklavier”). The late Venezuelan dance-maker Vicente Nebrada’s Nuestros Valses (“Our Waltzes”) is a playfully sublime homage to the quintessential social dance.

Repertory Program 3: Masterworks of Movement and Theatre

• Friday, May 9, at 8 pm
• Saturday, May 10, at 1:30 and 8 pm
• Sunday, May 11, at 1:30 pm
• San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

Carmen (1949)

• Choreography: Roland Petit
• Composer: Georges Bizet

In the Upper Room (1986) COMPANY PREMIERE

• Choreography:Twyla Tharp
• Composer: Philip Glass

Two masterworks—a fiery story ballet and a celebration of pure movement–by two different master dance-makers of our era share a program of extreme contrasts and bravura dancing. Considered one of Twyla Tharp’s most accomplished and striking works, In the Upper Room features a commissioned score by Philip Glass that both propels and liberates the dancers in Tharp’s whirling, pulse-pounding choreography. Since its premiere in 1949, Carmen has remained one of inventive French choreographer Roland Petit’s most popular ballets for its keen character studies, theatrical staging and soaring dances.

About Ballet San Jose

Known for bold and inventive programming that matches the creativity and innovation of its Silicon Valley home, Ballet San Jose is the second largest professional ballet company in California. In 2013 the Company named former American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer José Manuel Carreño Artistic Director and former Ballet San Jose Principal Ballet Master Raymond Rodriguez Associate Artistic Director.

The critically-acclaimed company produces an annual season of mixed-repertory programs and full-length ballets, including The Nutcracker, at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts. Through its strategic relationship with American Ballet Theatre (ABT), Ballet San Jose has achieved new and rapid artistic growth with access to productions from ABT’s extensive repertory, association with its network of renowned choreographers, directors, and artists as well as to ABT’s renowned National Training Curriculum for ballet faculty and students – making Ballet San Jose’s school the exclusive ABT-certified institution on the West Coast.

Ballet San Jose produces professional performances of the highest artistic standard, which enhance to the cultural life of the community, and are accessible to the broadest possible audience. Ballet San Jose is committed to providing interactive arts education for children, youth, and adults through its ballet school and outreach programs, focusing on both professional training and on general community enrichment.

Ballet San Jose began in 1986 as a co-venture relationship with Cleveland Ballet, under the leadership of Artistic Director Dennis Nahat. The San Jose Cleveland Ballet spanned the two cities for nearly 15 years before Ballet San Jose was re-established in 2000 as an independent resident company in San Jose.

For more information about Ballet San Jose, visit www.balletsj.org

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