For the first time ever, Charlotte Ballet presents one of the world’s most famous classical ballets that has transcended generations, Swan Lake. You won’t want to miss the spectacular choreography by Ib Andersen after Marius Petipa, accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s hauntingly beautiful score brought to life by the exquisite Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.
About the Choreographer:
Ib Andersen: Ib Andersen’s career performing on the world’s greatest ballet stages led him to become the Artistic Director of Ballet Arizona and The School of Ballet Arizona in 2000. Born in Copenhagen, he began his journey in ballet at the Royal Danish Ballet, where he rose to become its youngest principal dancer at age 20. Joining New York City Ballet in 1980, Andersen became popular for his mastery of Balanchine’s style, leading to principal roles in several notable ballets. His choreographic talent emerged in 1987 with “1-2-3—1-2” for the Royal Danish Ballet, foreshadowing a prolific career beyond the stage.
Transitioning from NYCB to Ballet Arizona, Andersen’s direction infused the company with a blend of classical and contemporary repertoire, earning national recognition for groundbreaking works like “Diversions” and “Topia.” His 2012 premiere of “Cinderella” and subsequent New York debut at the Joyce Theatre showcased Andersen’s choreographic prowess, applauded by esteemed publications like The New York Times. Under Andersen’s leadership, Ballet Arizona thrived, culminating in the 2016 presentation of “Round” at the Desert Botanical Garden, which drew praise from critics like Alastair Macaulay, who proclaimed in his review that Ballet Arizona is ‘…one of the most enterprising companies anywhere,’ affirming the company’s status as a beacon of innovation.
About the Conductor:
U.S.-born Gavriel Heine is one of the most sought-after conductors of ballet today. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, he was a resident conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre for 15 years, where he led over 850 performances (both in St. Petersburg and on 14 international tours) before resigning in April 2022 in protest over the war in Ukraine. While at the Mariinsky, classics such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Paquita, Raymonda, La Bayadère, Cinderella, and Romeo and Juliet ran exclusively under his direction. He has been Music Director of Northern Lights Festival Opera in Minnesota since 2011.
Heine has guest conducted for Opéra de Paris Ballet (Don Quixote), the Royal Ballet (Swan Lake), New York City Ballet (Nutcracker), Boston Ballet (Romeo and Juliet), Béjart Ballet (Firebird, Bolero), State Ballet of Georgia (Romeo and Juliet, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Mozartiana), United Ukrainian Ballet (Giselle), the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet (Nutcracker and graduation performances), Ballet Arizona (Nutcracker), Opéra de Lausanne (Eugene Onegin, Candide), and the Mikhailovsky Theatre (Die Zauberflöte).
Heine has performed in some of the world’s most important theaters and concert venues, including the Royal Opera House, Opéra de Paris Bastille, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Bolshoi Theater, Teatro Regio Torino, Bunka Kaikan and many more. He has guest conducted the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, La Verdi Orchestra of Milan, the Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and many others.
Upcoming performances include a new production of Candide at the Northern Lights Music Festival, and a debut at Norwegian National Ballet (Jewels).
About our Guest Dancers:
Angelica Generosa is from South River, New Jersey. She studied on scholarship at the School of American Ballet and Princeton Ballet, and she attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet, Chautauqua Summer Program, and New Jersey Ballet. She also studied with Gina Forcella in Sayreville, New Jersey. In 2011, Ms. Generosa joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice. She was promoted to corps de ballet in 2012, soloist in 2016 and principal in 2020.
Ms. Generosa was the recipient of the Youth American Grand Prix Regional Hope Award in 2005, and she was a YAGP New York finalist in 2007. She also was the recipient of the School of American Ballet Mae Wien Award for Outstanding Promise.
Ms. Generosa has performed as a guest artist with the Vail International Dance Festival, American Academy Ballet, Chautauqua Alumni Dance Festival and International Dance Galas in Asuncion del Paraguay and Montreal, Canada. Some of the leading roles she has performed include the principal role in George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Princess Aurora in Ronald Hyde’s The Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile in Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake, Peter Boal and Doug Fullington’s production of Giselle, William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Emergence by Crystal Pite, Tarantella, Rubies, and Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit. She has also worked with many Choreographers including Alexei Ratmansky, Dwight Rhoden, Crystal Pite, Annabelle Ochoa, Edwaard Liang and Alejandro Cerrudo to name a few.
Daniil Simkin was born in Novosibirsk, Russia, in 1987, the son of acclaimed ballet dancers Dmitrij Simkin and Olga Aleksandrova. His family moved to Western Europe in 1990 and took residence in Wiesbaden, Germany, where Daniil grew up.
At the age of nine, Daniil began ten years of daily ballet training with his mother. In these training years, he won a number of important ballet awards, including the Senior Gold Medal at the Jackson International Ballet competition in 2006, the Grand Prix at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition in 2005 and the Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna in 2004. After graduating academic high school in Germany, Daniil joined the Vienna State Opera Ballet as a demi-soloist in 2006 and also began his career as a guest performer around the world.
In 2008, he joined American Ballet Theatre as a soloist and was subsequently promoted to principal dancer in 2012. He since then has danced most major classical and neoclassical roles in the company’s repertoire. In his professional career, Daniil has performed throughout North and South America, Asia, and the Middle East.
In 2015, together with the Joyce Theater in New York, Daniil spearheaded and produced an evening of contemporary original choreography called “INTENSIO,” which toured the United States and internationally. This was followed in 2017 by a production of a multidisciplinary dance installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York which involved generative video projections and costumes by Dior. Beginning with the 2018-2019 season Daniil joined Staats Ballett Berlin as a principal and maintained his position at ABT, performing with both companies as often as his schedule allows. In 2021, Simkin founded the production company Studio Simkin to explore and develop dance opportunities for the next era with the highest production value and artistic standard, encouraging ballet to evolve within a digital environment and for new forums.
TICKETS:
Tickets start at $30
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