Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season March - April 2018 | Page 7

BALLET AT THE BSO
Balanchine choreography brings
a Tchaikovsky classic to life
A
George Balanchine
t the end of April, Marin Alsop leads Tchaikovsky with
Balanchine, a collaboration that sees the BSO team up with
dancers from the Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA) to
present Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings with original choreography
by the legendary George Balanchine.
Though Tchaikovsky is arguably best-known for his ballet
music with works like The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, the Serenade
was not originally composed for dance. With staging by Deborah
Wingert and coaching from Heather Watts, two former New York
City Ballet dancers who worked directly with Balanchine, Alsop,
the BSO and the BSA dancers add visual depth to Tchaikovsky’s
gorgeous melodies.
For Alsop, this project has a special significance. “I have a
long personal history with the New York City Ballet and George
Balanchine,” she says. “My father was concertmaster of the
orchestra during Balanchine’s tenure and my mother played
cello in the orchestra.
“As a child, I watched ‘Mr. B.’ work with the incredibly
gifted dancers in the company, and I was always moved by how
committed he was to letting the music lead the ballet.
“Heather Watts was one of the principal dancers that I knew at
the company, and when I approached her about recreating one of
Balanchine’s iconic works with the BSA and BSO, she loved the idea.”
Catch Tchaikovsky with Balanchine in both classical and
Off The Cuff formats April 26 through 29 at Strathmore
and the Meyerhoff.
Baltimore
School for the
Arts dancer
NEW FROM NAXOS
Romeo and Juliet set for spring release
T
his spring, Naxos Records releases a new recording of Marin Alsop
and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performing Prokofiev’s
complete Romeo and Juliet. Based on the play by William Shakespeare,
Prokofiev’s interpretation is a dramatic ballet in four acts. The BSO
recorded Romeo and Juliet on October 19 and 20, 2015, at the Joseph
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
In two discs, the recording covers the entire work and marks the BSO’s
first new release in three years. Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, “Kaddish,”
preceded the Prokofiev CD, recorded in 2012 and released in 2015,
also on the Naxos label.
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