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Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2008

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - Metropolitan Classical Ballet will open the second half of the 2007 – 2008 Season with its Spring Repertory program on March 10th at 8:00 PM at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. The evening will consist of three classical works: Company Artistic Directors Paul Mejia and Alexander Vetrov will each present a work choreographed to the music of one of the most beloved composers in history, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; the third work, choreographed by George Balanchine is set to music by the Italian composer, Gaetano Donizetti. Guest Conductor Bernard Rubenstein will conduct the Metropolitan Classical Ballet Orchestra.

The beginning and ending of the program will be devoted to the glorious and beautiful music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, often a choice of inspiration for choreographers. It opens with Alexander Vetrov’s world premiere work, Pas de Grand. Set to excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 1 and Suite No. 2, the ballet consist of four parts: Pas de Deux, Pas de Trois, Pas de Quatre and Pas d’action, or the finale. Mr. Vetov’s choreography reflects his strong background of Russian Classical technique.

Olga Pavlova image by Sharon K. Nolan

The evening continues with the vibrant and vivacious Donizetti Variations set to music by Gaetano Donizetti from excerpts from the opera Don Sebastian written in 1843. Balanchine choreographed the ballet for a principal couple and a corps of six women and three men. It premiered November 16, 1960, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, New York for a program called Salute to Italy celebrating the 100th anniversary of Italy’s unification. Paul Mejia will stage the ballet with permission from The George Balanchine Trust. A former New York City Ballet dancer trained by Balanchine, Mr. Mejia has a strong commitment to the late choreographer’s creative ideals.

Paul Mejia’s Violin Concerto will close the evening with his usual sophisticated approach to ballet movement. The ballet, which premiered in Fort. Worth in 1991, has been restaged for ballerina Olga Pavlova. Written in 1878, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 is one of the best known of all violin concertos. It was his only concerto for violin and is considered to be among the most technically difficult works for violin. It will be played by Eric Grossman, praised in The New York Times as a “brilliant soloist”. Just this past year, The Lima News hailed Mr. Grossman’s performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Lima Symphony as “astounding.”

Programming, program order and casting for all productions is subject to change without notice.

Single ticket sales for the Spring Repertory production will be $10, $25, and $38 and are available by calling Bass Performance Hall Ticket Office at (817) 212-4280 or by calling Metropolitan Classical Ballet at (817) 275-0598, or online at www.mcballet.org. Group discounts are available.

Metropolitan Classical Ballet’s 2007 / 2008 Season is made possible in part by its generous sponsors: American Airlines, The University of Texas at Arlington, and the law firm of Hill Gilstrap.

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Media Note: Further information may be obtained by contacting Maria Kudyakova at (817) 465-4644. Information can also be found on Metropolitan Classical Ballet’s website www.mcballet.org.