San Francisco Ballet Announces Programming for Fall 2008 American Tour with Engagements in Chicago, New York, Costa Mesa, CA, and Washington, D.C.

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San Francisco (PRWEB) June 11, 2008 -- In fall 2008, as part of its 75th Anniversary Celebration, San Francisco Ballet-America's oldest professional ballet company-will embark on a four-city national tour with 30 performances total. The American Tour will include prestigious engagements at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Millennium Park, in Chicago (September 16-21); New York City Center in New York (October 10-18); Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California (November 11-16); and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (November 25-30).

Much of the tour's mixed-repertory programming will feature works from the Company's acclaimed New Works Festival held in spring 2008. As the culmination of San Francisco Ballet's recent 75th Anniversary Repertory Season, the festival featured 10 new works by 1o renowned choreographers that premiered over three consecutive evenings.

San Francisco Ballet at 75: The American Tour

San Francisco Ballet will kick off the tour with seven performances over six days at the Harris Theater in Chicago (September 16-21), marking the first full-Company engagement in Chicago in over two decades. For its Chicago engagement, San Francisco Ballet will perform two mixed-repertory programs of three works each. Additionally, in honor of the fifth anniversary of the Harris Theater, San Francisco Ballet will perform a special one-time-only gala program for the Harris Theater's Fifth Anniversary Celebration on September 18. This engagement includes a total of six Chicago premieres. Program A includes the Chicago premieres of Helgi Tomasson's The Fifth Season, Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour, and Jorma Elo's Double Evil, and will be performed at 7:30pm on September 16 and 19, and at 1:30pm on September 20. Program B, featuring the Chicago premieres of Tomasson's On a Theme of Paganini, Mark Morris' Joyride, and Yuri Possokhov's Fusion, will be performed at 7:30pm on September 17 and 20, and at 1:30pm on September 21. The gala at 6:30pm on September 18 will include Possokhov's Fusion, Tomasson's Concerto Grosso, and two additional works to be announced.

Tickets for the San Francisco Ballet engagement at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance are currently on sale. To purchase tickets, visit www.harristheaterchicago.org, call 312.334.7777, or visit Harris Theater Ticket Services at 205 E. Randolph Dr. Chicago, IL 60601.

Over eight days and nine performances (October 10-18) at New York City Center, the Company will present three mixed-repertory programs that include seven New York premieres. San Francisco Ballet last performed in New York in July 2006, as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, and most recently performed at City Center in 2002. Program A, which features George Balanchine's Divertimento No. 15 and the New York premieres of Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour and Possokhov's Fusion, will be performed at 8pm on October 10 and 18, and at 7:30pm on October 15. Program B features the New York premieres of Tomasson's The Fifth Season and Morris' Joyride, as well as Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, and will be performed on October 11 at 8pm, October 12 at 3pm, and October 16 at 7:30pm. Program C will be performed on October 14 at 7:30pm, October 17 at 8pm, and October 18 at 2pm, and includes the New York premieres of Tomasson's On a Theme of Paganini, Val Caniparoli's Ibsen's House, and Elo's Double Evil.

For more information and to purchase tickets (beginning June 23), visit www.nycitycenter.org or call 212.581.1212. Tickets are also available for purchase at the New York City Center Box Office, 131 West 55th street (between 6th and 7th Avenues), Monday-Saturday, 12-8pm.

The third engagement of the American Tour will be at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California (November 11-16) and includes five Southern California premieres. San Francisco Ballet will present two mixed-repertory programs over six days and seven performances. The Company last performed in Southern California at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles in 2003, and most recently performed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in 2002. Program A will be performed on November 11, 13, and 15 at 7:30pm and on November 16 at 2pm and includes the Southern California premieres of Possokhov's Fusion and Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour, along with Balanchine's The Four Temperaments. Program B will be performed on November 12 and 14 at 7:30pm and on November 15 at 2pm, and includes the Southern California premieres of Tomasson's The Fifth Season, Morris' Joyride, and Elo's Double Evil.

Tickets for San Francisco Ballet at the Orange County Performing Arts Center at Segerstrom Hall can be purchased at the Center's Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, by calling 714.556.2787, or online at www.OCPAC.org. For inquiries about group ticket discounts, call the Performing Arts Center Group Sales office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746.

The American Tour concludes with an engagement at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (November 25-30) that includes two Washington, D.C. premieres. The Company will present a mixed-repertory program, Program A, as well as the full-length production of Helgi Tomasson's Giselle, over five days and seven performances. Program A, a mixed-repertory program of three works, will be performed on November 25 and 26 at 7:30pm and includes the Washington, D.C. premieres of Morris' Joyride and Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour, as well as Balanchine's The Four Temperaments. Tomasson's full-length classic Giselle, which the San Francisco Chronicle hailed as "Tomasson's finest achievement," will be performed on November 28, 29, and 30 at 7:30pm and on November 29 and 30 at 1:30pm. San Francisco Ballet last performed at The Kennedy Center in 2000.

To learn more about the Kennedy Center, visit the Kennedy Center Home Page: http://kennedy-center.org. Information and tickets: 202.467.4600; 800.444.1324 (Hearing Impaired TT line: 202.416.8524).

Funding

75th Anniversary Sponsors Council

Major Sponsors

Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund

The Hellman Family

Yurie and Carl Pascarella

Sponsors

Stuart Francis and Diana Stark

Stephen and Margaret Gill Family Foundation

Cecilia and Jim Herbert

George Frederick Jewett Foundation, Lucille Jewett, Trustee

Barbara Ravizza and John Osterweis

Kathleen Scutchfield

The Smelick Family

The Swanson Foundation

Ms. Susan A. Van Wagner

E.L. Wiegand Foundation, Reno, Nevada

Diane B. Wilsey

Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang

San Francisco Ballet would also like to thank The Edward E. Hills Fund for providing additional support to help fund this tour.

The Frannie and Mort Fleishhacker Touring Fund, Stephen and Margaret Gill Family Foundation Touring Fund, Teri and Andy Goodman Touring Fund, Hellman Family Touring Fund, G. William Jewell Touring Fund, Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Touring Fund, Osher Touring Fund, Anne and Michelle Shonk Touring Fund, and Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Touring Fund of the San Francisco Ballet Endowment Foundation provide permanent support for touring.

San Francisco Ballet

As America's oldest professional ballet company, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and rich tradition of artistic "firsts" since its founding in 1933, including performing the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first 20th-century American Coppélia. San Francisco Ballet is one of the three largest ballet companies in the United States. Guided in its early years by American dance pioneers and brothers Lew, Willam, and Harold Christensen, San Francisco Ballet currently presents more than 100 performances annually, both locally and internationally. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson for more than two decades, the Company has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in the world. In 2005, San Francisco Ballet won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award, its first, in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in Dance," for its 2004 London tour. In 2006, San Francisco Ballet was the first non-European company elected "Company of the Year" in Dance Europe magazine's annual readers' poll. This year, San Francisco Ballet celebrates its 75th anniversary.

Schedule and programming subject to change.        

For updated touring information, visit www.sfballet.org .    

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