Since 1998, Carolina Ballet has entertained, educated and uplifted audiences through classical ballet. A quarter century later, our mission remains the same. We strive to contribute to the ever-increasing quality of life in our beloved community and state. We are certain that you too will find at least 25 Reasons to celebrate Carolina Ballet’s 25th Anniversary!
REASON # 1 YOU ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF CAROLINA BALLET.
You are the first reason we are able to celebrate 25 years of Carolina Ballet. Your heartfelt support for our core values is one of the many reasons why the Ballet will celebrate this milestone during our 2022-2023 Season.
The productions we present during this anniversary season will honor classical ballet traditions and present innovative new works, while increasing accessibility and highlighting acceptance for all.
We are dedicated to you and your ballet experience, and we hope you will continue to explore new horizons with us through ballet. Please enjoy this truly extraordinary 25th Anniversary Season!
SEPTEMBER 22-25, 2022
REASON # 2
JEROME ROBBINS’ THE CONCERT WITH MUSIC BY FREDERIC CHOPIN.
See the company premiere of Jerome Robbins’ gleeful look into the secret thoughts and fantasies of a concert audience, along with three additional ballets! Frederic Chopin’s mesmerizing score will be played from the stage by acclaimed concert pianist William Wolfram.
REASON # 3
ZALMAN RAFFAEL’S BOOK OF CONTRADICTIONS WITH MUSIC BY FRANZ LISZT.
Created on Franz Liszt’s “Piano Concerto No.2 in A major S.125,” this ballet was entitled “book of contradictions” because the music evokes sounds of resistance and surrender. “Life is filled with contradictions, yet our higher selves still strive to find the good in the bad and the beautiful in the ugly.” – Zalman Raffael
REASON # 4
ROBERT WEISS’ ENDYMION’S SLEEP WITH MUSIC BY J. MARK SCEARCE.
When he choreographed Endymion’s Sleep, Weiss was inspired by Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, her acclaimed memoir about coping with death. “Memory preserves in our hearts the remembrances of loved ones taken away from this world too young—immortally beautiful in their youth, now sleeping Endymion’s sleep.” – Robert Weiss
REASON # 5
AMY HALL GARNER’S SUITE 44 WITH MUSIC BY DAVE GRUSIN AND KORA JAZZ TRIO.
Amy Hall Garner was recently named Carolina Ballet’s Resident Choreographer for our 2022-2023 Season. Her Suite 44 premiered at our first Choreographers Spotlight Series in August 2021.
JEROME ROBBINS’ THE CONCERT
Raleigh Memorial Auditorium | September 22-25
Sponsored by:
Dancer: Ashley Hathaway
OCTOBER 13-30, 2022
reasons
REASON # 6
Dracula and The Red Death return to the stage for Halloween, with music composed by J. Mark Scearce. “My fascination with Dracula began as a child when I saw the original Bela Lugosi film based on Bram Stoker’s novel.” – Lynne Taylor-Corbett
REASON # 7
ROBERT WEISS’ THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH.
Robert Weiss’ choreography is based on one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most chilling tales. In Poe’s imagination, the Red Death sweeps through towns and villages of Europe in a similar fashion to the Black Plague of the Middle Ages.
Fletcher Opera Theater | October 13-30
Sponsored by:
Dancers: Marcelo Martinez and Richard Krusch
LYNNE TAYLOR-CORBETT’S DRACULA.
NOVEMBER 17-20, 2022
reasons
REASON # 8
ROBERT WEISS’ BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 9.
In 1974, Robert Weiss saw Maurice Bejart’s interpretation of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” and wondered what it would have been like if a classical choreographer had used that music. After listening to Beethoven’s masterpiece on and off for 36 years, Weiss started choreographing his own interpretation in Summer 2012.
REASON # 9
GEORGE BALANCHINE’S EMERALDS WITH MUSIC BY GABRIEL FAURÉ.
New York City Ballet premiered this magnificent piece on April 13, 1967, with costumes designed by the legendary Barbara Karinska. Emeralds recalls the 19th century dances of the French Romantics. Balanchine considered the ballet “an evocation of France—the France of elegance, comfort, dress, perfume.”
BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 9
Raleigh Memorial Auditorium | November 17-20
Program Sponsor
Sponsored by:
Dancer: Alyssa Pilger
Presented by
DECEMBER 10-24, 2022
REASON # 10
THE NUTCRACKER WITH REFRESHED CHOREOGRAPHY BY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ZALMAN RAFFAEL AFTER ROBERT WEISS, AND MUSIC BY PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY.
The Ballet will re-invision The Nutcracker for today’s audiences while staying true to its historic roots.
“We will honor past productions by George Balanchine and Robert Weiss and move this holiday classic forward into our times.”
– Zalman Raffael
REASON # 11
EXPERIENCE NEW COSTUMES AND REDESIGNED SETS.
After 20 years and over 400 performances, more than 140 costumes have to be replaced. Our creative team will bring a fresh new take to the production that will celebrate this iconic ballet.
Costumes will be co-designed by Victor Lytvinenko, co-founder and designer at Raleigh Denim Workshop, and Terry Baker, Carolina Ballet’s Costume Director. Sets and backdrops will be designed by Matthew Strampe and Andrew Armas, members of Carolina Ballet’s Production Team.
THE NUTCRACKER
DPAC • Raleigh Memorial Auditorium | December 10-24
Magic sponsored by:
Sponsored by:
Dancer: Jan Burkhard
FEBRUARY 2-19, 2023
reasons
ROBERT WEISS’ GRIEG: PIANO CONCERTO.
A Norwegian composer and pianist who wrote this piano concerto when he was only 24 years old, Edvard Grieg is widely considered one of the main composers of the Romantic era. “Although we live in a completely different time and place, Grieg’s music shows us that there is still the romantic in all of us.” – Robert Weiss
JEROME ROBBINS’ AFTERNOON OF A FAUN WITH MUSIC BY CLAUDE DEBUSSY.
Jerome Robbins, who had a lifelong fascination with Nijinsky, took the stylized and sexually charged 1912 Afternoon of a Faun and transposed it into the demure, asexual language of ballet. It is set in an empty studio, where the mirror—in which all dancers watch themselves with love and loathing—is depicted by the fourth wall of stage convention, the audience.
ZALMAN RAFFAEL’S THE METAPHORICAL HEART WITH MUSIC BY LEONARD BERNSTEIN.
The Metaphorical Heart represents different depictions of love, including familial love, romantic love, and burdensome love. “My motivation with this piece was not to create a linear story, but to open our minds and hearts to love, using Bernstein’s highly regarded music.” – Zalman Raffael
ROBERT WEISS’ THE VISITATION WITH MUSIC BY WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART.
“Every artist has a muse. Sometimes they are pleasant, sometimes they are more than one bargained for. No matter what, in the end they are inspiring.” – Robert Weiss.
GRIEG: PIANO CONCERTO
Fletcher Opera Theater | February 2-19
Program Sponsor
Sponsored by:
Dancers: Braden Hart and Taylor Ayotte
reasons
REASON # 16
ZALMAN RAFFAEL’S MOZART: SYMPHONY NO. 40.
This ballet creates a society that parades and poses as elites. “Mozart subtly captures human undertones, allowing the dancers to portray the refined elements of the symphony while expressing their true natures as well.” – Zalman Raffael
REASON # 17
GEORGE BALANCHINE’S AGON WITH MUSIC BY IGOR STRAVINSKY.
The original premiere by New York City Ballet dates back to 1957. “Such music as Stravinsky’s cannot be illustrated. Agon was invented for dancing, but it is hard to invent dancing of a comparable density, quality, metrical insistence, variety, formal mastery, or symmetrical asymmetry.” – George Balanchine
REASON # 18
LYNNE TAYLOR-CORBETT’S CHIAROSCURO WITH MUSIC BY FRANCESCO GEMINIANI.
This ballet, like an abstract painting, hints at relationships with loved ones, loss and spiritual rebirth. “In art, chiaroscuro is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. My ballet, Chiaroscuro, is the journey of a man’s path through the light and shadow of his life.” – Lynne Taylor-Corbett
REASON # 19
A WORLD-PREMIERE BALLET BY RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHER AMY HALL GARNER.
Garner is a graduate of The Juilliard School and was selected to participate in Alvin Ailey’s 2018 New Directions Choreography Lab supported by the Ford Foundation.
MOZART: SYMPHONY NO. 40
Fletcher Opera Theater | March 9-26
Sponsored by:
Dancers: Anthony Hoyos and Jonas Godwin
APRIL 27-30, 2023
Fletcher Opera Theater
WORLD PREMIERE WITH LIVE MUSIC BY THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF THE TRIANGLE
reasons
ROBERT WEISS’ ORPHEUS & EURYDICE WITH MUSIC BY J. MARK SCEARCE.
Based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this world premiere is the latest full-length ballet by Founding Artistic Director Robert Weiss.
Over the past 25 years, Weiss and Scearce have collaborated on eight ballets, including The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Song of the Dead, Love in the Times of the Day, and the monumental Macbeth
Raleigh Memorial Auditorium | April 27-30
Sponsored by:
Dancers: Kiefer Curtis and Madeline Rogers
FEATURING LIVE MUSIC BY THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF THE TRIANGLE
MAY 18-21, 2023
reasons
One of our favorite story ballets, where the forces of good triumph over evil! Based on the work of the Brothers Grimm, the world premiere was choreographed in 1890 by Marius Petipa, ballet master of the Imperial Ballet, who wrote detailed instructions as to the musical requirements.
Raleigh Memorial Auditorium | May 18-21
Sponsored by:
Dancers: Ayla O’Day and Jayson Pescasio
ROBERT WEISS’ SLEEPING BEAUTY WITH MUSIC BY PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022
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REASON # 23
Amy Hall Garner joins Carolina Ballet for our 25th Anniversary Season as our Resident Choreographer. Garner has choreographed both nationally and internationally, and you will see her work throughout our 2022-2023 Season. Her Suite 44 performs in September 2022 as part of Jerome Robbins’ The Concert. She will choreograph a world premiere on our company during Spring 2023.
REASON # 24
Carolina Ballet’s joint venture with the North Carolina Museum of Art will once again feature new ballets by a diverse group of innovative choreographers, including Ja’ Malik, Heather Maloy and Sokvannara Sar! Tickets will be available through the NCMA Box Office.
Friday, August 26
Sponsored by:
THERE IS NO BETTER REASON TO CELEBRATE THAN …
REASON # 25
CAROLINA BALLET’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY!
Bilal Shakur Smith
Sleeping Beauty
Margaret Severin-Hansen Emeralds
Courtney Schenberger Emeralds
Heather Duncan
Laurel Dorn Agon
Save up to 25% on season tickets. The more ballets you buy the more you save. You will also recieve a 10% discount on the current selling price of additional tickets.
Need to reschedule? Just give us at least two full days* in advance of your performance a nd we will exchange your seats to another performance of the same show, o r even a show later in the season. Season subscribers receive free exchanges, which is a $10-per-ticket savings from those who purchase individual tickets.
*Exc hanging with less than two full days, a $10 fee per ticket will apply.
Secure the best seats for The Nutcracker before they are available to the general public.
Subscriptions also benefit Carolina Ballet by providing us with the continued support we need to bring you quality programs year after year. Your purchase of a subscription is more than an investment in your family’s entertainment and cultural enrichment. It is an investment in the artistic community of our state.
Dancers: Robert Champ and Stephen Marshall
CAN’T DECIDE? NEED EVEN MORE FLEXIBILITY?
TRY A FLEX SUBSCRIPTIO N.
Flex tickets can be used in any combination and allow you to attend shows at your convenience while also giving you the same benefits as a full-season subscriber.
Minimum purchase of 4 tickets.
FOR TICKETS call 919-719-0900 or visit www.carolinaballet.com for more information.
All sales are final. Wh ile all programs, dates and prices are quoted at time of printing as accurate, they are subject to change. We r egret we cannot provide refunds
Jerome Robbins’ The Concert
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Orpheus & Eurydice
Sleeping Beauty
Thursday: 7:30 p.m.
Friday: 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday: 2 p.m.
Performances in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium and Fletcher Opera Theater are held at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East South Street in Raleigh, NC 27601. ZONE 2 ZONE 1 ZONE 3 ZONE 4 ZONE 5PERFORMANCES
Dracula Piano Concerto, Mozart: Symphony No. 40
FIRST WEEK
Thursday: 7:30 p.m.
Friday: 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday: 2 p.m.
SECOND AND THIRD WEEKS
Saturday: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday: 2 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 16: 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 17: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 18: 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 20: 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 21: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 22: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 23: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 24: 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 10: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 11: 2 p.m.
*All prices include sales tax. Prices valid with purchase of subscription.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/CEO
ZALMAN RAFFAEL
FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
ROBERT WEISS
BALLET MASTERS
DEBRA AUSTIN, MARIN BOIERU, DAMEON NAGEL
PABLO JAVIER PEREZ, MELISSA PODCASY
PRINCIPAL DANCERS
JAN BURKHARD, KIEFER CURTIS
AMANDA GERHARDT, ASHLEY HATHAWAY
RICHARD KRUSCH, MARCELO MARTINEZ
JAYSON PESCASIO, ALYSSA PILGER
COURTNEY SCHENBERGER
MARGARET SEVERIN-HANSEN
YEVGENY SHLAPKO
SOLOIST DANCERS
TAYLOR AYOTTE, KATHLEEN BLACK
JOSEPH GERHARDT, LUKE POTGIETER
SOKVANNARA SAR, BILAL SHAKUR SMITH
McKENZIE VAN OSS, LAUREN WOLFRAM
COMPANY DANCERS
ELYE BAILEY, ROBERT CHAMP, ZOE D’ASTOLFO
SASKIA de MUINCK KEIZER, MIA DOMINI
LAUREL DORN, HEATHER DUNCAN
EMILY FRETZ, JONAS GODWIN, ZOE HARREL
BRADEN HART, ANTHONY HOYOS, ANNA INGOLD
JILIAN KOSSAK, STEPHEN MARSHALL, AYLA O’DAY
SOFIA ROSE PEETOOM, SARAHANNE PEREL
RACHEL ROBINSON, MADELINE ROGERS
DEIRDRE SCANLON, ALEXA TESTA
ELLA VOLPE, ANNE WRIGHT
BRYCE COCKMAN, MAGGIE KATE HOWARD
JULIET MARINELLO
Dancer: Kathleen Black
Carolina Ballet would like to thank you for your continued support and for the opportunity to bring world-class professional ballet to our growing community.
We hope you will celebrate 25 years with us and join us for our 2022-2023 season!
“Steve and I both recognize what a unique gift Carolina Ballet is to our community. It is a cultural jewel and economic asset that we need to foster, not just now, but for the future. The Ballet is an important part of the cultural fabric that makes Raleigh and our area unique.”
— Judy Zelnak, Raleigh, NC
