Programme Booklet 2022 / Equinox Chamber Music Festival

EQUiNox CHambER MUsIC & DANCe 9 - 14 august 2022 | Copenhagen program | english

There is a story that one of the sources for J. S. Bach’s Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin was found buried in a stack of old packaging at a butter store, many decades after the composer’s death. Even then it took several decades more before a violinist named Joseph Joachim started playing the pieces and bringing them to public attention.

Today, they are recognised and cherished as some of the most perfect works of music ever written, but it is only thanks to blind luck, and the visionary work of people like Joachim, that these Partitas and Sonatas are even performed at all.

In 2009, more than two hundred years later, two property developers found a stack of papers in a dilapidated house on the outskirts of Chicago.

These turned out to be the lost works of a composer named Florence Price, who had been largely forgotten since her death in 1953. As a black single mother in early 1900’s USA, Price didn’t have the resources or connections to get much of her work published, but the music discovered at her crumbling summer house was full of treasure, both beautiful and different from anything the world had heard before.

While planning this year's festival, we became intrigued by these stories of lost treasure, and as we dug through the internet, we fell in love with the music that we found, as well as with the fascinating lives of these little-known composers.

You will hear a whole range of these gems this week (including Price’s own String Quartet in A Minor), together with music by composers living and working today. We suspect that many of these pieces haven't been performed in Denmark before, though it's hard to say exactly how many are national premieres.

We may not be presenting the next Bach, and only time will tell whether any of this music will survive the centuries — but we do think these pieces are as worthy of love and attention as any of the other famous repertoire. We hope they can find a place in your hearts as they have in ours.

Enjoy the concerts! We can’t wait to share them with you.

2022 welcome

FOLK SONGS

KoncertKirken, Blågårds Plads

Gabriela Lena Frank was born in 1972 to a Peruvian-Chinese mother and a Lithuanian-Jewish father. Her multicultural identity, and especially her relationship with her mother’s Peruvian ancestry, is often at the core of her work.

Her Cuatro Bosquejos Pre-Incaicos (Four Pre-Inca Sketches) from 2006 are filled with indigenous tunes and mannerisms, each movement inspired by archaeological artifacts such as ceramics, cloth and metalwork from pre-Inca Peru. In her own words, "It is the Inca from whom many Peruvians today trace their heritage, but I’m always wondering what lies before the Inca and how much the racial soul of so many past cultures still persists in me?”

At a time when experimental composition techniques and a new material consciousness pervade new music, Bo Holten (b. 1948) is a Danish composer who stubbornly insists on tonal and approachable music.

The Danish folk tune “Jeg går i tusind tanker” forms the motif for his Clarinet Quintet from 2020. The work is organised into four movements, where the central two movements blend into each other, and the finale presents a set of variations before the theme finally re-emerges in all its nostalgic and touching simplicity.

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909 - 1969) was a prodigious pianist and violinist who performed her first concerto with orchestra at age 12 and became concertmaster at the Polish Radio Orchestra only nine years later. She studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and there her reputation as a composer flourished, as well as her career as a violinist - she toured Europe as a soloist, premiering most of her seven violin concertos herself. In World War II she stayed on in occupied Warsaw, premiering her compositions at secret underground concerts.

She was also a passionate teacher, and wrote this Quartet for Four Violins in 1949 to whip her students into shape. The work embodies the “socialist realism” style of the time, transforming Polish folk tunes through a neo-classical lens into a playful and driving piece.

Florence Price (1887 - 1953) left behind several hundred works of an astonishing diversity - both “classical” styles that had been the focus of her education, Black styles inspired by the spirituals of her childhood, but most often syntheses of the two. Some works achieved recognition , but her race and sex were obstacles to getting publishedthe process of publishing also required a significant time and effort that, in her estimation, was better spent composing new music.

Her String Quartet in A minor (1935) is in four movements, and each is a world of its own - from longing nostalgia to the upbeat Black american Juba dance rhythm. Like much of her work, it is infused with melodies and harmonies that bring the melancholy beauty of Black American idioms into the romantic vocabulary of the early 20th century.

Tuesday 9 August 2022, 19:30

GABRIELA LENA FRANK

CUATRO BOSQUEJOS PRE-INCAICOS

I. Flautista Mochica

II. Hombre-Pájaro de Parácas

III. Mujer Lambayeque

JOACHIM BECERRA THOMSEN / FLUTE

SAMUEL REES / CHOREOGRAPHY

I. Passacaglia

IV. Zampona Rota de la Nazca

JOEL LAAKSO / CELLO

ELENORA MORRIS & JIMMY COLEMAN / DANCE

BO HOLTEN

CLARINET QUINTET

II. Scherzo - Trio I - Trio II

III. Variations and theme

KUMI SHIMIZU & AFONSO FESCH / VIOLIN

MINNA SVEDBERG / VIOLA

JOHN KRUSE / CLARINET interval

JOEL LAAKSO / CELLO

GRA Ż YNA BACEWICZ

QUARTET for FOUR VIOLINS

I. Allegretto

II. Andante tranquillo

III. Molto allegro

AFONSO FESCH EMMA STEELE

KUMI SHIMIZU HULDA JÓNSDÓTTIR / VIOLIN

ISABELLA CARROLL & MATHIEU ROUAUX / DANCE

FLORENCE PRICE

STRING QUARTET in A MINOR

I. Moderato

II. Andante cantabile

III. Juba

IV. Finale

HULDA JÓNSDÓTTIR & KUMI SHIMIZU / VIOLIN

KEI TOJO / VIOLA

DOROTHEA WOLFF / CELLO

Thursday 11 August 2022, 19:30

NO-MAN'S LAND

Musikhuset København

Jessie Montgomery was born and raised in Manhattan in the 1980s and her music often weaves classical vocabulary with vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and ideas of social consciousness.

This 2012 version of her piece Strum is inspired by the spirit of dance and American folk music. Strumming pizzicato serves as the piece's anchor, and layers of rhythm and harmony form a bed of sound from which melodies weave in and out - nostalgic at first but building to an ecstatic finish.

Amy Beach (1867-1944) was a prodigious pianist and had a busy concert schedule as a child, but this ended when she married at 18. Her husband didn't let her perform anymore (her income would be inappropriately bigger than his) so she turned her energy to composition. She turned out to be brilliant at this too, and in 1896 the Boston Symphony Orchestra played her Gaelic Symphony, the first ever symphony by an American woman.

She played the piano part herself at the 1908 premiere of this Piano Quintet in F# Minor. Like much of her music, it is emotional and full of contrasts - stormy, dreamy and unapologetically romantic.

In Beach’s later years (and after the death of her possessive husband) she would often visit a retreat for artists, where she would compose in a cabin in the woods. Her short and sweet Pastorale was composed in 1941 during her last visit to the colony before her death, and captures this love of being out in nature.

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) was trained primarily as a violinist but today also works as a composer, collaborating with everyone from LA Phil to Kanye West. Her work is often inspired by specific references to things like architecture, fruit, ABBA, gardening and also famous classical repertoire.

She wrote Entr’acte in 2011 after hearing a performance of Haydn's quartet Op. 77 No. 2. She references Haydn's soulful shifts in mood in her own composition, which riffs on the classical minuet and trio form. In her own words: "I love the way some music suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.”

Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was a well-regarded composer in her time, and the first woman to be appointed professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire, which was one of the most prestigious posts in Europe. After the triumphant premiere of her Nonet, she even managed to successfully argue for equal pay – until then she only earned half as much as her male colleagues.

Her Sextet in C Minor (1852) is the first known work for this combination of instruments: piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. It plays like a miniature piano concerto, and balances soloistic piano passages with lyrically expressive and expertly structured wind writing.

JESSIE MONTGOMERY STRUM

KUMI SHIMIZU & AFONSO FESCH / VIOLIN

JOEL LAAKSO / CELLO

KEI TOJO / VIOLA

RAMSEY HARVARD / BASS

TARA SCHAUFUSS & ELENORA MORRIS / DANCE & CHOREOGRAPHY

AMY BEACH

PIANO QUINTET in F# MINOR

I. Adagio - Allegro moderato II. Adagio espressivo III. Allegro agitato - Adagio come prima - Presto

YANNICK RAFALIMANANA / PIANO

MINNA SVEDBERG / VIOLA

AFONSO FESCH & KUMI SHIMIZU / VIOLIN

interval

CAROLINE SHAW

ENTR'ACTE

KUMI SHIMIZU & AFONSO FESCH / VIOLIN

KEI TOJO / VIOLA

MATTEO DI LORETO / CHOREOGRAPHY

JOEL LAAKSO / CELLO

HOLLY DORGER & MATHIEU ROUAUX / DANCE

AMY BEACH

PASTORALE for WIND QUINTET

JOACHIM BECERRA THOMSEN / FLUTE

FELICIA GRECIUC / OBOE

JØRGEN BRACHT NIELSEN / BASSOON

DOROTHEA WOLFF / CELLO CLAUDIO FLÜCKIGER / HORN

LIVIO RUSSI / CLARINET

LOUISE FARRENC

SEXTET in C MINOR

YANNICK RAFALIMANANA / PIANO

JOACHIM BECERRA THOMSEN / FLUTE

FELICIA GRECIUC / OBOE

JØRGEN BRACHT NIELSEN / BASSOON

LIVIO RUSSI / CLARINET

CLAUDIO FLÜCKIGER / HORN

I. Allegro II. Andante sostenuto III. Allegro vivace

JEWISH VOICES

KoncertKirken, Blågårds Plads

Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960) grew up in Argentina with a piano teacher mother, surrounded by classical music, Jewish liturgical music, klezmer and Piazolla. His work seamlessly blends these genres of his childhood into a distinctive personal sound. He is recognised as one of the great composers of our time, but is also infamous for not finishing his compositions on time (or even finishing them at all).

He often composes for film, and this Lullaby and Doina (2001) is based on a Yiddish lullaby he wrote for the film The Man Who Cried. The theme transforms into a doina, a dark and dense gypsy genre, before ending in a fast gallop borrowed from the gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks.

Erwin Schulhoff (b. 1894) was a Czech-German composer whose work was often gleefully ironic - perhaps his most controversial composition is a cantata setting of the Communist Manifesto. His Jewish roots, leftist beliefs and mischievous disregard for “high art” made him a prime target in 1942 occupied Czechoslovakia, and he was deported to a concentration camp where he died aged 48.

These Five Pieces for String Quartet were written in 1923 and largely encapsulate his approach as a composer, including his smirking disdain for convention. The structure references a Baroque dance suite, but each movement is full of parody, dissonance, and dance rhythms inspired by his love for Czech folk music, jazz and tango.

Yehudi Wyner was born in 1929 in Western Canada and grew up in New York City in a musical family. He is a sought-after composer and committed educator, and is currently chairman for the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

His Quartet for Oboe and String Trio from 1999 is in one continuous movement lasting about twenty-five minutes. The music unfolds to create contrasting zones of clearly defined character - lyrical, passionate, passive, antic, melancholic, meditative. In his own words, “unexpected disjunctions and transformations are the rule.”

Paul Schoenfield (b. 1947) is an American composer whose work is deeply rooted in klezmer tradition. Many of his compositions draw on his experience as a pianist working the entertainment circuit for Hasidic gatherings during the 1980s.

This 1991 flute and piano arrangement of Achat Sha'alti is based on an extract from his Six Improvisations on Hasidic Melodies. The piece's main theme is a traditional setting of the Hebrew Psalm no. 27 (One thing I ask), which he gradually transforms into a wandering fantasy.

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) was born in Geneva and emigrated to the US after his studies, where he spent most of his life working as a composer and committed educator - he founded both the Cleveland Institute of Music and Music Academy of the West.

Originally conceived as a cello sonata, Bloch completed his Piano Quintet No. 1 in 1923, after nearly trashing the score in frustration. All the motifs on which the rest of the piece is based are presented in the work's opening pages, and unfold into a work of epic scale and unsetllingly dramatic moods.

14 August 2022, 19:30

Sunday

HENRIK GOLDSCHMIDT / HOST

OSVALDO GOLIJOV

LULLABY & DOINA

JOACHIM BECERRA THOMSEN / FLUTE

MINNA SVEDBERG / VIOLA

LIVIO RUSSI / CLARINET

AFONSO FESCH / VIOLIN

DOROTHEA WOLFF / CELLO RAMSEY HARVARD / BASS

ELENORA MORRIS / CHOREOGRAPHY

JOSCELYN DOLSON / DANCE

ERWIN SCHULHOFF

FIVE PIECES for STRING QUARTET

AFONSO FESCH & EMMA STEELE / VIOLIN

MINNA SVEDBERG / VIOLA

JOEL LAAKSO / CELLO

YEHUDI WYNER

QUARTET for OBOE & STRING TRIO

FELICIA GRECIUC / OBOE

SUNE RANMO / VIOLA

EMMA STEELE / VIOLIN

DOROTHEA WOLFF / CELLO

interval

PAUL SCHOENFIELD

ACHAT SHA'ALTI

JOACHIM BECERRA THOMSEN / FLUTE

YANNICK RAFALIMANANA / PIANO

MATHIEU ROUAUX / DANCE

ERNEST BLOCH

PIANO QUINTET no. 1

YANNICK RAFALIMANANA / PIANO

EMMA STEELE & AFONSO FESCH / VIOLIN

JOEL

KEI TOJO / VIOLA LAAKSO / CELLO I. Alla Valse Viennese I. Agitato II. Alla Serenata II. Andante mistico III. Alla Czeca III. Allegro energico IV. Alla Tango milonga IV. Alla Tarantella

Yannick Rafalimanana / piano

Originally from France, Yannick won the first prize in the 2012 Tufts/New England Conservatory Soloist Competition, and has since performed regularly throughout Europe, the United States, South America, Africa and the Middle East. He has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Kennedy Center in Washington, and live on the radio in Boston on WGBH. He has shared the stage with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Don Weilerstein, Viviane Hagner, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Kim Kashkashian or Thomas Riebl. As a soloist, he has performed with the Orchestre CNRde Lille, Orchestre Impromptu, and the Ensemble Parisien.

Afonso Fesch / violin

Born in Porto, Afonso Fesch had the opportunity of learning from great pedagogues during his training. Mentors such as Yossif Grinman, Pavel Vernikov, Dora Schwarzberg, Raphaël Oleg and Ivry Gitlis were essential to his artistic development. Between 2008 and 2014, Afonso worked as the concertmaster of the International Mahler Orchestra. The portuguese violinist has played as a guest soloist with various orchestras such as the Hamburger Symphoniker, Staatsorchester Kassel, Basel Sinfonieorchester and the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker. Afonso was recently appointed to the 2nd solo position with the 2nd violins of the Royal Danish Orchestra.

Hulda Jonsdottir / violin

From Iceland, Hulda began playing violin aged 4. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Music from the Julliard School in New York. Hulda is based in Copenhagen, where she is concert master for the second violins at the Royal Danish Orchesta. She plays all over Europe with the string quartet Wooden Elephant, which she recently co-founded. Hulda debuted aged 15 with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Since then she has guested in the US, Mexico, throughout Europe and Asia both as soloist and as chamber musician. Since September 2006, Hulda plays a violin built by Vincenzo Sanino (ca 1920) with bow by Victor Fetique. Both are generously provided by the Rachel Elizabeth Barton fund in Chicago.

Kumi Shimizu / violin

Kumi Shimizu completed her master’s degree both in Tokyo and London, and currently continues her study in Cremona with Maestro S. Accardo. Kumi has won prizes in both international and Japanese competitions, including the Ysaÿe International, Viktor Tretyakov International, Salzburg Mozart International Ensemble and Tokyo Music competitions. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Kumi played in the London Symphony Orchestra as a fellowship member, and was awarded several prizes for her outstanding achievements during the course. In 2019, she was appointed to associate concertmaster in the Royal Danish Orchestra.

Emma Steele / violin

Emma was born in Chicago. She is currently concert master of the Royal Danish Orchestra and performs internationally as a soloist with symphony orchestras as well as with chamber groups. She has performed in Chicago Symphony Centre, the Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Rudolfinum Concert Hall in Prague and the Finlandia Hall in Helsinki. She has appeared as a soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Danish Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, amongst others.

Sune Ranmo / viola

Sune is second solo violist in the Royal Danish Orchestra. He is originally from Växjö i Sweden, and has studied at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music and Swedish Radio Music Academy in Edsberg with professor Endre Wolf. He plays a viola by G&L Bisiach (Milan, 1961). He has performed as a soloist with the Royal Danish Orchestra and other Scandinavian orchestras. He is an avid chamber musician and is a former member of Arild Quartet, Copenhagen Piano Quartet, and is today violist with Dahlia String Trio.

Minna Svedberg / viola

Minna is originally from Stockholm and divides her time between Copenhagen, Oslo and Amsterdam. She is currently working in the Danish National Orchestra and holds a permanent position in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Minna studied at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, HfM “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Nobuko Imai. She was also an academist with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe 2014. An avid chamber musician, Minna has played in festivals such as Hindsgavl Festival and Zermatt Music Festival.

Kei Tojo / viola

Kei has a master's degree from the Conservatory of Paris and has continued her studies with Tabea Zimmermann, Naoko Shimizu and Ulrich Knörzer in Berlin. She has also studied with Jeffrey Irvine at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has won prizes at several competitions, including the 3rd Tokyo International Viola Competition. Kei has played in the Academy of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, in the Berlin Philharmonic, and as principal viola in the Royal Danish Orchestra. She has participated in chamber music festivals such as the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland, La Folle Journée, Viola Space, Marlboro Music, and the International Festival of Chamber Music in Giverny.

Joel Laakso / cello

Joel Laakso is the principal cellist of The Royal Danish Orchestra. He has performed widely around most of the European countries, as well as in the USA, South America, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia. As a soloist he has performed with Finnish Radio Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Royal Danish Orchestra. Joel studied at the Sibelius Academy with Martti Rousi, Hannu Kiiski, Erkki Rautio, Marcel Bergman and at the Edsberg Institute/Stockholm with Torleif Thedeen. He is playing on an instrument by Nicola Amati, kindly loaned to him by The Royal Danish Orchestra.

Dorothea Wolff/ cello

Dorothea Wolff was born to a musical family in Germany and grew up in the USA. She studied at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and then continued her studies under William Pleeth in London. She was solo-cellist of Esbjerg Ensemble for 10 years, and since 2003 has played as a solo-cellist in Odense Symphony Orchestra. She has also played with Det Kongelige Kapel, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Musica Antiqua Köln, and often performs as a chamber musician both in Denmark and in the USA.

Ramsey Harvard / double bass

Ramsey is a member of the Royal Danish Orchestra and former member of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Philharmonic in Durban, South Africa. He has also held positions in all of the Danish regional orchestras, Ensemble Midtvest and Malmö Symphony Orchestra. He is passionate about new music and has played with the Alea III Contemporary Ensemble in Boston and New Music South Africa. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute and Boston University, where he studied with Paul Johnson and Edwin Barker.

Joachim Becerra Thomsen / flute

Joachim plays principal flute with the Royal Danish Orchestra, having previously played served as principal flute in the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Joachim completed his Master degree in 2018 from the Royal Danish Academy of Music with special studies in early music, and in 2018 he graduated from the Artist Diploma program at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Joachim is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

Felicia Gabriela Greciuc / oboe

Felicia was born in Romania, where she took her bachelor’s degree at the National University of Music in Bucharest. She completed her studies in 2017 with a master’s degree with highest distinction at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, studying with Max Artved and Joakim Dam Thomsen. She continued her studies with a soloist diploma, graduating in 2021. Since 2011 she has played in a range of ensembles and orchestras: as first oboist in George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, first oboist in Iceland Symphony Orchestra, oboist in the Esbjerg Ensemble. She currently holds the position of principal oboe in the Royal Danish Orchestra.

John Kruse / clarinet

John is principal clarinettist in the Royal Danish Orchestra. He joined the orchestra after 16 years as principal clarinettist in Odense Symphony Orchestra. John has received the Gade scholarship and studied under Jens Schou at the Funen Conservatory and later at the Paris Conservatory under professor Guy Deplus. After his education he has sought inspiration with musicians such as Michel Arrignon and Hans Deinzer. John has recorded numerous CDs, including contemporary Danish music for clarinet, Messiaens Quartet to the End of Time, Mozarts complete works for bass clarinet and most recently both the Mozart and Nielsen clarinet concertos.

Livio Russi / clarinet

Livio was born in Switzerland and currently plays Eb and bass clarinet in the Royal Danish Orchestra. Livio also regularly plays with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Phil, and most of the Swiss orchestras. Livio studied in Lugano with Milan Rericha and in Geneva with Remain Guyot. His two years at the Orchestra Academy of the Zurich Opera House, as well as his many years at the Verbier Festival, have had a big influence on Livio’s development as a musician.

Jørgen Bracht Nielsen / bassoon

Jørgen studied with Asger Svendsen and debuted from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1999 – the first bassoonist to complete the soloist’s class in 30 years.

During his studies, Jørgen participated in masterclasses and courses with Daniele Damiano, principal bassoonist in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Knut Sönstevold and Milan Turkovic. Jørgen is currently Associate Principal Bassoonist in the Royal Danish Orchestra, and is a member of Royal Danish Winds and the bassoon quartet Fagotten Dreams.

Claudio Flückiger / french horn

Claudio completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Zürich with Radovan Vlatkovic. Six months prior to graduating his Master’s degree in 2010 he won the Solo Horn position at Tirol Symphony Orchestra in Innsbrück. Since march 2011 he has played solo horn at the Royal Danish Orchestra.

Isabella Carroll / dance

Originally from the United States, Isabella studied at the School of American Ballet in New York City under Kay Mazzo and Suki Schorer. She graduated in 2017 and moved to Copenhagen to join the Royal Danish Ballet. Since joining the company, she has performed in such classics as Swan Lake, Giselle, and Napoli, as well as modern works, including Jiří Kylián’s Symphony of Psalms. Featured roles have included Coffee in Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and most recently the role of Babe in Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away.

Jimmy Coleman / dance

Jimmy trained at the Ecole Duperieure de Ballet du Quebec, Canada’s National Ballet School and San Francisco Ballet School. He joined the National Ballet of Canada in 2015 and in 2020 joined the Royal Danish Ballet. His repertoire includes William Forsythe’s the Second Detail, Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, Hofesh Schechter’s Uprising, Crystal Pite’s Emergence and Angels Atlas, Bobbi Jene Smith’s Pierre and John Neumeier’s Nijinsky.

Matteo Di Loreto / dance

Matteo was born in Italy, trained at English National Ballet School in London and has been a dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet since 2014. He has danced in works by Jiří Kylián, John Neumeier, Wayne McGregor, Sharon Eyal and Hofesh Schechter among many others. He is part of the Koreorama project, a choreographic course within the Royal Danish Theatre, and has recently started choreographing for the dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet.

Joscelyn Dolson / dance

Joscelyn is from Superior Township, Michigan, and trained at Randazzo Dance and Dance Arts of Chelsea before moving to New York City to train at the School of American Ballet. After receiving the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise in 2015 she joined the Royal Danish Ballet. Since joining she has preformed in various classical, contemporary, and new works by various choreographers including Jiri Kylián, Balanchine, Bournonville, Twyla Tharp and Gregory Dean. Some of her featured roles include Kylián’s Falling Angles, Dean’s De Glemte Børn and the flirty sister in Cinderella.

Holly Dorger / dance

Holly Dorger is a Principal Dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet. She joined the corps de ballet in 2008 after her training at the School of American Ballet. In 2013 she was promoted to Soloist after performing roles such as Princess Florine, Gamzatti and Dew Drop. In 2016 Holly was promoted to Principal Dancer following a performance of George Balanchine's Theme and Variations. She has performed on many international stages and has been knighted by the Queen of Denmark.

Elenora Morris / dance

Ellie is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and trained at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. She danced with the National Ballet of Canada as from 2013-2015, and in 2015 danced with Boston Ballet before joining the Royal Danish Ballet in 2016. Since joining the Royal Danish Ballet she has danced soloist roles in the Nutcracker, Rubies, Ballo Della Regina, Symphony of Psalms, Come Fly Away, Giselle, La Sylphide and Swan Lake.

Samuel Rees / dance

Samuel is originally from Hawaii, and trained at the Royal Ballet School in London with teachers Gailene Stock, Meelis Pakri and Gary Norman. He joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 2014, where he performed in all of the company’s classical and modern repertoire, and choreographed and staged a number of smaller productions for the company. He left the Royal Danish Ballet in 2019 to study architecture, and today he works at the Copenhagen firm Leth & Gori. Samuel continues to be actively involved in the dance world by teaching classical ballet and producing Equinox Chamber Music Festival.

Mathieu Rouaux / dance

Originally from St. Malo, France, Mathieu trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School before graduating into the company in 2013. He danced at the Paris Opera Ballet for two years, performing in works by Nureyev, Neumeier, and Roland Petit, amongst others, before joining the Czech National Ballet, and later the Hamburg Ballet under the direction of John Neumeier, where he performed featured roles in Neumeier’s productions of The Seagull, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. In 2020 Mathieu moved to Copenhagen to join the Royal Danish Ballet, where he has recently been featured as a soloist in Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away.

Tara Schaufuss / dance

Tara grew up in Brisbane, Australia, where she first started dancing at a local studio. She continued her training at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne before joining the Royal Danish Ballet as an apprentice. She later joined the Queensland Ballet under director Li Cunxin, performing roles such as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker, the Sylph in La Sylphide, and the Russian Girl in Balanchine's Serenade. Tara has now returned to Denmark where she continues her career at the Royal Danish Ballet both as a dancer and choreographer, recently creating work for the Royal Danish Theatre’s 2020 digital season, and a special commission for the mixed programme Ballet de Luxe in 2021.