MCB tackles new work to kick off the 2006 season.
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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The Young and the Restless
By Leonard Eureka
After taking on the classic Nutcracker through most of December, Metropolitan Classical Ballet starts 2006 with an evening of new works.
Included are the world premiere of company co-director Paul Mejia’s Album for the Young, set to the piano score by Lowell Liebermann, and the company premiere of Dallas choreographer Tanju Tuzer’s Songs of Mahler, with Virginia Dupuy singing selected songs accompanied by Dallas pianist Dale Dietert. Rounding out the program is the American premiere of Anatoly Emilianov’s Cross Winds, showcasing the music of Chopin performed by Bolshoi pianist Alexei Melentiev.
The Liebermann Album, a collection of 18 pieces for piano — some brief and others extended — will feature 11 dancers. Mejia choreographed the piece for seven women and four men, with 11 student counterparts gathered around the piano imagining what the music says and seeing it develop before their eyes. “The music is simple and poetic,” Mejia said. “And very appealing.” The composer will accompany.
MCB guest principal Emilianov, remembered here for remarkable performances in Spartacus and The Prodigal Son, is also a choreographer and founder/artistic director of the Moscow-based Crown of Russian Ballet Theater. He just returned from a company tour that saw him dance 40 performances of the Nutcracker Prince in November and December. (Yes, he’s still alive.)
His ballet Cross Winds was created for the Russian company and premiered in Moscow in 2002. Pianist Melentiev repeats his performance here, which includes a number of works by Chopin, including parts of the rarely heard First Piano Sonata, Opus 4. The ballet revolves around three couples and a “lonely” woman, exploring shifting relationships as the music unfolds. Olga Pavlova will dance the solo woman.
Mon at 8pm at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerce St, FW. Tickets are $10-30. Call 817-212 4280
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