After an important career as principal dancer at New York City Ballet, Peter Boal offers with PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET an evening dedicated to the historic American choreographer Twyla Tharp.

Alessandra Ferri

TWYLA THARP

OPUS 111

choreography Twyla Tharp

music Johannes Brahms, String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111

costume design Mark Zappone

lighting conception Randall G. Chiarelli

Pacific Northwest Ballet premiere Sept. 25, 2008

(the world premiere received a generous contribution from Glenn Kawasaki)

Brahms composed this string quintet (unusually orchestrated for two violins, two violas and a cello) during a country retreat in the summer of 1890. The music has a lively folk flavor, with a cello featured in the first movement and a viola (a favorite instrument from Brahms) in the second.

Twyla Tharp choreographed the four movements of the quintet for six couples.

WATERBABY BAGATELLES

pas de deux

choreography Twyla Tharp

music John Lurie Bella by Barlight (performed by Kronos Quartet, courtesy of Elektra/Nonsuch by prior arrangement with Warner Special Products)

conception costumes Santo Loquasto

lighting concept Jennifer Tipton

Boston Ballet premiere April 30, 1994

Pacific Northwest Ballet premiere November 2, 2006

(Pacific Northwest Ballet's premiere received a generous contribution from Aya Stark Hamilton and Carl & Renee Behnke)

The Bagattelle are short musical compositions with a light character that Twyla Tharp has chosen to choreograph with numerous references to the aquatic universe. The splendid excerpt presented is a sinuous pas de deux to the notes of Bella by Barlight by John Lurie.

NINE SINATRA SONGS

choreography Twyla Tharp

on great Frank Sinatra classics Softly As I Leave You, Strangers in the Night, One For My Baby (And One More For the Road), Somethin′ Stupid, All the Way, Forget Tomorrow, That′s Life, My Way.

Oscar de la Renta costume design

lighting concept Jennifer Tipton

premiere Twyla Tharp Dance Oct. 14, 1982, Vancouver, British Columbia

Pacific Northwest Ballet premiere, Feb. 2, 2006

For Rhoda and Jerry Oster (Twyla Tharp).

we thank Sinatra Enterprises and The Frank Sinatra Foundation

Twyla Tharp's 1982 Nine Sinatra Songs is a popular classic about social and aesthetic conventions in the from ballrooms of the ′50s. With an ′80s look that is both nostalgic and edgy, with sparkling costumes by Oscar de la Renta to express the duplicity of past and present. Choreographing Sinatra songs including One for My Baby, Strangers in the Night and My Way, Twyla Tharp shakes up the traditional conception of dance from room from dance by ranging from tango to variety, flamenco to Latin American dance.

PETER BOAL

Trained at the School of the American Ballet, in 1983 he joined to the New York City Ballet and in 1989 became its principal dancer. From 1997 to 2005 he was a teacher at the School of theAmerican Ballet, and in 2005 he took over as artistic director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the School of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. He has received the Dance Magazine Award and the New York Dance and Performance Award.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET

Considered a national treasure and acclaimed worldwide, Pacific Northwest Ballet embodies excellence in the performing arts. Founded to Seattle, Washington, in 1972, it was initially established as Pacific Northwest Dance Association under the auspices of the Seattle Opera Association. Following the appointment of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell to as artistic directors (1977) the company was renamed Pacific Northwest Ballet. During their artistic direction the Company and school gained an international reputation for outstanding performances and excellent preparation. Kent Stowell′s most important contributions are productions such as Swan Lake, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Firebird, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Hail to the Conquering Hero, Carmen, and Silver Lining. Francia Russell, to credited with enriching the company′s repertoire with many of George Balanchine′s works, was director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet School until her retirement. In 2005, Peter Boal took over as artistic director of the company and that of the school. Alongside the Nutcracker, a classic Christmas program, the Company performs more than one hundred seasonal performances of six different programs, with a staff of about 50 elements mostly trained at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. It has a repertoire of 131 creations by 52 different choreographers to its credit. Under the direction of Peter Boal, the company′s two main goals are the New Works Initiative-a major collective effort aimed at to building a new body language-and an expansion of the repertoire with new choreography.

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