George Balanchine was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th-century. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its artistic director for more than 35 years. His choreography is characterized by plotless ballets with minimal costume and décor, performed to classical and neoclassical music.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a 16.3-acre (6.6-hectare) complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 million visitors annually. It houses internationally renowned performing arts organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Juilliard School.
New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.
Alvin Ailey Jr. was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.
David Geffen Hall is a concert hall at Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic.
The Gershwin Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 51st Street, on the second floor of the Paramount Plaza office building, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Opened in 1972, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named after brothers George and Ira Gershwin, who wrote several Broadway musicals. The Gershwin is Broadway's largest theater, with approximately 1,933 seats across two levels. Over the years, it has hosted musicals, dance companies, and concerts.
Great Performances is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member station WNET in New York City.
The Broadway Theatre is a Broadway theater at 1681 Broadway in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, the theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa for Benjamin S. Moss, who originally operated the venue as a movie theater. It has approximately 1,763 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The Broadway Theatre is one of the few Broadway theaters that is physically on Broadway.
The Minskoff Theatre is a Broadway theater on the third floor of the One Astor Plaza office building in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1973, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named after Sam Minskoff and Sons, the building's developers. There are approximately 1,710 seats in the auditorium, spread across an orchestra level and a balcony. Over the years it has hosted musicals, dance companies, and concerts.
Harlem School of the Arts (HSA) is an art school located in the Harlem section of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Opening its doors in 1964, HSA serves ages 2 through 18.
Live from Lincoln Center was a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS starting 1976. The program aired between six and nine times per season. Episodes of Live from Lincoln Center featured Lincoln Center's resident artistic organizations, most notably the New York Philharmonic. Funding for the series was made possible by major grants from the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust, Thomas H. Lee and Ann Tenenbaum, the Robert and Renee Belfer Family Foundation, the MetLife Foundation, Mercedes T. Bass, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Production of new episodes has been suspended indefinitely since 2019.
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become the Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026.
The Beacon Theatre is an entertainment venue at 2124 Broadway, adjacent to the Hotel Beacon, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1929, the Beacon Theatre was developed by Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel and built as a movie palace, with 2,894 seats across three levels. It was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager with decorations inspired by the Renaissance, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greek, and Rococo styles. The theater is designated as a New York City interior landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Judith Ann Jamison is an American dancer and choreographer. She is the artistic director emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Habib Azar is an American film, theater and television director based in New York City. He married his wife, Carla Azar, in 2011, and has two children.
The Harkness Ballet (1964–1975) was a New ballet company named after its founder Rebekah Harkness. Harkness inherited her husband's fortune in Standard Oil holdings, and was a dance lover. Harkness funded Joffrey Ballet, but when they refused to rename the company in her honor, she withdrew funding and hired most of the Joffrey dancers for her new company. Joffrey Ballet later moved to Chicago, and continues to function.
New York City Center is a performing arts center at 131 West 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Developed by the Shriners between 1922 and 1924 as a Masonic meeting house, it has operated as a performing arts complex owned by the government of New York City. City Center is a performing home for several major dance companies as well as the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), and it hosts the Encores! musical theater series and the Fall for Dance Festival annually.
Stanley Silverman is an American composer, arranger, conductor and guitarist.
Ervin Litkei was a Hungarian American composer and music executive who spent most of his career in the United States. He wrote marches dedicated to every US president since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Sondheim! The Birthday Concert was a concert celebrating the 80th birthday of Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. The concert was directed by Lonny Price and hosted by David Hyde Pierce. The event was performed at Avery Fisher Hall within Lincoln Center in New York City on March 15 and 16 in 2010. The New York Philharmonic accompanied performers including Michael Cerveris, Alexander Gemignani, Joanna Gleason, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, and the 2009 Broadway revival cast of West Side Story.
