George Balanchine was one of the most influential 20th century choreographers. 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.
Symphony No. 4, Op. 47/112 is actually two works by Sergei Prokofiev. The first, Op. 47, was written in 1929 and premiered in 1930; it lasts about 22 minutes. The second, Op. 112, is a large-scale revision from 1947; it lasts about 37 minutes. Both use musical material originally written for Prokofiev's ballet The Prodigal Son. The two works are stylistically different, reflecting their respective compositional contexts. They are formally different too: the instrumentation and scope of the revision is larger.
The Tales of Beatrix Potter is a 1971 ballet film based on the children's stories of English author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. The film was directed by Reginald Mills, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, and featured dancers from the Royal Ballet. The musical score was arranged by John Lanchbery from various sources, such as the operas of Michael Balfe and of Sir Arthur Sullivan, and performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. It was designed and co-written by Christine Edzard.
Jan Walter Susskind was a Czech-born British conductor, teacher and pianist. He began his career in his native Prague, and fled to Britain when Germany invaded the city in 1939. He worked for substantial periods in Australia and the United States, as a conductor and teacher.
Appalachian Spring is a composition by Aaron Copland that premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite. The ballet, scored for a thirteen-member chamber orchestra, was created upon commission of choreographer and dancer Martha Graham with funds from the Coolidge Foundation. It premiered on Monday, October 30, 1944 at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., with Martha Graham dancing the lead role. The set was designed by the American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Copland was awarded the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his achievement.
The Simple Symphony, Op. 4, is a work for string orchestra or string quartet by Benjamin Britten. It was written between December 1933 and February 1934 in Lowestoft, using bits of score that the composer had written for the piano as a young teenager, between 1923 and 1926. It was composed for string orchestra and received its first performance in 1934 at Stuart Hall in Norwich, with Britten conducting an amateur orchestra.
Sergei Prokofiev composed and compiled his Waltz Suite, Op. 110, during the Soviet Union's post-Great Patriotic War period of 1946–1947.
Episodes is a two-part ballet made by Martha Graham and George Balanchine to Anton von Webern's Symphony, Op. 21, Five Pieces, Op. 10, Concerto, Op. 24, and the Ricercata in Six Voices from Bach's Musical Offering, which Webern had arranged in homage to Bach, as Balanchine conceived the ballet as one to Webern. The premiere took place under the auspices of the Ballet Society on 19 May 1959 at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with scenery and lighting by David Hays; the conductor was Robert Irving.
Valentin Zeglovsky was a ballet dancer with the Ballets Russes. Zeglovsky was a Ukrainian Russian dancer who toured Australia with the De Basil Company (1936–1939). In January 1942 he joined the Kirsova company during its Melbourne season which began at His Majesty's Theatre. He subsequently started a ballet school in Australia and then London. He was one of the de Basil dancers who is considered to have contributed to Australian ballet. His book Ballet Crusade is an account of the key events in Zeglovsky's life: his childhood in Kharkov (Kharkiv) in the Ukraine, where he was born in 1908, the Russian Revolution, his apprenticeship in Riga with the State Opera House and Ballet School, his tours with the De Basil Company, and his decision to live and work in Melbourne. First published in December 1943, it was reprinted in slightly different form by Reed & Harris in September 1944 and again in November 1944. John Reed's correspondence indicates that Reed & Harris wanted to print 5,000 copies of the book; however, a Reed letter, dated 12 November 1943, states that paper shortages at The Advertiser in Adelaide limited the printing of the first edition to 1,500 copies. In Zeglovsky's ballet school in London, Zbyshek Lisak trained under him.
The Latvian National Opera, Riga, is the national opera of Latvia. The opera company includes the Latvian National Ballet (LNB), LNO Chorus, and LNO Orchestra.
The Display is an Australian ballet produced and choreographed by Robert Helpmann to music by Malcolm Williamson for The Australian Ballet. Described as the first wholly Australian ballet, The Display had an all-Australian cast, with sets and costumes by artist Sidney Nolan. The work had its world premiere on 14 March 1964 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide as part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts.
Paula Doris Hinton was an English ballet dancer who became the wife and dancing partner of the choreographer Walter Gore.
London Ballet was a short lived British ballet company founded by the British choreographer and former Ballet Rambert dancer Antony Tudor in 1938, along with Rambert members Hugh Laing, Andrée Howard, Agnes de Mille, Peggy van Praagh, Maude Lloyd and Walter Gore. With the onset of World War II, in 1940 they were invited to New York, joining Richard Pleasant's and Lucia Chase's reorganized Ballet Theater, which later became the American Ballet Theatre.
Harry Haythorne, was an Australian dancer, ballet master, artistic director, and teacher who performed in vaudeville, musicals, and ballet companies in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and Australia. He was assistant artistic director of the Scottish Ballet (1969–1974) and artistic director of the Queensland Ballet (1975–1978) and the Royal New Zealand Ballet (1981–1992).
Spirit of the American Range is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar, released by Dutch record label Pentatone on February 10, 2015. The album was recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon in April 2013 and January 2014. It contains works by three American 20th-century composers: Walter Piston's ballet suite from The Incredible Flutist, George Antheil's "A Jazz Symphony", and Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3. The recording was the third by the orchestra under Kalmar's leadership, following the highly successful Music for a Time of War (2011) and This England (2012). Spirit of the American Range received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Orchestral Performance, and its producer, Blanton Alspaugh, was nominated for Producer of the Year, Classical.
Danses concertantes is a work for chamber orchestra by Igor Stravinsky, composed in 1942. A performance lasts about twenty minutes. Although written as an abstract ballet for concert performance, it has been choreographed numerous times.
Michelle Potter is an Australian dance writer, critic, archivist, and curator of historical materials. Her research and writing have focused on but have not been restricted to Australian dance history. She is known internationally for the extent of her knowledge and expertise.
Xenia Nikolaeva Smirnova Krüger Borovansky was a Russian-born dancer and choreographer, based in Australia after 1939. She was principal teacher at the Melbourne Academy of Russian Ballet, and active in running the Borovansky Ballet.
