Events & Tickets

WALLCAST® Concert
WALLCAST® Concert: NWS + Miami City Ballet
SoundScape Park
- Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
- Andrew Grams, conductor
- Lourdes Lopez, Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet
- Miami City Ballet
Program
Michael Tilson Thomas, NWS’s Artistic Director Laureate, returns for the season finale of NWS’s 35th Anniversary Season, which features a special collaboration with Miami City Ballet (MCB). For years, MTT and Lourdes Lopez, MCB’s Artistic Director, have led these two cultural pillars of the South Florida community that have earned global recognition for their respective commitments to artistic excellence. This unique collaboration will be an opportunity to showcase both organizations as leaders in classical music, education and dance.
These performances feature NWS and MCB performing together Stravinsky's Agon and Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun with choreography by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. This collaboration is a continuation of their joint 2020 celebration of Igor Stravinsky and George Balanchine, two icons of the 20th century whose decades-long friendship proved to be one of the most prolific artistic pairings of their time. Blending music and movement, the two cultural giants gave the world unforgettable productions and inspired students Michael Tilson Thomas and Lourdes Lopez, who now embolden the next generation of artists in our community.
The first half of the concert will feature New World Symphony only. Due to a special stage configuration during The Firebird, WALLCAST® concert audiences will experience a pre-recorded version of the work from NWS's archives featuring MTT.
These performances are sponsored in part by the NWS Collaborations Fund with support from the Kleh Family Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. William Kleh; The Wege Foundation and the Estate of Douglas S. Cramer.
Joining these performances are the following NWS alumni and students from Iberacademy in Medellín, Colombia.
NWS ALUMNI
Rebecca Reale, violin, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Autumn Chodorowski, violin, Kansas City Symphony
Andrew François, viola, St. Louis Symphony
Jarrett McCourt, tuba, Vanderbilt University
Grace Browning, harp, Rochester Philharmonic
IBERACADEMY STUDENTS
Andres Eduardo Bolanos Posada, violin
Alejandro Sanchez Rodriguez, violin
Daniel Felipe Franco Moreno, violin
Daniel Osorio Cuesta, viola
Daniel Restrepo Velez, cello
Eliana Patricia Arango Ospina, clarinet
About WALLCAST® Concerts
WALLCAST® concerts are free. No tickets required.
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Expanded Viewing Area: In addition to the New World Center’s 7,000-square-foot projection wall, NWS's new Mobile Wall, a 23x13-foot projection wall with a state-of-the-art sound system, will extend the viewing areas in SoundScape Park during the WALLCAST® concert.
Restrooms: There are always restrooms available in the south-east corner of SoundScape Park.
What's a WALLCAST® concert? Click here to get a taste of the WALLCAST® concert experience!
Program
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Approx. Duration: 15 minutes
Concerto in E-flat major for Chamber Orchestra, “Dumbarton Oaks”
(1937-38)
Mr. Grams
New World Symphony
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Approx. Duration: 20 minutes
Suite from The Firebird
(1910; 1919 version)
Introduction and Dance of the Firebird
Dance of the Princesses
Infernal Dance of King Kastchei
Berceuse
Finale
Mr. Tilson Thomas
New World Symphony
Intermission
Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
Approx. Duration: 10 minutes
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
(1894)
Mr. Tilson Thomas
Miami City Ballet
Afternoon of a Faun (1953)
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Staged by Jean-Pierre Frohlich
Set and lighting design by Jean Rosenthal
Lighting re-created by Les Dickert
Costume design by Irene Sharaff
Hannah Fischer*
Cameron Catazaro*
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Approx. Duration: 22 minutes
Agon
(1953-57)
I.
Pas-de-quatre
Double pas-de-quatre
Triple pas-de-quatre
Prelude
II.
Sarabande-step
Gaillarde
Coda
Interlude
III.
Bransle simple
Bransle gay
Bransle double
Interlude
IV.
Pas-de-deux
Four Duos
Four Trios
Mr. Tilson Thomas
Miami City Ballet
Agon (1957)
Choreography by George Balanchine
© The George Balanchine Trust
Staged by Amar Ramasar
Costume design by Karinska
Lighting by John Hall
Dawn Atkins*
Stanislav Olshanskyi*
Nathalia Arja*
Renan Cerdeiro*
Ashley Knox*
Francisco Schilereff*
Adrienne Carter*
Damian Zamorano*
Alaina Andersen
Mary Kate Edwards
Petra Love
Madison McDonough
* Role Debut
Igor Stravinsky
Concerto in E-flat major for Chamber Orchestra, “Dumbarton Oaks”
(1937-38)
Approximate duration: 15 minutes
Stravinsky’s brand of “neoclassical” music certainly referenced the so-called Classical style that crystallized in Vienna in the late 1700s, but he was perhaps even more fixated on the Baroque period from the start of that century, as evidenced by the groundbreaking Pulcinella (which used music attributed to the Baroque composer Pergolesi) and continuing in other scores with abundant references to Bach.
A high point in Stravinsky’s investigation of Baroque practice was the Concerto in E-flat for Chamber Orchestra, which came about when the American diplomat Robert Woods Bliss marked his 30th wedding anniversary by commissioning Stravinsky to compose a new work for a group small enough to fit in the lavish music room of his Washington, D.C. mansion known as “Dumbarton Oaks.” The compact instrumentation lent itself to treating the ensemble as a collective group of soloists, updating the Baroque tradition of the concerto grosso—particularly those six examples by Bach known as the “Brandenburg” Concertos, with their diverse lineups of soloists. Midway through the first movement of the “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto, a formal fugue launched by the violas affirms the loving homage to Bach.
Having the violins and violas divided into three parts each (and omitting second violins) draws a parallel with Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 3, although the application here is quite different; Bach’s divisi tends to thicken and enunciate the lines, whereas Stravinsky’s separation of voices promotes diffuse, airy textures, such as the churning accompaniment under a bird-like flute solo in the second movement. The energetic finale concludes this modern “Brandenburg” with pulsing beats and shifting accents, exhibiting the kind of rhythmic vitality that Stravinsky carried forward from his seminal ballets into each new phase of his shapeshifting career.
Igor Stravinsky
Suite from The Firebird
(1910; 1919 version)
Approximate duration: 20 minutes
For the 1910 Paris season of the Ballets Russes, the impresario Serge Diaghilev wanted to present something spectacular and distinctly Russian. He already had a vivid concept drawn from Russian folklore, a brilliant choreographer (Michael Fokine), and a dream team of Russian dancers and other contributors—but no composer, after his first choice fell through on short notice. So Diaghilev took a chance on an unknown 27-year-old, Igor Stravinsky, whose only credentials to that point were a few years of lessons with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a couple of short orchestral pieces and some orchestrations contributed to an earlier Diaghilev ballet.
Stravinsky dove into the project in the spring of 1910, writing most of the music in Saint Petersburg before he traveled to Paris for the June 25 premiere, the first performance of his music outside of Russia. The Firebird was a huge success, paving the way for Stravinsky’s even more radical follow-ups with the Ballets Russes: Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.
This performance follows a concert version of The Firebird that Stravinsky prepared in 1919. The Suite, like the Ballet, begins with a mysterious and brooding Introduction that emerges from a murky theme in the lower strings. The firebird appears with a buzz of tense trills, and then her dance variation alights in fluttering and angular phrases.
In the elegant Khorovod (Round Dance) of the Princesses, the sweet and serene melodies contrast the sinuous chromatic strains associated with the Ballet’s supernatural elements. The idyll breaks with the jolting start of the Infernal Dance of King Kastchei, a devilish romp that foreshadows the pounding brutality of The Rite of Spring.
The Berceuse (Lullaby) pulses with a dark, swaying accompaniment, underpinning spare and disquieting melodies. Emerging from the trembling remains, the Finale builds a simple hymn into a thunderous affirmation.
Claude Debussy
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
(1894)
Approximate duration: 10 minutes
About the Music
The earliest compositions of Claude Debussy reflected his training at the Paris Conservatory and his fascination with Richard Wagner. Debussy soured on Wagnerism in 1889, and just then he encountered a new set of influences that changed the course of his music. At the Universal Exposition held in Paris, Debussy soaked up Asian inspiration, especially Javanese gamelan music. Around the same time, he began circulating with the Symbolist poets, including Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine.
In 1890 Mallarmé outlined a theatrical project based on his poem L’après-midi d’un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun), and he invited Debussy to compose the music. The project fell through, but Debussy returned to his preliminary work on the piece to complete an orchestral prelude in 1894. He described the composition as “a very free illustration of Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature.”
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun had a quiet debut in 1894, but its defining moment came in 1912, when Vaslav Nijinsky choreographed a ballet to Debussy’s music for the Ballets Russes. Nijinsky danced the role of the faun himself, a performance condemned by a Paris critic for its “vile movements of erotic bestiality and gestures of heavy shamelessness.” (The riots that broke out a year later at the premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring have likewise been blamed on Nijinsky’s choreography even more than the music.)
The flute solo at the beginning of Debussy’s score introduces the faun with a motive that traverses the unsettling interval of a tritone (or augmented fourth), shimmying up and down in smooth, chromatic slurs. Whole-tone scales and unresolved harmonies, all bathed in a supple and warm orchestration, reinforce the air of mystery. Like the poetry of Mallarmé in which the sounds of words are as important as their meanings, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun luxuriates in its musical gestures, disregarding the old rules of tonal progress and resolution.
About the Choreography: Afternoon of a Faun (1953)
A pas de deux set in a ballet studio, Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun surrounds a fleeting encounter between a young man absorbed by his reflection in a mirror and a woman who enters the studio and interrupts his reverie. The Robbins choreography is a contemporary variation of Vaslav Nijinsky’s 1912 choreography and was first performed in 1953 by Francisco Moncion and Tanaquil LeClercq.
The Ballet has special significance for Miami City Ballet. A young student at the School of American Ballet inspired Robbins to create the piece; that student was Edward Villella, the company’s founding artistic director.
Miami City Ballet Premiere: February 11, 2005 at Jackie Gleason Theater; Miami Beach, FL.
The original production of Miami City Ballet’s Afternoon of a Faun was underwritten by Diane and Irving Siegel, members of our Jewels Society and longtime friends of the Ballet.
A special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts for supporting the original Company Premiere of Afternoon of a Faun.
A special thanks to The Robbins Rights Trust.
Igor Stravinsky
Agon
(1953-57)
Approximate duration: 22 minutes
About the Music
By the time the world warmed up to the primitive force of Stravinsky’s early masterpieces for the Ballets Russes (The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring), the composer had already left Russia behind and moved on to more austere subjects and styles. One area of sustained focus was Ancient Greece and Rome, first in Oedipus Rex (1927) and continuing in the ballets Apollon musagète (1928), Perséphone (1934), Orpheus (1947) and once more in the final ballet from the 20th century’s greatest dance composer, Agon (1957).
This late triumph was by no means assured for Stravinsky, who, after decades on the leading edge of musical style, found himself creatively adrift as a semi-retiree in his 70s in Los Angeles, a world away from the young European mavericks who were claiming his old mantle. The sharp-edged, time-hopping style he began honing in the ballet Pulcinella (1920) had reached its apex in the opera The Rake’s Progress (1951), and in its wake he felt compelled to try his hand at the style that had taken over music by then: the serial atonality developed by Schoenberg.
The commission and general concept of Agon came from the impresario Lincoln Kirstein and choreographer George Balanchine (co-founders of New York City Ballet). There is no plot, but the Greek title means “contest,” and the various subsets of the 12 dancers and subdivisions of the orchestra display their talents in a procession of short scenes. As in Pulcinella, remnants of Baroque dances impart an antique atmosphere, and Stravinsky’s uncanny sense of orchestration makes the ensemble sound like something out of a bygone street festival, with jangly mandolin and harp and exuberant winds and brass. Sections of cheeky neoclassicism rub up against strict 12-tone rows and ad hoc atonality, all of it seamlessly integrated despite a three-year gap in its composition, and ultimately sounding like nothing other than the singular, unmistakable voice of Stravinsky.
About the Choreography: Agon (1957)
Choreographed in 1957, Agon is a collaboration between composer Igor Stravinsky and George Balanchine. Together they devised a sequence of musical numbers and dances that updated forms from the 17th century, such as the sarabande (a stately court dance), gaillard and bransle. The title is the Greek word for "contest," and through this and the work's linear, geometrical look, Balanchine's 1928 masterpiece, Apollo, is invoked. Combining two frames of historical reference—Ancient Greece and Baroque France—with a modern sensibility, Agon is perhaps Balanchine's most distilled synthesis of classical and modern art, and one of the most influential works of the 20th century.
Agon is packed with verbal and intellectual puns. For example, the work has 12 dancers who interact in both symmetrical and asymmetrical arrangements of the number 12, and the music, which is in part based on the 12-tone method, develops its own 12-sided patterns. The work, labelled "world-conquering" by dance critic Arlene Croce, is completely engrossing.
The heart of the work is an extended pas de deux for the leading couple which departs from classical pas de deux form, as well as from Balanchine's usual observance of that form. The duet is built on the sustained, prolonged intertwining of the two dancers rather than being structured as a supported adagio followed by separate variations and a coda. It offers scarcely a break as it builds in tension, offering images of a bond that is tested but not broken. Perhaps more than any other part of Agon, the dramatic pas de deux has influenced other ballets, and the dynamics and form of choreographed relationships.
— Adapted from a note by Anita Finkel
Miami City Ballet Premiere: January 26, 1995 at Dade County Auditorium; Miami, FL.
The performance of Agon, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique®, Service Standards established and provided by the Trust.
— Notes about the music provided by Aaron Grad, © 2023
— Notes about the choreography provided by Miami City Ballet
Program
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Concierto en Mi bemol mayor para Orquesta de Cámar, “Dumbarton Oaks” (1937-38)
Mr. Grams
New World Symphony
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Suite de The Firebird (1910; 1919 version)
Introduction and Dance of the Firebird
Dance of the Princesses
Infernal Dance of King Kastchei
Berceuse
Finale
Mr. Tilson Thomas
New World Symphony
Intermission
Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)
Preludio a La siesta de un fauno (1894)
Mr. Tilson Thomas
Miami City Ballet
Afternoon of a Faun (1953)
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Staged by Jean-Pierre Frohlich
Set and lighting design by Jean Rosenthal
Lighting re-created by Les Dickert
Costume design by Irene Sharaff
Hannah Fischer*
Cameron Catazaro*
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Agon (1953-57)
I.
Pas-de-quatre
Double pas-de-quatre
Triple pas-de-quatre
Prelude
II.
Sarabande-step
Gaillarde
Coda
Interlude
III.
Bransle simple
Bransle gay
Bransle double
Interlude
IV.
Pas-de-deux
Four Duos
Four Trios
Mr. Tilson Thomas
Miami City Ballet
Agon (1957)
Choreography by George Balanchine
© The George Balanchine Trust
Staged by Amar Ramasar
Costume design by Karinska
Lighting by John Hall
Dawn Atkins*
Stanislav Olshanskyi*
Nathalia Arja*
Renan Cerdeiro*
Ashley Knox*
Francisco Schilereff*
Adrienne Carter*
Damian Zamorano*
Alaina Andersen
Mary Kate Edwards
Petra Love
Madison McDonough
* Role Debut
Igor Stravinsky
Concierto en Mi bemol mayor para Orquesta de Cámara,
“Dumbarton Oaks” (1937-38)
Duración aproximada: 15 minutos
El estilo de música “neoclásica” de Stravinsky hacía referencia al llamado estilo Clásico que se cristalizó en Viena a finales de los 1700, pero él estaba quizás más obsesionado con el período Barroco de principios de ese siglo, como evidencia su revolucionaria obra Pulcinella (la cual utilizó música atribuida al compositor barroco Pergolesi) y continuó en otras partituras con abundantes referencias a Bach.
Un punto importante en la investigación de Stravinsky sobre las prácticas barrocas fue el Concierto en Mi bemol mayor para Orquesta de Cámara, el cual surgió cuando el diplomático estadounidense Robert Woods Bliss celebró su treinta aniversario de bodas, encargándole a Stravinsky la composición de una nueva obra para un grupo lo suficientemente pequeño para caber en la lujosa sala de música de su mansión en Washington D.C., conocida como “Dumbarton Oaks”. La compacta instrumentación se prestó para tratar al conjunto como un grupo de solistas, actualizando la tradición barroca del concerto grosso – especialmente esos seis ejemplos de Bach conocidos como Conciertos de Brandemburgo, con su diversidad de solistas. A mitad del primer movimiento del Concierto de “Dumbarton Oaks”, una fuga formal introducida por las violas nos ratifica el afectuoso homenaje a Bach.
La división de los violines y las violas en tres partes cada uno (omitiendo los segundos violines) podría compararse con el Concierto de Brandemburgo No. 3, aunque la aplicación aquí es algo diferente; el divisi de Bach tiende a engrosar y enunciar las líneas melódicas, mientras la separación de voces de Stravinsky promueve texturas difusas y livianas, como el batiente acompañamiento bajo un solo de flauta imitando a un pájaro en el segundo movimiento. El energético finale concluye este “Brandemburgo” moderno con ritmos palpitantes y acentos cambiantes, exhibiendo el tipo de vitalidad rítmica que Stravinsky sacó adelante desde sus transcendentales ballets a cada una de las nuevas fases de su transformativa carrera.
Igor Stravinsky
Suite de The Firebird (1910; 1919 version)
Duración aproximada: 20 minutos
Para la temporada de los Ballets Rusos de 1910 en París, el empresario Serge Diaghilev quería presentar algo espectacular y distintivamente ruso. Ya poseía un concepto vívido inspirado por el folclor ruso, un brillante coreógrafo (Michael Fokine), y el equipo soñado de bailarines rusos y otros colaboradores – pero ningún compositor, después de que su primera elección fracasara en poco tiempo. Así que Diaghilev se arriesgó con un joven desconocido de 27 años, Igor Stravinsky, cuyas únicas credenciales hasta ese momento eran unos años de lecciones con Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, un par de piezas orquestales cortas y algunas orquestaciones que contribuyeron a un ballet anterior de Diaghilev.
Stravinsky se adentró en el proyecto en la primavera de 1910, escribiendo la mayor parte de la música en San Petersburgo antes de viajar a París para el estreno el 25 de junio, la primera presentación de su música fuera de Rusia. El pájaro de fuego fue un gran éxito, sentando las bases para las obras más radicales que le siguieron como los Ballets Rusos: Petrushka y La consagración de la primavera.
Esta presentación se basa en una versión de concierto de El pájaro de fuego que Stravinsky preparó en 1919. La Suite, como el Ballet, comienza con una misteriosa y melancólica introducción que emerge de un oscuro tema en las cuerdas más graves. El pájaro de fuego aparece con un zumbido de trinos nerviosos, y luego su danza se posa en frases agitadas y revoloteantes.
En la elegante Khorovod (Danza Redonda) de las Princesas, las melodías dulces y serenas contrastan con las sinuosas tensiones cromáticas asociadas con los elementos supernaturales del Ballet. El idilio se rompe con el comienzo sobrecogedor de La Danza Infernal del Rey Kastchei, un juego diabólico que anuncia la violenta brutalidad de La consagración de la primavera.
Claude Debussy
Preludio a La siesta de un fauno (1894)
Duración aproximada: 10 minutos
La música
Las composiciones más tempranas de Claude Debussy reflejaban su entrenamiento en el Conservatorio de París y su fascinación con Richard Wagner. Debussy se amargó con el wagnerismo en 1889, y justo entonces encontró un nuevo grupo de influencias que cambiaron el curso de su música. En la Exposición Universal llevada a cabo en París, Debussy se rodeó de inspiración asiática, especialmente de la música del gamelán javanés. Casi al mismo tiempo, comenzó a circular con los poetas simbolistas, incluyendo a Stéphane Mallarmé y Paul Verlaine.
En 1890 Mallarmé delineó un proyecto teatral basado en su poema L’après-midi d’un faun (La siesta de un fauno), e invitó a Debussy a componer la música. El proyecto fracasó, pero Debussy regresó a su trabajo preliminar en la pieza completando un preludio orquestal en 1894. Él describió la composición como “una ilustración muy libre del bello poema de Mallarmé. De ninguna manera pretende ser una síntesis del mismo, sino que hay una sucesión de escenas a través de las cuales acontecen los deseos y sueños del fauno en el calor de la tarde. Entonces, cansado de perseguir el tímido vuelo de las ninfas y las náyades, sucumbe a un sueño cautivador, en el cual puede finalmente realizar sus sueños de posesión en la Naturaleza universal.”
Preludio a La siesta de un fauno tuvo un debut tranquilo en 1894, pero su momento decisivo llegó en 1912, cuando Vaslav Nijinsky coreografió un ballet con la música de Debussy para los Ballets Rusos. El propio Nijinsky bailó el rol del fauno, una interpretación condenada por un crítico de París por sus “viles movimientos de erótica bestialidad y gestos de gran desvergüenza”. (Las protestas que estallaron un año después en el estreno de La consagración de la primavera de Stravinsky han sido atribuidas también a la coreografía de Nijinsky más que a la música).
El solo de flauta al comienzo de la partitura de Debussy nos presenta al fauno con un motivo que recorre el inquietante intervalo de un tritono (o cuarta aumentada), moviéndose hacia arriba y hacia abajo en un suave legato cromático. Escalas de tonos enteros y armonías sin resolución, todo bañado en una orquestación cálida y flexible, refuerzan el aire de misterio. Como la poesía de Mallarmé en la cual los sonidos de las palabras son tan importantes como su significado, el Preludio a La siesta de un fauno de Debussy se deleita en sus gestos musicales, ignorando las viejas reglas del progreso tonal y su resolución.
La coreografía: La siesta de un fauno (1953)
Un pas de deux ambientado en un estudio de ballet, La siesta de un fauno de Jerome Robbins revela un efímero encuentro entre un hombre joven absorbido por su reflejo en un espejo y una mujer que entra al estudio e interrumpe su ensoñación. La coreografía de Robbins es una variación contemporánea de la creada por Vaslav Nijinsky en 1912, y fue interpretada por primera vez en 1953 por Francisco Monción y Tanaquil LeClercq.
El Ballet tiene un significado especial para el Miami City Ballet. Un joven alumno de la School of American Ballet inspiró a Robbins a crear la pieza; ese alumno fue Edward Villella, el director artístico fundador de la compañía.
Estreno del Miami City Ballet: 11 de febrero de 2005 en el Jackie Gleason Theater; Miami Beach, FL.
La producción original de La siesta de un fauno fue respaldada por Diana e Irving Siegel, miembros de la Jewels Society y amigos de mucho tiempo del Ballet.
Un agradecimiento especial al National Endowment for the Arts por apoyar el Estreno Original de La siesta de un fauno por la Compañía.
Un agradecimiento especial a The Robbins Rights Trust.
Igor Stravinsky
Agon (1953-57)
Duración aproximada: 22 minutos
La música
Para el momento en que el mundo se acostumbró a la fuerza primitiva de las primeras obras maestras de Stravinsky para los Ballets Rusos (El pájaro de fuego, Petrushka y La consagración de la primavera), el compositor ya había salido de Rusia y había evolucionado a estilos y temas más austeros. Un área en la cual enfocó su atención fue la Antigua Grecia y Roma, primero en Oedipus Rex (1927), continuando en los ballets Apollon musagète (1928), Perséfone (1934), Orfeo (1947) y una vez más en el último ballet del más grande compositor de danza del siglo XX, Agon (1957).
Este triunfo final no estaba asegurado en lo absoluto para Stravinsky, quien, luego de décadas a la vanguardia del estilo musical, se encontraba creativamente a la deriva como un semi-retirado a sus 70 años en Los Ángeles, alejado de los inconformes jóvenes europeos que reclamaban su viejo manto. El estilo afilado y adelantado que comenzó a perfeccionar en el ballet Pulcinella (1920) había alcanzado su cúspide en la ópera The Rake’s Progress (El progreso del libertino, 1951), y después de ella, se sintió obligado a probar el estilo que se había adueñado de la música para entonces: el serialismo atonal desarrollado por Schoenberg.
El encargo y concepto general de Agon vinieron del empresario Lincoln Kirstein y el coreógrafo George Balanchine (co-fundadores del New York City Ballet). No hay trama, pero el título en griego significa “competencia”, y los varios subconjuntos de los 12 bailarines y las subdivisiones de la orquesta despliegan sus talentos en una procesión de escenas cortas. Como en Pulcinella, restos de danzas barrocas transmiten una atmósfera antigua, y el asombroso sentido de orquestación de Stravinsky hace que el conjunto suene como sacado de un festival callejero antiguo, con arpa y mandolina tintineantes y vientos metales exuberantes. Secciones de atrevido neoclasicismo colindan con estrictas series de 12 tonos y atonalismo ad hoc, todo integrado a la perfección a pesar de un intervalo de tres años en su composición, sonando finalmente como nada menos que la singular e inconfundible voz de Stravinsky.
La coreografía: Agon (1957)
Coreografiado en 1957, Agon es una colaboración entre el compositor Igor Stravinsky y George Balanchine. Juntos concibieron una secuencia de números musicales y danzas que actualizaron formas del siglo XVII, como la sarabande (una danza de la corte), la gaillard y la bransle. El título es la palabra griega que significa “competencia”, y a través de esto y de la apariencia lineal y geométrica de la pieza, se invoca la obra maestra de Balanchine de 1928, Apolo. Combinando dos marcos de referencia histórica – la Antigua Grecia y la Francia Barroca – con una sensibilidad moderna, Agon es quizás la síntesis más pura de arte clásico y moderno creada por Balanchine, y una de las obras más influyentes del siglo XX.
Agon está llena de juegos de palabras verbales e intelectuales. Por ejemplo, la obra tiene 12 bailarines que interactúan tanto en arreglos simétricos y asimétricos del número 12, y la música, la cual está parcialmente basada en la serie de 12 tonos, desarrolla sus propios patrones dodecafónicos. La obra, etiquetada “conquistadora del mundo” por la crítica Arlene Croce, es especialmente cautivadora.
El corazón de la pieza es un extenso pas de deux de la pareja principal que se aleja de la forma clásica del pas de deux, así como también de la práctica usual de Balanchine. El dúo está construido en la interconexión prolongada de los dos bailarines en lugar de estar estructurado como un adagio sostenido seguido de variaciones separadas y una coda. Apenas ofrece una pausa mientras construye la tensión, ofreciendo imágenes de un vínculo que es puesto a prueba pero que no se rompe. Quizás más que ninguna otra parte de Agon, el dramático pas de deux ha influenciado otros ballets, y las dinámicas y formas de relaciones coreográficas.
— Adaptado de una nota de Anita Finkel
Estreno del Miami City Ballet: 26 de enero de 1995 en el Dade County Auditorium; Miami, FL.
La interpretación de Agon, un ballet de Balanchine, es presentada por un arreglo con The George Balanchine Trust y ha sido producida de acuerdo con el Balanchine Style® y la Balanchine Technique®, Estándares de Servicio establecidos y provistos por el Trust.
Notas sobre la música proporcionadas por Aaron Grad, © 2023
Notas sobre la coreografía proporcionadas por Miami City Ballet
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Michael Tilson Thomas is Co-Founder and Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy; Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony; and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition to these posts, he maintains an active presence guest conducting with the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.
Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Tilson Thomas is the third generation of his family to follow an artistic career. His grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, were founding members of the Yiddish Theater in America. His father, Ted Thomas, was a producer in the Mercury Theater Company in New York before moving to Los Angeles where he worked in films and television. His mother, Roberta Thomas, was the head of research for Columbia Pictures.
Mr. Tilson Thomas began his formal studies at the University of Southern California, where he studied piano with John Crown, and conducting and composition with Ingolf Dahl. At age 19 he was named Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. During this same period, he was the pianist and conductor in master classes of Gregor Piatigorsky and Jascha Heifetz and worked with Stravinsky, Boulez, Stockhausen and Copland on premieres of their compositions at Los Angeles’ Monday Evening Concerts.
In 1969, after winning the Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood, he was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That year he also made his New York debut with the Boston Symphony and gained international recognition after replacing Music Director William Steinberg in mid-concert. He was later appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he remained until 1974. He was Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971 to 1979 and a Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1981 to 1985. His guest conducting includes appearances with the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.
Mr. Tilson Thomas is a two-time Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist, curating and conducting series at the hall from 2003 to 2005 and from 2018 to 2019. In the most recent series, he led Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America both at the hall and on tour in Asia, opened the Carnegie Hall season over two evenings with the San Francisco Symphony, conducted two programs with the Vienna Philharmonic and finished with a pair of concerts leading the New World Symphony.
A winner of eleven Grammy Awards, Mr. Tilson Thomas appears on more than 120 recordings. His discography includes The Mahler Project, a collection of the composer’s complete symphonies and works for voice and orchestra performed with the San Francisco Symphony, in addition to pioneering recordings of music by Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Steve Reich, John Cage, Ingolf Dahl, Morton Feldman, George Gershwin, John McLaughlin and Elvis Costello. His recordings span repertoire from Bach and Beethoven to Debussy and Stravinsky, and from Sarah Vaughan to Metallica.
His television work includes a series with the London Symphony Orchestra for BBC Television, broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts from 1971 to 1977 and numerous productions on PBS’s Great Performances. With the San Francisco Symphony, he created a multi-tiered media project, Keeping Score, which includes a television series, web sites, and radio programs. He received a Peabody Award for his SFS Media radio series The MTT Files.
Mr. Tilson Thomas’s compositions are published by G. Schirmer. In 1991, he and the New World Symphony were presented in a series of benefit concerts for UNICEF in the United States, featuring Audrey Hepburn as narrator of his work From the Diary of Anne Frank, which was commissioned by UNICEF. This piece has since been translated and performed in many languages worldwide. In August 1995, he led the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in the premiere of his composition Shówa/Shoáh, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. His vocal music includes settings of poetry by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, which were premiered by Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming, respectively. In 2016, Yuja Wang premiered his piano piece You Come Here Often?.
Mr. Tilson Thomas' song cycle Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind, a setting of Carl Sandburg’s poem, was premiered in 2016 by the New World Symphony, with Measha Brueggergosman as soloist. In 2019 the piece was recorded for Medici.tv at the New World Center and given its New York premiere as part of Mr. Tilson Thomas’s second Carnegie Hall Perspectives series. His first Perspectives series also featured performances of his own compositions, including Island Music for four marimbas and percussion; Notturno for solo flute and strings, featuring soloist Paula Robison; and new settings of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. In 2020, he led the San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of his six-part song cycle Meditations on Rilke, and he subsequently conducted the work at the Cleveland Orchestra. Additional compositions include Street Song for brass instruments; Agnegram, an overture for orchestra; and Urban Legend, a concerto for contrabassoon that was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony. In June 2020, SFS Media released an album of works composed by Mr. Tilson Thomas, featuring live concert recordings of From the Diary of Anne Frank, narrated by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, and Meditations on Rilke, sung by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny.
Mr. Tilson Thomas is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was Musical America’s Musician of the Year and Conductor of the Year, was Gramophone magazine’s Artist of the Year and has been profiled on CBS’s 60 Minutes and ABC’s Nightline. He has been awarded the National Medal of Arts, has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was a 2019 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Andrew Grams, conductor

With a unique combination of intensity, enthusiasm and technical clarity, American conductor Andrew Grams has steadily built a reputation for his dynamic concerts, ability to connect with audiences and long-term orchestra building. He was named 2015 Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras and has led orchestras throughout the United States, including the symphonies of Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Dallas and Houston, as well as The Philadelphia Orchestra and National Symphony.
Grams became Music Director of the Elgin Symphony after an international search in 2013 and concluded his tenure there after eight seasons. His charismatic conducting and easy accessibility have made him a favorite of Elgin Symphony audiences.
A frequent traveler, Grams has worked extensively with orchestras abroad, including the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver; the Orchestre National de France; Hong Kong Philharmonic; BBC Symphony Orchestra in London; the symphony orchestras of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide; New Zealand Symphony, Barcelona Symphony and Het Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, Netherlands. He has led multiple performances of New York City Ballet’s George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® and the first performances of the new production of The Nutcracker for the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo.
Also an educator, Grams has worked with orchestras at institutions such as the Curtis Institute of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, Roosevelt University, National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland and the Amsterdam Conservatorium.
Born in Severn, Maryland, Grams began studying the violin when he was eight years old. In 1999 he received a bachelor of music degree in violin performance from The Juilliard School, and in 2003 he received a conducting degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller. He was selected to spend the summer of 2003 studying with David Zinman, Murry Sidlin and Michael Stern at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen and returned to that program again in 2004. Grams served as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra from 2004-07, where he worked under the guidance of Franz Welser-Möst and has since returned for several engagements.
As an accomplished violinist, Grams was a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra from 1998-2004, serving as acting Associate Principal Second Violin in 2002 and 2004. Additionally, he has performed with ensembles including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Brooklyn Philharmonic and New Jersey Symphony.
Lourdes Lopez, Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet

Lourdes Lopez has become one of the ballet world’s most prominent and accomplished contributors. Dance Magazine named her a 2018 recipient of its prestigious Dance Magazine Awards, choosing Lopez for her “admirable stewardship of Miami City Ballet, building upon the company’s Balanchine legacy while also embracing the local culture and community of Miami,” and as “an exemplary leader, someone whom dancers look up to and are inspired by.” In 2017, the Magazine also named her one of “The Most Influential People in Dance Today.”
Ms. Lopez became Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet in 2012, bringing with her a nearly 40-year career in dance, television, teaching and arts management. As a Soloist and Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet, she danced for two legends of the art form, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Under Ms. Lopez’s direction, Miami City Ballet has become one of the country’s premier ballet companies. According to The New York Times, “This troupe [is] at the forefront of all those dancing choreography by George Balanchine today… Bold, light, immediate, intensely musical, the dancing of Miami City Ballet flies straight to the heart.”
Born in Havana, Cuba in 1958 and raised in Miami, Ms. Lopez began taking ballet lessons at the age of five, on the recommendation of a doctor. At the age of 11 she received a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, splitting the year between Miami and New York City. At 14, she moved to New York permanently to devote herself to full-time studies at SAB, and shortly after her 16th birthday, joined the corps de ballet of New York City Ballet.
Under the direction of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, Ms. Lopez’s star rose quickly at New York City Ballet. In 1984 she was promoted to Soloist, performing countless featured roles including Balanchine’s Violin Concerto, Liebeslieder Walzer, Firebird, Serenade, Symphony in C, Agon, The Four Temperaments; and Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, Glass Pieces, Fancy Free, In the Night, Four Seasons and Brandenburg.
Upon retirement, Ms. Lopez joined WNBC-TV in New York as a Cultural Arts reporter, writing and producing feature segments on the arts, artists and arts education. She was also a full-time senior faculty member and Director of Student Placement, Student Evaluation and Curriculum Planning at New York’s Ballet Academy East. She served on the dance faculty of Barnard College and guest taught at numerous dance institutions and festivals in the United States.
In 2002 Ms. Lopez became the Executive Director of The George Balanchine Foundation, which works to educate the public about dance and to further the art of ballet, with a special emphasis on the work and achievements of George Balanchine. In this position, she oversaw the 2004 Balanchine Centennial Celebration, a worldwide festival honoring the choreographer and his legacy. Ms. Lopez co-founded The Cuban Artists Fund, which supports Cuban and Cuban-American artists in their endeavors.
In 2014 Ms. Lopez was elected to serve on the Ford Foundation’s Board of Trustees and is presently starting her second term, marking the first time an artist was elected to serve on its board. In 2011 she received the prestigious Jerome Robbins Award for her years in dance. She has served as a dance panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 2017 Ms. Lopez received an award from the American Immigration Law Foundation honoring Cuban Americans for their accomplishments and contributions to American society. She also co-founded Morphoses with Christopher Wheeldon in 2007—a New York-based dance company aiming to revitalize dance through innovative collaborations with important artists from the worlds of music, visual arts, design, film and fashion; and by inviting younger and broader audiences to engage in and actively experience dance.
In 2019 Ms. Lopez was honored with Ballet Hispánico's "Toda Una Vida" Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2021 she was awarded the prestigious "Una Vida para la Danza" (A Life for Dance) by the International Ballet Festival of Miami. This year Ms. Lopez's outstanding achievements in the Cuban American community are being honored at the FACE Awards.
Ms. Lopez is married and is the mother of two daughters, Adriel and Calliste.
Miami City Ballet

Miami City Ballet (MCB) has a diverse roster of 53 dancers and a repertoire of more than 130 works. As one of the most renowned ballet companies in the country, Miami City Ballet performs for nearly 125,000 patrons annually during its South Florida home season in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and tours to major cities domestically and internationally, including recent visits to New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and Paris.
Miami City Ballet School, the official school of Miami City Ballet, is one of the most respected ballet training academies in America. The School trains students, ages 3-18 year-round, and grants more than $650,000 in scholarships annually. Miami City Ballet’s Community Engagement programs serve more than 12,000 people annually in schools and communities; our free programs use the power of dance to uplift, teach and bring joy.
Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez leads the company. She was awarded the prestigious Dance Magazine Award in 2018 and was named one of “The Most Influential People in Dance Today.” She is on the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees, the first artist to ever serve on its Board.
Miami City Ballet was founded in 1985 by Miami philanthropist Toby Lerner Ansin and Founding Artistic Director Edward Villella. It is headquartered in Miami Beach at the Ophelia & Juan Js. Roca Center, a facility designed by renowned architectural firm, Arquitectonica.
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The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has been a generous supporter of Miami City Ballet with over $11 million in cumulative giving since the company’s founding. Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. It invests in journalism, in the arts and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Its goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which it believes are essential for a healthy democracy. For more, visit KF.org.
Major funding is also provided by the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.
Miami-Dade County support provided by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
Performances and programming in Miami Beach provided by the City of Miami Beach Department of Tourism and Culture, Cultural Arts Council, and the Miami Beach Mayor and City Commissioners.
Support for Miami City Ballet in the Palm Beaches generously sponsored in part by the Board of County Commissioners, the Tourist Development Council and the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County.
Broward County funding provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners of Broward County, Florida, as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.
Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.