Jan 24, 2022
Host Silas Farley opens the latest season of City Ballet The
Podcast with a Hear the Dance episode devoted to George
Balanchine’s Mozartiana. Choreographed for the 1981 Tschaikovsky
Festival, the ballet was a moving representation of Balanchine's
admiration not only for the composer, but also for the dancers of
the corps de ballet and students of the School of American Ballet.
Silas is joined by fellow NYCB alums Jerri Kumery, one of the
original four “tall" dancers in the Minuet movement, and Amy
Kobberger, one of the child dancers in the opening “Preghiera” or
prayer section in the work’s premiere, to share their memories of
Mozartiana’s creation. (1:24:26) Written by Silas Farley
Edited by Emilie Silvestri Reading List:
Balanchine’s Mozartiana: The Making of a Masterpiece by Robert
Maiorano and Valerie Brooks
Holding On to the Air: An Autobiography by Suzanne Farrell with
Toni Bentley
Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky: Interviews with George Balanchine by
Solomon Volkov
Music:
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (1931) by Igor
Stravinsky
Suite No. 4, Mozartiana, Op. 61 (1887) by Peter Ilyitch
Tschaikovsky
Apollon Musagète (1928) by Igor Stravinsky
All music performed by the New York City Ballet Orchestra