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The Sleeping Beauty

MAY 10, 11, & 12

ROMANCE, ROYALTY, FAIRIES, AND MORE! THIS ENCHANTING BALLET IS A MOTHER’S DAY TREAT THAT IS SURE TO BE CHERISHED!

Ballet Austin awakens the beloved fairy tale, The Sleeping Beauty, with four performances over Mother’s Day weekend! Tchaikovsky’s fabulous and familiar score comes to life in one of the most memorable classical ballets of all time, performed live by the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

Designed and constructed in England, this gorgeous production features exquisite sets, glittering costumes, and familiar storybook characters like Puss-in-Boots and Little Red Riding Hood. Let Ballet Austin transport you to a dream world of fairy godmothers, storybook creatures, and Prince Charming’s fairytale kiss!

CHOREOGRAPHY | Marius Petipa
MUSIC | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT | Austin Symphony Orchestra
RUN TIME | 2 hours 30 minutes, including two 20-minute intermissions (Act I: 55 min. | Act II: 20 min. | Act III: 35 min.)

4 PERFORMANCES:

  • Friday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 11 at 2:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m.
  • Sunday, May 12 at 3:00 p.m.

Please visit our FAQs page for information about parking, discounts, and more.

WHY WE RECOMMEND PURCHASING PERFORMANCE TICKETS *DIRECTLY* FROM BALLET AUSTIN

Ballet Austin strives to share the excitement and beauty of live professional dance with as many community members as possible. *As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, Ballet Austin raises funds throughout the year to help defray part of the production costs in order to bring live performances to you and keep the price of our tickets as low as possible. The following information is intended to assist you as a consumer and help you have the best experience possible.

When you purchase directly from Ballet Austin:

  • You are assured your tickets are valid, and your seats are reserved for you/your family/your party.
  • You have access to the most affordable ticket prices.*  Ballet Austin tickets can range between $15 – $125 dollars (plus applicable fees), depending on location. If you are being asked to pay more per ticket, you are NOT buying from Ballet Austin.
  • You have the flexibility to exchange your ticket/s to another performance for a small handling fee, as tickets remain available.

If you choose to purchase Ballet Austin tickets from sources other than Ballet Austin, we recommend that you:

  • Never pay cash or use apps such as Venmo to purchase tickets.
  • Verify performance dates/times and check for sold-out performances BEFORE purchasing from a third-party seller or service by visiting the Ballet Austin website.
  • Check the Long Center’s Dell Hall seating map to confirm the existence of the seats being offered to you.   Long Center Seating Chart

NOTE: Issues related to tickets purchased from a third-party seller will need to be discussed with that company. Ballet Austin will have no record of these sales.

Our goal for each Ballet Austin performance is to create wonderful, lasting memories for you, your family, and your friends. If you have questions, let us help you by contacting our box office at 512.476.2163 or by email at boxoffice@balletaustin.org. We look forward to seeing you soon.

The Sleeping Beauty

MAY 10, 11, & 12

Read More
ROMANCE, ROYALTY, FAIRIES, AND MORE! THIS ENCHANTING BALLET IS A MOTHER’S DAY TREAT THAT IS SURE TO BE CHERISHED!

Ballet Austin awakens the beloved fairy tale, The Sleeping Beauty, with four performances over Mother’s Day weekend! Tchaikovsky’s fabulous and familiar score comes to life in one of the most memorable classical ballets of all time, performed live by the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

Designed and constructed in England, this gorgeous production features exquisite sets, glittering costumes, and familiar storybook characters like Puss-in-Boots and Little Red Riding Hood. Let Ballet Austin transport you to a dream world of fairy godmothers, storybook creatures, and Prince Charming’s fairytale kiss!

 

CHOREOGRAPHY | Marius Petipa
MUSIC | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT | Austin Symphony Orchestra
RUN TIME | TBA

4 PERFORMANCES:

  • Friday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 11 at 2:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m.
  • Sunday, May 12 at 3:00 p.m.

Please visit our FAQs page for information about parking, discounts, and more.

WHY WE RECOMMEND PURCHASING PERFORMANCE TICKETS *DIRECTLY* FROM BALLET AUSTIN

Ballet Austin strives to share the excitement and beauty of live professional dance with as many community members as possible. *As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, Ballet Austin raises funds throughout the year to help defray part of the production costs in order to bring live performances to you and keep the price of our tickets as low as possible. The following information is intended to assist you as a consumer and help you have the best experience possible.

When you purchase directly from Ballet Austin:

  • You are assured your tickets are valid, and your seats are reserved for you/your family/your party.
  • You have access to the most affordable ticket prices.*  Ballet Austin tickets can range between $15 – $125 dollars (plus applicable fees), depending on location. If you are being asked to pay more per ticket, you are NOT buying from Ballet Austin.
  • You have the flexibility to exchange your ticket/s to another performance for a small handling fee, as tickets remain available.

If you choose to purchase Ballet Austin tickets from sources other than Ballet Austin, we recommend that you:

  • Never pay cash or use apps such as Venmo to purchase tickets.
  • Verify performance dates/times and check for sold-out performances BEFORE purchasing from a third-party seller or service by visiting the Ballet Austin website.
  • Check the Long Center’s Dell Hall seating map to confirm the existence of the seats being offered to you.   Long Center Seating Chart

NOTE: Issues related to tickets purchased from a third-party seller will need to be discussed with that company. Ballet Austin will have no record of these sales.

Our goal for each Ballet Austin performance is to create wonderful, lasting memories for you, your family, and your friends. If you have questions, let us help you by contacting our box office at 512.476.2163 or by email at boxoffice@balletaustin.org. We look forward to seeing you soon.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photography by Tony Spielberg

MEET THE ARTISTS

MARIUS PETIPA
Choreography
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Music
AUSTIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Live Accompaniment

Marius Petipa, (born March 11, 1818, Marseille, France—died July 14, 1910, Gurzuf, Ukraine, Russian Empire), dancer and choreographer who worked for nearly 60 years at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and had a profound influence on modern classical Russian ballet. He directed many of the greatest artists in Russian ballet and developed ballets that retain an important position in Russian dance repertoire.

Petipa and his brother Lucien (later principal dancer at the Paris Opéra) received their early training from their father, Jean, a ballet master long active in Brussels. After Marius’ debut in Nantes, France, in 1838, he danced in Belgium, France, and the United States (he appeared in New York City in 1839) before accepting an engagement in Spain, where he gathered material for ballets later produced in Russia. He established a reputation as a talented pantomime artist and one of the outstanding dancers of his day.

Petipa made his initial appearance at the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre in 1847 in Paquita and staged his first original ballet, Un Mariage sous la régence (“A Regency Marriage”), there in 1858. For his wife, the ballerina Mariya Surovshchikova, he created Le Marché des Paris (1859; “Parisian Market”; staged as Le Marché des innocents, 1861). His first outstanding success was La fille du pharaon (1862; “The Pharaoh’s Daughter”).

Later, after becoming choreographer in 1862 and chief choreographer in 1869, Petipa produced more than 60 ballets, working from carefully detailed plans that became the basis of modern classical ballet in Russia. He collaborated with Tchaikovsky on The Nutcracker (Casse Noisette, choreographed by his assistant Lev Ivanov) and The Sleeping Beauty and presented versions of Swan Lake, Raymonda, and Giselle that have been revived frequently. Among other major ballets are his Don Quixote (1869), La Bayadère (1877), and Le Corsaire (1899). After the death of his first wife, Petipa married another dancer, Lyubov Leonidovna.

Biography courtesy of britannica.com.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

(1840–1893)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is widely considered the most popular Russian composer in history. His work includes the ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Nutcracker.’

Who Was Tchaikovsky?

Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s work was first publicly performed in 1865. In 1868, his First Symphony was well-received. In 1874, he established himself with Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat Minor. Tchaikovsky resigned from the Moscow Conservatory in 1878 and spent the rest of his career composing yet more prolifically. Tchaikovsky is most celebrated for his ballets, specifically Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. He died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893.

Early Life

Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840, in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Vyatka, Russia. He was the second eldest of his parents’ six surviving offspring. Tchaikovsky’s father, Ilya, worked as a mine inspector and metal works manager.

When he was just five years old, Tchaikovsky began taking piano lessons. Although he displayed an early passion for music, his parents hoped that he would grow up to work in the civil service. At the age of 10, Tchaikovsky began attending the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, a boarding school in St. Petersburg. His mother, Alexandra, died of cholera in 1854, when he was 14 years old. In 1859, Tchaikovsky honored his parents’ wishes by taking up a bureau clerk post with the Ministry of Justice — a post he would hold for four years, during which time he became increasingly fascinated with music.

When he was 21, Tchaikovsky decided to take music lessons at the Russian Musical Society. A few months later, he enrolled at the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory, becoming one of the school’s first composition students. In addition to learning while at the conservatory, Tchaikovsky gave private lessons to other students. In 1863, he moved to Moscow, where he became a professor of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory.

Tchaikovsky’s Compositions

Operas

Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s work was first publicly performed in 1865, with Johann Strauss the Younger conducting Tchaikovsky’s Characteristic Dances at a Pavlovsk concert. In 1868, Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony was well-received when it was publicly performed in Moscow. The following year, his first opera, The Voyevoda, made its way to the stage — with little fanfare.

After scrapping The Voyevoda, Tchaikovsky repurposed some of its material to compose his next opera, Oprichnik, which achieved some acclaim when it was performed at the Maryinsky in St. Petersburg in 1874. By this time, Tchaikovsky had also earned praise for his Second Symphony. Also in 1874, his opera, Vakula the Smith, received harsh critical reviews, yet Tchaikovsky still managed to establish himself as a talented composer of instrumental pieces with his Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat Minor.

From ‘Swan Lake’ to ‘The Nutcracker’ Ballets

Acclaim came readily for Tchaikovsky in 1875, with his composition Symphony No. 3 in D Major. At the end of that year, the composer embarked on a tour of Europe. In 1876, he completed the ballet Swan Lake as well as the fantasy Francesca da Rimini. While the former has come to be one of the most frequently performed ballets of all time, Tchaikovsky again endured the ire of critics, who at its premiere panned it as too complex and too “noisy.”

Tchaikovsky resigned from the Moscow Conservatory in 1878 to focus his efforts entirely on composing. As a result, he spent the remainder of his career composing more prolifically than ever. His collective body of work constitutes 169 pieces, including symphonies, operas, ballets, concertos, cantatas and songs. Among his most famed late works are the ballets The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892).

Personal Life

Struggling with societal pressures to repress his homosexuality, in 1877, Tchaikovsky married a young music student named Antonina Milyukova. The marriage was a catastrophe, with Tchaikovsky abandoning his wife within weeks of the wedding. During a nervous breakdown, he unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide, and eventually fled abroad.

Tchaikovsky could afford to resign from the Moscow Conservatory in 1878, thanks to the patronage of a wealthy widow named Nadezhda von Meck. She provided him with a monthly allowance until 1890; oddly, their arrangement stipulated that they would never meet.

Death

Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893. While the cause of his death was officially declared as cholera, some of his biographers believe that he committed suicide after the humiliation of a sex scandal trial. However, only oral (no written) documentation exists to support this theory.

Biography courtesy of biography.com.

About the Austin Symphony Orchestra

The mission of the Austin Symphony Orchestra Society, Inc. is to enhance the cultural quality of life for the adults and young people of Austin and Central Texas by providing excellence in music performance and educational programming.”

Founded in 1911, the Austin Symphony Orchestra is Austin’s oldest performing arts group. The ASO offers a complete season of musical and educational programming. Masterworks concerts include a series of eight concert pairs running monthly September through May in the state-of-the-art Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts. Our season also features the Sarah & Ernest Butler Pops Series: October & February Pops at the Long Center and December & June Pops at Palmer Events Center. Programming for the entire family includes the Halloween Children’s Concert, and the Christmas in the Community, as well as the popular James C. Armstrong Youth Educations Programs, which include Children’s Day Art ParkYoung People’s ConcertsHigh School Concert Tour and a variety of other school programs.

Symphony Square at 11th and Red River is home to the ASO’s administrative offices. This complex of four historic Austin buildings (two of which are owned by the ASO and Waterloo Greenway) is also home to the Women’s Symphony League of Austin.

Please Note: As of January, 2021 our new temporary administration office is located at 1806 Rio Grande St., Austin, TX 78701.

Music Director, Maestro Peter Bay: https://austinsymphony.org/about/conductor/

Austin Symphony Orchestra Musicians: https://austinsymphony.org/about/musicians/

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

JOSIE BRUNI KNIGHT

DAVID BOOTH

CLARA & PAUL BANCROFT

INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTION SPONSORS

VICTORIA CHENEY

ANN & JAMES DOWNING

MARTHA & CLIFF ERNST

JENNIFER GARCIA

WINNIE LAW / DPR CONSTRUCTION

JENNENE MASHBURN

NIKELLE S. MEADE

ELIZABETH V. NEWMAN

FERN & JERRE SANTINI

CATHY & DWIGHT THOMPSON

EVA WOMACK

2023/24 Season Sponsors

Season Underwriter

2023/24 Hospitality Sponsors

2023/24 PR Agency Sponsor

2023/24 Official Program Sponsor

GOVERNMENT FUNDING SPONSORS/ADDITIONAL FUNDING

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