A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Known for his innovative and collaborative choreographic projects, Stephen Mills has created over 60 premieres for Ballet Austin and has works in the repertoires of companies across the United States and around the world.

His inaugural season as artistic director in 2000 attracted national attention with his world-premiere production of Hamlet, hailed by Dance Magazine as “… sleek and sophisticated.” The Washington Post recognized Ballet Austin as “one of the nation’s best kept ballet secrets” in 2004 after Mills’ world premiere of The Taming of the Shrew, commissioned by and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Company’s first Kennedy Center invitation in January of 2002 was to perform Mills’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Ballet Austin presented a variety of Mills’ works at The Joyce Theater (NYC) in 2005 and returned to the Kennedy Center in collaboration with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in 2008 and for the Ballet Across America Festival in 2013.

In 2005 after two years of extensive research, Mills led a communitywide human rights collaboration that culminated in the world premiere work Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project (Light). In 2006 Light was awarded the Audrey & Raymond Maislin Humanitarian Award by the Anti-Defamation League. The work made its international debut in September 2013, with performances in three cities across Israel and is the subject of the award-winning documentary film, FINDING LIGHT. In October 2016, Mills led the company through a 16-city tour of the People’s Republic of China, concluding in China’s largest city, Shanghai.

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Felix Mendelssohn, (born Feb. 3, 1809, Hamburg—died Nov. 4, 1847, Leipzig), German composer. Grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, he grew up in a wealthy Jewish family that had converted to Protestantism. He began to compose at age 11; at 16 he wrote his first masterpiece, the String Octet in E Flat Major (1825), followed by the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826). In 1829 he conducted the first performance in 100 years of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, greatly contributing to the Bach revival. He wrote the first of a series of elegant piano works, Songs Without Words, in 1830. His Reformation (1832) and Italian (1833) symphonies date from this period. He observed Classical models and practices while initiating key aspects of Romanticism, which exalted emotions and the imagination above rigid forms and traditions. After serving as music director of the Catholic city of Düsseldorf (1833–35), he took the parallel position in Protestant Leipzig. There he built up the Gewandhaus Orchestra, making Leipzig the musical capital of Germany. In his last decade he produced great works such as the Scottish Symphony (1842), the violin concerto (1844), and the oratorio Elijah (1846). His beloved sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–47), had been considered his equal in musical talent as a girl, but she was discouraged from composing until her marriage to the painter Wilhelm Hensel (1794–1861); she eventually wrote more than 500 works. Her death was a severe shock to Mendelssohn; years of overwork simultaneously caught up with him, and he died six months after her.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Felix Mendelssohn summary”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Oct. 2003, https://www.britannica.com/summary/Felix-Mendelssohn. Accessed 18 May 2026.

David Heuvel continues to have an illustrious career in costume design and production that has taken him to every corner of the globe. Five decades ago, Heuvel started as an apprentice at the Opera Theatre in Pretoria, South Africa. He quickly moved up the ranks in the state-run arts organization to become the director of the costume shop for PACT Ballet.

In 1979, then-artistic director of Ballet West, Bruce Marks, invited Heuvel to head the fledgling company’s costume shop. Under Marks, Heuvel helped build the reputation of Ballet West from a regional ballet company to one with international stature. The company received worldwide acclaim, with international tours, daring new works, and notable artistry on stage, from the dancers, and, yes, the costumes.

The Ballet West costume shop, under Heuvel’s direction, is unparalleled. Today, few companies have the luxury of the vast talent and experience that he offers. From cohesive designs with historical accuracy, to the ability to dye garments, his costume shop is the definition of full-service. “My philosophy is that the costume must move with the dancer,” says Heuvel. “If they touch the stage feeling comfortable and regal, I have done my job.”

Apart from Heuvel’s work with Ballet West, he has designed and built costumes for ballet companies both nationally and international, including Ballet Du Nord (France), Alberta Ballet, Ballet Met, Singapore Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, Carolina Ballet, Ballet Hawaii, Nashville Ballet, and Ballet Memphis.

In December 2018, he received Governor Gary Herbert‘s prestigious Artist Award for Visual Arts.

David Walker (1934-2008) studied design at the Central School of Art under Jeanetta Cochrane. He began his career principally as a costume designer, working at Theatre Workshop in 1960 and then at the Royal Court Theatre, the RSC and the Royal Ballet. He became one of the world’s leading designers especially acclaimed as an opera and ballet designer and created productions for every major opera house and ballet company around the world.

Tony Tucci, former resident lighting designer for Ballet Austin, has created lighting design for the company’s repertory for over 34 years, lighting designer/director for Ben Stevenson’s Texas Ballet Theater and Bruce Wood Dance. Recently designed Flemming Flindt’s Phaedra Ballet for the Mariinsky Theatre in Vladivostok Russia. Tucci created the lighting designs for Bernstein’s Mass at the Long Center in June 2018. In September 2018, Tucci designed a new production of Cinderella, choreographed by Ben Stevenson for the National Ballet of China. Tucci and has created designs for national and international dance companies: Washington Ballet, Houston Dance Salad, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Colorado Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet West, Cirque Ziva-Golden Dragon Acrobats, Royal Danish Ballet, Winnipeg and Swedish Ballets, Hong Kong Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Ballet Contemporaneo de Caracas, Christopher Bruce’s Kingdom- Geneva Ballet, Flemming Flindt’s Caroline Mathilde and Lucifer’s Daughter-Royal Danish Ballet. Tucci has designed for musical theater, including Austin productions of Damn Yankees, Carousel, West Side Story, Annie, Gypsy, Jesus Christ Superstar, Music Man, Oklahoma, A Chorus Line, Carousel and Sound of Music as well as Charles Duggan’s productions of Dames at Sea in San Francisco and at the Goodspeed Opera House. For 1996 Summer Olympics, Tucci designed for the Cultural Olympiad, showcasing national and international companies. He is the recipient of two Iden Payne Awards and Critics Table awards for lighting in Austin.

Founded in 1911, the Austin Symphony Orchestra is the city’s oldest performing arts organization. The Symphony presents a full season of musical and educational programming, including the Masterworks Series and the Butler Pops Series, which run from September through May at the state-of-the-art Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts. Special events include the Halloween Children’s Concert, Handel’s Messiah, and free community concerts during the summer.  The James C. Armstrong Youth Educations Programs include ASO Tuneful Tales, Young People’s Concerts, and a variety of other school programs.