

CHOREOGRAPHY | Stephen Mills
MUSIC | Antonín Dvořák, Bryce Dessner
LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT | Austin Symphony Orchestra
Featuring Quattro Mani
Susan Grace & Steven Beck (pianos)
Commissioned by Dr. Rosanne Butera, Chiropractor
About Love's Gentle Spring
Following the success of POE / A Tale of Madness, Stephen Mills presents a World Premiere in two parts! We celebrate the arrival of the season of wildflowers and renewal as Stephen Mills shares a pair of new works.
The first work is set to Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s “String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96.” Nicknamed the American Quartet, Dvořák wrote this piece while enjoying a summer vacation in Spillville, Iowa. Completed in only thirteen days, this was Dvořák’s second attempt at writing a quartet in F major. Featuring live accompaniment by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the moving melodies of Dvořák’s composition evoke the exuberant feelings of springtime.
The second piece on the program features the music of contemporary composer and Grammy award-winning artist Bryce Dessner: guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter for his band, The National. Called “a vital and rare force in new music,” Dessner’s compositions have been performed by Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and many more. He has worked with a variety of artists, including Philip Glass, Paul Simon, Bon Iver, and Taylor Swift on her song “Coney Island.” Dessner’s “Concerto for Two Pianos,” written for and first performed by Katia and Marielle Labèque, premiered in 2018 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Dessner regularly tours with his band, including a recent performance at Austin’s Moody Center in November of 2023.
Love’s Gentle Spring unites the beauty of spring, music, and movement harmoniously in concert.
including two 20-minute intermissions
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VIDEO GALLERY
Videos by Paul Michael Bloodgood
ENJOY THE AUDIENCE ACTIVITIES
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Footlights is your pre-show behind-the-scenes look into what you’ll see when the curtain goes up!
Learn about the production as members of the Ballet Austin Education staff share the stories and inspiration behind the work.
FREE for all Ticket Holders
Length of program: Approximately 25 minutes

Footlights Sponsor

Ballet Austin’s self-guided, interactive, discovery zone featuring all you want to know … before the show!
Backstage Pass! is our interactive discovery lounge (like a walk-through pop-up museum) hosted by Ballet Austin’s Education Department. It has multiple stations that include everything from pointe shoes, costumes, music, and more!
It has multiple stations that include everything from pointe shoes, costumes, music, and more! Backstage Pass! changes for every production, so even if you’ve been before, be sure to visit again!
FREE for all Ticket Holders

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Commemorate a fun day at the ballet at any of our photo stations! Be sure to tag us @BalletAustin and use #HeartsDesireATX!

Encore is a post-show conversation that gives the audience the opportunity to ask questions directly to Artistic Director Stephen Mills and invited artists.
Hosted by Ballet Austin’s Education Department, audience members can either listen from their seats, or make their way to the Orchestra section if they have a question for the artists. Microphones will be set up in the Orchestra level aisles for a Q&A between audience members and the artists of the production.
FREE for all Ticket Holders
MEET THE ARTISTS

STEPHEN
MILLS
Choreography
Desire
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.

ANTONÍN
DVOŘÁK
Muic

BRYCE
DESSNER
Music

QUATTRO MANI
Live Accompaniment
Susan Grace and Steven Beck form one of the most dynamic piano duos before today’s concert-going public. Giorgio Koukl’s EarRelevant review of their latest CD, Hallelujah Junction says “..their incredible array of capacities is strong enough to place them precisely on the top of the piano duos of today.” Fanfare’s Robert Carl writes that “Quattro Mani is one of the most enduring and leading keyboard duos anywhere” and the Boston Globe printed “Quattro Mani proved itself fearless and equal to every challenge.” The duos performances and recordings, as well as their collaborations with important composers of our time has led to numerous dedications and premieres of new repertoire, including works by George Crumb, Paul Lansky, Tod Machover, Poul Ruders, Tania León, Paul Moravec, Michael Daugherty, Ofer Ben-Amots and Fred Lerdahl. QM’s recent CDs, Hallelujah Junction, featuring new works by American and European composers, and Inner Life dedicated to Quattro Mani by Fred Lerdahl, have been released to widespread critical acclaim. Other discs include Lounge Lizards, featuring composer Michael Daugherty, Restructures featuring Tod Machover, and a CD of Stefan Wolpe’s works for two pianos among others.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Commissioned by
DR. ROSANNE BUTERA, CHIROPRACTOR
Sponsored by
DRS. JOANN HUNTER JOHNSON & KENNETH JOHNSON
INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTION SPONSORS
Kathie & Spike Jones
Rosie & Roger Oberg
Linda Ball & Forrest Preece
Jenna Salwen
Colby Simpson & Lauren Cunningham
Jare Smith
Endowed in part by the Short Works Commissions fund through the Ballet Austin Foundation including the generosity of:
Jennene Mashburn, in loving memory of K. Ray Mashburn