The San Francisco Ballet season’s is a short one—lasting from January to May each year. However, the 2018 season has already ended. It was shorter than normal because artistic director and principal choreographer Helgi Tomasson commissioned a series of 12 new works to premiere at a special festival, Unbound, April 20 through May 6. With the official conclusion of the normal collection of works, the company is already looking forward to its next round of shows.
Today the ballet debuted its thrilling lineup for 2019. It includes three full length story ballets—Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid, world premieres from Yuri Possokhov and Liam Scarlett, and works by choreography greats George Balanchine, Justin Peck, and Benjamin Millepied. “I’m thrilled to bring back some of the wonderful new works from this year’s unprecedented Unbound Festival,” Tomasson said in a statement. “I’m also pleased to present two world premieres by frequent collaborators Liam Scarlett and Yuri Possokhov, as well as the company premiere of Benjamin Millepied’s Appassionata—which received rave reviews when it premiered in Paris. I’m also delighted to bring back audience favorites like Justin Peck’s Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes and Alexei Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy.”
The season consists of eight programs with the first, Don Quixote, opening on Friday, January 25, 2019. During the repertory season, the dancers will perform a total of 58 shows. After Unbound concludes on May 6, 2018 ballet lovers will have to wait until Festival Napa Valley to see the company perform. On Friday, July 27, 2018, they will perform at the wine country festival in Yountville. The group will also return to the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C., from October 23-28, 2018, where they will perform two programs of selected works from Unbound. The classic Christmas favorite, Nutcracker, will run December 12-29, 2018. The celebratory opening night gala takes place Wednesday, January 23, 2019.
