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Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 18 , 2010

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - A Summer Repertory program will be held at Texas Hall in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, July 17th at 8:00 p.m. The mixed repertory program will consist of four works, one of which is a world premiere. Providing the music for the evening are pianist Gleb Ivanov, violinist Eric Grossman, and Bandoneonist Hector Tito Castroy.

Paul Mejia's sophisticated Brahms Waltzes will open the evening. The romantic ballet is a series of sensitive and elegant waltzes set to German composer, Johannes Brahms' Opus 39. It premiered in September of 1988 and was first presented by Metropolitan Classical Ballet in 1999. The pianist soloist will be Gleb Ivanov.

Two works by Mr. Mejia follow a brief intermission. Valse-Sherzo, a world premiere set to the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, will be accompanied by pianist Gleb Ivanov and violinist Eric Grossman. Cafe Victoria, choreographed in 1992, is set to the passionate and fiery score by the renowned Argentine tango composer, Astor Piazzolla. It was premiered by Metropolitan Classical Ballet in 2001. The ballet will be accompanied by pianist Gleb Ivanov, violinist Eric Grossman, and Bandoneonist Hector Tito Castro.

After a second brief intermission, the program will conclude with the return of Walpurgis Night, a work by Leonid Lavrovsky set to music by Charles Gounod. Originally, the work was a ballet divertissement choreographed by Henri Justament for the last act of Gounod’s opera Faust, which premiered March 3, 1869 at Paris Opera. Leonid Lavrovsky’s version of Walpurgis Night premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow in 1941. Metropolitan Classical Ballet’s artistic director Alexander Vetrov staged Mr. Lavrovsky’s version in 2001 when the Company premiered it, and it was presented again in 2006. Both times it was well received by audiences and critics alike.

Guest dancers are Lithuanian born Vilia Putruis and Mindaugas Bauzys. Former dancers with Metropolitan Classical Ballet (then Ballet Arlington), they since danced with Boston Ballet and are currently with Festival Ballet Providence.

Programming, program order and casting for all productions is subject to change without notice.

Tickets for The Summer Repertory range in price from $10 - $30 and are available through Metropolitan Classical Ballet’s new administration office and studios located at 768 Lincoln Square, Arlington, Texas, by calling (817) 275-0598 or (817) 465-5655 or order online at www.utatickets.com. Group tickets are available.

Metropolitan Classical Ballet productions are made possible in part by its generous sponsors: American Airlines, The University of Texas at Arlington, and the law firm of Hill Gilstrap.

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Media Note: Further information and photos may be obtained by contacting Sharon Nolan at (817) 473-0347.