METROPOLITAN CLASSICAL BALLET TO PRESENT
SEASON FINALE AT BASS HALL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2005

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - Metropolitan Classical Ballet will present the last production of the 2004 - 2005 season at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth on Saturday, June 11th at 8:00 PM. The evening will include three distinctive and challenging works: George Balanchine's Prodigal Son, Leonid Lavrovsky's Paganini, and Marius Petipa's Paquita. The Texas Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Metropolitan Classical Ballet's music director, Ron Spigelman, will accompany the performance.

Paganini
Music by Sergei Rachmaninov
Choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky
Accompanied by pianist, Alexei Melentiev

Paganini, originally choreographed by Mikhail Fokine in 1939, is a 1960 revival by Leonid Lavrovsky, who dominated Russian ballet for much of this century, beginning his career with the Kirov in 1938 and finishing it at the Bolshoi in 1964. The ballet, set to music by Rachmaninov, revolves around Niccolò Paganini, the great musical genius who revolutionized the art of violin playing. Very Bolshoi in character, Paganini is rarely seen by American audiences. Distinguished pianist Alexei Melentiev from the Bolshoi in Moscow, will play the intense and moving Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 43 by Sergei Rachmaninov which was written in 1934.

Paquita
Music by Leon Minkus
Choreography by Marius Petipa

Paquita, as we know it today, is a divertissement created out of a Pas de Trois and Grand Pas which Marius Petipa choreographed when he restaged the 1846 ballet in 1881 during the last decade of his life. Considered to be one of the greatest choreographers of all time, Petipa elevated Russian ballet to international fame and laid the cornerstone for 20th Century ballet. The ballet tells the story of a pretty girl, Paquita, who was rescued from a massacre as a child by gypsies. Courted by the son of a French general, she is reluctant to accept his love until she finds out she is not really a gypsy, but the daughter of a French officer.

Prodigal Son
Music by Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography by George Balanchine
© The George Balanchine Trust
Staged by Paul Mejia

Prodigal Son is a ballet in three scenes based on the parable of the Prodigal Son according to the Gospel of Luke. Balanchine choreographed it in 1929 when he was a young resident ballet master with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris. It premiered at Théatre Sarah-Bernhardt just months before Diaghilev's death and was the last production for the Ballet Russes. Balanchine's choreography was not seen until 1950 when, as ballet master for New York City Ballet, he revived the ballet. It was enthusiastically received by both audiences and critics and was one of the first of Balanchine's ballets to achieve an international reputation.

Program subject to change.

Tickets are available through Bass Performance Hall Ticket Office at (817) 212-4280; toll free at (877) 212-4280, or on the web at www.basshall.com. Tickets are also available through Metropolitan Classical Ballet's administrative office located at 500 West Abram in Arlington or by calling (817) 465-4644. Season sponsors include American Airlines, WRR Classical 101, and the law firm of Hill Gilstrap.

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Media Note: Further information and photos may be obtained by contacting Judy Puder at (817) 465-4644.