New York City Ballet 2025 Winter Season Opens Tuesday, January 21

Indiana Woodward and Peter Walker flanked by Sara Adams, left and Ashley Laracey. Divertimento No. 15, Choreography © The George Balanchine Trust, New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, Thursday, April 28, 2022, 7:30pm. Credit Photo: Erin Baiano

Highlights of the Six-Week Season to Include:

World Premiere Ballets by NYCB Resident Choreographer JUSTIN PECK to a Commissioned Score by DAN DEACON who will Perform with the NYCB Orchestra and NYCB Artist in Residence ALEXEI RATMANSKY who is Staging a Suite of Dances from Paquita

A Centennial Tribute to Legendary NYCB Ballerina MARIA TALLCHIEF in Honor of the 100th Anniversary of her Birth

The Return of CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON’S Carnival of the Animals Featuring JOHN LITHGOW in the Role of the Narrator

The 2025 Winter Season Will Conclude with 13 Performances of PETER MARTINS’ Full-Length Production of Swan Lake

The Travelers Companies, Inc. is the Global Sponsor of New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet’s 2025 Winter Season will open on Tuesday, January 21 and continue for six weeks of performances, through Sunday, March 2 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.

The Winter Season with programming curated by NYCB Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, in collaboration with Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor Justin Peck, will feature 20 ballets including world premieres from Peck and NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky. All performances will be accompanied by the 62-piece New York City Ballet Orchestra under the leadership of Music Director Andrew Litton.

The season will also feature two works by Christopher Wheeldon, the two-time Tony Award-winning choreographer and director, who is a former dancer with NYCB, and was the Company’s Resident Choreographer from 2001 to 2008. These works will include Carnival of the Animals featuring the acclaimed actor John Lithgow, who will reprise the role of the Narrator, which he created for the world premiere of the ballet in 2003. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades including six Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and two Tony Awards, Lithgow is also the author of several books for children, and wrote the text for Wheeldon’s Carnival of the Animals, which was later adapted into a children’s book.

Set to Camille Saint-Saëns’ musical suite, Wheeldon’s Carnival of the Animals features a cast of nearly 50 dancers, with Lithgow’s narration telling the story of a young boy who falls asleep in New York’s Museum of Natural History and dreams that the people in his life have been transformed into animals. The production features set and costume design by Jon Morrell and lighting design by Natasha Katz.

The 2025 Winter Season will open on Tuesday, January 21 with a program of works by NYCB co-Founder George Balanchine, consisting of Concerto Barocco, Allegro Brillante, and Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, three of twelve works by Balanchine that will be performed by NYCB during the six-week season. The second night of the season will feature an all-Stravinsky program featuring two works by Balanchine: Danses Concertantes and Stravinsky Violin Concerto; and two works by NYCB co-founding choreographer Jerome Robbins: The Cage and Concertino.

Additional repertory for the 2025 Winter Season will include Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15 and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. The season will close with 13 performances, from February 19 through March 2, of Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake staged by the Company’s former Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins. Originally choreographed for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1996, the full-length production features sets designed by the late Danish artist Per Kirkeby, costumes designed by Kirkeby and Kirsten Lund Nielsen, and lighting designed by NYCB Resident Lighting Designer Mark Stanley.

All performances will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, which is located at West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue. Tickets are available online at nycballet.com or by phone at 212-496-0600. For complete program information visit nycballet.com.

2025 Winter Season World Premieres

The first World Premiere of the 2025 Winter Season, a new work by NYCB Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, will take place on Wednesday, January 29, the Company’s annual New Combinations Evening. Peck’s new ballet, titled Mystic Familiar, will be set to an original score, commissioned by NYCB, from the composer, recording artist, and performer Dan Deacon, whose “USA I-IV” from his 2012 album America provided the score for Peck’s 2017 ballet The Times Are Racing.

Deacon’s new orchestral score for NYCB is an expansion of his song Become A Mountain; Peck previously used the song for a ballet of the same name created for the Juilliard Senior Class of 2022, and a short film he created for the athletic shoe brand On. For all winter season performances of Mystic Familiar, Deacon is scheduled to perform as a guest artist with the NYCB Orchestra. “I’ve been wanting to create a new work for NYCB with a commissioned score by Dan since The Times Are Racing, and I’m thrilled that he’ll be joining the company for the premiere performances,” said Peck.

The set design for Mystic Familiar will feature a backdrop by the Los Angeles-based visual artist Eamon Ore-Giron, whose work was featured in the 2024 Whitney Biennial. The costumes will be designed by fashion designer and co-founder of Opening Ceremony Humberto Leon, who has previously worked with Peck on costumes for The Times Are Racing and several other projects; with lighting design by frequent Peck collaborator Brandon Stirling Baker.

Mystic Familiar will share a program with a 50th-anniversary revival of Balanchine’s rarely performed Variations pour un Porte et un Soupir, set to Pierre Henry’s experimental score of the same name, that makes use of a gamut of sounds associated with human sighing and the opening and closing of doors. The ballet, which premiered on February 17, 1974, is a pas de deux in 14 movements for a female “Door” and a male “Sigh.” The program will also include Wheeldon’s From You Within Me, created in 2023, with set design by the acclaimed American painter Kylie Manning, costume design by Manning and NYCB Director of Costumes Marc Happel, and lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger.

The second World Premiere of the 2025 Winter Season will be choreographed by NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky, and will premiere on Thursday, February 6, on a program with Robbins’ In the Night and Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements.

For this new work, Ratmansky will stage a suite of dances from Marius Petipa’s full-length Paquita that incorporates the ballet’s Grand Pas from Petipa’s 1881 staging of Paquita, as well as Balanchine’s Minkus Pas de Trois, Balanchine’s restaging of Petipa’s pas de trois from Paquita, which was created in 1948 for the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas and restaged for NYCB in 1951. NYCB has not performed the Minkus Pas de Trois since 1993.

Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier for the Paris Opera Ballet in April 1846 to a score by Édouard Deldevez, Paquita was restaged by Petipa one year later for St. Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet, which also marked the first work that the French-born ballet master staged in Russia. In 1881, Petipa revived the ballet and added new pieces of music composed by Ludwig Minkus, including some additional music for the pas de trois in the first act and the grand pas in the last act.

In 2014, Ratmansky, in collaboration with historian Doug Fullington, choreographed a reconstruction of Paquita for the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, working from the Stepanov notations created by Mariinsky Theater regisseur Nicholas Sergeyev held at the Harvard Theatre Collection at Houghton Library, which provided a detailed record of how the ballet was performed in the early 20th century, during Petipa’s lifetime. For the winter season premiere Ratmansky will create a new work that is unique to NYCB using the extensive research he did for the 2014 reconstruction as a starting point, incorporating details from the staging by Alexandra Danilova of the Paquita Grand Pas for Cincinnati Ballet in the early 1980s; 1890s drawings of the Grand Pas principal couple by Mariinsky Ballet premier danseur Pavel Gerdt from the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow; as well as Ratmansky’s own contributions.

“Paquita is a jewel of a ballet, full of intricate steps, refined musicality, and gentle humor. Petipa’s choreographic universe has a Ballerina at its center; he makes her shine but also challenges her. Technically and artistically that makes him akin to Balanchine, and that’s where the idea of combining Mr. B’s Minkus Pas de Trois, a reworking of Petipa’s Act I pas de trois, with Petipa’s Act III Grand Pas came from. I am very excited to see how these two worlds divided by the artistic revolution of the early twentieth century will coexist today,” Ratmansky said.

The costumes for the new work will be designed by Jérôme Kaplan, who will be working with NYCB for the first time ever. Kaplan has designed several ballets for Ratmansky, including the 2014 reconstruction of Paquita, as well as his full-length productions of Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and Coppélia. Mark Stanley will create the lighting for the ballet.

Tallchief Centennial Program

The 2025 Winter Season will also include a special program in tribute to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary American ballerina Maria Tallchief, a founding member of NYCB and George Balanchine’s first wife. Tallchief, of Osage descent, was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma on January 24, 1925, and moved to New York at the age of 17, first dancing with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she met Balanchine, and later with Ballet Society, a precursor to New York City Ballet.

With the founding of NYCB in 1948, Tallchief became the Company’s best-known dancer during its early years, and went on to create some of Balanchine’s most important roles, including the Sugarplum Fairy in the choreographer’s production of The Nutcracker in 1954.

For the Tallchief centennial program, which will debut on Wednesday, February 5, NYCB will dance three Balanchine ballets created for and closely associated with the ballerina: Scotch Symphony, choreographed in 1952 to music by Felix Mendelssohn; Sylvia: Pas de Deux, from 1950 with music by Léo Delibes and last performed by NYCB in 1994; and Firebird, choreographed in 1949 to Stravinsky’s score, and the role that made Tallchief a star.

NEW WORKS FOR 2025 WINTER SEASON – Choreographers

JUSTIN PECK: World Premiere – January 29, 2025

Justin Peck is the Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor of New York City Ballet. He has created more than 50 works for NYCB and other dance companies around the world, including the Paris Opéra Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, L.A. Dance Project, and The Juilliard School. His works have also been performed by Dutch National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Acosta Danza, and Hong Kong Ballet, among other companies.

A native of San Diego, California, Peck studied at California Ballet before enrolling at the School of American Ballet in 2003. He joined NYCB as a dancer in 2007 and was promoted to Soloist in 2013. He concluded his career as a dancer with NYCB during the 2019 Spring Season. Peck first choreographed as a student at SAB in 2005. He participated in a working session at the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of NYCB, in the fall of 2009, and received NYCI’s first year-long choreographic residency in 2011. He was named NYCB’s Resident Choreographer, the second in the Company’s history, in July 2014, and was also appointed Artistic Advisor in February 2019.

He was the subject of the 2014 documentary film Ballet 422, which followed him for two months as he created NYCB’s 422nd original ballet, Paz de la Jolla. In 2015, his ballet Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes won the Bessie Award for Outstanding Production and he is also the recipient of the 2018 Ted Arison Young Artist Award. Peck won a 2018 Tony Award for his choreography for the Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, and he is the choreographer of Steven Spielberg’s award-winning film adaptation of West Side Story and Bradley Cooper’s film Maestro. He directed and choreographed Illinoise, a musical based on Sufjan Stevens’ album Illinois, for which Peck won a second Tony Award for choreography in 2024. He and co-choreographer Patricia Delgado received the 2024 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for Buena Vista Social Club, opening on Broadway in March 2025.

ALEXEI RATMANSKY: World Premiere – February 6, 2025

Alexei Ratmansky began his position as Artist in Residence at New York City Ballet in August 2023. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ratmansky is of Ukrainian descent, and trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow prior to becoming a Principal Dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet. From 2004 to 2008, he was the Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He served as Artist in Residence at American Ballet Theatre from 2008 to 2023.

Ratmansky first worked with New York City Ballet as part of a working session of the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of NYCB, in 2002, and has created seven acclaimed ballets for the Company: Russian Seasons (2006), Concerto DSCH (2008), Namouna, A Grand Divertissement (2010), Pictures at an Exhibition (2014), Odesa (2017), Voices (2020), and Solitude (2024). Ratmansky received the Benois de la Danse award for his full-length Anna Karenina, created for the Royal Danish Ballet, in 2005. He was made a Knight of Dannebrog in Denmark in 2001, and was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for 2013. He won his second Benois de la Danse for Shostakovich Trilogy, an ABT and San Francisco Ballet co-commission, in 2014.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Inside NYCB: February 10, 2025 from 6:30-7:30pm

Inside NYCB is a one-hour onstage presentation exploring the history and inner workings of NYCB through performance and discussion. The program on February 10 will focus on the full-length Swan Lake, offering audiences an inside look at what it takes to mount this immense production, featuring performance excerpts and personal insights from the NYCB artists who bring the story to life.

Family Saturdays: March 1, 2025 from 11:00am-12:00pm

On Saturday, March 1, 2025 from 11:00am-12:00pm, NYCB will present a one-hour Family Saturdays program featuring excerpts from Swan Lake performed by company dancers and members of the NYCB orchestra. Hosted by Megan Fairchild, Principal Dancer and Family Saturdays Creative Director, the presentation will explore the Swan Lake’s story, choreography, music, and costumes in a one-hour interactive program designed for children and adults ages 5 and up. Family Saturdays tickets start at $29 per person and are required for infants, children, and adults. Priority seating for American Sign Language Interpretation is available for all Family Saturdays presentations. Tickets are currently on sale online at nycballet.com, in person at the theater box office, and by phone at (212) 496-0600.

Movement Workshops

The season will also include a series of in-person Movement Workshops held in NYCB’s rehearsal studios at Lincoln Center. These will include:

• Children’s Workshops for children ages 5 to 7 on Saturday, February 8 from 12:30-1:15pm, and Saturday, March 1 from 12:30-1:15pm.

• In Motion workshop for children ages 8 to 12 on Saturday, February 22 from 12:30-1:15pm.

• Ballet Essentials workshops for teens and adults on Monday, January 27 from 6:30-7:45pm, and Saturday, February 22 from 10:30-11:45am.

• Children’s Access Workshop for children with physical disabilities ages 4 to 12 on Saturday, February 22 from 11:00am-12:00pm.

• Autism-Friendly Access Workshops for children ages 4 to 12 with autism or other sensory needs on Saturday, February 8 from 1:00-2:00pm and Sunday, February 23 from 10:00-11:00am.

Movement Workshop tickets range from $8 to $36. For tickets and additional information visit nycballet.com/educate/public-programs and nycballet.com/educate/access-programs.

NYCB’s 2024-25 Season is made possible in part by the generous support from Emily Blavatnik/Blavatnik Family Foundation, Elysabeth Kleinhans, Lynne and Richard Pasculano, Michael and Sue Steinberg, and The Berry Charitable Foundation.

The Winter Season performances of Swan Lake are generously sponsored by Bank of America.

New York City Ballet is located in a facility owned by the City of New York, and its operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

New York City Ballet’s programs are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.