Carolina Ballet Presents World Premiere Of Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Beauty And The Beast May 17-20

Company Debuts Original Work By Artistic Director Robert Weiss Along With A Classic Fairy Tale To Delight All Generations. End Quote

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC (1888PressRelease) May 02, 2012 - Robert Weiss, artistic director and CEO of Carolina Ballet (http://www.carolinaballet.com), has announced that the company will debut its revival of the fairy tale classic Beauty And The Beast as well as perform the world premiere of his Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium Thursday, May 17 through Sunday, May 20.

Beauty and the Beast, a tale "as old as time," will be set to an original score by Cary, N.C. resident Karl Moraski that Weiss commissioned in 2009. The story ballet beautifully illustrates how compassion and love triumph over fear in a show that both children and adults will enjoy. Moraski accompanies the production on the piano and narrates it as well. The costumes for Beauty and the Beast were designed by David Heuvel, Carolina Ballet's "principal guest costume designer," who is costume production director at Ballet West in Salt Lake City and has been creating designs for Carolina Ballet productions since 2002. The scenery is from BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio with additional scenic elements from Jeff A.R. Jones, Carolina Ballet's resident designer.

Weiss began the choreography for Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 last July during the company's summer residency. He has been working on it ever since, whenever he could fit it into the busy rehearsal schedule throughout the season. Weiss first saw the ballet in 1975 choreographed by Maurice Bejart, a very well-regarded contemporary European choreographer, and came away from the performance wondering what it would have been like if a classical choreographer had used that music. After listening to the music over the intervening years, Weiss decided to attempt his own interpretation. During the past 14 seasons, Carolina Ballet has premiered new choreography for 11 story ballets, including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker, Messiah and Carmen, and built a reputation that led the Washington Post to say "the best full-evening story ballets of the past quarter-century are currently being choreographed in Raleigh by Robert Weiss."

Performance times are 8 p.m. for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening performances May 17-19 and 2 p.m. for the Saturday and Sunday matinees May 19-20. Ticket prices range from $25-$65. There is a $10 student rush ticket (with current ID) one hour before the show. A 20 percent discount is available for groups of 10 or more. For more information, visit http://www.carolinaballet.com or call (919) 719-0800.

QUOTES:
"The magical performance by our dancers will bring Beauty and the Beast to life and engage audiences members all ages," said Weiss. "Carolina Ballet is proud to debut Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 as part of that performance as well. The music has been a great inspiration to me, and each movement is almost a ballet unto itself. We invite to community to join us in an artistic celebration of the triumph of hope and love."

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ABOUT CAROLINA BALLET:
Carolina Ballet is a world-class professional ballet company based in Raleigh, N.C. Since its professional launch in 1998 under the leadership of Artistic Director/CEO Robert Weiss, the company has staged more than 80 world premiere ballets, toured internationally in China and Hungary, and has been acclaimed as one of the premiere arts organizations in the country. The mission of Carolina Ballet is to entertain and enlighten audiences in Raleigh, the greater Triangle area, North Carolina and beyond. The organization seeks to accomplish this mission by presenting traditional ballets of legendary masters; commissioning new works by innovative choreographers; educating current and future audiences through programs for school-aged children and other performance outreach activities; and attracting, developing, and retaining excellent dancers and artistic personnel, combined with a fiscally responsible management and board of directors. For more information, please visit http://www.carolinaballet.com or call (919) 719-0800.

Emily Packard
MMI Public Relations
(919) 233-6600
emily ( @ ) mmipublicrelations dot com
http://twitter.com/mmipublicrelations
www.mmipublicrelations.com

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