Houston Ballet Presents MAYERLING and FOUR SEASONS Concluding Artistic Director, Stanton Welch’s Emerald Season

Story by Legend Sir Kenneth MacMillan and a World Premiere by Dwight Rhoden

Houston Ballet concludes Artistic Director Stanton Welch AM’s emerald season with two phenomenal productions that demonstrate the world-renowned caliber of choreographers from legend to the emerging choreographers of our time.

The only North American ballet company to have the scandalous Habsburg royal family story ballet in its repertoire, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling follows emotionally unstable and death-obsessed Austro-Hungarian Prince Rudolf through his decline and multiple lovers. Set to John Lanchbery OBE’s powerful arrangement of music by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, the psychological thriller is gripping from beginning to end.

Following Mayerling is the last mixed repertory production of the season, Four Seasons, a quaternary of one-acts all influenced in some way by a sense of time. George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux is perhaps the most subtle, with a gradual building to peak and then gently subsiding to its close. Disha Zhang’s emotional experience of aging in Elapse set to Zeng Xiaogang’s earthy composition evokes sounds of water and wind and exudes a sense of loss with the passing of time and loved ones.

Dwight Rhoden creates his first work on Houston Ballet with a world premiere set to an original score by internationally acclaimed percussionist David Rozenblatt that goes everywhere from classical violin to bombastic percussion. Christine Darch, who has designed for Houston Ballet previously is the costume designer, with Michael Korsch designing the lighting. The large-scale one-act is for 16 dancers who tackle the idea of “The Lightning Round” as it correlates to the grind of everyday life.

 “The ballet looks at our lives in the concentrated span of time where the desire to accomplish as much as we can – and our rush to do so – becomes the impetus,” explains Rhoden. “It unpacks those emotional highs and lows individually along the way — and our relationships with one another on our quest to experience all that life has to offer.”

 On the precipice of the 300^th anniversary since Antonio Vivaldi’s instantly recognizable and universally treasured The Four Seasons was published in Amsterdam, Stanton Welch’s ballet The Four Seasons returns for the first time since its 2007 debut. The four movements signify a woman growing through her own changes of sprung youth and wintry demise.

Mayerling—7:30 PM on May 23, 25, 31, and June 1, 2024; 2:00 PM on May 26 and June 2, 2024

Choreographer: Sir Kenneth MacMillan | Music: Franz Liszt arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery OBE–May 23 – June 2, 2024

Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling comes to the Wortham Theater stage for the first time after its Houston Ballet debut in 2018 as part of the Hometown Tour. An epic triumph in classical story-telling, this titillating three-act ballet tells the dark tale of Crown Prince Rudolf, the sole heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 1880s. The work weaves a masterful story of scandal and political intrigue that leads to the tragic murder-suicide of the Prince and his young mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera. With glamorous costumes and exquisite scenery, Houston Ballet dancers’ acting and dancing strengths are on full display in this theatrical production.

Four Seasons–-June 6 – 16, 2024

Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux | Choreographer: George Balanchine | Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Elapse | Choreographer: Disha Zhang | Music: Zeng Xiaogang

The Lightning Round  (World Premiere) | Choreographer: Dwight Rhoden| Music: David Rozenblatt

The Four Seasons | Choreographer: Stanton Welch AM | Music: Antonio Vivaldi

After a critically acclaimed debut in 2019, Disha Zhang’s Elapse is her first piece choreographed for an American company, set to a captivating original score by Zeng Xiaogang. George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux is described by New York City Ballet as “an eight-minute display of ballet bravura and technique.”

Stanton Welch’s The Four Seasons dramatizes the stages of a woman’s life from the vigor of youth in spring to the introspection of old age in winter, set to Antonio Vivaldi’s beloved score of the same name. Rounding out the program is The Lightning Round, a world premiere by Dwight Rhoden. Founding Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Rhoden has created works on New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and The Washington Ballet.

For more information on Houston Ballet, visit houstonballet.org.

FEATURED PHOTO CREDIT: Houston Ballet Principals, Karina González and Connor Walsh in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s, Mayerling. Photo by Amitava Sarkar