Ballet Talk with Pacific Northwest Ballet

PNB Orchestra - PNB Conversation Series

PNB's music director and principal conductor Emil de Cou moderates this Dress Rehearsal Conversation with four members of the PNB Orchestra. Michael Jinsoo Lim (Concertmaster, violin), Jennifer Caine Provine (Associate Concertmaster, violin), Alexander Grimes (viola), and Page Smith (cello) talk with Emil and answer questions from our audience members about playing Philip Glass' music in Alejandro Cerrudo's One Thousand Pieces, film scores, their histories with the PNB Orchestra, and so much more.

This episode was recorded live in the Nesholm Lecture Hall in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, WA in March 2024.

Rep 3 - Swan Lake (2023/24 Season)

Pacific Northwest Ballet welcomes a new host of our pre-show Ballet Talk series, Dr. Anne Searcy! Anne is an Assistant Professor of Music History at the University of Washington.

Listen along as Anne walks our audience through the history of Tchaikovsky's "undanceable" Swan Lake score, the origin of Swan Lake's infamous 32 fouette turns that end Act III of the ballet, and a quick plot summary including deciphering ballet pantomime. 

Recorded in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall in Seattle Center's McCaw Hall in February, 2024. 

Lucien Postlewaite & James Kirby Rogers - PNB Conversation Series

PNB's associate artistic director Kiyon Ross moderates this Dress Rehearsal Conversation with two PNB Principal dancers. Lucien Postlewaite and James Kirby Rogers talk with Kiyon and answer questions from our audience members about playing Prince Siegfried in Kent Stowell's Swan Lake, their interpretations of key moments of the ballet, recurring themes in romantic ballet, and so much more. 

This episode was recorded live in the Nesholm Lecture Hall in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, WA in February 2024.

Rep 2 - Love & Loss (2023/24 Season)

Join dance historian Doug Fullington as he takes us through the three works of Pacific Northwest Ballet's second production of the 2023/24 season, LOVE & LOSS. This trio of works created for PNB shines a light on some of the stunning world premieres that our New Works Initiative has created in recent years.

Donald Byrd’s haunting Love and Loss premiered in 2019, Alexei Ratmansky’s stunning tribute to his homeland of Ukraine, Wartime Elegy, followed in 2022, and and the newest new work at PNB, Australian choreographer and Oregon Ballet Theatre's artistic director Dani Rowe's The Window.

Recorded in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at Seattle Center's McCaw Hall in Seattle, Washington in November of 2023. 

Donald Byrd & Dani Rowe - PNB Conversation Series

PNB artistic director Peter Boal moderates this Dress Rehearsal Conversation with choreographers Donald Byrd and Dani Rowe. 

Both Byrd and Rowe have works featured in the second rep of PNB's 2023/24 season, LOVE & LOSS. Both works were made for PNB through PNB's New Works Initiative. Donald Byrd's Love and Loss premiered in 2019, and Dani Rowe's The Window premiered in the LOVE & LOSS program in 2023. 

This episode was recorded live in the Nesholm Lecture Hall in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, WA in November 2023.

Rep 1 - Petite Mort (2023/24 Season)

Welcome to PNB's 2023/24 Season opener, PETITE MORT. We’ve packed as much whimsy, artistry, and drama as possible into our 2023/24 season opener.

Built on a foundation of music from Mozart to Beethoven, this triple bill looks at the world of dance through unique shifts in perspective. Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze return after a long hiatus, along with Alexander Ekman’s delightful Cacti. Host Doug Fullington talks through the origins of each of the three works, including the featured musical scores from Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert.

Recorded in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall inside Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, Washington in September 2023.

Rep 6 - WORLDS TO COME (2022-23 Season)

Join Doug Fullington introducing the final program of PNB's 50^th Anniversary Season, WORLDS TO COME. Recorded live in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall in McCaw Hall in Seattle, Doug takes us through the three works that make up the program. Works include the onstage premiere of Edwaard Liang's The Veil Between Worlds, featuring music composed by Oliver Davis, which first premiered during PNB's digital-only season in 2020. Two world premieres round out this triple-bill: Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Khepri, Kiyon Ross' ...throes of increasing wonder danced to new music composed by Christina Spinei. 

Edwaard Liang, Kiyon Ross, & Oliver Davis - PNB Conversation Series

Enjoy this Dress Rehearsal Conversation for the closing rep of PNB's 50th Anniversary season, WORLDS TO COME. This conversation between choreographers Edwaard Liang, Kiyon Ross, and composer Oliver Davis was co-moderated by PNB's music director and principal conductor Emil de Cou and conductor and PNB company pianist Josh Archibald-Seiffer. The group focused on the inspiration and collaboration in composing new music for Liang's The Veil Between Worlds with music by Oliver Davis and Ross' ...throes of increasing wonder with music by Christina Spinei, and cultivating unique relationships between choreographers and living composers. 

 

This episode was recorded live in the Nesholm Lecture Hall in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, WA in June 2023.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2022-2023)

In Doug Fullington's pre-performance talk for George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, he outlines the plot of the ballet (based on the Shakespeare play of the same name), details the 1997 PNB-specific redesign of the ballet, and the international touring history of the ballet at PNB. Fullington also answers questions from the audience including details about working with The Balanchine Trust and approaching redesigns of works by George Balanchine as well as classical choreographers. 

This episode was recorded live in the Nesholm Lecture Hall in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, WA in April 2023. 

Giselle (2022-2023 Season)

Doug Fullington takes our audience through ballet's preeminent ghost story, Giselle. Fullington talks about the origins of the ballet including the history of the spectral maidens, the Wilis, Giselle's pantomime and classic choreography, Jerome Kaplan’s costumes and sets, and Adolphe Adam's score.

Recorded live in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, WA on February 3, 2023.