Following his acclaimed Winter 2024 ballet Solitude, NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky choreographs his eighth ballet for the Company, set to music by Léon Minkus.

Exploring his fascination with the music of Chopin, Robbins created three vastly contrasting sets of lovers, from innocent to impetuous, who meet beneath a midnight sky.

After the enormous popularity of Dances at a Gathering in 1969, Jerome Robbins built on his love affair with Chopin’s piano works with In the Night.  While the earlier ballet primarily uses mazurkas, waltzes, and études, In the Night, which premiered in 1970, conjures up a post-dusk scenario to four of the composer’s nocturnes. Choreographed for three couples of distinct personality, the ballet uses the music as a jumping-off point to explore subtle dance dramas. The Nocturne Op. 27, No. 1 takes on a stately quality before melting into lyricism. Nocturnes Op. 55, No. 1 and No. 2 are, respectively, bittersweet, and tempestuous in their melodies. The final piece, Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 uses the rondo form, but in a tender, almost ethereal andante.

One of Balanchine’s most celebrated leotard ballets, Symphony in Three Movements is bold and breathtakingly jet-propelled, a kinetic achievement, striking for its confidence and power.

For New York City Ballet’s 1972 Stravinsky Festival, Balanchine choreographed several notable masterpieces, including the majestic Symphony in Three Movements.  Stravinsky had suggested the music as a ballet when the choreographer visited the composer in Hollywood during World War II. Despite its 21 minute length, the piece evokes a fuller symphonic breadth with two instruments, the harp and piano, providing the dominant contrasts. “Each instrument has a large obbligato role in a movement to itself, and only at the turning- point fugue…do the two play together and unaccompanied,” said Stravinsky. The signature Stravinsky propulsive rhythm is mirrored by the angular, athletic choreography for soloists and a large ensemble, although the second andante movement, originally composed for an apparition scene in the movie Song of Bernadette, is reserved for a meditative pas de deux. One of Balanchine’s “leotard” ballets, the work requires no scenic or narrative distractions from the complexity of the choreography.

It was during his tenure at the legendary Ballets Russes, from 1924 until the death of Serge Diaghilev in 1929, that Balanchine met Igor Stravinsky, marking the start of a long-time artistic partnership between two kindred spirits. Balanchine's Symphony in Three Movements was created for the Stravinsky Festival in 1972. With sporty and athletic elements, this snappy, snazzy ballet is a testament to Balanchine’s pioneering spirit and exceptional musicality.