DANCE

Winter 2025

A celebration of movement, featuring an array of sparkling musettes, spirited dances from Nigeria, Argentina, and Bulgaria, EDM caprices, and more. Béla Bartók’s vivid Contrasts integrates Hungarian folk dances into a tripartite suite that highlights the distinct timbres of piano, violin, and clarinet. The finale of Igor Stravinsky’s groundbreaking ballet, The Rite of Spring, is a rhythmically jagged pagan ritual in which a young maiden dances herself to death. Maurice Ravel’s La Valse, a “choreographic poem” for orchestra arranged for two pianos by the composer, offers an epic tribute to the buoyant Viennese waltz, beginning in shadows and gradually shedding more light on “an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd.”

Program

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Musette from Suite in E minor

Arnold Schoenberg: Musette from Suite Op. 25

Christian Onyeji: Ugie (Igbo Dance) III. Fast

Alberto Ginestera: Suite de danzas criollas, Op. 15 II. Allegro rustico

Robert de Visée: Sarabande from Suite No. 7 in D minor

Francis Poulenc: Sarabande pour guitare

Georges Bizet: “Habanera” from Carmen

Thomas Adès: “Habanera” from The Exterminating Angel

Adès: Mazurka No. 1

Frederic Chopin: Mazurka Op. 17 No. 4

Sam Suggs: Three EDM Caprices

Peter Hristoskov: Rachenitsa from 12 Capriccios for Violin

Béla Bartók: Contrasts

Intermission

Mel Bonis: 6 Valses-Caprices for Piano 4-Hands Op. 87

Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring for Piano 4-Hands - XV. Sacrificial Dance

Maurice Ravel: La Valse for 2 pianos

Image: Henry Matisse, Dance (1910)