The Four Seasons & Morpheus’ Dream & The Leaves Are Fading

• The dancers push the limits of their bodies against a changing backdrop of geometric shapes, evoking the power and passion of a world in flux.
   
• The dazzling athleticism of The Four Seasons does not detract from its universal themes. As Dawson says: “The aesthetic is always born out of profoundly human feelings.”
   
• “It was my way of having a conversation with Vivaldi.” So said Max Richter of his 2012 composition, which discards most of Vivaldi’s original notes while retaining the shape of the music.

David Dawson is Associate Artist at Het Nationale Ballet, Associate Choreographer at Semperoper Ballett and a prolific international dancemaker. He is represented in the repertoires of Teatro alla Scalla, Mariinsky Ballet, The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet and many others. His oeuvre includes full-length productions of Tristan + Isolde, Swan Lake and Giselle.

Max Richter’s album Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons topped the classical charts in 22 countries when it was released in 2012. This mesmerizing reinterpretation discards most of Vivaldi’s material for his famous violin concertos to reveal and recontextualize their essence, making the music both recognizable and new.

Choreography and Concept:
David Dawson

Staged by:
Rebecca Gladstone, Christiane Marchant and Courtney Richardson

Music:
Max Richter, Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

Set Design:
Eno Henze

Costume Design:
Yumiko Takeshima

Lighting Design:
Bert Dalhuysen

World Premiere: Semperoper Ballett, Semperoper Dresden, Dresden, Germany, March 10, 2018  

The National Ballet of Canada Premiere: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, February 26, 2025

The Four Seasons is a gift from The Volunteer Committee, The National Ballet of Canada.

The National Ballet also acknowledges support for The Four Seasons provided by The Anna McCowan-Johnson New Creations Fund and The Penelope Reed Doob Fund for New Creations.

• Goecke introduced his distinct contemporary style to the National Ballet in 2014 with the acquisition of his radical reimagining of Le Spectre de la Rose.
   
• Lady Gaga’s vocal track is completely unexpected and reflects the surreal experience of dreaming, while her lyrics illuminate the fraught relationship onstage.
   
• Goecke’s title alludes to Morpheus, god of dreams, who could appear to the dreamer in any form to deliver messages from the gods.

Marco Goecke is the award-winning choreographer of such works as Nijinski and The Big Crying. His creations are represented in top repertoires worldwide, including Stuttgart Ballet and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, where he was Resident Choreographer. Goecke has been Artistic Director of Hanover State Opera and Associate Choreographer at Nederlands Dans Theater.

Morpheus’ Dream is set to piano music from Keith Jarrett’s Budapest Concert, a live improvisational album documenting his solo piano performance at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in 2016. The score combines Jarrett’s fresh and spontaneous sound, rooted in his famous jazz stylings, with a vocal track by American musician Lady Gaga.

Choreography:
Marco Goecke

Music:
Keith Jarrett, Budapest Concert, Part VII & Part VIII 
Lady Gaga, Bad Romance 

Costume Design:
Thomas Lempertz

Lighting Design:
Udo Haberland

World Premiere: The National Ballet of Canada, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, February 26, 2025

Produced and Commissioned by The National Ballet of Canada.

Lead philanthropic support for Morpheus’ Dream is provided by The Gail Hutchison Fund.

• The Leaves Are Fading stands out as one of Tudor’s last major works and it shows his renowned skill with the psychological ballet.
   
• Plotless but purposeful, the ballet evokes moments and feelings from a woman’s youth as dancers sweep through the glade like memories.
   
• Tudor created The Leaves Are Fading for American Ballet Theatre in 1975, casting famed dancers Gelsey Kirkland and Jonas Kage in the lead pas de deux. This season marks the beloved work’s 50th anniversary.

English choreographer Antony Tudor was a pioneering figure of 20th century ballet and, during his long tenure, helped to shape the profile of American Ballet Theatre. Ballets such as Jardin aux Lilas and Pillar of Fire exemplify his preference for understatement, universal themes and emotional sincerity. Tudor also worked in opera, musical theatre, film and television.

The Leaves Are Fading is set to music from Antonín Dvořák’s string quartet Cypresses and other chamber music for strings. The lyricism of the music supports the emotion of the ballet and the melancholy of time and relationships passing. Fittingly, Dvořák compiled his Cypresses in 1887 from an earlier cycle of love songs he composed while suffering from a broken heart.

Choreography:
Antony Tudor

Music:
Antonín Dvořák

Costumes:
Patricia Zipprodt

Scenery:
Ming Cho Lee

Lighting:
Jennifer Tipton

World Premiere: American Ballet Theatre, July 17, 1975 

The National Ballet of Canada Premiere: O’Keefe Centre (now Meridian Hall), Toronto, November 14, 1990

The Leaves Are Fading is a gift from The Volunteer Committee, The National Ballet of Canada