The Artists Vi et animo , William Forsythe’s Artifact Suite , Mark Morris’s Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes , Jerome Robbins’s The Concert (Or the Perils of Everybody), and George Balanchine’s Rubies, Ballet Imperial, and The Four Temperaments.
JEROME ROBBINS Choreographer, In the Night
with Sergiu Luca; Royal College of Music in London with Dona Lee Croft; and Trinity College of Music with Bela Katona. Ms. Tarrant began her professional career as the violinist in the Midland-Odessa (Texas) Symphony at the age of 16. She began her tenure with the Houston Ballet Orchestra in 1986 and was promoted to concertmaster in 1988. Ms. Tarrant has been featured as a violin soloist in several Houston Ballet productions including Stanton Welch’s Maninyas, Clear, and the world premiere of Tapestry (Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 ); world premiere of Jorma Elo’s ONE/end/ONE (Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4 ); Natalie Weir’s Steppenwolf ; Mark Morris’ Pacific ; world premiere Edwaard Liang’s Mumuration (Ezio Bosso, Violin Concerto No. 1 ); world premiere of Jacquelyn Long’s Illuminate (Oliver Davis, Frontiers ) and world premiere of Jindallae Bernard’s Parodie de l’histoire du ballet (Camille Saint-Saëns, Introduction et Rondo capriccioso Op. 28 for Violin and Orchestra ). She has enjoyed an extensive career with Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, becoming concertmaster under the baton of Maestro Patrick Summers in 1999. Ms. Tarrant has also performed in Europe and toured to Japan with the Houston Symphony.
Jerome Robbins is world renowned for his work as a choreographer of ballets as well as his work as a director and choreographer in theater, movies, and television. His Broadway shows include On the Town, Billion Dollar Baby, High Button Shoes, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Peter Pan, Miss Liberty, Call Me Madam , and Fiddler on the Roof. His last Broadway production in 1989, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway , won six Tony Awards including best musical and best director. Among the more than 60 ballets he created are Fancy Free, Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, In the Night, In G Major, Other Dances, Glass Pieces, and Ives, Songs, which are in the repertories of New York City Ballet and other major dance companies throughout the world. His last ballets include A Suite of Dances created for Mikhail Baryshnikov (1994), 2 & 3 Part Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995), and Brandenburg (1996). In addition to two Academy Awards for the film West Side Story , Mr. Robbins received four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, two Emmy Awards, the Screen Directors’ Guild Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Mr. Robbins was a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors Recipient and was awarded the French Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la legion d’Honneur. Mr. Robbins died in 1998.
STANTON WELCH AM Choreographer, Maninyas
Stanton Welch AM was born in Melbourne to Marilyn Jones OBE and Garth Welch AM, two of Australia’s most gifted dancers of the 1960s and 1970s. He joined The Australian Ballet, rising to the rank of leading soloist and performing various principal roles, before serving as Resident Choreographer. During his decades long career, Welch has choreographed over 100 works including audience favorites Madame Butterfly (1995), Clear (2001), and Divergence (1994). His work can be seen in the repertoire of The Australian Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Birmingham Royal Ballet, among others. In July 2003, Welch was appointed Artistic Director of Houston Ballet, America’s fourth-largest ballet company. Welch has choreographed more than 40 works for Houston Ballet, including Marie (2009) and spectacular stagings of Swan Lake (2006), La Bayadère (2010), Romeo and Juliet (2015), Giselle (2016), The Nutcracker (2016), Sylvia (2019), and the upcoming Raymonda (2025). Developing Houston Ballet into a choreographic Eden, Welch has commissioned over 30 works from notable choreographers such as Mark Morris, Aszure Barton, Dwight Rhoden, Trey McIntyre, and Justin Peck, while expanding the company’s repertoire with works from internationally acclaimed choreographers including George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, John Neumeier, Twyla Tharp, and Jerome Robbins. Under Welch’s leadership, Houston Ballet has appeared across the globe including recent engagements in Tokyo, Dubai, Melbourne, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Welch continues to nurture the next generation of artists through the Houston Ballet Academy, a leading institution in dance education and training.
LILA YORK Choreographer, Celts
Lila York danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company for twelve years, appearing in over 60 works. Since 1990 she has choreographed works for Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet West, Colorado Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Kansas City Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Orlando Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, Connecticut Ballet Theatre, NBA Ballet of Tokyo, The David Parsons Company, The Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, and The Juilliard Dance Ensemble. She recently premiered a new work for the Paul Taylor Dance Company and a full evening ballet based on The Handmaid’s Tale . From 1989 to 1992 Ms. York directed a program for the production of new choreography at Pacific Northwest Ballet. She graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in English literature.
KATHERINE BURKWALL-CISCON Piano, In the Night
Chicago native Katherine Ciscon received her bachelor’s degree in piano from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and a double master’s degree in both piano performance and collaborative arts from the University of Houston Moores School of Music. She was named Principal Pianist of Houston Ballet in 1995 and has also been a vocal coach and Visiting Artist Professor of Music at the Moores School of Music. While at Houston Ballet, Ms. Ciscon has performed as soloist in the world premieres of Stanton Welch’s Nosotros, Class and The Core , Justin Peck’s Reflections (world premiere of Sufjan Stevens music), Garrett Smith’s Reveal , James Kudelka’s Passion , Ben Stevenson’s Eclipse , and Trey McIntyre’s Bound , among others. She has also been featured as soloist in many works, including Stanton Welch’s Sons de L’âme, Tu Tu, and
DENISE TARRANT Violin, Maninyas
Denise Tarrant studied at the University of Houston with Fredell Lack; Rice University
22 HOUSTON BALLET
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