First-of-its-Kind Partnership Brings Moscow Ballet, UK Orchestra Together in 'Nutcracker' Tour

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Promo for Moscow Ballet's "The Great Russian Nutcracker." 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 17, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra will lend its musical talents to the Moscow Ballet next week as it presents a three-city Kentucky tour of the "Great Russian Nutcracker." The tour, which also has stops in Paducah and Bowling Green, Kentucky, will grace the Singletary Center for the Arts stage for Central Kentucky audiences Nov. 18.

When Moscow Ballet’s 70-plus city tour stops in Paducah, Bowling Green and Lexington, the performances will be set to live music and played by student members of the UK Symphony Orchestra, a first in the Commonwealth. Approximately 70 up-and-coming musicians and 40 internationally touring Moscow Ballet dancers will pair for the staging of this holiday classic and usher it to life.

The partnership between Moscow Ballet and UK Symphony Orchestra is a pilot program for a national launch and couples for the first time a full student orchestra and internationally touring ballet company bringing audiences the full performance experience. 

"Performing Tchaikovsky's ballet, 'The Nutcracker,' with a major professional ballet company will be a rare and special treat and challenge for our students. Our students are very excited to meet and work with the Russian dancers, who are their same ages, and who, like our students, are deeply involved in being excellent in their art form,” said John Nardodillo, UK Symphony Orchestra’s conductor. 

“Moscow Ballet is a top-level educational experience for student dancers and it’s only fitting for us to invite musicians to participate,” said Akiva Talmi, CEO of Talmi Entertainment Inc., producer of the U.S. Tour. “This is such a treat for Kentucky audiences since full orchestras rarely travel with a touring production.”

Times, dates, and location for performances of "The Great Russian Nutcracker" are:

· 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17, at the Carson Center, in Paducah;  

· 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Singletary Center; and

· 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center, in Bowling Green.

In addition to the "Great Russian Nutcracker," Moscow Ballet's repertory includes classic ballets "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," "Romeo and Juliet," "Cinderella" and more. For over 20 years the company has performed 100 engagements annually in North America. Moscow Ballet has received critical acclaim from media outlets and was invited to present at two National Press Club Newsmaker events. In addition to the public performances, the company’s mission and national platform enable it to share the Russian Vaganova training with more than 5,000 local dance students annually in the “Dance with Us” program. 

Since Nardolillo took the conductor's podium of the UK Symphony Orchestra, it has enjoyed great success accumulating recording credits and sharing the stage with such acclaimed international artists as Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Marvin Hamlisch, as well the Boston Pops. In addition to its own concerts, UK Symphony Orchestra provides accompaniment for much of the UK Opera Theatre season. UK's orchestra is one of a very select group of university orchestras under contract with Naxos, the world's largest classical recording label. To see the UK Symphony Orchestra season brochure, visit http://finearts.uky.edu/sites/default/files/14-15_UKSO_layout.pdf.

The UK Symphony Orchestra is housed at the UK School of Music at UK College of Fine Arts. The school has garnered a national reputation for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, and theory and music history.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu