For the 2023-2024 Season, Oregon Ballet Theatre will kick off with Christopher Stowell’s Swan Lake, a performance featuring the OBT Orchestra, led by Guest Conductor Enrique Carreón-Robledo.
Stowell’s production initially premiered in 2006 at the Keller Auditorium (where it will be performed again this year) and received an overwhelming response, establishing OBT’s reputation for outstanding shows and contributing to Portland’s thriving arts scene. The premiere was hailed by The Oregonian as a significant occasion for both the city and the company.
After its last showing in 2013, this production is eagerly awaited to make a comeback in OBT’s repertoire.
Artistic Director of the company for 2006 premiere, Stowell is looking forward to staging the work on the current roster of OBT dancers.
“In some ways the timing is full circle to the premiere when OBT as a very young company had to prove itself. Since the considerable set back wrought
by the pandemic, OBT and other Portland arts organizations continue to recover.It is my hope that in bringing back this production OBT will once again rise to the occasion – nurturing its dancers to fulfill their possibilities as artists and inspiring Portland audiences to discover and cherish the city’s cultural riches.”
For OBT’s first production of Swan Lake, Stowell intentionally chose a traditional approach to challenge and mentor the dancers, while also instilling a sense of pride in Portland for their achievement.
This version provides a glimpse into the 1895 St. Petersburg premiere of Marius Petipa’s and Lev Ivanov’s Swan Lake. Simultaneously, Stowell skillfully removes unnecessary moments from the original to maintain the story’s momentum.
Joining OBT’s ranks as a guest artist as Prince Siegfried for this production is San Francisco Ballet Principal Luke Ingham.
Featured Photo for Christopher Stowell’s Swan Lake of Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Ansa Deguchi, Julia Rowe, Kelsie Nobriga, and Ashley Dawn in the Pas de Quatre performed in 2013. Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert.
