San Francisco Ballet Selects Yamaha as Official Piano
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 3, 2004) The San Francisco Ballet, founded in 1933, was America's first professional ballet company. Recently, Clive Barnes, critic for the New York Post and Dance Magazine, wrote, "[San Francisco Ballet] now stands in that major league once consisting only of New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre." The third largest ballet company in the U.S., the San Francisco Ballet presented the first full-length productions of both Nutcracker and Swan Lake ever seen in this country, and continues to push artistic boundaries with new works by renowned international artists while maintaining a devoted reverence for the classical tradition. Yamaha is the official piano of the San Francisco Ballet.
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Two Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand and two C7 conservatory grand pianos are used to accompany performances at the magnificent 3,200 seat War Memorial Opera House. The landmark French Renaissance style building is one of the most technologically advanced and beautiful performing arts facilities in the world, and a true San Francisco jewel. It opened its doors in 1932 and served as the original birthplace of the United Nations.
Today, the San Francisco Ballet shares the opera house with the acclaimed San Francisco Opera. Three Yamaha P22s, three C2 conservatory grands, three U1 uprights and one C5 conservatory grand piano have also been purchased by the San Francisco Ballet for rehearsal and teaching needs at the San Francisco Ballet School, where 325 students annually receive intensive training from Helgi Tomasson, artistic director, and Gloria Govrin, associate director.
"We're very pleased with all of these Yamaha pianos," says Jason Blackwell, facilities manager for San Francisco Ballet. "Our previous rehearsal pianos had been in place for 18 years, and our piano tuner was just screaming at me, ‘I can't tune these any more!' We selected Yamaha because of the company's fine reputation. We've been able to upgrade in a very big way, and everyone is quite pleased with the results."
Tomasson was appointed artistic director in 1985, following a successful career as leading dancer, most notably for renowned choreographer George Balanchine, founder of the New York City Ballet. In 1991, following the San Francisco Ballet's first performance in New York in 26 years, Anna Kisselgoff, chief dance critic for The New York Times, wrote: "Mr. Tomasson has accomplished the unprecedented. He has pulled a so-called regional company into the national ranks The San Francisco Ballet under Helgi Tomasson's leadership is one of the spectacular success stories of the arts in America."
The 2005 season begins in February with a mixed repertory of three programs: smile with my heart, a San Francisco Ballet premiere; Tomasson's 2004 work, 7 for Eight; and Balanchine's brilliant, full-company masterpiece, Theme and Variations. The season includes seven additional programs featuring world premieres and reprises of popular and challenging works by noted choreographers, including Paul Taylor, Stanton Welch, Hans van Manen, Yuri Possokhov, Jerome Robbins, Val Caniparoli, Christopher Wheeldon, Balanchine and Tomasson. On December 17, the San Francisco Ballet unveils the long anticipated premiere of its stunning new production of the holiday classic, Nutcracker. A complete schedule and further information is available at www.sfballet.org.
To learn more, write Yamaha Corporation of America at P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622-6600; or telephone (714) 522-9011.
Today, the San Francisco Ballet shares the opera house with the acclaimed San Francisco Opera. Three Yamaha P22s, three C2 conservatory grands, three U1 uprights and one C5 conservatory grand piano have also been purchased by the San Francisco Ballet for rehearsal and teaching needs at the San Francisco Ballet School, where 325 students annually receive intensive training from Helgi Tomasson, artistic director, and Gloria Govrin, associate director.
"We're very pleased with all of these Yamaha pianos," says Jason Blackwell, facilities manager for San Francisco Ballet. "Our previous rehearsal pianos had been in place for 18 years, and our piano tuner was just screaming at me, ‘I can't tune these any more!' We selected Yamaha because of the company's fine reputation. We've been able to upgrade in a very big way, and everyone is quite pleased with the results."
Tomasson was appointed artistic director in 1985, following a successful career as leading dancer, most notably for renowned choreographer George Balanchine, founder of the New York City Ballet. In 1991, following the San Francisco Ballet's first performance in New York in 26 years, Anna Kisselgoff, chief dance critic for The New York Times, wrote: "Mr. Tomasson has accomplished the unprecedented. He has pulled a so-called regional company into the national ranks The San Francisco Ballet under Helgi Tomasson's leadership is one of the spectacular success stories of the arts in America."
The 2005 season begins in February with a mixed repertory of three programs: smile with my heart, a San Francisco Ballet premiere; Tomasson's 2004 work, 7 for Eight; and Balanchine's brilliant, full-company masterpiece, Theme and Variations. The season includes seven additional programs featuring world premieres and reprises of popular and challenging works by noted choreographers, including Paul Taylor, Stanton Welch, Hans van Manen, Yuri Possokhov, Jerome Robbins, Val Caniparoli, Christopher Wheeldon, Balanchine and Tomasson. On December 17, the San Francisco Ballet unveils the long anticipated premiere of its stunning new production of the holiday classic, Nutcracker. A complete schedule and further information is available at www.sfballet.org.
To learn more, write Yamaha Corporation of America at P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622-6600; or telephone (714) 522-9011.
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