Artistic and Production Teams

GEORGE BALANCHINE (Choreographer, Serenade) transformed the world of ballet. He is widely regarded as the most influential choreographer of the 20th century, and he co-founded two of ballet’s most important institutions: New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet. Balanchine was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1904, studied at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, and danced with the Maryinsky Theatre Ballet Company, where he began choreographing short works. In the summer of 1924, Balanchine left the newly formed Soviet Union for Europe, where he was invited by impresario Serge Diaghilev to join the Ballets Russes. For that company, Balanchine choreographed his first important ballets: Apollo [1928] and Prodigal Son [1929]. After Ballets Russes was dissolved following Diaghilev’s death in 1929, Balanchine spent his next few years on a variety of projects in Europe and then formed his own company, Les Ballets 1933, in Paris. There, he met American arts connoisseur Lincoln Kirstein, who persuaded him to come to the United States. In 1934, the pair founded the School of American Ballet, which remains in operation to this day, training students for companies around the world. Balanchine’s first ballet in the U.S., Serenade, set to music by Tchaikovsky, was created for SAB students and premiered on June 9, 1934, on the grounds of an estate in White Plains. Balanchine and Kirstein founded several short-lived ballet companies before forming Ballet Society in 1946, which was renamed New York City Ballet in 1948. Balanchine served as the company’s ballet master from that year until his death in 1983, building it into one of the most important performing arts institutions in the world, and a cornerstone of the cultural life of New York City. He choreographed 425 works over the course of 60-plus years, and his musical choices ranged from Tchaikovsky [one of his favorite composers] to Stravinsky [his compatriot and friend] to Gershwin [who embodied the choreographer’s love of America]. Many of Balanchine’s works are considered masterpieces and are performed by ballet companies all over the world. Courtesy of New York City Ballet. Balanchine is a trademark of the George Balanchine Trust. Photo: Tanaquil Le Clercq.

VIKI PSIHOYOS (Stager, Serenade) was accepted into George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet at age eight. She trained with the Dance Masters International team of teachers; Felia Doubrovska, Alexandra Danilova, Muriel Stuart, Helene Dudin, Antonina Tumkovsky, Andre Eglevsky, and of course the beloved Stanley Williams who cast her as La Sylphide in the annual Workshop performance. Balanchine then invited Psihoyos to join the New York City Ballet at age 17. Psihoyos performed for 13 years, appearing in over 70 works by Balanchine, Robbins, and others. Her television appearances include The Cage, Four Temperaments, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto, The Merry Widow, Chaconne and other works. Since leaving the stage, Psihoyos has been teaching widely on faculties and as a guest teacher for academies, universities and professional companies in the US and abroad. She specializes in the refined technique and musicality that the Balanchine repertoire demands. She has taught, staged and choreographed in Florence, Budapest, Paris, Estonia and Trinidad, West Indies, in addition to working with Orlando Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet West, Cincinnati University, University of Western Michigan, Brigham Young University, The Flint School of Performing Arts in Michigan, and Boulder Ballet. In 2013, Psihoyos launched a Dance for Parkinson’s program in Colorado.” Photo: Louie Psihoyos.

BEN RAWSON (Lighting Designer, Serenade) is an Atlanta-based Lighting Designer for Theatre, Opera, and Dance, member USA 829. Theatrical/ Opera design work can be seen at The Alliance Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Atlanta Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Theatrical Outfit, Actors Express, Aurora Theatre, Atlanta Lyric Theatre, 7 Stages, and Synchronicity Theatre. Dance design work includes choreographers Ana Maria Lucaciu, Troy Schumacher, Danielle Agami, and Claudia Schreier, as well as with Atlanta Ballet, Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre, BalletCollective, Fly On A Wall, Staibdance, Bluebird Uncaged, Proia Dance Project, and Emily Cargill and Dancers. Ben has also worked across the country as an Associate & Assistant Lighting Designer for San Diego Opera (CA), The Alliance Theatre (GA), Berkshire Theatre Festival (MA), Atlanta Opera (GA), Utah Opera (UT), Atlanta Ballet (GA), and Playmakers Repertory Company (NC). www.benrawsondesign.com

SERENA CHU (Rehearsal Assistant, Serenade) was born in Long Beach, New York, where she received her early training at the School of American Ballet, performed in numerous productions with the New York City Ballet, and danced in the 1990 Workshop performance of Puss In Boots by Robert LaFosse. After attending the Bolshoi Ballet program in Vail, Colorado, Chu went on to study as a scholarship student with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia, and was one of the first Americans to graduate from the school. She was a member of Sarasota Ballet before joining Tulsa Ballet, where she danced many featured roles in works from renowned choreographers such as N. Duato, G. Balanchine, J. Kylián, W. Forsythe, V. Caniparoli, B. Stevenson, A. DeMille, P. Taylor, T. Tharp, C. Wheeldon and S. Welch. Some favorite ballets in Chu’s repertoire include Arenal, Without Words, Lambarena, Company B, Serenade, Nine Sinatra Songs, Remansos, Por Vos Muero, and SeAthrough, a piece created on her by Tony Fabre. Chu was a guest principal with Ballet Des Moines during its inaugural years and helped build a new regional company in the U.S. Chu has been seen in Dance Magazine, The New York Times, Newsday, and the covers of the Tulsa World and DM magazine. She is a YoungArts award winner and was featured on “CBS Sunday Morning.” In addition to performing leading roles on the stages of the Joyce Theater in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Chu has taught in many notable schools around the country, including Tulsa, Oklahoma; Salt Lake City, Utah; Des Moines, Iowa; Las Vegas, Nevada; and now in Atlanta, Georgia, where she has staged works with Atlanta Ballet 2, including their family ballets of Beauty and the Beast, The Swan Princess and Snow White.

KIYON ROSS (Choreographer, Sum Stravinsky) has devoted his career to ballet—as a dancer, choreographer, stager, faculty member, and administrator. He started his training at the Baltimore School of the Arts and finished at Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) School, joining the company in 2001 and retiring as a soloist in 2015. Mr. Ross has choreographed works for PNB, New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute, Spectrum Dance Theater, and was resident choreographer at Ballet Arkansas from 2015-2018. Mr. Ross serves on the PNB leadership team as Director of Company Operations and will debut a world premiere on the PNB stage in June of 2023.

PAUL GIBSON (Stager, Sum Stravinsky), former principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet, joined Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) in 1994 as a soloist and was promoted to the rank of principal mid-season in 1996. He was then named rehearsal director and master scheduler for PNB company, and all school students involved with company productions immediately upon retirement from the PNB company in June 2004. From Altoona, Pennsylvania, Mr. Gibson began ballet training at the Allegheny Ballet Academy, and later supplemented his studies with summer programs at the School of American Ballet in New York. He won a scholarship at San Francisco Ballet (SFB) School and joined the company in 1988, where he rose to the rank of soloist. His six-year tenure at SFB brought exposure to a vast and varied repertoire ranging from Russian classics to the innovative works of Mark Morris, William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, James Kudelka and Jiří Kylián. During his performing career with PNB, Mr. Gibson was known for his many roles in the Balanchine repertory, including Agon, The Four Temperaments, Chaconne, Mozartiana and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon, in the BBC’s HDTV filming at the Sadler’s Well’s Theatre in London), as well as his mastery of contemporary pieces by a variety of choreographers such as Nacho Duato, José Limón, Paul Taylor and Lynne Taylor-Corbett. He has also enjoyed considerable success as a touring artist, highlighted by his April 1997 performance of Val Caniparolli’s Lambarena at the Benois Prize gala at the National Theatre of Warsaw in Poland.

PAULINE SMITH (Costume Designer, Sum Stravinsky) has worked as a first hand in the Pacific Northwest Ballet costume shop since 1991. In addition, she has also acted as supervisor for specialty shoes and wigs for such productions as Sleeping Beauty, Merry Widow, Swan Lake, Cinderella and Don Quixote; assistant to costume designers Martin Pakledinaz (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ballet Imperial), David Murin (Silver Lining) and Roberta Guidi di Bagno (Coppelia); and assistant to the production stage manager for PNB’s tours to Istanbul and Hong Kong in 2000. Ms. Smith will be collaborating again with Kiyon Ross on a world premiere for Pacific Northwest Ballet set for June 2023. Ms. Smith received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in costume design from Cornish College of the Arts and has studied theatre criticism in London through the University of Oregon. Ms. Smith’s design experience includes dance, theatre, opera, and two short films, “The Claim” and “Immaculate Perceptions.” Ms. Smith is also a fine art photographer whose work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions in the greater Seattle area since 2002. She was selected as a participating artist for the 2017 King County Metro and PCNW City Panorama public art project.

RANDALL G. CHIARELLI (Lighting Designer, Sum Stravinsky) has devoted a career to lighting for dance, much of it with Pacific Northwest Ballet. He has also done works for American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, among other companies. Mr. Chiarelli has designed lighting for two programs with Atlanta Ballet. He designed lighting for Kiyon Ross’ Sum Stravinsky at the end of the 18|19 Season, and for Giselle in the 21|22 Season. His collaborators include choreographers Glen Tetley, Kent Stowell, Susan Stroman, Justin Peck and Christopher Wheeldon. In addition to lighting for dance, Mr. Chiarelli has created lighting for musical artists Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles.

JUSTIN PECK (Choreographer, Stager and Costume Designer, In Creases), acting resident choreographer of New York City Ballet, is a Tony Award-winning choreographer, director, filmmaker and dancer based in New York City. Peck began choreographing in 2009 at the New York Choreographic Institute. In 2014, after the creation of his acclaimed ballet Everywhere We Go, he was appointed as resident choreographer of New York City Ballet. He is the second person in the institution’s history to hold this title. After attending the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center from 2003-2006, Peck was invited to join the New York City Ballet as a dancer in 2006. Peck has danced a vast repertoire of works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alexei Ratmansky, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Benjamin Millepied, Christopher Wheeldon, and many others. In 2013, Peck was promoted to soloist, performing full-time through 2019 with the company. Peck has created over 50 dances—more than 20 for New York City Ballet. His works have been performed by Paris Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Dresden Semperoper Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Boston Ballet, Juilliard, National Ballet of Canada, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and more. Peck’s collaborators include numerous composers, visual artists, fashion designers and filmmakers, including Sufjan Stevens, Shepard Fairey, Raf Simons, Steven Spielberg, and more, respectively. In 2014, Peck was the subject of the documentary Ballet 422, which presents Peck’s craft and creative process as a choreographer in detail, as he creates New York City Ballet’s 422nd commissioned dance. Peck choreographed the feature films Red Sparrow (2016) and West Side Story (2021) in collaboration with director Steven Spielberg. Peck’s work as a director-choreographer for music videos include: The Dark Side of the Gym (2017) for The National; Thank You, New York (2020) for Chris Thile; and The Times Are Racing (2017) for Dan Deacon. Peck choreographed the 2018 Broadway revival of Carousel. directed by Jack O’Brien and stars Jessie Meuller, Joshua Henry, & Renée Fleming. Peck has been awarded the National Arts Award (2018), the Golden Plate Honor from the Academy of Achievement (2019), the Bessie Award for his ballet Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes (2015), the Gross Family Prize for his ballet Everywhere We Go (2014), and the Tony Award for his choreography on Broadway’s Carousel (2018). www.Justin-Peck.com.

MICHAEL BREEDEN (Stager, In Creases) is a Kentucky native and began studying ballet at the age of 7. He moved to NYC to train at the School of American Ballet and upon graduating joined Boston Ballet II. Shortly thereafter he joined Miami City Ballet, where he danced soloist and principal roles in dozens of works by George Balanchine, as well as ballets by Alexei Ratmansky, Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor and many others. He has also danced for Pennsylvania Ballet and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Upon retiring in 2017, he started ‘Conversations On Dance,’ the most popular podcast centering dance, which has enjoyed residences at the Kennedy Center, Vail Dance Festival and San Francisco Ballet. He has staged the works of Justin Peck since 2018, for companies that include Hong Kong Ballet, Miami City Ballet and Ballet Arizona, as well as Princeton University, University of Southern California and Indiana University.

MARK STANLEY (Lighting Designer, In Creases), Resident Lighting Designer for New York City Ballet, has designed over 225 premieres for their repertoire including Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom. He has worked with choreographers around the world including Peter Martins, Alexei Ratmansky, Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, William Forsythe, Kevin O’Day, Susan Marshall, and many others. His designs are in the repertoire of nearly every major ballet company in North America and Europe. He has also worked extensively in opera, previously serving as resident designer for New York City Opera, and designing for opera companies

across the US. His opera and ballet designs have been seen nationally on “Great Performances” and “Live From Lincoln Center.” Mr. Stanley heads the Lighting Design Program at Boston University’s School of Theatre, is co-founder of the Studio School of Design and is on the board of directors of the Hemsley Lighting Programs.

WESTERN-LI SUMMERTON (Pianist, In Creases) is a pianist based in Atlanta, Georgia. Born in Bellingham, Washington, Summerton has studied with renowned pianists throughout the Pacific Northwest including Judith Widrig, Ralph Markham, Kenneth Broadway, Anita King, Jean-David Coen, and Hwakyu Lee; as well as compositional studies with Renee Favand-See and Kenji Bunch. Summerton has performed in various solo, chamber, choral, and orchestral settings, including Mendelsohn’s two piano arrangement of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Bodyvox, and The Portland Ballet’s production of Stravinsky’s The Firebird. Summerton has an extensive history in collaboration between music and dance. He has played for many companies across the country, including The Portland Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, NW Dance Project, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and United Ballet Theatre. In 2021, Summerton was invited to play classes for Royal Danish Ballet and Hungarian National Ballet. In 2022, he made his debut performance with Atlanta Ballet, performing in Claudia Schreier’s Pleiades Dances. He currently serves as the Company Accompanist/Music Administration Coordinator for Atlanta Ballet. Summerton holds a Bachelor of Music in piano performance with a minor in business from Portland State University.

HYUNJUNG RACHEL CHUNG (Pianist, In Creases), Korean-American pianist, is celebrated for being the 2020 top prize winner of the Ernest Beacon Memorial Award of the American Prize, and has paved a multifaceted path as a performer, educator, adjudicator, recording artist, and avocational composer. She made her New York solo debut at Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall in 1996 as a winner of the Artist International Audition. Since then, her solo and collaborative recitals have taken her throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Dedicated to the music of our time, as well as the neglected and forgotten music, she has performed and recorded various piano solo works by women composers in her two award-winning albums on the Studio Jeeb label: “My Cherished Garden: Piano Works by American Women Composers” (2017) and “Three Piano Sonatas by Women Composers” (2018). Additionally, her most recent album “Burleigh, Coleridge-Taylor & Dett: Piano Suites” (2022) won a Gold Star in the Best Piano Solo CD category at the Music & Stars Awards. As a collaborative pianist, she has frequently shared a stage with her husband and a tenor Dr. Sungbae Kim. Chung is an associate professor and the chair of the Department of Music at Spelman College, where she has been teaching since 2006. Steinway & Sons recognized her outstanding endeavors with the 2020 Top Music Teacher Award. Chung earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Seoul National University, a Master of Music degree and a Professional Study Diploma from the Mannes College of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.