Artistic and Production Team

YURI POSSOKHOV (Choreographer) danced for 10 years with the Bolshoi Ballet, performing leading roles in the company’s classical and contemporary repertoire. While performing, Possokhov studied choreography and ballet pedagogy at the State College of Theatrical Arts. He was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet for two years before joining the San Francisco Ballet (SFB) as a principal dancer in 1994. During his 12 years dancing with SFB, he began choreographing. Upon retirement from dancing, he joined SFB’s artistic staff as choreographer-in-residence. He has choreographed over 15 ballets for SFB and continues to create new works for the company. Possokhov also choreographs for companies worldwide. For the Bolshoi Ballet in 2015 and 2017—A Hero of Our Time and Nureyev— full length ballets that received the prestigious Benois de la Danse Award, established by the International Dance Union. Anna Karenina, premiered in 2019 as a co-production of Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and the Australian Ballet. His most recent full-length ballet, The Seagull, premiered with the Bolshoi Ballet in the summer of 2021. He is a frequent guest choreographer with Atlanta Ballet. His most recent production for the company was The Nutcracker in 2018. Learn more at yuripossokhov.com.

TOM PYE (Scenic Designer) has worked with a diverse range of directors around the world in theatre, TV, film, opera and dance. Current credits include The Hours (The Metropolitan Opera), My Neighbour Totoro (RSC/ Barbican Theatre), as well as the upcoming “The Ballad of Renegade Nell” for Disney+. After being nominated for a Craft & Design Award for his work on season one, Pye has now been nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for his work on season two of Sally Wainwright’s acclaimed BBC One and HBO series “Gentleman Jack”. Pye served recently as Designer on the Bolshoi Theatre debut of The Seagull and Messiah for the Châtelet Theatre in Paris and the Lyon Opera. Select Broadway credits include Long Day’s Journey into Night, All My Sons, The Glass Menagerie, Fiddler on the Roof (Tony nomination), The Testament of Mary, Cyrano de Bergerac and Medea. Select West End credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Christmas Carol, Sinatra and Medea. Select opera credits include Cosi fan Tutte, The Death of Klinghoffer and Eugene Onegin (ENO and The Metropolitan Opera co-productions); Akhnaten (ENO, MET, LA Opera); and Anna Karenina (Joffrey Ballet). In film and television, Pye’s credits include “To Walk Invisible” by Sally Wainwright (BBC, PBS); “Gloriana,” “A Feast at Midnight,” “Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry,” “Richard II” and “Twelfth Night” (Channel 4).

SANDRA WOODALL (Costume Designer), visual artist and a leading designer for dance, has designed sets and costumes at San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, the State Opera Ballet of Austria, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Houston Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Project, Singapore Dance Theatre, National Ballet of Finland and other companies around the world. Woodall’s artwork has been shown in exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut, the San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design, and at WearableArt, Hong Kong. She has been a Fulbright scholar at Taiwan National University of the Arts and has designed many productions in Taiwan and China, including 2009’s stadium-scale opening for the Deaf Olympics, the 100th anniversary celebration of Taiwan National Day, Winter Journey by Wan Fang in Beijing and the 2019 premiere in Shanghai of Stan Lai’s 8-hour epic, AGO.

DAVID FINN (Lighting Designer) began his professional career as a lighting designer at age 16, working for puppeteer Burr Tillstrom — “Kukla, Fran and Ollie.” His design credits for dance include works for such renowned choreographers as Sasha Waltz, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Merce Cunningham, James Kudelka, José Limón, Helgi Tomasson, Liam Scarlett, Yuri Possokhov and Dana Reitz, as well as for leading international companies. Finn was the resident lighting designer for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project from 1993 to 2000. His opera work includes projects for the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera, Paris Opera, La Scala Milan, Salzburg Festival and many others. Finn has designed the Cirque du Soleil shows ZED in Tokyo, and R.U.N. and Michael Jackson ONE in Las Vegas. Recent projects include the world premieres of The Flying Dutchman for the Metropolitan Opera, The Seagull for The Bolshoi Ballet, Symphonie MMXX for Sasha Waltz and The Berlin Ballet, and Anna Karenina for the Joffrey Ballet. Upcoming plans include Lohengrin for The Bolshoi Opera & the Metropolitan Opera, Antony and Cleopatra for the San Francisco Opera, Cinderella for The Royal Ballet, and Summer and Smoke with choreographer Cathy Marston for ABT and the Houston Ballet.

FINN ROSS (Video Designer) has won two Oliviers, a Tony Award and three Drama Desk awards. Ross’ theater work includes My Neighbour Totoro (Barbican); Dancin’ (Broadway); Frozen (International); Back to the Future (West End); Tammy Faye, Spring Awakening (Almeida); Mean Girls (Broadway); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West End and tour) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Broadway, West End and tour); Jagged Little Pill, In the Body of the World World and Crossing (American Repertory Theatre and Broadway); American Psycho (Broadway and Almeida); Betrayal (Broadway); Chimerica (Almeida and West End); The Tempest (Royal Shakespeare Company and Barbican); and Master and Margarita, All My Sons and Shun-kin (Complicite). His opera credits include The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Royal Opera House); Benvenuto Cellini, Death of Klinghoffer, Death in Venice, Eugine Onegin, Simon Boccanegra, Damnation of Faust and Don Giovanni (English National Opera); Hansel und Gretel, Zauberflöte and A Dog’s Heart (Dutch National Opera); La clemenza di Tito and The Adventures of Mr. Brouèek (Opera North); Les Pecheurs de Perles, Turn of the Screw (Theatre an der Wien); and Rinaldo (Glyndebourne). Ross’ design work for dance includes Le Petit Prince (National Ballet of Canada) and Frankenstein (Royal Ballet).

FAYE ARMON-TRONCOSO (Props and Set Decorator) was the first Props/ Set Decorator to have ever won an Obie Award — ever! Her Broadway credits include The Museum of Broadway; Linda Vista (Hayes); Head Over Heels (Hudson); The Terms of My Surrender (Belasco); Oslo (Lincoln Center); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Booth); The Gin Game (Golden); Fun Home (Circle in the Square, Tony Award nomination for Best Set); The River (Circle in the Square); Of Mice and Men (Longacre); Macbeth (Lincoln Center); Testament of Mary (Walter Kerr); Golden Boy (Belasco); Clybourne Park (Walter Kerr, Tony Award nomination for Best Set); War Horse (Lincoln Center, Tony Award for Best Set); The Merchant of Venice (Broadhurst/ Delacorte, Tony Award nomination for Best Set); Enron (Broadhurst) and Edward Albee’s Seascape (Booth). Faye’s Off-Broadway credits include In the Heights (37 Arts) and Bug (Barrow Street Theater, Obie Award) and a million more Off-Broadway productions at Lincoln Center Theater. For television, Faye was Art Director on “The Big Fib” and Prop Master on “The Good Fight.”

ARI PELTO (Conductor), Music Director at Opera Colorado, conducts Cavalleria Rusticana, Rigoletto, Die Tote Stadt and Carmen for the company’s 2022-23 season. Guest engagements include Sacramento Philharmonic (Mozart & Britten) and Tosca at Opera Memphis. Widely known for performances that have been called “poetic, earthy, vigorous” and “highly individual,” he is in demand in opera houses and with symphony orchestras throughout the United States. Appointed to Opera Colorado in 2015, Pelto has conducted acclaimed performances of La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Aida, La Bohème, Falstaff, La Fanciulla del West, Le Nozze di Figaro and Lucia di Lammermoor. In contemporary repertoire, the company recently premiered Lori Laitman’s long-awaited work, The Scarlet Letter, a recording of which was released on the Naxos label, and the world premiere of Gerald Cohen’s new opera recently recorded for commercial release, Steal a Pencil for Me, based on a true love story set in a concentration camp during WWII. Recent symphonic highlights include a program of Brahms with Sacramento Philharmonic, and a program of Ravel, Prokofiev and Boccherini that he devised for his debut with Detroit Symphony in their Neighborhood Series. A masterful collaborator with dancers, Maestro Pelto has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Atlanta Ballet. He led the company in world premieres of Twyla Tharp’s first story ballet The Princess and the Goblin and Helen Pickett’s Camino Real. Previously, he conducted Jean-Christophe Maillot’s ground-breaking production of Romeo et Juliette, as well as Atlanta Ballet’s production of Prokofiev’s Cinderella.

ADDITIONAL CREDITS

Projection Design Assistant, Chet Miller Projection Engineers, Michael Commendatore & Joey Moro Lighting Supervisor, Ben Rawson Lighting Programmer, Landon Robinson Make Up Design, Blythe Tierney Dever Costume Construction by Parkinson Gill Ltd. Scenic Construction by Cardiff Theatrical Services, Ltd. Lighting & Projection Equipment provided by 4 Wall Entertainment, Inc. Additional Costume Construction by Birgit Pfeffer, Mark Zappone, All-Stitch Masks & Mice Artisan, Robert Allsopp Additional Costumes, Scenery & Props Construction by Alliance Theatre Deck Crew Chief, Michael Van Parys Co-Head Electrician, Justin Schwartz Head Props, Arlene Collins Lead Projectionist, Jay Holloway Acrobat Coaches, Christy Campbell, Cary Jones, Nicole White Make Up by Christina Hazouri Bradley Wigs by George Deavour Lead Automation, Allison Rowland Rigging Equipment provided By Atlanta Rigging Systems Assistant Stage Manager, Jane Kuipers Additional Costume Support, Stephanie Faith, Hauzia Conyers, Jane Kuipers

Special appearance at Saturday, December 17 and Sunday, December 18 performances.