Kirov Ballet’s U. S. Tour May Include Orange County

The Kirov Ballet is coming to the United States in July and the Orange County Performing Arts Center is on the list of potential venues, according to representatives of the Metropolitan Opera, sponsor of the tour.

John Wilson, a Met company road manager, told The Times that an Orange County stop is definite, and that it would be the only tour stop in the greater Los Angeles area.

But Jane Hermann, the Met’s director of presentations, refused to confirm Wilson’s statement, saying only that the Kirov will be in the country for eight weeks beginning in July.

“We would like to put (the Kirov) there (at the Performing Arts Center),” said Hermann. “But we haven’t made up our minds yet.”

The Kirov, generally acknowledged as the pre-eminent exponent of Russian classicism, made its last local appearance in May, 1986, at Shrine Auditorium during the company’s first U.S. visit in 22 years.

Wilson made his statement at Greek Theatre during the recent engagement of the Royal Spanish National Ballet. He said the Kirov would bypass Los Angeles and perform only in Orange County because other venues of appropriate size would not be available in the area at the time.

Hermann said that only the first three weeks of Kirov performances--to take place at the Met in New York--are firm at this point. “We don’t know what (other) cities it will be in,” she insisted.