4 World Premieres on S.F. Ballet Season

Four world premieres, a new, full-length “Sleeping Beauty,” and the U.S. premiere of a work by the late Kirov choreographer, Leonid Jakobson, are highlights of the 1990 spring season of San Francisco Ballet, recently announced by Helgi Tomasson, artistic director of the Bay City troupe. This 57th consecutive subscription season by the company opens Jan. 27 and ends May 6; performances are again scheduled in War Memorial Opera House.

Tomasson’s new “Sleeping Beauty” production, to be designed by Jens-Jacob Worsaae, who collaborated with Tomasson on the company’s 1987 “Swan Lake,” will be unveiled March 13. Brand-new works in the season will be choreographed by Lisa de Ribere, Brenda Way, David Bintley and Val Caniparoli, the ballet’s resident dance maker. Jakobson’s “Rodin,” being seen in this country for the first time, will be danced at performances beginning April 11.

Also listed on the eight repertory programs: Balanchine’s “Serenade,” Tomasson’s “Menuetto” and “Variations de Ballet,” the collaboration (1960) of Balanchine and Lew Christensen.

Announced at the same time is San Francisco Ballet’s first engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Oct. 17-22, 1989.

Meanwhile, the Joffrey’s ‘89-’90 season is due to be announced Monday. Stay tuned.

BRUHN PRIZE: Announced just five days before the final competition, the decision of American Ballet Theatre not to send dancers to the just-concluded International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize in Toronto, seemed to discombobulate the annual contest, which draws its talent from only four companies: ABT, National Ballet of Canada, Royal Ballet, and Royal Danish Ballet.

Nevertheless, with only six (instead of eight) finalists in contention, the judges chose Silja Wendrup-Schandorff of the Royal Danish Ballet and Stephen Legate of the National Ballet of Canada for the top prizes: $6,000 to each dancer, plus a statuette.

Wendrup-Schandorff, 20, performed the pas de deux from Balanchine’s “Agon” and a new work, “Hommage a Bournonville,” with Henning Albrechtsen of the Royal Danish Ballet.

Legate danced the pas de deux from Marius Petipa’s “Le Corsaire” and the second movement of Glen Tetley’s “Sphinx” with Jennifer Fournier, another National Ballet dancer.

The other competitors were Belinda Hatley and Sergiu Pobereznic of Britain’s Royal Ballet.

The week before the competition, Mikhail Baryshnikov, artistic director of ABT, sent word that “there are no suitable candidates in the designated age category (18-23) that are currently available to compete.” Robert Pontarelli, speaking for ABT last week, told The Times he felt that statement needed no elaboration.

About ABT’s nonparticipation in the 1989 competition, Celia Franca, founder of National Ballet of Canada, which hosts the contest, said: “We sincerely hope they will join us in the future.”

The late Erik Bruhn left funds to establish the prize in a codicil to his will. He specified the competitors be a male and female dancer between the ages of 18 and 23 and come from four companies with which he was closely associated--the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Bruhn was artistic director of National Ballet of Canada for the three years before his death in 1986.

COMPOSERS: Ed Applebaum, since 1971 on the faculty of UC Santa Barbara, will this summer move to Florida Strate University in Tallahassee , where he will serve as professor of composition and director of the New Music Ensemble. . . . Jeffrey Rockwell will write the music, J. Sherwood Montgomery the libretto, for “Rip van Winkle,” an opera for children commissioned by San Diego Opera on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. The world premiere of “Rip van Winkle” is scheduled in October . . . A roster of 15 composers will meet in the mountains of Colorado, Aug. 18-20 for Composer-to-Composer, a three-day gathering “for discussions, demonstrations and performances of new work and work-in-progress.” The composers are Ricardo dal Farra, Jin Hi Kim, Louis Andriessen, Joan La Barbara, John Cage, Anthony Davis, Tom Johnson, Tania Leon, Annea Lockwood, Steve Reich, Morton Subotnick, Trimpin, Walter Zimmerman, Julio Estrada and Conlon Nancarrow.

AND OTHER PEOPLE: Kate Tamarkin has been appointed associate conductor of the Dallas Symphony. A 1978 graduate of Chapman College in Orange, Tamarkin also holds degrees from universities in Illinois and Maryland. . . . Frank Augustyn, longtime principal dancer of National Ballet of Canada, will become artistic director of the nine-year-old Theatre Ballet of Canada, the small (budget under $1 million), Ottawa-based company which gives 55 performances annually, on July 1. . . . Richard Bradshaw, formerly resident conduct at San Francisco Opera (1977-87), has been appointed chief conductor of Canadian Opera in Toronto. . . . Violinist Andres Cardenes, who has been active as a free-lance concertmaster on the West Coast, and has served on university faculties in Indiana and Utah, will become permanent concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony beginning in August. Cardenes, a native of Cuba trained in this country, has been guest concertmaster of the Pittsburgh orchestra in 1988-89.

CORRECTION: Contrary to information published in this space last Sunday, the two operas to be performed by the touring Alexander Spendarian State Opera of Armenia at the Wiltern Theatre five times this week will not be receiving U.S. premieres. Armen Tigranian’s “Anoush” has previously been produced in Southern California, as well as around the nation. About Dikran Tchoukhadjian’s “Arshak II,” records are inconclusive--but chances are it has been performed on the West Coast. What is incontrovertible is that the troupe’s recent productions of these works are new to our eyes. More information: (213) 465-6168.