2004 Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS CONTACT:
Barbara Webb
(415) 453-9678

The 2004 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Presents a Performance by the San Francisco Ballet School
Sunday, May 23, 2-4 pm

San Francisco, CA. April 28, 2004. As part of the 2004 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, students from the San Francisco Ballet School will perform dances choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, George Balanchine and a world premiere by up-and-coming choreographer Avichai Scher. Bring a blanket, a hat, and a picnic and enjoy this FREE performance in the Esplanade Gardens on Sunday, May 23 from 2 to 4 pm.

The program includes Donizetti Variations choreographed by George Balanchine with music by Gaetano Donizetti; Handel - A Celebration, choreographed by Helgi Tomasson with music by George Frederick Handel; Bluebird Pas de Deux from The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Helgi Tomasson with traditional choeography after Marius Petipa with music by Peter Ilyrich Tchaikovsky; and a world premiere by Avichai Scher.

For as long as there has been a San Francisco Ballet, there has been a San Francisco Ballet School. It was established in 1933 as a single institution by Gaetano Merola, founding director of the San Francisco Opera. San Francisco became the only city in the country other than New York to claim a ballet school as an auxiliary to an established opera company. In 1942 the San Francisco Ballet Guild bought the school from the San Francisco Opera and the school evolved into one of the country's finest classical academies. Scholarship programs were initiated, and the faculty came to include numerous prominent classical ballet teachers.

All performances and events are free and open to the public, drawing an audience of San Francisco and Bay Area residents, tourists, and convention attendees that numbers more than 80,000 each year.
Free artistic and cultural programming in Yerba Buena Gardens is made possible through the generous support of The San Francisco, Arts Commission, The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, KTB Management Group, The San Francisco Foundation, the W.A. Gerbode Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Fleishhacker Foundation, Bernard Osher Foundation, and other sponsors.

Media sponsors for Festival 2004 are KDFC, San Francisco Downtown Magazine, WB20, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Yerba Buena Arts & Events, organizer of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival is located at 760 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Phone (415) 543-1718; Fax (415) 543-1755; e-mail: ybgf@ybgf.org
http://ybgf.org

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Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

produced by Yerba Buena Arts & Events

Mailing Address:
760 Howard Street
San Francisco CA 94103
Phone: 415 543 1718
Fax: 415 543 1755
info@ybgf.org
www.myspace.com/ybgfestival