Amazed in Burning Dreams

Kirk Peterson is an American choreographer, dancer, and teacher whose career spans more than four decades and includes work with some of ballet’s most prestigious institutions. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Peterson began his training at age three at Wagner’s School of Dance — run by his mother and aunt, former acrobatic dancers Dottie and Honey Wagner — and went on to study ballet at Lelia Haller’s studio in New Orleans.

Building on his early training and professional foundation, his choreographic career began in earnest during his tenure as San Francisco Ballet’s resident choreographer from 1980 to 1985, establishing him as a distinctive creative voice in American ballet. He later broadened his reach beyond the concert stage, collaborating with Michael Smuin to choreograph two Broadway productions: Anything Goes (1987) and Shogun (1990). As Artistic Director of Hartford Ballet from 1993 to 1998, Peterson deepened his commitment to building repertoire, followed by six years as resident choreographer of Cincinnati Ballet from 2002 to 2008. His work has also been performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Washington Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, BalletMet, San Francisco Opera, and The Royal Ballet School.

In 2006, Peterson was appointed an official répétiteur of the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust. Building on this achievement, the following year he received major commissions, including a full-length Othello for Alberta Ballet—which earned him a nomination for the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse in Moscow—and Javelin for Cincinnati Ballet.

Today, Kirk Peterson continues to work as a freelance choreographer and teacher.

Born in Baltimore, Philip Glass studied the violin and flute, and obtained early admission to the University of Chicago. After graduating in mathematics and philosophy, he went to New York’s Juilliard School, drove a cab and studied composition with Darius Milhaud and others.

At 23, he moved to Paris to study under the legendary Nadia Boulanger. While there, he discovered Indian classical music while transcribing the works of Ravi Shankar into Western musical notation. A creative turning point, Glass researched non-Western music in India and parts of Africa, and applied the techniques to his own composition.

Back in the United States, Glass spent the late 1960s and early 1970s creating a major collection of new music. In 1976 his landmark opera Einstein on the Beach was staged by Robert Wilson to a baffling variety of reviews. His compositions were so avant-garde that he had to form the Philip Glass Ensemble to give them a venue for performance. Although called a minimalist by the Western classical mainstream, he denies this categorization. His major works include opera, theater pieces, film soundtracks, dance and song. Glass remains one of the most important American composers. More recently, a major reexamination of Glass’s oeuvre has led him to be labeled “The Last Romantic” by the musical press.

Through his opera, symphonies, compositions for his own ensemble, and collaborations with artists, Glass has had an extraordinary impact on the musical and intellectual life of his times. In the past 25 years, Glass has composed more than 25 operas; twelve symphonies; three piano concertos; concertos for violin, piano, timpani, saxophone quartet, and orchestra; soundtracks for films; string quartets; and a growing body of work for solo piano and organ.

Randall G. Chiarelli (1949-2024) devoted his career to lighting for dance, much of it at Pacific Northwest Ballet, and also for American Ballet Theatre, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, among others. His many collaborators included choreographers Donald Byrd, Mark Dendy, Ronald Hynd, Kent Stowell, Susan Stroman, and Christopher Wheeldon. Chiarelli graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in painting and sculpture.