The Seasons’ Canon

Choreography

Crystal Pite

Composer

Max Richter

Music

Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons, recomposed by Max Richter, 2012

Costume Design

Nancy Bryant

Lighting Design

Tom Visser, staged by Douwe Beernink

Scenic Design

Jay Gower Taylor and Tom Visser

Staging

Eric Beauchesne (2022, 2024)
Anna Herrmann (2022)

Cast

54 dancers

Running Time

31 minutes

Premiere

September 26, 2016
Paris Opera Ballet

PNB Premiere

November 4, 2022

Reflected Light Concept

Jay Gower Taylor and Tom Visser

The PNB Premiere of Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon was principally supported by Susan Brotman and Dan & Pam Baty.

The Seasons’ Canon is a co-production between PNB and Boston Ballet.

PNB staged the American premiere of Emergence in 2013, the first of Crystal Pite’s works to enter the repertory. In February 2014, the ballet performed it to sold-out houses on the Company’s tour to New York City Center. The Seasons’ Canon is the third work of Crystal Pite’s to enter PNB’s repertoire after Emergence and Plot Point.

“… I consider nature’s facts – its beautiful and grotesque forms and events – in terms of the import to thought and their impetus to the spirit. In nature I find grace tangled in a rapture with violence; I find an intricate landscape whose forms are fringed in death; I find mystery, newness, and a kind of exuberant, spendthrift energy.”

—Annie Dillard

“Creation for me is like looking through a lens. It’s a way to see the world in greater detail and clarity; it’s a magnified experience. It is the act of making that sharpens my awareness and connects me most deeply to the natural world and all the brutality and beauty it contains. The Seasons’ Canon is a gesture, an offering. It is as much my way of coping with the vastness and complexity of the natural world as it is a way of giving thanks for it”.

—Crystal Pite

Artist Biographies

In a choreographic career spanning three decades, Crystal Pite has created more than fifty works for companies such as The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and the National Ballet of Canada. She is an Associate Artist at three institutions: Nederlands Dans Theater, Sadler’s Wells London, and Canada’s National Arts Centre. She holds an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University and is a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2002, she formed her company Kidd Pivot in Vancouver. Kidd Pivot tours internationally with works such as Betroffenheit and Revisor, both co-created with playwright Jonathon Young, as well as The Tempest Replica, Dark Matters, Lost Action, and The You Show.