BOSTON SEES FOUR WORLD PREMIERS AND BARYSHNIKOV IN FEBRUARY AND MARCH.

BOSTON--Boston Ballet rejoins the twentieth century to launch the new year, after spending the fall with Giselle and late November to early January with its annual run of The Nutcracker at the Wang Center. Two programs of contemporary works will be presented at the Shubert Theatre, across from the Wang on Tremont Street: "The Young Masters," February 18 to 28; and "Festival of Firsts," March 4 to 14.

The February series will include ballets by company principal dancer, Laszlo Berdo; contemporary choreographer Mark Morris; and Daniel Pelzig, BB associate artist. Morri's 1994 premiere for the San Francisco Ballet, Maelstrom, set to Beethoven's Piano Trio No. 1, called the "Ghost" from the theme of its second movement, replaces a previously announced new work by Lila York. By mutual agreement, York and Boston Ballet have postponed her third work for the company until next year.

Local dance enthusiasts will have a Morris blitz for the final weekend in February. In addition to Maelstrom at the Shubert, the Mark Morris Dance Group moves into the Wang Center for performances, February 25 to 28, with guest artists Mikhail Baryshnikov and cellist Yo-Yo Ma on the bill. Ma will perform live for the world premiere of Morris's The Argument, set to music for cello and piano by Robert Schumann, and the Boston premiere of Falling Down Stairs, set to Bach's Suite No. 3 for unaccompanied cello.

Berdo contributes a new ballet, Family Tree, with music by contemporary Australian composer Stephen Kent. Four Hands, his first work for the full company, premiered last season. Pelzig's amusing ode to country music, Nine Lives: Songs of Lyle Lovett, completes the program.

For the March series, Christopher Wheeldon, soloist at New York City Ballet, premiers his newest piece of choreography, Corybantic Ecstasies, set to Leonard Bernstein's Serenade. Six couples from the corps de ballet are tentatively scheduled to back four leading pairs, including principal dancers Larissa Ponomarenko, Patrick Armand, Paul Thrussell, Aleksandra Koltun, Pollyana Ribeiro, and Jennifer Gelfand. Pelzig will also present a world premiere for twenty dancers entitled Bachianas, set to Bachianas Brasileiras, Movements 1 and 5, by Heitor Villa-Lobos. Boston Ballet presents the company premiere of Roland Petit's Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, to complete the March program, with Armand and Koltun assigned first cast. The 1999 season continues March 18 to 28 with an all-Balanchine series and May 4 to 23 with the Boston premiere of Ben Stevenson's Dracula, both at the Wang.