NYCB NEWS.

Ballet master in chief Peter Martins kicked off New York City Ballet's fiftieth-anniversary season by announcing ten promotions. Soloists Monique Meunier, age 25, and Charles Askegard, 29, were made principals. Eight corps members were elevated to soloist rank: Alexandra Ansanelli, 17; Jennie Somogyi, 21; Arch Higgins, 28; Robert Lyon, 30; Benjamin Milllepied, 21; Christopher Wheeldon, 25; Sebastien Marcovici, 22; and Edward Liang, 23. Millepied. Wheeldon, Marcovici, and Liang were profiled as up-and-corners on page 70 of the November 1998 issue.

In addition to promoting Wheeldon, Martins has commissioned a new work from the dancer-choreographer. The piece, set to Stravinsky, will open May 19. Martins has also invited modern dance choreographer Garth Fagan, Broadway musical choreographer Susan Stroman, and NYCB principal Robert La Fosse to choreograph a ballet to music by Duke Ellington. Each choreographer will contribute a ten-minute section. All three choreographers are adept at tailoring their talents to the different demands of dance: La Fosse was in Dancin' and Jerome Robbins' Broadway and has choreographed several ballets for NYCB; Fagan choreographed for dancers in inhibiting costumes and masks in The Lion King, and Stroman, whose usual bailiwick is Broadway shows such as Crazy for You and Show Boat, also choreographed But Not for Me for the Martha Graham company in 1997. So far untitled, the work will premiere June 3 alongside a new ballet choreographed by Martins to the music of Wynton Marsalis.