Welcome to Sacramento Ballet. Beginning my first season as Artistic Director fills me with excitement, gratitude, and hope for what we can build together. After a lifetime in ballet, I continue to be moved by its ability to express what words cannot and to bring people together through a shared experience.

Tonight’s program offers three distinct perspectives on that expressive power. George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments reveals how boldly classical ballet can be reimagined, bringing Paul Hindemith’s music to life through striking shapes and contrasting human temperaments. Stanton Welch’s The Long and Winding Road brings fresh energy to beloved Beatles melodies through Baroque orchestral arrangements and exhilarating choreography. Julia Feldman’s Hearts unfolds through intricate patterns and shifting relationships, sharing the imagination of an artist who has grown within this company.

Watching our artists inhabit these works reminds me why I believe so deeply in ballet’s future. Its possibilities grow with every artist who brings a new perspective, every young person who steps into a studio, and every audience member who discovers something meaningful onstage.

My hope is for Sacramento Ballet to be a place where that discovery continues to flourish: where artists have room to grow, where new voices find encouragement, and where our community feels a lasting connection to ballet. I am eager to help shape that future with our dancers, our students, and all of you.

Thank you for welcoming me and for being part of this beginning.

Tiit Helimets

Artistic Director