New York City Ballet announces 2025-26 Season and Megan Fairchild’s farewell

21 Weeks of Performances Will Feature 47 Ballets Including 21 Works by NYCB Co-Founder GEORGE BALANCHINE And 6 Works by Co-Founding Choreographer JEROME ROBBINS

The 2025-26 Season will include 21 ballets by NYCB Co-Founder George Balanchine, 6 ballets by NYCB Co-Founding Choreographer Jerome Robbins, with additional repertory by choreographers August Bournonville, Ulysses Dove, William Forsythe, Edwaard Liang, Lar Lubovitch, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Tiler Peck, Alysa Pires, Alexei Ratmansky, Gianna Reisen, and Christopher Wheeldon.

The season will also include three full-length works including the annual holiday engagement of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®; a two-week engagement of Peter Martins’ staging of Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty during the 2026 Winter Season; and eight performances of George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s Coppélia during the 2026 Spring Season.

NYCB’s 2025-26 season will have live music by the 62-piece New York City Ballet Orchestra under the leadership of Music Director Andrew Litton.

All performances will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Subscription tickets for the 2025-26 repertory season will be available beginning Monday 31 March, single tickets will go on sale on Monday 4 August. Tickets for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® will go on sale in September.

Highlights of the 2025 Fall Season
from 16 September until 12 October 2025

Annual Fall Fashion Gala on Wednesday 8 October Featuring a World Premiere by JAMAR ROBERTS With Costumes by IRIS VAN HERPEN

2025 Fall Season Will Also Include NYCB Premiere of JUSTIN PECK’S Heatscape Featuring Scenic Design by SHEPARD FAIREY

RYAN TOMASH, currently a Principal Dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, Will Join NYCB as a Soloist

The new works for the 2025 Fall Season will include a World Premiere by choreographer Jamar Roberts who will make his third work for NYCB. Roberts’ ballet will premiere at the Company’s annual Fall Fashion Gala on Wednesday 8 October 2025 and will feature costumes by the Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen.

The Fall Season will also feature the NYCB premiere of choreographer Justin Peck‘s Heatscape on Thursday 25 September 2025. Created for the Miami City Ballet in 2015, Heatscape is set to music by Bohuslav Martinů, with visual design by Shepard Fairey, lighting by Brandon Stirling Baker, and costumes by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung.

NYCB’s 2025-26 Season will begin with a four-week Fall Season that will open on Tuesday 16 September with a week of ballets by NYCB’s co-founder George Balanchine. The works will include a programme consisting of Donizetti Variations, Ballade, and Balanchine’s one-act Swan Lake, which will open the season; and a second programme consisting of Square Dance, Episodes, and Western Symphony.

The second week of the Fall Season will be highlighted by the New York City Ballet premiere of Justin Peck’s Heatscape, which will be included on a programme with Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels, Peter Martins’ Zakouski, and Gianna Reisen’s Signs. Heatscape, which Peck created for the Miami City Ballet in 2015, features music by Bohuslav Martinů, visual design by Shepard Fairey, lighting by Brandon Stirling Baker, and costumes by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung.

The third week of the Fall Season will introduce a programme featuring two landmark works by NYCB’s co-founding choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. The programme will begin with Robbins’ The Goldberg Variations, which was created in 1971 and is set to Bach’s monumental score for piano; and end with Balanchine’s lavish Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3, a four-movement piece which concludes with the virtuosic masterpiece Theme and Variations created in 1947.

The Fall Season will also mark the NYCB debut of the Company’s new Soloist, Ryan Tomash, who is currently a Principal Dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet. Born in Toronto, Tomash trained at Canada’s National Ballet School and joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 2017, becoming a Soloist in 2021 and a Principal Dancer in 2022. Tomash will join NYCB at the start of the 2025 Fall Season rehearsal period in August.

Highlights of the 2026 Winter Season
from 20 January 20 until 1 March

World Premiere Ballets by NYCB Resident Choreographer JUSTIN PECK and NYCB Artist in Residence ALEXEI RATMANSKY

PETER MARTINS’ Full-Length Production of PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY’s The Sleeping Beauty

New works for the 2026 Winter Season will include World Premieres by NYCB Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, which will premiere on Thursday, January 29; and NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky, which will premiere on Thursday 5 February 2026.

The 2026 Winter Season will open on Tuesday, January 20 with a programme consisting of two early works by George Balanchine Serenade (1935) and Prodigal Son (1929) along with one of the newest additions to New York City Ballet repertory, Alexei Ratmansky’s Paquita (2025).

The first week of the 2026 Winter Season will continue with a programme consisting of three works by Balanchine: Kammermusik No. 2, Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Raymonda Variations; and Jerome Robbins’ rarely performed Antique Epigraphs, which was created in 1984 and last performed by NYCB in 2018.

The second week of the 2026 Winter Season will feature a World Premiere by NYCB Resident Choreographer Justin Peck on Thursday 29 January, on a programme that will also feature Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht Ballet, August Bournonville’s Flower Festival in Genzano Pas de Deux, and Jerome Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer.

The third week of the season will feature a World Premiere by NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky on Thursday 5 February, on a programme that will also feature Justin Peck’s Dig the Say and Everywhere We Go, and Gianna Reisen’s Signs.

The season will also include 14 performances of Peter Martins’ full-length production of The Sleeping Beauty, from Wednesday 11 February until Sunday 22 February. Set to Tchaikovsky’s beloved score, the production was created in 1991 and features set design by David Mitchell, costume design by Patricia Zipprodt (executed by Barbara Matera, Ltd.), and lighting design by Mark Stanley. The ballet, which features more than 100 dancers, including students from the School of American Ballet, is one of NYCB’s most lavish productions.

The final week of the 2026 Winter Season will introduce a programme featuring two masterpieces created for New York City Ballet in the 1960s: Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering from 1969, and Diamonds, the final section of Balanchine’s three-part Jewels, which premiered in 1967.

Highlights of the 2026 Spring Season
from 21 April until 31 May

Annual Spring Gala on Thursday 7 May Featuring a World Premiere by TILER PECK

NYCB Premiere of CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON’s Continuum to the Music of GYÖRGY LIGETI

The Return of GEORGE BALANCHINE’s Symphonie Concertante last Performed by New York City Ballet in 1952

Eight Performances of GEORGE BALANCHINE and ALEXANDRA DANILOVA’s Full-Length Production of Coppélia

A Farewell Performance for Principal Dancer MEGAN FAIRCHILD who will retire from NYCB on Sunday 24 May 2026 dancing the role of Swanilda in Coppélia.

The 2026 Spring Season will include a World Premiere by current NYCB Principal Dancer Tiler Peck, her second work for the Company, which will premiere at the Company’s annual Spring Gala performance on Thursday 7 May. The Spring Season will also feature the NYCB premiere of Christopher Wheeldon‘s Continuum on Friday 1 May. Created for the San Francisco Ballet in 2002, the ballet is set to music by György Ligeti and is one of three works that Wheeldon has created to music by the Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music.

The 2026 Spring Season will open on Tuesday 21 April with a programme featuring a major revival of Balanchine’s Symphonie Concertante. Set to Mozart’s Symphonie Concertante in E-flat major for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra, the ballet was first performed by students from the School of American Ballet in 1945 at Carnegie Hall and has not been performed by NYCB since 1952. The programme will also include two landmark works to music by Stravinsky: Balanchine’s Agon and Balanchine and Robbins’ Firebird. The first week of the spring season will include a second programme consisting of Ratmansky’s Voices, Robbins’ In Memory Of…, and Balanchine’s Diamonds.

The second week of the season will be highlighted by the NYCB premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s Continuum. Created for San Francisco Ballet in 2002, it is the second of three works that Wheeldon created to music by György Ligeti in the early 2000s. The others, both created for NYCB, are Polyphonia (2001) and Morphoses (2002). Continuum will have its NYCB Premiere on Friday, May 1 on a programme that will also feature Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH, Lar Lubovitch’s Each in Their Own Time, and Edwaard Liang’s Distant Cries, a pas de deux that was originally created for Peter Boal and Company and performed by Wendy Whelan and Peter Boal in March 2005 at The Joyce Theater, and also performed by NYCB in May 2005.

The third week of the season will feature the annual Spring Gala performance on Thursday 7 May, including the World Premiere of a new work by NYCB Principal Dancer Tiler Peck. This will mark Peck’s second work created for NYCB; the first, Concerto for Two Pianos, was set to the music of Francis Poulenc and premiered in 2024. The Spring Gala performance will also feature Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer, which was created in 1979 to Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 1 in D Major. Following the Spring Gala performance, the programme will repeat with the addition of Alysa Pires’ Standard Deviation which was created for NYCB to a commissioned score by Jack Frerer in 2023.

The 2026 Spring Season will also include a second sensory-friendly performance at 11am on Sunday 17 May, featuring Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15 and Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH.

The final weeks of the season will include an all-Bach programme featuring Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco and Robbins’ The Goldberg Variations, and eight performances of Balanchine and Danilova’s full-length production of Coppélia.

Considered one of the greatest comedic ballets of the 19th Century, NYCB’s production of Coppélia was created in 1974 by Balanchine and the legendary dancer and teacher Alexandra Danilova, who was considered a definitive Swanilda, the ballet’s leading female character. The production features scenery and costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, additional costumes by Karinska, and lighting by Mark Stanley, after the original lighting design by Ronald Bates. The ballet is set to the score by Léo Delibes with a book by Charles Nuitter, after E.T.A. Hoffmann, whose writing was also the basis for The Nutcracker. The NYCB production features more than 65 dancers including 24 students from the School of American Ballet.

Megan Fairchild Farewell Performance

On Sunday 24 May at 3pm, Principal Dancer Megan Fairchild will give her farewell performance with NYCB, dancing the role of Swanilda in Coppélia to conclude her 25-year career with the Company.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Fairchild began her dance training at the age of 4. She entered the School of American Ballet in the fall of 2000, and in November 2001 she became an apprentice with New York City Ballet. She joined the Company’s corps de ballet in 2002, was promoted to the rank of Soloist in February 2004, and became Principal in January 2005. As a member of NYCB she has performed featured roles in numerous ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Susan Stroman, and Christopher Wheeldon, among others.

In 2014 she made her Broadway debut performing the role of Ivy Smith, AKA Miss Turnstiles, in the Tony Award-nominated revival of On the Town. In 2011 Fairchild danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center telecast of NYCB’s production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. She is currently a faculty member at the School of American Ballet where she was the recipient of the Mae L. Wien Award in 2001.

Fall Fashion Gala

The final week of the Fall Season will be highlighted by the Company’s annual Fall Fashion Gala on Wednesday, October 8. The gala evening will feature a World Premiere by choreographer Jamar Roberts, a former dancer and Resident Choreographer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, who will make his third work for NYCB. The ballet will feature costumes designed by the Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen, who previously worked with NYCB on costumes for Benjamin Millepied’s Neverwhere in 2013.

The Fall Fashion Gala programme will also include the pas de deux from William Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman (from 1992), with costumes by Gianni Versace; and Gianna Reisen’s Composer’s Holiday (from 2017), with costumes by Virgil Abloh. Following the first performance at the Fall Fashion Gala, this programme will be repeated with the addition of Alexei Ratmansky’s Voices, created for NYCB in 2020.

NYCB’s Fall Fashion Gala was conceived by NYCB Board Vice Chair Sarah Jessica Parker, and launched in 2012 with a gala celebration of the legendary designer Valentino. The event has since featured costumes designed by more than 30 fashion designers including Thom Browne, Sarah Burton, Giles Deacon, Prabal Gurung, Carolina Herrera, Mary Katrantzou, Humberto Leon, Zac Posen, Christopher John Roberts, Narciso Rodriguez, Anna Sui, and Dries Van Noten.

GEORGE BALANCHINE’S THE NUTCRACKER® – 28 November 2025 until 4 January 2026

The year of performances will continue with NYCB’s annual engagement of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, which will take place from Friday 28 November 2025 until Sunday 4 January 2026. NYCB’s landmark production of the holiday classic, which The New York Times has called “the gold standard” Nutcracker, premiered on 2 February 1954 and helped to establish The Nutcracker and its score as perennial favourites in the United States. A signature event of the holiday season in New York City, the ballet is set to the Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky score, with scenery by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, costumes by Karinska, and lighting by Mark Stanley, after lighting design by Ronald Bates.

The final performance of this year’s season of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® at 1pm on Sunday 4 January will be a special sensory-friendly performance designed to provide a relaxed and inclusive environment where individuals with autism, sensory and communication disorders or learning disabilities can enjoy a ballet performance. While intended for these audiences, this performance is open to all. Slight modifications to the social and sensory environment include a relaxed entry and exit policy, adjustments to lighting and sound levels, designated break areas throughout the theatre, additional event staffing to assist with audience needs, and pre-visit resources.

New Works – The choreographers

JUSTIN PECK: NYCB Premiere of Heatscape – 25 September 2025, World Premiere – 29 January 2026

Justin Peck is the Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor of New York City Ballet. He has created more than 50 works for NYCB and other dance companies around the world, including the Paris Opéra Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, L.A. Dance Project, and The Juilliard School. His works have also been performed by Dutch National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Acosta Danza, and Hong Kong Ballet, among other companies.

A native of San Diego, California, Peck studied at California Ballet before enrolling at the School of American Ballet (SAB) in 2003. He joined NYCB as a dancer in 2007 and was promoted to Soloist in 2013, retiring from dancing following NYCB’s 2019 Spring Season. Peck first choreographed as a student at SAB in 2005. He participated in a working session at the New York Choreographic Institute (NYCI), an affiliate of NYCB, in the fall of 2009, and received NYCI’s first year-long choreographic residency in 2011. He was named NYCB’s Resident Choreographer, the second in the Company’s history, in July 2014, and was also appointed as Artistic Advisor in February 2019.

Peck was the subject of the 2014 documentary Ballet 422, which followed him for two months as he created NYCB’s 422nd original ballet, Paz de la Jolla. In 2015, his ballet Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes won the Bessie Award for Outstanding Production and he is also the recipient of the 2018 Ted Arison Young Artist Award.

Peck is a two-time Tony Award winner for his choreography for the 2018 Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, and the 2024 production of Illinoise, based on Sufjan Stevens’ album Illinois, which Peck also directed. He and co-choreographer Patricia Delgado received the 2024 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for Buena Vista Social Club, currently on Broadway. Peck choreographed Steven Spielberg’s award-winning film adaptation of West Side Story and Bradley Cooper’s film Maestro.

JAMAR ROBERTS: World Premiere – 8 October 2025

Jamar Roberts is a choreographer and a former dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where he was Resident Choreographer from 2019 to 2022. Roberts has made six works for AAADT, all to critical acclaim: Members Don’t Get Weary (2016), Ode (2019), A Jam Session for Troubling Times (2020), Holding Space (2021), In a Sentimental Mood (2022), and Al-Andalus Blues (2024). He has also set Gemeos on Ailey II (2016).

For New York City Ballet, he has created the film Water Rite (2020) and Emanon – In Two Movements (2022). He has also been commissioned by Vail Dance Festival, Fall for Dance, The Juilliard School, BalletX, San Francisco Ballet, L.A. Dance Project, ABT Studio Company, Parsons Dance, Martha Graham Dance Company, Miami City Ballet, and Works and Process at the Guggenheim, where he created the film Cooped. The March on Washington Film Festival invited Roberts to create a tribute to John Lewis, and he also made the film The First Bluebird in the Morning for the LA Opera.

Roberts is a graduate of the New World School of the Arts and the Ailey School. He first joined AAADT in 2002 and retired from dancing in 2021. His awards include the 2016 Bessie Award for Outstanding Performer and he has performed as a guest artist internationally, including with the Royal Ballet in London, as well as with Ailey II and Complexions.

Roberts was a Director’s Fellow at NYU’s Center for Ballet and the Arts, Creative Associate at the Juilliard School in 2023, and has been twice featured on the cover of Dance Magazine.

ALEXEI RATMANSKY: World Premiere – 5 February 2026

Alexei Ratmansky began his position as Artist in Residence at New York City Ballet in August 2023. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ratmansky is of Ukrainian descent, and trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow prior to becoming a Principal Dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet. From 2004 to 2008, he was the Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He served as Artist in Residence at American Ballet Theatre from 2008 to 2023.

Ratmansky first worked with New York City Ballet as part of a Working Session of the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of NYCB, in 2002. His acclaimed ballets for the Company include Russian Seasons (2006), Concerto DSCH (2008), Namouna, A Grand Divertissement (2010), Pictures at an Exhibition (2014), Odesa (2017), Voices (2020), Solitude (2024), and Paquita (2025).

Ratmansky received the Benois de la Danse award for his full-length Anna Karenina, created for the Royal Danish Ballet, in 2005. He was made a Knight of Dannebrog in Denmark in 2001, and was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for 2013. He won his second Benois de la Danse for Shostakovich Trilogy, an ABT and San Francisco Ballet co-commission, in 2014. He is also Associate Artist with Dutch National Ballet, and his work is performed by nearly all major international ballet companies.

CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON: NYCB Premiere of Continuum – 1 May 2026

Christopher Wheeldon was born in Yeovil, Somerset, England, and attended The Royal Ballet School. In 1991 he joined The Royal Ballet and that same year won the Gold Medal at the Prix de Lausanne competition.

In 1993 Wheeldon joined New York City Ballet; his first ballet for this Company was Slavonic Dances for the 1997 Diamond Project. In spring 2000, he retired from dancing and during the 2000-2001 season served as the Company’s first-ever Artist in Residence before being named its first Resident Choreographer, a position he held until 2008.

In 2007, Wheeldon founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, serving as the Company’s Artistic Director until early 2010. Among his works for NYCB are After the Rain, Carnival of the Animals, Carousel (A Dance), Estancia, From You Within Me, Liturgy, Mercurial Manoeuvres, and Polyphonia. In addition, Wheeldon has created works for the Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet, among others.

Outside of the ballet world, Wheeldon choreographed Dance of the Hours for The Metropolitan Opera’s La Gioconda, as well as ballet sequences for the 2000 film Center Stage and choreography for the 2002 Broadway production of The Sweet Smell of Success, both directed by Nicholas Hytner.

Wheeldon directed and choreographed the 2016 Broadway production of An American in Paris, and is the director and choreographer of MJ the Musical, for both of which he received the Tony Award for Best Choreography. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2016 and is currently the Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet. Among Wheeldon’s other honours are Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, the American Choreography Award, the London Critics’ Circle Award, the Olivier Award, the Dance Magazine Award, and the Benois de la Danse.

TILER PECK: World Premiere – 7 May 2026

Tiler Peck is a choreographer and Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. She made her choreographic debut at the Vail Dance Festival in 2018, and has also choreographed for Boston Ballet, BalletX, Cincinnati Ballet, Northern Ballet, and for her curated evening Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends at New York City Center, which has toured to Sadler’s Wells and the greater Los Angeles area.

Peck also choreographed for the feature film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and has choreographed and appeared in the TV series Tiny Pretty Things, Ray Donovan, and the upcoming series Étoile. In 2017 Peck curated the programme BalletNOW for the Los Angeles Music Center, which is captured in the feature documentary film Ballet Now.

Peck began her dance training at 2 at her mother’s dance studio, Bakersfield Dance Company, and studied ballet in the Los Angeles area before entering the School of American Ballet. She joined New York City Ballet in 2005, was promoted to Soloist in 2006, and to Principal Dancer in 2009.

Peck’s repertory at NYCB includes featured roles in numerous works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and she has originated roles in works by many choreographers including Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Kyle Abraham, Mauro Bigonzetti, Wayne McGregor, Peter Martins, Benjamin Millepied, Angelin Preljocaj, Susan Stroman, and Christopher Wheeldon.

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.