INAUGURAL RPO DANCE FESTIVAL

ROCHESTER, NY – The inaugural RPO Dance Festival starts stunningly with the highly anticipated reunion of the orchestra and longtime arts-community collaborator Garth Fagan Dance (Saturday, Jan. 24; Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026), presenting “Days and Nights in Rocinha,” composed by Philip Glass, with original choreography by GFD Artistic and Rehearsal Director Norwood “PJ” Pennewell. The program also features Leonard Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from “On the Town,” and ends with Aaron Copland’s “Symphony No. 3.” RPO guest conductor Aram Demirjian will be at the podium for each performance of this program in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St. Rochester, NY 14604.  

Philip Glass composed “Days and Nights in Rocinha” in 1997 as his love letter to Rocinha, a seaside neighborhood built on a steep hillside overlooking Rio de Janeiro. Inspired by the composer’s haunting score, Pennewell developed five vignettes that form the foundation for the movement. Pennewell notes, “The choreography doesn’t literally represent the folks living in the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro but does suggest the necessary creativity needed for a diverse, impoverished community to coexist.” 

This work continues the 50-year RPO/GFD relationship, which began with the premiere of “Salon for a Fashionable Five-Toed Dragon” (1976), choreography by Garth Fagan. Most recently, Garth Fagan Dance and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra collaborated in 2024, dazzling both classical and dance enthusiasts with their revolutionary production of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (2024), choreography by Pennewell. This performance also marks the second dance work the company has set to music by Glass, the first being “Easter Freeway Processional” (1983), choreography by Garth Fagan.  

The following Dance Fest weekend (Saturday, Jan. 31; Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026) boasts another world premiere – this one courtesy of Rochester City Ballet, which has performed “The Nutcracker” with the RPO each late autumn since 1999. RCB’s performances in Dance Fest will be the first to unveil original choreography by RCB’s Executive Director Shannon Purpura and the company’s Artistic Director Megan Kamler for Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet Suite.”  

“For more than 25 years, the Rochester City Ballet has been one of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's most treasured and trusted artistic collaborators,” says RPO Vice President of Artistic Planning and Operations James Barry. “After producing a quarter-century of “Nutcracker”'s together, we’ve found the RCB is even more impressive when it dances out of its comfort zone with us.” 

RPO Artistic Director Andreas Delfs will conduct Week 2’s concerts, which also include performances of Liszt’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” by superstar pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. 

The RPO Dance Festival runs for two weekends starting Saturday Jan. 24 through Sunday, Feb. 1, in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St. Rochester, NY 14604. Week 1: “American Masters with Garth Fagan Dance” is set for 7:30 PM Saturday, Jan. 24; and 2 PM Sunday, Jan. 25. Week 2: “’Romeo and Juliet’ with Rochester City Ballet” takes place 7:30 PM Saturday, Jan. 31; 2 PM Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. Tickets for each program start at $30 (including service fees) from RPO.org, the RPO Patron Services Center, 225 East Ave, Rochester, NY, 14604, 585.454.2100, and at the Eastman Theatre one hour before each performance.