Bristol Ballet 75th Anniversary

Join us for a celebratory reception and performance to commemorate Bristol Ballet’s historic 75th Anniversary Season. Enjoy a reception with cocktails and light hors d’oeuvres in Paramount Bristol’s lobby before a Past, Present, Future themed performance featuring the performing company of Bristol Ballet. To celebrate our past, the production will begin with a revival of Mountain Ballad (premiered in the 1960s), a seminal work by Bristol Ballet’s founder, Constance Hardinge. To highlight the present, the production will continue with excerpts from Unbroken Circle, a work by Artistic Director Emeritus Michele Plescia to music from the 1927 Bristol Sessions. To look forward to the future, two pieces by current co-Artistic Directors, Moira Frazier Ostrander and Amanda Hairston, will finish the show. These pieces will be to musical selections from local music sensation Amythyst Kiah and Appalachian favorite Dolly Parton.

The reception and performance will feature special guest artist, the Empty Bottle String Band. They specialize in playing toe-tapping, highly danceable traditional Appalachian music.  They are known for their upbeat tunes and feel-good music. Their impressive stage presence is coupled with a delightfully self-effacing strength and confidence in their music. Their sound is inventive, while still staying close to the old time string band tradition of the 1930’s.  They have become a festival favorite wherever they go and are one of the Appalachian region’s most popular old-time groups. The band will play during the reception as well as in between dance pieces during the show.

*Content advisory for Mountain Ballad: contains depictions of suggested violence