The season begins in November with a revival of the National Ballet's 1972 production of The Sleeping Beauty; the company will spend C$700,000 to restore Nicholas Georgiadis's original costumes, wigs, and scenery. A mixed program featuring MacMillan's Song of the Earth and George Balanchine's Symphony in C will follow; tenor Richard Margison and mezzo-soprano Susan Platts will perform the Mahler score to Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde) live.

In March 2007, the company will perform John Cranko's Taming of the Shrew and a mixed program including Eliot Feld's A Footstep of the Air, Jerome Robbins' Opus 19/The Dreamer (with live accompaniment with violinist James Ehnes), and Glen Tetley's Voluntaries.

Also in March, the company will host the International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize, a semi-annual contest for young dancers from the National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Royal Ballet.

The spring season in June will feature Suzanne Farrell's much-praised production of George Balanchine's Don Quixote, which included National Ballet dancers when it premiered at the Kennedy Center last year. A mixed program later in the month will include a new work by Matjash Mrozewski set to music by Alexina Louie, Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia (the performances will mark the National Ballet's first performance of a Wheeldon work), and Kudelka's The Four Seasons.

For more information, visit www.national.ballet.ca.