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In its 2025-26 season, New York City Ballet will welcome one dancer, Ryan Tomash<\/a>, and bid farewell to another, Megan Fairchild<\/a>, who will depart after 25 years with the company.<\/p>\n \u201cMegan is absolutely beloved by every single person here within our institution,\u201d Wendy Whelan, City Ballet\u2019s associate artistic director, said. \u201cShe\u2019ll be a huge loss for us, just in every way \u2014 as an artist, as a mentor, as just a kind, humane presence. She\u2019s a gem; that\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Stafford, the company\u2019s artistic director, added that Fairchild was one of the rare dancers to have been a principal for more than 20 years. \u201cShe\u2019s just had this longevity in her career at the highest level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n New York City Ballet\u2019s 2025-26 season, the company announced Monday, will feature four world premieres; the return of George Balanchine\u2019s \u201cSymphonie Concertante,\u201d last performed by the company in 1952; and two story ballets: \u201cThe Sleeping Beauty\u201d and \u201cCopp\u00e9lia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The new works will be by Jamar Roberts<\/a> (Oct. 8); Justin Peck<\/a> (Jan. 29), City Ballet\u2019s resident choreographer; Alexei Ratmansky<\/a> (Feb. 5), the company\u2019s artist in residence; and Tiler Peck<\/a> (May 7), a principal dancer.<\/p>\n The season opens Sept. 16 with two all-Balanchine programs: The first features his one-act \u201cSwan Lake,\u201d along with \u201cDonizetti Variations\u201d and \u201cBallade\u201d; the second has \u201cSquare Dance,\u201d \u201cEpisodes\u201d and \u201cWestern Symphony.\u201d Also in fall, Tomash, now a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, will make his debut with the company as a soloist.<\/p>\n The winter season, in addition to the two world premieres, will feature Jerome Robbins\u2019s \u201cAntique Epigraphs<\/a>,\u201d and a 14-performance run of Peter Martins\u2019s \u201cThe Sleeping Beauty,\u201d one of the company\u2019s largest productions, with more than 100 dancers, including students from the School of American Ballet.<\/p>\n Story ballets, Stafford said, \u201care really important access points to an audience that maybe isn\u2019t aware of what New York City Ballet is, or even what classical ballet is.\u201d He added that audiences might be more inclined to see something they know, like a familiar fairy tale.<\/p>\n Other season highlights include company premieres of Justin Peck\u2019s \u201cHeatscape<\/a>\u201d (Sept. 25), created for Miami City Ballet in 2015; and Christopher Wheeldon\u2019s<\/a> \u201cContinuum<\/a>\u201d (May 1), set to Ligeti, and created for San Francisco Ballet in 2002. The season will close with \u201cCopp\u00e9lia,\u201d which will include Fairchild\u2019s farewell performance (May 24).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe do a lot of ballets every year,\u201d Stafford said, \u201cbut this season feels especially bountiful in terms of new opportunities that will be offered to our current roster dancers.\u201d<\/p>\n A full lineup can be found at nycballet.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n