Music and Motion

His most recent compositions show a remarkable range: a Jungle Book ballet for the Pennsylvania ballet with choreographer Colby Damon;  Promise of a City,  a work for massive forces premiered by the Philadelphia All-City Orchestra, Chorus & Band with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, A Shipwreck Opera in One Act in collaboration with fiction writer Aimee Bender; Exeter Riddles, a set of Anglo-Saxon choral works;  On the Good Foot, a tribute to the late James Brown for large chamber ensemble; and Fantasía sobre Yma Sumac, a concerto for clarinet & orchestra inspired by the eclectic music of Peruvian songstress Yma Sumac.  The latter was premiered by clarinetist Victoria Luperi and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra where Hedges served as composer-in-residence for the 2011-2012 season and was noted by several critics as the top performance of the season in the Dallas/Fort Worth region. NewMusicUSA granted a residency for Hedges with the Richmond Symphony in 2013 for performances Prayers of Rain & Wind with bass soloist Joseph Conyers which resulted in the highest selling Masterworks series in the Symphony’s history.  In 2014, the Sphinx Virtuosi commissioned and toured the composer’s work Raise Hymn, Praise Shout including performances in Miami’s New World Center, Chicago’s Harris Theater and Carnegie Hall.

The son of a rock musician, Hedges group up immersed in rock, soul and music theatre and these early influences continue to inform his work today.  He began studying classical music at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his B.A. in Music in 1994 and his M.M. from Westminster Choir College in 1997. He then completed post-graduate studies at the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Richard Danielpour and Ned Rorem.  Hedges spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival where he studied with John Harbison and George Tsontakis and attended the Contemporary Composition and Performance course at the Britten-Pears School (as both composer and conductor.)  He subsequently returned to the U.K. to apprentice with Oliver Knussen.  In addition, he has participated in the Academie Musicale de Villecroze in France, in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s Composition and Conducting Institute and assisted composer Tan Dun on the Metropolitan Opera premiere of The First Emperor.

Recipient of the Alfred Casselo Award, the Theodore Presser Career Grant and a 2006 Independence Foundation Fellowship, Hedges has also been awarded grants and fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, NewMusicUSA, Meet the Composer, and multiple residencies at the artists’ community Yaddo.  Hedges currently directs the eclectic music program at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia and lives in Havertown, PA with his wife, visual artist Lynn Palewicz, their son Bran, and two rabbits named Rose Tyler & Martha Jones.

He has worked with choreographers such as William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Hans van Manen, Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Yuri Grigorovich, Akram Kahn and among others.

He has gone on to receive critical acclaim for his own choreography and has created pieces for the Royal Ballet in London, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theatre 2, Rome Opera House, Acosta Danza, Philadelphia Ballet, Mariinsky Theatre, Ballet Zürich Opera House, Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Staatstheater Hannover, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet West, Origen Festival Cultural, Teatro San Carlo, and Netflix’s “ Tiny Pretty Things.” Nunes has created visual works with artists such as Penelope Cruz, Residente, and FKA twigs.

A student of Eleanor Sokoloff and Alexander Fiorillo, Martha holds a degree in Piano Performance from Temple University. In addition to her career with Philadelphia Ballet, she has worked with Opera Philadelphia, preparing and performing in productions of La Rondine, Oedipus Rex, and Dido and Aeneas under Michael Korn.  

She also served as an accompanist for The Singing City Choir for five years under Directors Joseph Flummerfelt and Jeffrey Brillhart and was the accompanist for the Silver and Bronze medalists in the 1979 International Ballet Competition.  

Philadelphia Ballet is honored to present the David F. Hoffman Award for Artistic Achievement to Martha in celebration of her extraordinary commitment and musical legacy as she begins her 53rd season with the company.

So Jung joined Philadelphia Ballet for our 2016/2017 Season as a member of the Corps de Ballet, and was promoted to Demi Soloist for our 2019/2020 Season. She was promoted to Soloist prior to the company’s 2021 performances of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, and was promoted to First Soloist in 2024. She has danced the principal roles of Cinderella in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Nikiya in La Bayadère and the Sugarplum Fairy in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®. In recent seasons she has danced principal roles in George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, and Juliano Nunes’ Encounters. She also danced in the world premieres of Matthew Neenan’s Somnolence, Andrea Miller’s Evenings, Yin Yue’s A Trace of Inevitability, and Juliano Nunes’s Connections.

Arian joined Philadelphia Ballet as a principal dancer for our 2015/2016 Season, performing a range of works from the contemporary to the classic. He has danced principal and featured roles that include Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella (Prince), Nacho Duato’s Remansos, Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse, Angel Corella’s Le Corsaire (Conrad), and George Balanchine’s Western Symphony (Fourth Movement).

Prior to Philadelphia Ballet, Arian danced with the Cuban National Ballet, which he joined in 2010 (upon graduation from the National Ballet School in Havana) and danced under the artistic and technical guidance of Alicia Alonso. He was promoted to first soloist in 2011 and principal dancer in 2012. While with the company, Arian performed internationally in North and South America, Europe, China, and South Africa. Arian also had the privilege of participating in performances to honor legendary Cuban dancer Alicia Alonso: first in 2012 at the Viva Alicia! Gala at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on the occasion of her 90th birthday; then again in 2013 at a 20th Anniversary Gala at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid; and finally in 2013 at the International Ballet Gala at the Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg.

Arian’s repertoire includes soloist roles in major works of the romantic-classical period of the 19th century and contemporary works created by both Cuban and foreign choreographers. He is considered one of the most promising contemporary dancers to emerge from the Cuban School of Ballet.

Jack joined Philadelphia Ballet for our 2016/2017 Season as a member of the corps de ballet and was promoted to Soloist for the 2018/2019 Season. He was promoted onstage to Principal Dancer by Angel Corella following the company’s evening performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® on December 11, 2021.  Since joining the company, he has performed the principal roles of the Prince in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Siegfried in Angel Corella’s Swan Lake, Espada in Angel Corella’s Don Quixote, Solor in Angel Corella’s La Bayadère, and Cavalier in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®. As well, Jack has performed leading roles in George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Concerto Barocco, Jewels, David Dawson’s Third Light, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, DGV, Angel Corella, Russell Ducker, and Kirill Radev’s Suspended in Time, and danced in the world premieres of Brian Sanders’ Chicken Bone Brain, Helen Pickett’s TILT, Juliano Nunes’s Connections, Encounters, and Matthew Neenan’s Other Half.

Prior to Philadelphia Ballet, Jack danced with Houston Ballet’s second company (HB2), under Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch, Houston Ballet Academy Director Shelly Power, and HB2 Directors Claudio Munoz and Sabrina Lenzi. As a member of their second company, Jack traveled internationally and performed a diverse repertoire of works, such as Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake, Time to Dance, and La Bayadere, George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and Serenade, and Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty.