Featured Guest Artist
Carousel in Concert
Wes Chapman
Summerfest Musical Theatre
Artistic Director
Wes Chapman has been consistently praised for his "elegance and fine-scaled classicism" in a wide variety of roles with the American Ballet Theatre. His talent, however, does not end with performance. He joined the Alabama Ballet in 1996, and has directed the Birmingham-based company to a new level of professionalism and created a fresh enthusiasm for dance in the Birmingham community. In February of 1998, Chapman received the Distinguished Career Award from the Society of Fine Arts, an organization based at the University of Alabama.
A native of Union Springs, Alabama, Chapman began his training at the age of nine at the Montgomery School of Ballet under the direction of Emily Caruso. At only 13, the prestigious American Ballet Theatre accepted Chapman into their summer program and only three years alter he graduated from ASFA with the highest honors, the Prix d'Excellence de Dance and the Duane Dushion Award.
After performing one season with the Alabama Ballet, Chapman accepted an invitation from Mikhail Baryshnikov to dance with the American Ballet Theatre. It did not take long for Chapman to move up in the ranks of this world-renowned company. In 1987, he was promoted to Soloist and two years later was appointed Principal Dancer.
Wes Chapman's career has been marked by many highlights. He reigns as one of few dancers in the world to have performed the three leading role of Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet. Michael Somes chose Chapman for the first American cast of Sir Frederick Ashton's landmark ballet Symphonic Variations, and Mats Ek's riveting Pas de Deux Grass.
