Ballet meets Jazz in a reimagined production of “Who Cares?”

The remarkable collaboration between Winnipeg’s iconic ballet company and the University of Manitoba’s music faculty started when the ballet's artistic director, Christopher Stowell, met Stephen Runge, Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Music, in 2025. Stowell aimed to stage a performance of George Balanchine’s Who Cares? in which the music of George Gershwin would be performed by a small jazz ensemble (closer to Gershwin’s original compositions) rather than the Hershy Kay orchestration associated with the ballet. Dr. Runge connected Stowell to jazz pianist Will Bonness, a Professor at the Desautels Faculty of Music. Bonness undertook the re-interpretation of Kay’s orchestration and re-wrote Gershwin’s pieces for a jazz quartet to be performed by himself and fellow Desautels faculty members Karly Epp on vocals, Karl Kohut on bass, and Fabio Ragnelli on drums.

The artistic relevance of Who Cares?

Professor Bonness is no stranger to Gershwin’s music. He has performed Gershwin’s jazz standards for as long as he has played jazz – for the past 25 years. Bonness remarks that Gershwin’s music exists at an interesting junction between classical music and jazz, and points to “Rhapsody in Blue” as a key example of the composer’s ability to write across genres.

Bonness is not alone in his appreciation of Gershwin’s music. The father of American ballet, George Balanchine, also had an affinity for Gershwin’s pieces. Balanchine worked with the composer on the set of the 1938 film The Goldwyn Follies, where Gershwin gave him a songbook that documented how the composer performed his pieces in concerts. A musician himself, Balanchine played through the songbook and was inspired to create the choreography that became Who Cares? Stowell described Balanchine as also being inspired by his adopted home, New York City, and the world of musical theatre.

Expanding the offerings of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Christopher Stowell, who moved to Winnipeg in June 2025 to become the artistic director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, is eager to share the work of the company with a broader audience in the city. To accomplish this vision, he created a new format -- The Studio Series. This format features shorter productions with a casual tone, more accessible to general audiences. Nonetheless, the ballets of this series remain as daring as the rest of the company’s repertoire, expanding the stage time available to the company's ambitious dancers. Who Cares? signals the start of this new format by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, one where the company aims to partner with local arts organizations and artists on more bespoke productions.

This upcoming production of Who Cares? is truly special. Stowell spoke enthusiastically about how he consulted with The George Balanchine Trust and received the organization’s blessing to perform the ballet with a smaller jazz ensemble and a vocalist. “As far as I know, this is the first time the whole work has been danced in this way,” said Stowell.

Who Cares? was, from the start, a rare amalgamation of jazz standards — by the composer behind the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, George Gershwin — interpreted by one of the most daring ballet choreographers of the 20^th century, George Balanchine. It's only fitting, then, that bringing it back to the stage required another great collaboration: the Royal Winnipeg Ballet performing alongside musicians and educators from Manitoba’s largest music school, the Desautels Faculty of Music.