Two top theater companies – France’s Le Théâtre du Soleil and Hungary’s Katona József Theatre – share opening night honors at Lincoln Center Festival 09, which runs from July 7 through July 26, 2009 and offers 56 performances by artists and ensembles from 14 countries. The three-week Lincoln Center Festival 09–boasting 14 North American, U.S., and New York premieres and debuts—will unfold at six venues on and off the Lincoln Center campus, and Park Avenue Armory, where the Festival returns for a second summer.  Other festival presentations (July 7 through 26) include:

· Chekhov International Theatre Festival production of Pushkin’s Boris Godunov, directed by Declan Donnellan— presented in association with Park Avenue Armory

· U.S. debuts by Algerian music icon Idir and Moroccan Chaabi singer Najat Aatabou

· Shen Wei Dance Arts’ Re – (I, II, III), the first New York performance of the complete three-part work—a special Lincoln Center 50^th Anniversary commission

· Piccolo Teatro di Milano/Teatri Uniti di Napoli’s production of Goldoni’s comedy Trilogia della villeggiatura

· Poland’s Narodowy Stary Teatr with Krystian Lupa’s production of Thomas Bernhard’s Kalkwerk (The Lime Works)

· Two by Four with the Ruhr, four-hand and two-piano works with Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa, to include the North American premiere of a work by Philip Glass

· North American premiere of St. Petersburg’s Maly Drama Theatre production of Life and Fate, adapted and directed by Lev Dodin

· U.S. premiere of Béla Pintér and Company’s Peasant Opera

· Afro-Blues for the 21^st Century—a double bill with Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara, and Issa Bagayogo

· Emanuel Gat Dance with Winter Variations and Silent Ballet—two premieres, both Lincoln Center 50^th Anniversary commissions

· A Tribute to Wardell Quezergue, celebrated New Orleans songwriter, featuring a roster of noted musical artists from that city’s annual Ponderosa Stomp music festival