As if the lineup wasn’t spectacular enough, there were also exciting debuts, returns, and farewells. Entrance applause greeted Megan Fairchild at the top of the show, when she graced the stage for the last opening night of her 25-year career in the first movement of “Symphony in C.”  Unity Phelan also garnered several warm hands during “Agon,” after her impressive return to the stage just eleven weeks postpartum (surely an industry record!). But to my mind, the biggest thrills of the evening came from three bold young women: Isabella LaFreniere, returning to the Firebird role with a new lens, Naomi Corti, debuting as the second soloist in “Agon,” and, especially, Mira Nadon debuting in the Adagio of “Symphony in C.”

Conductor Andrew Litton was on the brisk side in the 2nd movement of the Georges Bizet score, but Nadon and Preston Chamblee, also debuting, calmly negotiated the tricky basket lifts and other corps interweaving. Chamblee was a quiet, assured presence. He let Nadon’s creamy texture and imaginative world-building take the lead. And what ideas she has! She played with her épaulement in the seesaw falls, trying something different—but not distractingly so—in the penché each time: a diving-bird plunge here, an underarm Odette glance in allongé there.  She also managed to make the staccato piddles in the solo read as one poetic paragraph. 

She exuded the same serenity in the lightning-fast finale. Generally, people are not equally relaxed in the most exposed adagio in the canon as well as one of the most fleet-footed, technical gauntlets. But she is a once-in-a-lifetime artist, and her range is extraordinary. This was the first, but not the last, of the glittering white tutus she’d wear this season (she’s on deck for a slew of Balanchine’s “Diamonds”). She’s also debuting in the stark “Agon” pas de deux. Had I the time and the means, I’d go every night.

Soloist Naomi Corti, another tall, raven-haired powerhouse, seems to be benefitting from Nadon’s example. She brought incisive clarity to her “Agon” debut. This role is grounded and angular until the coda, where Corti unleashed her explosive jump like a back-pocket ace. Victor Abreu and Andres Zuniga kept up with her nicely.  Taylor Stanley was also in fine form in “Agon’s” other solo—coyly playing with their delivery of their skip struts and genteel bow.