San Francisco Ballet Announces Roster, Appoints Katherine Barkman as Soloist
Washington Ballet Principal and Faculty Member to Join SFB July 1
June 29, 2022—In anticipation of the upcoming season, San Francisco Ballet has announced their roster for the 2023 Season. The sole new addition is Katherine Barkman as soloist. Currently a principal and faculty member with Washington Ballet of Washington, D.C, Barkman's appointment with San Francisco Ballet takes effect on July 1. The roster also includes the previously announced appointment of Isaac Hernández as principal dancer and promotions to the Corps and Apprentices.
Barkman's training has included private training with Nadia Pavlenko of International Ballet Academy. She also mentored with Lisa Macuja-Elizalde of Ballet Manila. Originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Barkman joined Washington Ballet in 2018 after three years as a principal dancer at Ballet Manila. Her roles have included Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote, Giselle in Giselle, and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, neoclassical ballets by George Balanchine and Sir Frederic Ashton, and contemporary works by Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa and Dana Genshaft.
Barkman's major international awards include: Grand Prix Cup, 2015 Asian Grand Prix (Hong Kong); Gold Medal, Senior Women's Classical Division, 2015 Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition (New Orleans, USA); and Gold Medal, Senior Women's Classical Division, 2015 TANZOLYMP Festival (Berlin, Germany). As an international guest principal, Barkman has performed in festivals, galas, and full-length productions in Russia, Latvia, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and in major cities across the United States.
The season's roster restates the appointment of Isaac Hernández as Principal Dancer at San Francisco Ballet. Hernández danced in the SFB's corps de ballet and as a soloist in 2010. He has also danced with ABT II, the Dutch National Ballet, and English National Ballet, and has been a guest dancer at Paris Opera, Teatro Colón, Rome Opera, and Mariinsky Theatre.
San Francisco Ballet's next performance will be on August 5-6 at Stanford's Frost Amphitheatre. Following the Nutcracker in December, the Company's season opens on January 20, 2023 with next@90, a new works festival featuring nine world premieres and celebrating the Company's 90th Repertory Season. The festival features works by choreographers Nicolas Blanc, Bridget Breiner, Robert Garland, Benjamin Millepied, Yuka Oishi, Yuri Possokhov, Jamar Roberts, Danielle Rowe, and Claudia Schreier. For more information, see sfballet.org.