Mikko extended

Boston Ballet has extended artistic director Mikko Nissinen's contract through 2014. His current deal runs through 2009. Nissinen started at Boston Ballet in 2001. No word on this salary. In the most recent filing, Boston Ballet listed paying Nissinen $226,668.

Mark Morris supplied this statement to Boston Ballet for its press release:

“Under Mikko's direction Boston Ballet has flourished. He's doing it right: the company is once again a serious, viable and high-quality organization; real dancing by real people. Boston is a lucky town.”

The release continues:

"Since taking the reigns as Artistic Director, Nissinen has defined the Company’s image with classical and neo-classical works, ranging from full-length ballets including John Cranko’s Onegin, Sir Fredrick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée, Rudolph Nureyev’s Don Quixote, Sergeyev’s The Sleeping Beauty and August Bournonville’s La Sylphide, to masterworks by George Balanchine and new works and world premieres by some of the finest contemporary choreographers, including William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, James Kudelka, Peter Martins, Mark Morris, Val Caniparoli, David Dawson, Christopher Wheeldon, Helen Pickett, and Resident Choreographer Jorma Elo.

Nissinen has himself contributed to the Company’s repertory with his versions of The Nutcracker in 2003, Swan Lake in 2004, and Raymonda, Act III in 2006 for Boston Ballet."