SPC PROJECTS: Resident Lighting Designer
Ken Tabachnick has been lighting Stephen’s work for over thirty years. Currently, he currently is the Executive Director of the Merce Cunningham Trust.. In addition to being a Trustee of the Stephen Petronio Company, he is a Trustee of the Hemsley Lighting Programs and of the Studio School of Design, as well as a former Trustee of Dance/USA, the Westbeth Housing Development Corporation, and a member of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Previous positions include being a Senior Associate at AEA Consulting, Deputy Dean at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Dean of the School of the Arts at Purchase College, SUNY. Tabachnick served as the general manager for the New York City Ballet (NYCB), had his own practice as a lawyer focusing on intellectual property, licensing, and corporate matters. He was also the managing member of indieWIRE LLC, a news publisher focused on the independent film sector and served as general counsel for Rising Tide Studios. Tabachnick began his career as a lighting designer working with clients such as the Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Trisha Brown Company, Live from Lincoln Center, Robert Wilson, and Karol Armitage, among others. He was also the resident lighting director at New York City Opera from 1986 to 1990, where he designed approximately a dozen operas. Some of his other design clients included: Pittsburgh Opera, Greater Miami Opera, Michigan Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Hartford Stage, and Berkeley Rep. Tabachnick lives in New York City with his wife.