CHAPEL HILL -- Emil Kang had his work cut out for him when he went to Russia to try to seal the deal on an effort to bring the Bolshoi Ballet -- yes, THAT Bolshoi Ballet -- to UNC next year.

A map would have helped; the Bolshoi has never performed in the southeastern United States.

"They didn't know where we were," said Kang, the university's executive director for the arts. "I explained that North Carolina is between Washington, D.C. and Miami. They didn't know there was anything between Washington and Miami."

They know now. The Bolshoi Ballet, long regarded one of the world's cultural treasures, will make its regional debut at UNC's Memorial Hall in June 2009. The Bolshoi will present four performances in five days at Carolina, staging its only U.S. performances of "Don Quixote" and "Swan Lake." Chapel Hill will be one of just three sites to host what the Washington Post called "the mightiest and grandest of world-class companies" next year.

The Bolshoi Ballet's performances will crown a remarkable lineup in the 2008-2009 Carolina Performing Arts Series announced Monday.

Among the other highlights are the Kirov Orchestra with conductor Valery Gergiev, the New York Philharmonic with music director and conductor Lorin Maazel, jazz legend Ornette Coleman and the 50th anniversary celebration of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, with special guest Sweet Honey in the Rock.

The season will also include pianist Andras Schiff, viola da gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall with Hesperion XXI, the Druid Theatre Company performing two of the classic works of Irish playwright J.M. Synge; violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter with Camerata Salzburg, and zydeco legend Buckwheat Zydeco.

Two of New Orleans' quintessential acts, Aaron Neville with the Neville Brothers and Dr. John, will play on Feb. 24, 2009 -- which happens to be Fat Tuesday.

"They'll be here on Mardis Gras, can you believe that?" Kang said. "We're going to have a rocking party."

In just its fourth season, Carolina Performing Arts will present 42 performances in the largest and most varied season yet offered. Seven themed series within the season will present classical, jazz and roots music; experimental and global theater and performance art, and dance.

"This season is in many ways our most ambitious yet, in the depth of the programs, the scale of the companies we're presenting and the number of new works," Kang said. "In four years, we have grown and matured as a program. We're able to present things now that we never could have a year or two ago."

The season also includes five major new works commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts. Among them are the world premiere of "Vivien and The Shadows," a theater work by Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen exploring Vivien Leigh's performance as Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire," and "I went to the house but did not enter," an experimental music theater work by German composer-director Heiner Goebbels, in partnership with the English vocal quartet The Hilliard Ensemble, in its U.S. premiere.

Carolina Performing Arts has also co-commissioned "To Be Straight With You," a dance-theater exploration of sexuality and hate by DV8, a company from the United Kingdom; "Orpheus and Eurydice," an avant-garde dance by French-Canadian choreographer Marie Chouinard; and "Continuous City," an experimental multimedia performance work by The Builders Association with director Marianne Weems.

Works, companies and artists from around the world will make their way to UNC in the upcoming season. Nations represented will include Benin, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Woven through the season will be works that are part of the Carolina Creative Campus Initiative, which uses the arts to stimulate discussion of important topics throughout campus. The program began with the current season, which is exploring various perspectives on capital punishment.

The Creative Campus Initiative for the 2008-09 season is called "The Gender Project," a year-long look at questions of gender and identity. Six of the season performances in Memorial Hall -- "Orpheus and Eurydice;" Compagnie Heddy Maalem's "The Rite of Spring," a modern interpretation of the 1913 Stravinsky/Nijinsky ballet; two classic works of Irish playwright J.M. Synge, performed by the Druid Theatre Company of Galway, Ireland; "Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati" a theatrical work by Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes of Mexico; "To Be Straight With You;" and "Vivien and The Shadows" -- form the core of the project.

Carolina Performing Arts presented its inaugural performances in September 2005.

Kang credits the growth of Carolina Performing Arts' offerings to several factors.

"In some ways, it is because of relationships we've built with artists and visiting companies," he said. "But it also has a lot to do with our dedicated and engaged audience, who've learned to trust us -- both on campus and in the larger community. We present artists who will entertain, challenge, provoke and inspire, and our audiences are willing to take that ride with us."

Word of mouth among performers makes a big difference, too. Kang pointed to an upcoming performance in the current season's roster by "my favorite pianist of all time," Mitsuko Uchida, and credited two previous Carolina Performing Arts series pianists with bringing her to Carolina.

"She's here because Radu Lupu had a wonderful time when he was here," Kang said. "And he was here because Emmanuel Ax had a wonderful time when he was here."

When artists of the stature of many on next year's lineup make it a point to perform at UNC, that's an indication that word has gotten out, said Kara Larson, Carolina Performing Arts' director of marketing and public relations.

"When we started three years ago, artists at a certain level were saying, 'Chapel where?'" she said. "We don't hear that any more."

Subscriptions to the Carolina Performing Arts Series will be available beginning May 19, and tickets to individual performances will be available beginning July 1. Both subscriptions and individual tickets can be purchased online at carolinaperformingarts.org, by phone through the Memorial Hall Box Office at (919) 843-3333, or by mail to the Memorial Hall Box Office, UNC-Chapel Hill, Campus Box 3276, Chapel Hill, N.C., 2759Performing Arts season includes Bolshoi, N.Y. Philharmonic