Alessandra Ferri’s dancing career spanned continents, decades, and three venerable institutions: La Scala, where the Italian trained and started out; the Royal Ballet, first when she caught the eye of its reigning choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, then, decades later, as elder stateswoman for the current resident choreographer Wayne McGregor; and American Ballet Theatre, where she established herself as a dramatic ballerina par excellence. Hence the international furor over her move to the Vienna State Ballet. Her appointment as artistic director, which goes into effect this fall, has spurred 19 dancers to abandon their posts across Europe and follow her. Among them is the fiercely, finely committed Cassandra Trenary. The former ABT principal begins her Vienna tenure with the ballerina equivalent of being shot out of a canon: the title role in Giselle. The elegant staging by Elenea Tschernischova, Kirov alum and ABT coach during the Baryshnikov era, received a 42-minute ovation at its 1993 debut and has been on the boards ever since. The rest of Ferri’s inaugural-year programming features lesser works by great choreographers, typical works by lesser choreographers, and, blessedly, Twyla Tharp’s walloping In the Upper Room and Balanchine’s three-part Jewels. —Apollinaire Scherr