Osiel Gouneo
and Principal Dancer
Born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1990, Osiel Gouneo began his training at the Escuela Nacional de Ballet in Havana in 2005. In 2008, he joined the Cuban National Ballet and was appointed first soloist just three years later. In 2013, he moved on to the Norwegian National Ballet and has been principal dancer at Bayerisches Staatsballett since the 2016/2017 season. In 2008, he won the Cuban Dance Grand Prix, the gold medal at the international ballet competition in Beijing and the silver medal at the international ballet competition in Varna. In 2013, he was honoured as ‘Best Newcomer on the international dance scene’ at the Positano Awards. Over the course of his career, he has performed at major theatres around the world, including the Coliseum in London, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Lincoln Center in New York, the Paris Opera and the New National Theatre in Tokyo. His repertoire includes roles such as the Princes in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake (Alicia Alonso, Derek Dean) and Cinderella, Basilio in Don Quixote, Franz in Coppélia, Des Grieux and Lescaut in Manon as well as Escamillo in Carmen (Liam Scarlett). In June 2021, Gouneo danced the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet by Rudolf Nureyev at the Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris. In 2024, together with Thilo Komma-Pöllath, he published the book Black Romeo.
(Information as of December 2024)
Roles and parts in the 2026-27 season
Armand Duval in The lady of the camellias (John Neumeier)
The King in Illusions – like Swan Lake (John Neumeier)
Bella Figura (Jiří Kylián), as part of the Common Ground triple bill
Cacti (Alexander Ekman), as part of the Common Ground triple bill
Previous roles and parts
Albrecht in Giselle (Peter Wright after Coralli/Perrot/Petipa)
Male Solo in the Grand Pas Classique from Paquita (Marius Petipa), as part of the Konstellationen multiple bill
Basilio in Don Quijote (Ray Barra after Petipa)
Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake (Ray Barra after Ivanov & Petipa)
Solor in La Bayadère (Patrice Bart after Marius Petipa)
Abderakhman in Raymonda (Ray Barra after Marius Petipa)
Solo in Boléro (Maurice Béjart), as part of theWaves and Circles triple bill
Title role in Spartacus (Yuri Grigorovich)
Title role in Onegin (John Cranko)
Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (John Cranko)
Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (John Cranko)
Günther in The Nutcracker (John Neumeier)
The King in Illusions – like Swan Lake (John Neumeier)
Armand Duval and Gaston in Lady of the camellias (John Neumeier)
Philostrat/Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (John Neumeier)
Prince in Cinderella (Christopher Wheeldon)
Belkin in The Blizzard (Andrey Kaydanovskiy)
Jewels (George Balanchine)
Tchaikovsky Overtures (Alexei Ratmansky)
Bella Figura (Jiří Kylián), as part of the Wings of Memory and Common Ground triple bills
Borderlands (Wayne McGregor), as part of the program Portrait Wayne McGregor
Cacti (Alexander Ekman), as part of the Common Ground triple bill
Megahertz (Emma Portner), as part of theWaves and Circles triple bill
Pictures at an Exhibition (Alexei Ratmansky), as part of the Passagen triple bill
Schmetterling (Sol León and Paul Lightfoot), as part of the Schmetterling double bill
Silent Screen (Sol León and Paul Lightfoot), as part of the Schmetterling double bill
Symphony in C (George Balanchine), as part of the Sinfonie in C / In the Night / Adam is triple bill
White Darkness (Nacho Duato), as part of the Duato / Skeels / Eyal triple bill