Julian MacKay

Principal Dancer

Julian MacKay was born in Livingston, Montana, into a classical ballet family. He trained on scholarship by the age of 9 in New York City at the American Ballet Theatre and also during the summers at The Royal Ballet School London and Academy Princess Grace in Monaco. At the age of 11 he left rural Montana to train at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. Upon graduating he became the first American to receive a full Russian Diploma, having completed both the upper and lower school. While in the Academy he medaled in five consecutive international ballet competitions, including the Prix de Lausanne and Gold medals at the Istanbul IBC and YAGP along with his history-making Bronze at Sochi Young Ballet of the World and the Beijing International Ballet Competition. While still in school, at age 17, he made his professional debut as Siegfried in Swan Lake with the Russian State Ballet in Berlin. Graduating top of his class he was hailed as a young "Apollo" by Russian dance critics, dancing numerous roles on the Bolshoi stage. At 17 Julian joined The Royal Ballet in London, as their youngest member and 2016 Prix de Lausanne prize winner. Eight months later, upon personal invitation from Mikhail Messerer, he joined the Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, as a second soloist. By 19 years old, MacKay was promoted to first soloist after a thrilling performance in Flames of Paris, and has danced numerous principal roles worldwide. At the height of his time at the Mikhailovsky Theatre he became an international guest artist, now invited to perform around the world – London, Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Shanghai, and more. From 2020 to 2022 he was a principal with the San Francisco Ballet under the direction of Helgi Tómasson. Julian is fluent in Russian and has his Bachelor's Degree as a ballet master and choreographer from the prestigious GITIS University (Russian Institute of Theatre Arts), in Moscow, Russia. Since the 2022/23 season he dances as a principal with Bayerisches Staatsballett.

(Information as of October 2024)

Roles and parts in the 2025/26 season
Albrecht in Giselle (Peter Wright after Coralli/Perrot/Petipa)
Günther in The Nutcracker (John Neumeier)
James in La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni)
Blake Works I (William Forsythe), as part of theWaves and Circles triple bill
The King in Illusions – like Swan Lake (John Neumeier)
Lenski in Onegin (John Cranko)
Armand Duval and Chevalier Des Grieux inThe lady of the camellias (John Neumeier)
Male Soloist in the Grand Pas Classique from Paquita (Marius Petipa), as part of the Konstellationen multiple bill
Pas de deux aus Radio and Juliet (Edward Clug), im Rahmen des Programms Konstellationen

Previous roles and parts
Jack / The Knave of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Christopher Wheeldon)
Solor in La Bayadère (Patrice Bart after Marius Petipa)
Prince Guillaume in Cinderella (Christopher Wheeldon)
Albrecht in Giselle (Peter Wright after Coralli/Perrot/Petipa)
The King in Illusions – like Swan Lake (John Neumeier)
Lenski in Onegin (John Cranko)
Soloist in Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj)
Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (John Cranko)
James in La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni)

Jewels (George Balanchine)
Tchaikovsky Overtures (Alexei Ratmansky)