PRESS RELEASE 14 July, 2022:

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

The Bayerisches Staatsballett is heading off for its summer break after a successful tour of Spain in early July and a further performance of Christopher Wheeldon’s fairytale balletCinderella, with Laurretta Summerscales making her debut in the title role yesterday, Wednesday 13 July 2022.

The company will be launching its 2022-23 season during the weekend of 17 and 18 September 2022 at our annual UniCredit Septemberfest with three performances of the modern double billHerzkammern (Heart Chambers). The premiere ofWie der Fisch zum Meer fand (The Fish Who Found the Sea), a dance theatre production for children of four and older, will open on Saturday 24 September 2022, also as part of the company’s UniCredit Septemberfest.

The new season will additionally bring a number of new faces to the company and entail a handful of changes.

Looking back on 2021–22

Christopher Wheeldon’s fairytale balletCinderella was first seen in November 2021 and introduced a colourful new work for the whole family into the repertory of the Bayerisches Staatsballett. The 2022 Ballet Festival marked the acclaimed house debuts of the choreographers Marco Goecke and David Dawson with two new works, Sweet Bones’ Melody and Affairs of the Heart, both of them part of the triple billPassagen (Passages) that also includes Alexei Ratmansky’s Bilder einer Ausstellung (Pictures at an Exhibition). As part of the Heute ist morgen (Today is Tomorrow) series three other newcomers presented their work at the Prinzregententheater. They were company principal Jonah Cook and the young choreographers Özkan Ayik and Philippe Kratz.

First seen at Heute ist morgen in 2022, Kratz’s creation to get to become has been taken over in the repertory by ballet director Laurent Hilaire and will be revived at the Nationaltheater in September 2022 as part of the Herzkammern double bill.

Laurent Hilaire took over as the company’s director at the start of May 2022 after his predecessor Igor Zelensky resigned for personal reasons.

"I’m very much looking forward to being in Munich and to contributing to the work of this outstanding company. Artistic excellence is an essential part of my work, but so is the need to ensure that there are excellent lines of communication between all the parties concerned. And so I hope to be able to present a whole range of different programmes and also to engage further with our audience,” says Laurent Hilaire

Looking ahead to the autumn of 2022

The Bayerisches Staatsballett launches its 2022-23 season on 17 and 18 September 2022 withHerzkammern. This double bill features two ensemble pieces: Bedroom Folk by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar and Philippe Kratz’s to get to become, first seen as part of the Heute ist morgen series in 2022.

The three performances of Herzkammern are a part of the Bayerische Staatsoper’s UniCredit Septemberfest, which takes place at various venues between Friday 16 and Sunday 25 September 2022. It also includes the world premiere of the new dance theatre productionWie der Fisch zum Meer fand, which is aimed at children of four and upwards.

This new production will be directed by Franziska Angerer and include choreographic material of the young British choreographer Charlotte Edmonds. The performers will be working with material from her Generation Goldfish, which premiered at last year’s Heute ist morgen run of performances in 2021. Her production will be staged for the first time in the stalls cloakroom area of the Nationaltheater on Saturday 24 September 2022 and between then and early October there will be a total of twelve performances.

The season proper begins in October 2022 with the triple bill Passagen and the fairytale ballet Cinderella. On Tuesday 25 October 2022 there will also be a chance to renew acquaintance with John Cranko’s classic Romeo and Juliet, which is returning to the stage of the Nationaltheater after a four-year-absence with a new cast. The month of November sees the start of rehearsals for the world premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s abstractTchaikovsky Overtures, which will open in December.

Company news

As usual, the new season brings with it a number of changes to the company.

Shale Wagman has been promoted by director Laurent Hilaire and in future will be appearing as a first soloist with the Bayerisches Staatsballett. Julian MacKay will be joining the ensemble as a new principal. A native of the US state of Montana, he is coming to Munich from the San Francisco Ballet. A dancer coming from Russia is Yago Gonzaga, who was previously working with the Perm Ballet. Dani Gibson, Eline Larrory and Zhanna Gubanova complete the women’s corps de ballet, Noah Hak will join the men's corps de ballet. The American dancer Emma Knowlson has already been a member of the corps de ballet since June 2022.

Upon becoming director, Laurent Hilaire took over all the company’s existing dancers, but, as usual, a number of ensemble members will be leaving in order to continue their careers at other houses. The two principals Ksenia Ryzhkova and Jonah Cook have decided to continue to dance with the Stanislavsky Theatre’s ballet company in Moscow. First soloist Dmitrii Vyskubenko also returns to Russia and joins the Bolshoi Ballet. Soloist Vera Segova and corps de ballet member Marina Duarte have accepted offers from Christian Spuck and as from next season they will be dancing with the Staatsballett Berlin. Raúl Ferreira, formerly a member of the corps de ballet, will be taking up a new appointment with Marco Goecke in Hanover, starting in September 2022.

In addition, the Bayerisches Staatsballett says goodbye to demi-soloist Mia Rudić and ballet mistress Ivy Amista. Mia Rudić is ending her active career as a dancer but planning to continue her association with the world of dance in other forms. Ivy Amista will take care of her family and her three children.

The Bayerisches Staatsballett extends its warmest wishes to all of the dancers who are leaving the company and wishes them all the best for the future

HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER BREAK

The Bayerisches Staatsballett is grateful for your outstanding assistance and encouragement during the season that has just ended and wishes you all an enjoyable and relaxing summer. The company will be back in early September 2022. The Press Office will reopen on Thursday 1 September 2022 and can be contacted in the usual way. The preview for the Bayerisches Staatsballet’s new season will be available from the end of September. Enjoy the summer!