Ballet director Laurent Hilaire promoted António Casalinho to First Soloist and Carollina Bastos to soloist with the beginning of January 2023 .
António Casalinho is from Portugal and joined the ensemble of Bayerisches Staatsballett in the season 2021-22. Brazilian Carollina Bastos started 2016 as trainee in the Corps de ballet of the Company. António enthraled in the premiere of Tchaikovsky-Overtures as well as in Passagen and as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Carollina dances in Cinderella the spring solo in and the solo pair in Jewels. Congratulations to both of them!
António Casalinho was born in Leiria, Portugal, where he completed his ballet studies from the age of 8 at the Annarella Sanchez International Conservatory of Ballet and Dance, which follows the Cuban methodology of training. He won prizes in every international competition he entered. In 2021 the Prix de Lausanne double win of First Prize and Contemporary Prize; in 2019 the Grand Prix at the Beijing International Ballet Competition; in 2018 the Special Distinction Award in the Junior Category, the Emil Dimitrov Prize for Young Talent, Promising Young Dancer and the Bounty Award for the youngest round 3 competitor; at YAGP he took the Grand Prix Award in the Junior and Senior category in 2016 and 2018. António Casalinho has been engaged as soloist at the Bayerisches Staatsballett starting with the 2021/22 season. With January 1st, 2023 Laurent Hilaire promoted him to First Soloist.
Brazilian Carollina Bastos trained at the Ballet Academy of the University for Music and the Performig Arts Munich and gathered stage experiences during the Matinees of the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung at Nationaltheater. With the beginning of the 2016/17 season, she joined the Bayerisches Staatsballett as a trainee. Since the season 2018/19 she dances as a corps de ballet member with the Bayerisches Staatsballett. In 2021 she was awarded the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize for her outstanding artistic work in classical and contemporary ballet productions. Starting January 1st, 2023 Laurent Hilaire promoted her to Soloist.