The Bayerisches Staatsballett mourns the loss of Stefan Erler, who passed away in Munich on 16 August 2025. Stefan Erler had many connections to the Bayerische Staatsoper, as a dancer, ballet master, head of the trainee class, head of the opera ballet and, last but not least, as acting ballet director from September 1986 to August 1989.

Trained in the children's ballet and in the trainee class of the Bayerische Staatsoper, Erler was engaged as a group dancer under ballet director Heinz Rosen. After taking office in 1968, John Cranko appointed Erler as a soloist, whereupon he was given prominent roles in Begegnung in drei Farben (Encounter in Three Colours, 1968) and Katalyse (Catalysis, 1968), among others, with Gislinde Skroblin as his partner. In Cranko's version of Romeo and Juliet (1968), he took on the role of Benvolio, and in Daphnis and Chloé (1969), that of Bryoxys. Important roles in the following years included Balanchine's Divertimento No. 15 (1970), Ronald Hynd's Pas de trois (1971), Gerhard Bohner's Die Folterungen der Beatrice Cenci (in the role of Olimio, 1972) and Jochen Ulrich's Lyrische Suite (1974).

After Ronald Hynd ended his second term in Munich (1894-1986) prematurely and negotiations to establish the Bayerisches Staatsballett were still ongoing, the then director of the Bayerische Staatsoper, Wolfgang Sawallisch, entrusted Stefan Erler with the temporary management of the ballet. Erler's tenure included the premieres of the programme 3x David Bintley (April 1988) and revivals of Cranko's Ebony Concerto and Encounter in Three Colours, for which Erler himself was (jointly) responsible for rehearsals. During his tenure, the Ballet Festival Weeks also featured controversial guest performances by the Compagnie Maguy Marin (1987) and the Kirov Ballet from Leningrad (1988), as well as a guest performance by the Nederlands Dans Theater in the 1989/90 season. 

Stefan Erler, born in 1944, achieved outstanding renomee as a dancer, ballet master and teacher, and steered the fortunes of the ballet company at the Bayerische Staatsoper with a cool head and a steady hand during a difficult period of transition. The management, staff and ensemble of the Bayerisches Staatsballett will honour his memory.