Demis Volpi will follow John Neumeier at Hamburg Ballet

[Angela]

This is a rough translation of the German Press Release:

 

Demis Volpi becomes Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet

The Ballet Director of the Ballet am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg will succeed John Neumeier in 2024

 

Demis Volpi will succeed Prof. John Neumeier as Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet and Director of the Ballet Center Hamburg on August 1, 2024. The supervisory board of the Hamburg State Opera decided this unanimously today and thus followed the recommendation of an international selection committee. The 36-year-old German-Argentinian has been ballet director and chief choreographer of the Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg since August 2020. He is a trained dancer and has made an international name for himself as a choreographer. He has also choreographed for the National Youth Ballet. To ensure a smooth transition, John Neumeier will extend his contract by another year until summer 2024. John Neumeier has directed the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. With his work, Hamburg's honorary citizen wrote ballet history and led the company to worldwide fame.

 

Dr Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media: "With Demis Volpi, the outstanding history of the Hamburg Ballet can be continued and lead into the future with new impulses. He knows the national youth ballet and the ballet school from his own work and will keep the repertoire created by John Neumeier alive. At the same time, I am looking forward to the presentation of new choreographic signatures and his own work as a choreographer, since he also combines tradition and innovation as an artist. As a trained dancer, Demis Volpi also has a very keen sense of the possibilities of a company and the needs of the dancers. I am also very grateful to John Neumeier that he is willing to direct the Hamburg Ballet for another year and thus ensure a smooth transition. Hamburg owes a lot to its honorary citizen. He wrote ballet history in our city with outstanding choreographies. They define the Hamburg Ballet. With Demis Volpi we are putting John Neumeier’s legacy in good hands and at the same time opening the door to a bright future for ballet in Hamburg.”

 

Demis Volpi, designated Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet: “I am delighted to have been appointed Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet, succeeding John Neumeier. I am grateful to the members of the selection committee for the great trust they place in me. I am very aware of the special nature and also the challenge that this task entails. The chance to follow an artist who shaped and inspired this company, the city society and an audience from all over the world for around half a century is simply unique. I am very much looking forward to keeping alive the rich repertoire created by John Neumeier, to searching for and showing new dance perspectives on our world and also to further developing my own choreographic language. Shaping the future of the Hamburg Ballet together with the company and the Hamburg audience should be an exciting and inspiring experience for all of us.

 

Despite the difficult circumstances caused by the pandemic, under which I started the realignment of the Ballett am Rhein in summer 2020, a rich and happy seasons lies behind us, which will hopefully be followed by two more equally fulfilling ones. I owe the fact that I can do this work, which has received such great recognition with my appointment to Hamburg, to the highly motivated dancers of the Ballet am Rhein, my team and all my colleagues in the house of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg. I would like to sincerely thank John Neumeier for his openness and positive reaction. Without his encouragement, this step would be unthinkable for me.”

 

John Neumeier, Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet: “At the beginning of this season, our revival of Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony was an outstanding achievement. At a time when theaters are struggling to fill, a 48-year-old play inspired four sold-out performances. This company - the Hamburg Ballet - is an impressive and unique ensemble. When I recently saw the rough cut of the Anna Karenina film that we recorded in May, I spontaneously said: I've worked for 50 years for this! Now I am giving away something that is infinitely valuable to me: this group of wonderful artists. I believe that every company should have its own face. I trust that Demis Volpi will preserve the Hamburg Ballet and lead this ensemble into the future with a different, a new, but again unmistakable face. I am pleased that Lloyd Riggins will remain as his deputy and that he will also assume a new position as curator and expert on my work. I can only wish Demis Volpi, Lloyd Riggins and the entire Hamburg Ballet the very best for the future.”

 

Demis Volpi has been the ballet director and chief choreographer of the Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg since 2020. Previously, he was very successful as a freelance choreographer and director and has worked for the American Ballet Theatre, the Ballet de Santiago de Chile, the Ballet Nacional del Sodre in Uruguay, the Latvian National Ballet, the Dortmund Ballet, the Compañia Nacional de Danza, among others de México and the Ballet Vlaanderen. He has also worked with the National Youth Ballet. From 2013 to 2017 he was resident choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet, for which he developed the ballet "Krabat", among other things.

 

Born in Buenos Aires, Demis Volpi was first trained at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatro Colón. He received his further training at Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto and at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. He was then accepted into the company of the Stuttgart Ballet. Volpi has received a large number of international awards for his work, including the Konex Award from the foundation of the same name in Buenos Aires, "Young Artist of the Year" from Opernwelt magazine and the German Dance Prize Future from the Aalto Theater in Essen. He has also been nominated for the Prix Benois de la Danse and the International Opera Awards.

 

With its decision for Demis Volpi, the supervisory board of the Hamburg State Opera followed the recommendation of a high-ranking and international selection committee. Chaired by Culture Senator Brosda, these included: as external experts, Ted Brandsen, director and choreographer of the Dutch National Ballet, Tamas Detrich, artistic director of the Stuttgart Ballet, Brigitte Lefèvre, former dancer, choreographer and ballet director of the Paris Opera, Dorion Weickmann, dance critic and author/editor of the magazine "tanz", Ashley Wheater, artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, and Gigi Hyatt, deputy director and educational director of the John Neumeier Ballet School, the supervisory board members of the Hamburg State Opera Michael Behrendt, Monika Hess and Elke Weber- Braun and Hans Heinrich Bethge, Head of the Culture Department at the Authority for Culture and the Media.

 

[alison]

Thank you, Angela - both for the information and the translation

[Sabine0308]

Wow this took me by surprise. He has HUUGE shoes to fill. Good luck and it's certainly end of an era then.  And fresh winds ahead!😉

[FionaM]

Interesting choice.