Royal Ballet casting for autumn performances 2023 with role debuts

The Royal Ballet casting for main roles is announced for all performances from 30 September 2023 until 13 January 2024.

General booking opens on 2 August 2023 for the whole period.

The ballets are Don Quixote; Anemoi | The Cellist (Choreography Valentino Zucchetti | Cathy Marston), The Dante Project (Choreography Wayne McGregor); The Nutcracker (Choreography Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov).

* role debut

Don Quixote

Choreography Marius Petipa

Roles: Kitri, Basilio

Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov
Saturday 30th September – 7.30pm
Monday 16th October – 7.30pm
Thursday 19th October – 7.30pm

Natalia Osipova, Marcelino Sambé
Wednesday 4th October – 7.30pm
Saturday 7th October – 7pm

Anna Rose O’Sullivan*, Steven McRae
Saturday 7th October – 1pm
Friday 13th October – 7.30pm
Tuesday 17th October – 7.30pm

Yasmine Naghdi, Matthew Ball
Wednesday 11th October – 7.30pm
Saturday 14th October – 7pm

Fumi Kaneko, William Bracewell*
Saturday 14th October – 1pm
Friday 3rd November – 7.30pm

Mayara Magri, Cesar Corrales*
Saturday 28th October – 1pm
Tuesday 7th November – 7.30pm (Live Cinema Relay)

Akane Takada, Luca Acri*
Saturday 28th October – 7.30pm
Saturday 11th November – 7pm

Natalia Osipova, Reece Clarke*
Saturday 11th November – 1pm
Friday 17th November – 7.30pm

Anemoi | The Cellist

Choreography Valentino Zucchetti | Cathy Marston

Roles: The Cellist, The Instrument, The Conductor

Friday 20th October – 7.30pm
Monday 23rd October – 7.30pm
Thursday 26th October – 7.30pm
Thursday 2nd November – 7.30pm
ANEMOI – Mariko Sasaki, Lukas Brendsrod, Leticia Dias, Taisuke Nakao
THE CELLIST – Lauren Cuthbertson, Marcelino Sambé, Matthew Ball

Saturday 21st October – 7.30pm
Wednesday 25th October – 7.30pm
Wednesday 1st November – 7.30pm
ANEMOI – Hanna Park*, David Donnelly, Sumina Sasaki, Daichi Ikarashi
THE CELLIST – Mayara Magri*, Calvin Richardson, Lukas Brendsrod*

The Dante Project

Choreography Wayne McGregor

Saturday 18th November – 7pm
Wednesday 22nd November – 7.30pm
Saturday 25th November – 7.30pm
Monday 27th November – 7.30pm
Wednesday 29th November – 7.30pm
Friday 1st December – 7.30pm
Saturday 2nd December – 1pm
Saturday 2nd December – 7pm

The Company

The Nutcracker

Choreography Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov

Roles: The Sugar Plum Fairy, The Prince,

Fumi Kaneko, William Bracewell
Wednesday 6th December – 7.30pm
Saturday 9th December – 7pm

Anna Rose O’Sullivan, Marcelino Sambé
Thursday 7th December – 7.30pm
Thursday 12th December – 7.30pm (Cinema Live Relay)

Francesca Hayward, Alexander Campbell
Thursday 14th December – 7.30pm
Thursday 21st December – 7.30pm

Sarah Lamb, Steven McRae
Monday 18th December – 7.30pm
Friday 22nd December – 1.30pm

Yasmine Naghdi, Matthew Ball
Tuesday 19th December – 7.30pm
Friday 22nd December – 7.30pm

Lauren Cuthbertson, William Bracewell
Wednesday 20th December – 12.30pm
Saturday 23rd December – 12.30pm

Mayara Magri, Cesar Corrales
Thursday 21st December – 1.30pm
Friday 29th December – 7.30pm

Mariko Sasaki, Joseph Sissens
Wednesday 27th December – 1.30pm

Leticia Dias, Calvin Richardson
Wednesday 27th December – 7.30pm

Annette Buvoli*, Nicol Edmonds
Monday 1st January – 1.30pm

Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Valentino Zucchetti
Monday 1st January – 7.30pm

Yuhui Choe, Benjamin Ella
Wednesday 3rd January – 7.30pm

Akane Takada, Ryoichi Hirano
Thursday 4th January – 7.30pm
Thursday 11th January – 7.30pm

Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov
Friday 5th January – 7.30pm
Wednesday 10th January – 7.30pm

Mayara Magri, Reece Clarke
Tuesday 9th January – 7.30pm
Saturday 13th January – 7.30pm

Role casting as of 31 May 2023 is subject to change

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.