[Interview] Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare talks about the company’s new name and new season 2024-2025

The Royal Ballet’s 2024-2025 season has just been announced – the full programme can be seen below – with an exciting mix of full-length ballets and mixed bills, the company’s hit repertory pieces and new works, large main stage works and programmes for the more intimate Linbury Theatre. I talked with Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare about the programming, new initiatives, and tradition.

So, Kevin, the ‘big news’ is the birth of the ‘Royal Ballet and Opera’ – after all The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera companies have performed under the same roof since 1946, so it makes sense.

It’s really great – what happens at the Royal Opera House is ballet and opera, not just opera, so we’re calling it the Royal Ballet and Opera from now on. Some people didn’t quite get that there was ballet in the Royal Opera House, so we want to shout about it… it’s what it says on the tin.

The flags outside will now say ‘Royal Ballet and Opera’, so as you walk in you go, “OK, this is what happens here.”

It’s also good that people understand what is here at the Royal Ballet and Opera, so the Arts Council grant, for example, is actually going to two companies, not just the building [The Royal Opera House] and the orchestra. It’s just clearer.

Some people thought that opera was at the Opera House, and ballet was somewhere else?

Yes, even some people who should have known better! And the new logo works much better on social media or on a bus or whatever – you can see it much better.

So under the new flag you are announcing the new season.

I’m excited about the season. It’s going to be good. A snapshot of what The Royal Ballet is today.

How do you decide on what to include, or exclude?

Well, we’ve just got so much rep, with the things that we’ve done in the last 10 years and then the heritage pieces, the classical and all of those. But audiences don’t necessarily think in seasons, so I look at what’s happening now, from the beginning of 2024, through to the end of 2025, thinking about what it’s going to look like as a whole.

We’ve just had the MacMillan programme, we’re now doing a long run of Swan Lake, and there’s the big Ashton programme at the end of the season, therefore at the beginning [of the new season] there’s more new work, or work new to us, and then moving on its looking at our shared heritage – Onegin that we haven’t done for a while, and having Balanchine back is very important to me. And we celebrate Chris [Wheeldon] with his programme. Hopefully there’s something there for everyone.

We open with Alice because it was the catalyst ballet for us to create big new works.

Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland opened at Covent Garden in 2011 and was the first full-length narrative ballet commissioned by The Royal Ballet since 1995.

It’s great to go back to that work, which is a massive company piece, and like The Winter’s Tale that opens next week, there are a lot of people in the company that haven’t done it.

We have a new generation of principals, so there’s the excitement of seeing those dancers in roles they haven’t done before, as well as all the amazing dancers we have who have done those works.

You’re opening with Alice’s Adventures, and just before in the Linbury Theatre there’s ZooNation’s The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Then you have Legacy at the Linbury with Joseph Sissens leading the company in celebration of Black History Month, followed by Ballet Black bringing its Heroes programme, while on the main stage is Encounters: Four Contemporary Ballets with two black choreographers – Kyle Abraham and Joseph Toonga. And even though an act of Jewels is not in the Balanchine programme, you have neatly got the fifth edition of the Van Cleef & Arpels-sponsored Dance Reflections Festival coming right before the Balanchine: Three Signature Works evening on the main stage.

I love the fact that that we can have this sort of link between the two theatres and have this synergy between the two stages – it really makes sense. In Encounters we have two Black choreographers in the mix, but they’re not people that we’re just bringing in now, but people that we’ve invested in, people that we have worked with and want to work with – Kyle and Joseph [Toonga, The Royal Ballet’s Emerging Choreographer] and then of course Pam [Tanowitz] and Crystal [Pite].

Pam always says – which I love quoting – that she feels that we set her up for success here. When she first did something with us, it was part of a small programme, to do with Cunningham. We did a bit of Cunningham, a bit of Ashton, because Cunningham inspired Ashton to create Monotones, and we brought in Pam as a new voice from that line. Then she came and created a duet for the Diamond Gala, and now that’s going to be expanded into a ballet. It’s nice to have those connections. And then, as it’s October and Black History Month, we’ve Ballet Black coming into the Linbury, and Joseph [Sissens] is curating with myself three performances celebrating Black and Brown dancers, which will be exciting.

On stage there’s a much richer mix of races from even just a decade ago, but is that reflected in the audience?

It’s a good question. I do think the audience has changed. I think it’s important to find work that will engage those people, and interestingly a lot of new audiences want to see the Swan Lakes, and those titles. It’s good to widen that net and hopefully when they come and see a more diverse audience and a more diverse company, then that makes them feel, “This is for us.”

Also, post-COVID people don’t book as early. Before we would open our public booking and there would be like five tickets left. Now it’s less of a club and so I feel we really are getting different people in. Maybe it comes onto their radar because of social media and then they can go and book a ticket.

Research tells us that our audience is getting younger too – 36% of bookers are under 35.

The Wheeldon programme – Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works – looks exciting, finishing with the ballet from An American in Paris.

We wanted to celebrate Chris’ amazing variety of work. We go from the beautifully neoclassical Fool’s Paradise, which he did originally for his own company, and then we did it in my first season because I love the ballet. Chris is at his absolute best creating beautiful movement – transcendent really.

Then we come into the middle section with a tender heart connection with duets – the male/male one, which he did originally for the Ballet Boyz, and then there’s the Joni Mitchell one – so we have Us, and The Two of Us.

And then there’s all-out Broadway. I saw the first preview of his An American in Paris in Paris, then here, obviously, and then in New York, and we thought it would be great to bring it to the Opera House as a ballet. It will be slightly extended because the ballet music was shortened for the for the musical, and he will, of course, look at our dancers and bring it to life with them. We don’t really have anything like that in the rep, and I think it will be really fun for the company. He’s the Jerome Robbins of his generation.

The Royal Opera House’s international live relays of ballet and opera in cinemas will continue next year, and Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works will be part of the cinema season.

And the Balanchine programme – how did you choose?

You’re probably like this too, in that every time I see one, I go, “Yes, I think that’s my favourite!” It’s tough choosing, but I think it’s a programme that works.

Serenade has to be one of the most beautiful ballets ever. And the music! It’s great for the corps de ballet, and the three main women particularly.

Then The Prodigal Son, which we were about to do just before COVID. It was the end of March [2020] and it was all rehearsed. So I really wanted to do it this time, and we’ve got about 10 dancers who could be prodigal sons – people who can really do those roles.

Then finishing with Symphony in C, which we’ve sort of made our own, and gives so many opportunities for the dancers. With a mixed programme, you can say, “This is The Royal Ballet,” with lots of principal dancers and the full company on stage.

And I’m thrilled that we’ve got the great Pat Neary coming back [Patricia Neary, the famous Balanchine dancer, who has restaged Balanchine’s works for decades for the Balanchine Trust]. I worked with her when I was 18 as a dancer, and now in this job. There’s something about the way she works that brings out the best and she cares about the works so much.

Then there’s the UK premiere of Wayne McGregor‘s MADDADDAM, a massive piece. The mixture of Wayne and Margaret Atwood and Gareth Pugh. It’s like a collision of artistic invention.

McGregor reunited his dream team with Lucy Carter’s lighting, Max Richter’s score, and the rest of the team that produced Woolf Works in 2015, with the addition of English fashion designer Gareth Pugh who designed the costumes. MADDADDAM is a coproduction with the National Ballet of Canada and opened there in 2022. It is based on Atwood’s trilogy of novels: Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam.

This is the first time that a Royal Ballet/National Ballet of Canada coproduction has debuted in Canada.

Yes, that’s true, but it made sense because of [Canadian author] Margaret Atwood. Also, Karen [Kain] and I have worked on many different collaborations, and it was her last season [as director of the company] as well.

When I went to Toronto the city was abuzz. Posters everywhere. Atwood is an icon there. Everybody knows her work. And she really likes dance. Crystal [Pite] was thrilled because a character in one of her books goes to see Kidd Pivot [Pite’s company] perform.

It’s the big, new full-length work for the company this season. Like Woolf Works it doesn’t have a straight-through narrative, but Margaret Atwood was very much a part of the process. Max Richter is a brilliant collaborator and with Gareth Pugh too it’s a sensory overload… they really draw you into the world that they’re creating. It will be a really exciting premiere for us.

I was blown away by the sheer scale of it and the beauty of it… amazing… but it has a heart and you get drawn into the characters. I love those two elements – the visual beauty and the beauty of the choreography with the music… it’s quite something.

You mentioned Crystal Pite who returns to the main stage with Light of Passage, which grew out of Flight Pattern that she created for the company in 2017.

I’m thrilled to be bringing it back – the company love it and the audiences love it. I went over to see it in Paris recently with Norwegian National Ballet, who coproduced Light of Passage, after we’d done Flight Pattern. It was beautiful to see it again and, sadly, it’s just as relevant. [The piece is about refugees.]

The company love to work with Crystal, which is always a bonus, [he picks up the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance – a Grayson Perry ceramic] and it won this lovely award.

The season has new works and mixed programmes but, of course, also the big story ballets: Romeo and Juliet, the first revival of the new production of Cinderella, Onegin…

There is a balance. We’re lucky that we have an audience for those mixed programmes, but there need to be big runs of those story ballets, those big hitters. Not everything has to be an anniversary, but next year is 60 years of [MacMillan’s] Romeo and Juliet. And we’re doing more performances than we’ve ever done of Onegin because audiences have flocked to it in the past.

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During the season, Federico Bonelli brings Northern Ballet and Carlos Acosta brings Acosta Danza to the Linbury. The last few years have seen Royal Ballet dancers go off and assume important positions with major companies around the world. Do you feel like a proud dad, seeing his children going off and finding success elsewhere?

I feel really proud. People were very kind to me and gave me opportunities when major knee surgery stopped me from dancing.

O’Hare was a principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and retired from dancing in 2000 at the age of 35, but while injured he shadowed various posts at the Rambert Dance Company, then trained in company management with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

It’s something I wanted to do with our dancers, to give them other opportunities.

Federico spent time with me, and for a few months did the Clore Fellowship, and I made sure he worked out his schedule so he could still dance, but also take part in the Clore Leadership Programme.

And Alexander Campbell has just become Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Dance.

I was just speaking to The Royal Ballet governors, saying that we should be very proud of this fact. What Alexander has done, and I think we can lay claim to Alessandra Ferri too and she’s going to Vienna [State Ballet]. Federico at Northern, Leanne [Benjamin at Queensland Ballet]… I think it’s really important that even young dancers coming into the company know that we will nurture them not only as dancers, but also for their future careers. In the old days, people thought dancers shouldn’t be heard or whatever, but they really have a voice now, which is the great thing about social media.

I remember Alexander Campbell being very determined and capable long before he was a principal. At The Royal Ballet he’s been presenting live relays and producing evenings of dance. Did he approach you about projects or vice versa?

A little bit of both, actually. One good thing about COVID is that we had more conversations – usually you finish a rehearsal, rush to Graham’s interview, and then there’s this other thing to do… the real world. During COVID, I was calling to make sure dancers were OK, so I remember being an hour and a half on the phone with Alexander talking about what he was interested in, and saw how thoughtful he was about this world, and then he came up with some other ideas. We brought in Joe Powell-Main, a wheelchair-user dancer, and put them together, and something good came out of that.

Campbell produced Sleepwalker for the company’s Spring Draft Works series in 2022 with Powell-Main.

Also, with our educational work there’s Aiden O’Brien [First Artist] who’s got a natural way of speaking, so he can present, and has an interest in that, so you think, yes, have your career now, but there are also things in the future, which is really important. Then there’s Laura Morera and Ed [Watson] who are staging works for us.

And Kristen McNally who we know as Carabosse and from Pite’s Flight Pattern and so on, but also as a presenter and choreographer [she created the choreography for The Limit, with Campbell and Francesca Hayward at the Linbury last year] and she will choreograph one of Northern Ballet’s works that comes to the Opera House.  

Yeah, she’s done a lot of things and has a great career because she’s so fantastic on stage, but then she has the choreography too, and she’s nominated for the Critics’ Circle [National Dance Awards for Best Modern Choreography for The Limit] and then presenting, like Alex. She’s great.

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Can you say something about Aud Jebsen who has ‘generously supported’ the season?

She was somebody who would come to the ballet, and first got involved when she came to China with the company in 2008. She read in the Friends’ magazine that we sometimes take people on tour with us. She came with a friend and loved it, and that was the start of our journey. She’s been amazing. She’s helped with touring, with many productions, but the best thing is The Aud Jebsen Young Dancers programme.

The programme was established in 2014 and provides recently graduated dancers a year’s contract to train and perform alongside the corps de ballet of The Royal Ballet.

I was the administrative director with Monica [Mason, director of The Royal Ballet, 2002-2012] and I could see that she was struggling with getting people into the company because of the way our contracts work. Somebody can tell us in June that they’re going to leave with only three months’ notice, so at Christmas you never know how many contracts are going to be available for the new season, and so graduates might go off to other companies. The Aud Jebsen Young Dancers gives me a sort of buffer. And it’s a two-way street, because maybe the dream is to join the Royal Ballet, but the reality is that it’s not for you.

In 10 years, 41 dancers in the company have come through the Aud Jebsen programme.

She is amazing, and what is fantastic is that she’s done it for English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern, The Royal Academy of Dance… incredible. The landscape of British ballet would be a lot poorer without her, and not just in a monetary sense.

THE ROYAL BALLET 2024/25 SEASON OVERVIEW

ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company

THE MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY

Linbury Theatre
4 – 24 September 2024

A co-production with The Royal Ballet
Director and Writer Kate Prince
Choreography Kate Prince and Members of ZooNation
Music Josh Cohen, DJ Walde
Lyrics Kate Prince, Josh Cohen, DJ Walde
Set and Costume Designs Ben Stones
Lighting Designer Natasha Chivers
Sound Designer and Music Supervision David McEwan

The Queen of Hearts has anger issues. Alice is confused about just how big or small her body actually is. The Mad Hatter, suffering from mercury poisoning, never wants to stop having tea! Ernest has his work cut out for him at his new job. He is tasked to fix people who have been locked away for not being ‘normal’. As he gets closer to his patients, Ernest realises: what’s so great about being ‘normal’ anyway?

Powerhouse storytelling company ZooNation returns to the Linbury Theatre with this hit show.

Founder Kate Prince transforms Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland into a dysfunctional institution in this energetic hip-hop work featuring original music and family-friendly storytelling. Inventive and colourful, The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party encourages us to embrace our differences and what makes us who we are.

The Royal Ballet

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Main Stage
28 September – 1 November 2024
13 June – 6 July 2025

A co-production with The National Ballet of Canada
Choreography Christopher Wheeldon
Music Joby Talbot
Orchestration Christopher Austin, Joby Talbot
Designer Bob Crowley
Scenario Nicholas Wright
Lighting Designer Natasha Katz
Projection Designers Jon Driscoll, Gemma Carrington
Original Sound Designer Andrew Bruce for Autograph

Conductors Koen Kessels / Martin Georgiev Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Generous philanthropic support from John and Susan Burns OBE, Sir Lloyd and Lady Dorfman OBE, Kenneth and Susan Green, Martin and Jane Houston, Huo Family Foundation, Doug and Ceri King and Lindsay and Sarah Tomlinson.
Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon generously supported by Kenneth and Susan Green
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Journey through Wonderland with Alice and encounter a host of curious characters as she tries to save the Knave from the furious Queen of Hearts. From a mysterious Cheshire cat to a tap-dancing tea party, many treats and eccentricities await in this weird and wonderful world. You never know what you might find when you fall down the rabbit hole.

Lewis Carroll’s beloved children’s story is brought to life in Christopher Wheeldon’s unique theatrical interpretation. With composer Joby Talbot’s magical music and designer Bob Crowley’s whimsical designs, Wonderland becomes wondrously real. Packed with high-spirited choreography and astonishing stagecraft, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is perfect entertainment for all the family.

The Royal Ballet

ENCOUNTERS: FOUR CONTEMPORARY BALLETS

Main Stage
22 October – 16 November 2024

THE WEATHERING

Choreography Kyle Abraham
Music Ryan Lott
Costume Designer Karen Young
Lighting Designer Dan Scully
Conductor Geoffrey Patterson

World Premiere

NEW PAM TANOWITZ

Choreography Pam Tanowitz
Music Ted Hearne
Costume Designers Harriet Jung, Reid Bartelme
Lighting Designer Simon Bennison
Conductor Geoffrey Patterson

World Premiere

NEW JOSEPH TOONGA

Choreography Joseph Toonga
Music Marina Moore
Costume Designer Jessica Xavier
Lighting Designer Simon Bennison
Dramaturgy Peggy Olislaegers

THE STATEMENT

Choreography Crystal Pite
Text Jonathon Young Music Owen Belton
Set Designer Jay Gower Taylor
Costume Designers Crystal Pite, Joke Visser
Lighting Designer Tom Visser

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Generous philanthropic support from Dame Tina Taylor DBE, Malcolm and Rosalind Gammie and The American Friends of Covent Garden
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Experience a spectrum of human emotion beginning with Kyle Abraham’s gentle meditation on love, loss and memory in The Weathering. Four characters battle for control in Crystal Pite’s gripping boardroom drama The Statement. Expanding on the previous success of Dispatch Duet, Pam Tanowitz employs her trademark deft style to turn the conventions of dance inside out. Joseph Toonga presents his second Main Stage work for the Company where the idioms of classical ballet and hip-hop converge.

The Royal Ballet and Guest Artists

LEGACY

Linbury Theatre
29 – 31 October 2024

Witness some of the most exciting talent in dance from around the world today. First Soloist Joseph Sissens leads The Royal Ballet in celebrating Black History Month.

Sissens in collaboration with Royal Ballet Director Kevin O’Hare present Legacy, an evening dedicated to Black and Brown ballet talent, honouring their artistry, brilliance and the profound contribution they have made to the dance world. Following the footsteps of Joseph Toonga who led the Company’s past Black History Month celebrations, Sissens invites Black and Brown dancers and choreographers from around the world in this special event designed to champion and celebrate Black and Brown ballet artists.

Ballet Black

BALLET BLACK: HEROES

Linbury Theatre
7 – 10 November 2024

THE WAITING GAME

Created with support from The Linbury Trust
Choreography and Music Mthuthuzeli November
Music Mthuthuzeli November, Alex Wilson
Lighting Designer David Plater
Original Costume Designs for 2020 Peter Todd

IF AT FIRST

Co-commissioned with the Barbican
Choreography Sophie Laplane
Music Ludwig von Beethoven, Olivia Bell, Dans Dans, Michelle Gurevich, Dustin O’Halloran, Tom Harrold
Lighting Designer David Plater
Costume Designer Jessica Cabassa

Since its creation 23 years ago, Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black has transformed the landscape of British ballet by championing artists of Black and Asian descent.

This Season, the company continues its longstanding association with the Linbury Theatre, returning with an innovative mixed programme. Ballet Black will present an exciting new work by Sophie Laplane, Choreographer-in-Residence at Scottish Ballet. The new work, titled If At First, explores the complexity of humanity, quiet heroism and self-acceptance. The Waiting Game is an energetic work contemplating the meaning of life by Olivier award-winning choreographer Mthuthuzeli November, set to original music that features the voices of Ballet Black Artists.

UK premiere The Royal Ballet

MADDADDAM

Main Stage
14 – 30 November 2024

Choreography Wayne McGregor
Music Max Richter
Creative Consultant Margaret Atwood
Set Designer We Not I
Costume Designer Gareth Pugh
Lighting Designer Lucy Carter
Film Designer Ravi Deepres
Dramaturgy Uzma Hameed
Sound System Designer Chris Ekers
Conductor Koen Kessels

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Season Principal Aline Foriel-Destezet
Generous philanthropic support from The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund and Royal Ballet and Opera Patrons
Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor generously supported by Dame Tina Taylor DBE
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Where does our humanity lie and where are we headed? In an imagined future not far from our own, a bio-engineered apocalypse has changed the Earth as we know it. An incongruous group of survivors must navigate a dangerous present – and make sense of the past.

Wayne McGregor brings the speculative futures of Margaret Atwood’s monumental trilogy of novels (Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam) to the stage. This visually stunning three-act ballet is set to a specially commissioned score from celebrated composer Max Richter, reuniting creative collaborators from McGregor’s landmark 2015 ballet Woolf Works in a new work for our times.

Themes of extinction and invention, hubris and humanity, love and loss, are spliced together with aspects of Atwood’s non-fiction writings and activist voice in this exhilarating exploration of life beyond societal collapse.

Lost Dog

RUINATION

Linbury Theatre
2 December 2024 – 4 January 2025

A co-production with The Royal Ballet
Director Ben Duke
Musical Director Yshani Perinpanayagam
Designer Soutra Gilmour
Lighting Designer Jackie Shemesh
Video Designer Hayley Egan
Sound Designer Jethro Cooke
Dramaturg Raquel Meseguer Zafe

You’re invited to the trial of Medea and Jason. She’s allegedly murdered their children, and Jason wants her punished. With Hades and Persephone acting as the prosecuting and defence attorneys, Medea’s fate will be determined.

Ben Duke’s electric work of dance theatre set to live music asks: what if Medea had a chance to tell her own story? Darkly comic and inventive, Ruination turns this classic Greek myth on its head.

The Royal Ballet

CINDERELLA

Main Stage
3 December – 25 January 2025

A co-production with The National Ballet of Canada
Choreography Frederick Ashton
Music Sergey Prokofiev
Set Designer Tom Pye
Costume Designer Alexandra Byrne
Lighting Designer David Finn
Video Designer Finn Ross
Illusions Chris Fisher

Conductors Jonathan Lo / Martin Georgiev Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Generous philanthropic support from The Paul Ferguson Memorial Fund, Kenneth and Susan Green, Charles Holloway and The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund
In memory of George Simon
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Be transported this Christmas into an ethereal world where a sprinkling of fairy dust makes dreams come true.

With a little bit of stage magic, join Cinderella on her transformative journey where the stars align and love triumphs.

This enchanting work by The Royal Ballet’s Founding Choreographer Frederick Ashton is a rich theatrical experience not to be missed. With evocative music by Prokofiev and some spectacular stagecraft, the cherished fairy tale of Cinderella continues to cast its spell.

The Royal Ballet

ONEGIN

Main Stage
22 January – 25 February 2025
29 May – 12 June 2025

Choreography John Cranko
Music Kurt-Heinz Stolze after Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Designer Jürgen Rose
Lighting Designer Steen Bjarke

Conductor Wolfgang Heinz Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Season Principal Aline Foriel-Destezet
Generous philanthropic support from The Jean Sainsbury Royal Opera House Fund, Lindsay and Sarah Tomlinson and Royal Ballet and Opera Friends
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen

When the bookish Tatiana meets Eugene Onegin, she is immediately besotted. Enigmatic and refined, he seems like a hero from one of her novels. Onegin rejects her, seeing only a naive country girl.

Will a meeting at a ball many years later offer another chance at love?

With expressive choreography by John Cranko set to soaring Tchaikovsky music, Pushkin’s classic story becomes a sumptuous period ballet. 60 years after its creation, Onegin‘s exploration of unrequited affection, impulsive choices and bitter regret still breaks hearts today.

Northern Ballet

THREE SHORT BALLETS

Linbury Theatre
28 – 31 January 2025

London premiere

FOOLS: A ROMEO AND JULIET INSPIRED STORY

Choreography Mthuthuzeli November

London premiere

FOUR LAST SONGS

Choreography Rudi van Dantzig
Music Richard Strauss

London premiere

NEW WORK

Choreography Kristen McNally

From classics reimagined to the beauty of pure dance – Northern Ballet returns to the Linbury Theatre with a compelling mixed programme.

Fusing ballet and other dance styles, Mthuthuzeli November presents Fools. The new work is inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the South African novel Hill of Fools, depicting a bitter rivalry between two villages. Its lively choreography contrasts with the tranquil beauty of Dutch choreographer Rudi van Dantzig’s Four Last Songs. A contemporary ballet classic, its fluid choreography is superbly underscored by Strauss’s works of the same name. The programme also includes a new work by The Royal Ballet’s Kristen McNally, created on Northern Ballet dancers and Joe Powell-Main, a disabled dancer who uses wheels and crutches.

Acosta Danza

FOLCLOR

Linbury Theatre
15 – 20 February 2025

PAYSAGE, SOUDAIN, LA NUIT

Choreography Pontus Lidberg
Music Leo Brouwer, Stefan Levin
Playwright and Choreography Assistant Adrian Silver
Scenography Elizabet Cerviño
Costume Designer Karen Young
Lighting Designer Patrik Bogårdh

SOLEDAD

Choreography Rafael Bonachela
Music Chavela Vargas, Gidon Kremer
Costume and Set Designer Rafael Bonachela
Lighting Designer Lee Curran

HYBRID

Choreography Norge Cedeño, Thais Suárez
Music Jenny Peña, Randy Araujo
Assistant Choreographer Niosbel González
Costume Designer Celia Ledón
Lighting and Set Designer Yaron Abulafia

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing

Carlos Acosta’s acclaimed dance company Acosta Danza brings the infectious energy of Cuba in their return to the Linbury Theatre.

Incorporating Latin footwork and a rumba-inspired score, Pontus Lidberg’s Paysage, Soudain, La Nuit depicts a celebration of youth, set in the light of dusk and twilight. Its feverish atmosphere is matched by Rafael Bonachela’s Soledad, a slick and passionate duet that draws on the choreographer’s Spanish roots to explore the wild and tender sides of a relationship.

Cuban choreographers Norge Cedeño and Thais Suárez close the programme with Hybrid, which seamlessly blends the African traditions of Yoruba with contemporary dance.

The Royal Ballet

LIGHT OF PASSAGE

Main Stage
20 February – 12 March

Part Two: Covenant and Part Three: Passage are a co-production with the Norwegian National Ballet
Choreography Crystal Pite
Music Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
Scenic Designer and Reflective Light Concept Jay Gower Taylor
Reflective Light Backdrop Designers Jay Gower Taylor, Tom Visser
Costume Designer Nancy Bryant
Lighting Designer Tom Visser

Conductor Zoi Tsokanou

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Generous philanthropic support from Sir Lloyd and Lady Dorfman OBE
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Masses of dancers move as a mesmerising whole. Bodies, fluid and yearning, are bathed in shafts of light. A single voice emerges, a lament that distils the magnitude of human suffering. A journey begins…

Crystal Pite, in her distinctive choreographic style, grapples with themes of safe passage, displacement, community and mortality. Set to Gorecki’s affecting Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, this award-winning work is a reminder of the power of human connection in our turbulent times.

The Royal Ballet

ROMEO AND JULIET

Main Stage
4 March – 26 May 2025

Choreography Kenneth Macmillan
Music Sergey Prokofiev
Designer Nicholas Georgiadis
Lighting Designer John B. Read

Conductors Koen Kessels / Martin Georgiev Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Generous philanthropic support from John and Susan Burns OBE, Jonathan Caplan, Philipp Freise, Kenneth and Susan Green, Alan and Caroline Howard, Doug and Ceri King, Lindsay and Sarah Tomlinson, The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund and Francescsa Storey-Harris in memory of Judy Harris
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen
Production generously sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels
Young RB&O is generously made possible by Sir Lloyd and Lady Dorfman OBE, The Bunting Family, Sir Simon Robey, The John Browne Charitable Trust and The Laidlaw Opera Trust
Additional kind support from Josh Harris and Layla Nemazee Harris

An ancient family feud casts a long shadow over the town of Verona. In this hothouse of tension, brawls are quick to break out and both sides get caught in the crossfire. Out of this bitter strife, love blossoms.

Shakespeare’s great love story is brilliantly retold through this modern ballet classic celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2025. The fervent longing of the star-crossed lovers is perfectly captured by the combination of Kenneth MacMillan’s impassioned choreography and Prokofiev’s evocative score, sweeping the ballet towards its inevitable and tragic conclusion.

The Royal Ballet

BALANCHINE: THREE SIGNATURE WORKS

Main Stage
28 March – 8 April 2025

Choreography George Balanchine
Lighting Designer John B. Read

SERENADE

Music Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Costume Designer Karinska

THE PRODIGAL SON

Music Sergey Prokofiev
Designer Georges Rouault

SYMPHONY IN C

Music Georges Bizet
Designer Anthony Dowell
Conductor Fayçal Karoui

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Season Principal Aline Foriel-Destezet
Generous philanthropic support from John and Susan Burns OBE, John Mcginn and Cary Davis, Sir Lloyd and Lady Dorfman OBE, Royal Ballet and Opera Patrons and The American Friends of Covent Garden
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen
Production generously sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels

When George Balanchine arrived on the shores of America, he changed the landscape of 20th-century ballet.

Pushing the boundaries of the art form with extreme speed, dynamism and athleticism, Balanchine defined the American neoclassical style.

Serenade was the first ballet he created in America. Its ethereal beauty is contrasted with the avant-garde Prodigal Son, a parable of sin and redemption. Symphony in C with its symmetrical formations and crystalline placements brings this programme to a majestic and exhilarating close.

The Royal Ballet and Guest Companies

DANCE REFLECTIONS BY VAN CLEEF AND ARPELS FESTIVAL

Linbury Theatre and other venues
March 2025

Production generously sponsored by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels

Revel in the richness of choreographic creation.

For the fifth edition of its Festival, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels – a programme launched in 2020 to strengthen the High Jewelry Maison’s commitment to the world of dance – returns to London. Following a successful run in 2022, the 2025 Festival will celebrate the wealth of international choreographic creation, from recent works to pieces from the repertory that have marked the history of contemporary dance.

The Royal Ballet and Guest Companies

INTERNATIONAL DRAFT WORKS

Linbury Theatre
9 – 10 April 2025

International Draft Works gathers budding choreographers from ballet companies around the world in a showcase of how the art form of ballet is ever changing and growing. What ideas inspire these emerging choreographers of today and how are they responding to these inspirations? Find out in this display of new works that form part of the Company’s commitment to honing new and diverse choreographic talent.

The Royal Ballet

BALLET TO BROADWAY: WHEELDON WORKS

Main Stage
9 – 27 May

Choreography Christopher Wheeldon

FOOL’S PARADISE

Music Joby Talbot
Costume Designer Narciso Rodriguez
Lighting Designer Penny Jacobus

UK premiere

THE TWO OF US

Music Joni Mitchell
Orchestrated by Gordon Hamilton
Costume Designers Harriet Jung, Reid Bartelme
Lighting Designer Kate Ashton

US (DUET)

Music Keaton Henson
Costume Designer Katherine Watt

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (BALLET)

Music George Gershwhin
Designer Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer Natasha Katz
Conductor Koen Kessels

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Opera House Principals Julia and Hans Rausing
Generous philanthropic support from John and Susan Burns OBE, Sir Lloyd and Lady Dorfman OBE, Kenneth and Susan Green, Simon and Virginia Robertson and Royal Ballet and Opera Friends
Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon generously supported by Kenneth and Susan Green
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season is generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Sensuous contemporary ballet meets the energy of musical theatre in this mixed programme celebrating Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon’s versatile career.

Luminescent and shimmering, Fool’s Paradise marked the first of his many collaborations with composer Joby Talbot. Three works follow, new to The Royal Ballet. Recognizing Wheeldon’s extraordinary success in musical theatre, the Company performs the ballet from his Tony

Award-winning musical An American in Paris, set to Gershwin’s jazzy melodies. Its zesty spirit is contrasted with two duets of intimacy and yearning. The wistful songs of Joni Mitchell set the scene for The Two of Us, while the music of Keaton Henson is used in the tender duet from Us that Wheeldon created for BalletBoyz in 2017.

Guest Companies and Schools

NEXT GENERATION FESTIVAL

Linbury Theatre
June/July 2025

Next Generation Festival is a fantastic chance to get to know the young dancers of today. Expect performances by a selection of junior companies and dance schools from the UK, across Europe and around the world. Celebrating both national and international talent, witness the diversity and range of performing talent globally and be a part of the art form’s vibrant future.

The Royal Ballet School

THE ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL SUMMER PERFORMANCE

Main Stage
13 July

Join The Royal Ballet School in this celebration of their students’ exceptional talents. Returning to the Royal Opera House in this annual matinee, the students of the School demonstrate the remarkable skills and artistry they have nurtured training at one of the world’s leading ballet schools. Featuring all years of the School, with dancers ranging in age from 11 to 19, this is a rare opportunity to watch the rising ballet stars of the future.