Director of La Scala Ballet, Manuel Legris, has announced the 2024-2025 Season.
There will be a world premiere and five premieres for La Scala, with classical and contemporary programming offering thirteen works in eight programmes.
The Nutcracker (not a given at La Scala) opens the season. It will be Rudolf Nureyev‘s version with the Nicholas Georgiadis sets and costumes, a production that has been in the repertoire since 1969 (though various other productions have also been seen in Milan).
Nureyev’s Swan Lake returns in July, which was originally seen at the theatre in 1990 with Nureyev himself in the double role of Wolfgang/Rothbart.
Paquita will be staged in honour of Pierre Lacotte who died last year. The production is one of his well-known reconstructions from the romantic repertoire that he produced for the Paris Opéra Ballet in 2001. La Scala has never presented Paquita in its entirety, and this will be a new staging by Luisa Spinatelli, who also designed the version in Paris.
In February/March the company will present a new version of Carmen by Patrick de Bana on the music of Rodion Ščedrin. Étoile Roberto Bolle will be Don José. It will be part of a triple bill with the revival of Angelin Preljocaj‘s Annonciation (presented at La Scala in 2002) and Solitude Sometimes by Philippe Kratz, which was created last year for La Scala to music by Thom Yorke and Radiohead.
April will see the house debut of Edward Clug’s Peer Gynt, based on Henrik Ibsen’s play with music by Edvard Grieg. It was created for the Maribor Ballet where Clug was dancer, then choreographer, and since 2003 its artistic director. Peer Gynt is a ballet in two acts, narrative but dreamlike.
The autumn months will see two greats of the twentieth century: a John Neumeier triple bill Aspects of Nijinsky, with the La Scala premiere of his ballets Le Pavillon d’Armide, Petruška and L’après-midi d’un faune. Then William Forsythe Evening – The Blake Works, which in 2023 at La Scala crowned the choreographer’s seven-year exploration into the music of James Blake.
In addition, the Fracci Gala, which reaches its fourth edition, will be staged in 2025, paying homage to dance in the name of the great étoile. There will also be the annual appearance of the Ballet School of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, a traditional La Scala event for young students.
The conductors Valery Ovsyanikov, Paul Connelly, Vello Pähn, and Simon Hewett will lead the orchestra and Victorien Vanoosten will come to the company for the first time.
La Scala Ballet 2024-2025 Season
The Nutcracker
From 18 December 2024 to 12 January 2025
Hugo Marchand (18, 20 Dicembre)
Kratz / Preljocaj / de Bana
From 28 February to 12 March 2025
Roberto Bolle (25 February, 1, 4 eve, 7 March)
La Scala Academy’s Ballet School Show
3 March 2025
Peer Gynt
From 8 to 18 April 2025
Gala Fracci
15 May 2025
Paquita
From 11 to 26 June 2025
Swan Lake
From 7 to 18 July 2025
Aspects Of Nijinsky
From 22 September to 3 October 2025
William Forsythe Evening / The Blake Works
From 11 to 29 November 2025
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 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.