Ballet Director Laurent Hilaire’s contract at Bavarian State Opera extended until 2031
Focusing on personnel continuity and structural reforms the Bayerische Staatsoper has renewed contracts with State Artistic Director Serge Dorny, General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski and Ballet Director Laurent Hilaire.
Hilaire said,
I am very pleased about the trust placed in me and that I can continue on my path here in Munich together with the company, the house and our audience. The Bayerisches Staatsballett is an internationally renowned ensemble with outstanding dancers and an extremely varied program. My wish and my goal is to further enhance this reputation and to attract even more people to this wonderful art form.
Dorny, Jurowski and Hilaire hve been working at the Bayerische Staatsoper since the 2021/2022 season. The contracts of State Artistic Director Serge Dorny and Ballet Director Laurent Hilaire have been extended for a further five years until 2031. An extension of two years until 2028 has been agreed with General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski at his own request, with the possibility of a further extension.
Jurowsk said,
The Bayerisches Staatsorchester is not only one of the oldest, but undoubtedly one of the best orchestras in the world. I am delighted to be able to continue working with this unique collective in the orchestra pit and on the concert stage over the coming years. It is still important to preserve tradition, to make the present a topic of conversation and thus to set the course for an artistically vibrant future for the orchestra.
From 2017 to 2022 Hilaire was the artistic director of the Stanislavsky Ballet. Under his direction ballets by Alexander Ekman, Serge Lifar, William Forsythe, George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Jacques Garnier, Marco Goecke, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Trisha Brown, Angelin Preljocaj ,Sharon Eyal, Andrei Kaidanovsky, Max Sevaguin, Hofesh Schechter entered the repertoire of the Stanislavsky Theatre.
In 2018 and 2019 the Stanislavsky Ballet received the “Golden Mask” award respectively as the best classical ballet and best contemporary ballet of the year in Russia. In February 2022, he resigned as Artistic Director of the Stanislavsky Ballet and in May 2022 he became the director of the Bayerisches Staatsballett.
Under his direction the Bayerischen Staatsballett‘s repertoire continues to focus on a mixture of traditional classical works and new creations. In his first self-conceived season in 2023/24, he presented Angelin Preljocaj’s Le Parc to various orchestral works by Wolfgang A. Mozart and a contemporary triple bill with pieces by Nacho Duato, Andrews Skeels and Sharon Eyal.
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.
