Laurent Hilaire announces the Bayerisches Staatsballett’s 2025-2026 season
Ballet Director Laurent Hilaire has presented the programme of the Bavarian State Ballet (Bayerisches Staatsballett) season for 2025-26 which sees three new mixed bills, world premieres, and house debuts, with more than 70 performances.
Due to renovation work at the Nationaltheater, the company will start the the season in October 2025 in Barcelona. The company will present five performances of Peter Wright’s Giselle in the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Following the revival of John Neumeier‘s The Nutcracker in November 2025, the curtain rises for the first premiere: The Waves and Circles triple bill with works by Maurice Béjart, William Forsythe, and a new creation by Canadian choreographer, Emma Portner.
The Ballet Festival Week at the end of March 2026 brings the Staatsballett the debut of two currently much sought-after living choreographers: Alexander Ekman and Johan Inger. The Common Ground triple bill celebrates works by Hans van Manen, Ekman and Inger. John Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias returns to the Nationaltheater in May 2026 after five years. The season’s third and final premiere opens the 2026 Munich Opera Festival in the Prinzregententheater in June 2026: In the Constellations mixed bill the Bayerisches Staatsballett presents works by Edward Clug, Jacques Garnier, Marius Petipa and Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, among others.
21 December 2025: “Waves and Circles”
The programme presents the season’s first premiere, shortly before Christmas: Waves and Circles unites Maurice Béjart’s Boléro and Blake Works I by William Forsythe. Having taken a long sabbatical from classical dance, in Blake Works I, Forsythe has found his way back to ballet’s formal language. The evening’s third piece is a world premiere of the 30-year-old Canadian choreographer Emma Portner, who will create a group piece with the ensemble on the theme of memory.
28 March 2026: “Common Ground”
Ballet Festival Week will open with the Bayerisches Staatsballett’s premiere of the Common Ground triple bill, consisting of three half-hour pieces with Dutch origins: Alexander Ekman contributes his piece Cacti, which celebrated its world premiere in 2010 with the Nederlands Dans Theater, set to music by Beethoven, Haydn and Schubert. Johan Inger’s work, IMPASSE, created in 2020 and set to music by Ibrahim Maalouf and Amos Ben-Tal is also on the programme. Both choreographers are making their debuts with the Bayerisches Staatsballett. The Grosse Fuge by Hans van Manen completes the programme.
18 June 2026: “CONSTELLATIONS”
The 2026 Munich Opera Festival commences with the ballet premiere Constellations in the Prinzregententheater. For the summer festival, Laurent Hilaire has assembled a programme that recombines several successful pieces of the more recent past. Along with two works by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, which will celebrate Munich premieres in summer 2025, works by Edward Clug, Jacques Garnier, Marius Petipa and Angelin Preljocaj will also be seen. A new creation is also planned.
2025-26 REPERTOIRE
Along with the three premieres, the company presents seven other productions. Following the season opening with the Giselle guest performances in Barcelona in October 2025, for the Christmas period the company presents the revival of John Neumeier’s The Nutcracker. The season’s second revival is in May 2026 with Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias, which returns to the repertoire after a five-year interlude. The 2025-26 programme also features Pierre Lacotte’s La Sylphide, John Cranko‘s Onegin, Illusions – like Swan Lake by John Neumeier and Angelin Preljocaj’s Le Parc. The 2026 Ballet Festival Week is celebrated from 28 March until 4 April 2026.
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.
