The Ballet Season 2025-2026 is the first created by the new Director of Ballet at Teatro alla Scala, Frédéric Olivieri, and opens with a revival of Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty in December 2025.
The fifth edition of the Gala Fracci will be presented over two evenings, after the previous sold-out editions meant that many were left disappointed.
March sees a new triple bill presenting three works never seen before in Milan: the return of Wayne McGregor, who has a long collaboration with Olivieri, with Chroma (2006), one of his most representative pieces; the reflective and intimate Dov’è la luna by Jean-Christophe Maillot; and Minus 16, with which Ohad Naharin brings his unique style to La Scala for the first time.
Christopher Wheeldon stages his hugely successful Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in May, followed by a revival of Nureyev’s Don Quixote in July.
After the summer break, there will be another revival of one of La Scala’s most popular productions, Yvette Chauvire’s Giselle.
The season finishes in November with a Stravinsky programme featuring Balanchine’s Apollo and Pina Bausch‘s The Rite of Spring. Bausch’s work has only been seen once at La Scala, in 1983, with her Tanztheater Wuppertal in Kontakthof.
The Sleeping Beauty
From 18 December 2025 to 13 January 2026 (Under30s preview 17 December)
Choreography and Staging RUDOLF NUREYEV
Music PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Sets and costumes FRANCA SQUARCIAPINO
Conductor KEVIN RHODES
Lights ANDREA GIRETTI
The most sumptuous and dreamlike ballet, almost the “ballet par excellence”: The Sleeping Beauty, when it was first performed in St Petersburg in 1890, saw the development of an exemplary collaboration between choreographer (Petipa), composer (Tchaikovsky), and the director of the Imperial Theatres, Vsevoložskij, who also created the costumes, to present to the Petersburg nobility the fabulous grandeur of the court of King Louis XIV. It was at La Scala that Nureyev entrusted the debut of his Sleeping Beauty in 1966, performing on stage alongside Carla Fracci in a role considered a key ballet in his artistic life. From the original choreography, Nureyev managed to preserve its purity while infusing it with a new theatrical breath, with a complex choreography that revealed the characters’ psychology, the Prince among them. Six years after the previous performances, the production returns in the setting created by Oscar-winning designer Franca Squarciapino for La Scala in 1993, splendid in its exquisite décor and costumes evoking the court of Versailles.
Gala Fracci
31 January, 3 February 2026
Principals, Soloists and Artists of the Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company and Guest artists
Conductor KEVIN RHODES
The tribute from La Scala and its artists to Carla Fracci continues, as she remains a pivotal figure in the history of dance, a source of inspiration for generations of young people, not just in the world of ballet. Ballet director Frédéric Olivieri continues the tradition established in 2022 by Manuel Legris, celebrating dance and ballet in the name of this extraordinary star. Following the sell-out success of previous editions, there will be two performances in 2026, the year that marks both the fifth anniversary of Carla Fracci’s passing and the 90th anniversary of her birth. The vast and rich repertoire of her signature roles and the ballets she performed will be revived with international guests, the full La Scala Ballet Company – étoile, principal dancers, soloists, and artists of the Corps de Ballet – along with students from the School, the present and future of La Scala’s dance tradition.
McGregor / Maillot / Naharin
From 18 to 28 March 2026
Chroma
Wayne McGregor, concept, direction, and choreography
Joby Talbot, Jack White III, music
Arrangement by Joby Talbot, orchestration by Christopher Austin
John Pawson, sets
Moritz Junge, costumes
Lucy Carter, lighting
Creation for the Royal Ballet, 2006
Teatro alla Scala New Production
Pre-recorded music
Dov’è la luna
Jean-Christophe Maillot, choreography
Aleksandr Skrjabin, music
Leonardo Pierdomenico, piano
Jérôme Kaplan, scenes and costumes
Dominique Drillot, lights
Roberto Bolle, étoile (18, 19, 20e. March)
Teatro alla Scala New Production
Minus 16
Ohad Naharin, choreography
Autori Vari, music
Avi Yona “Bambi” Bueno, lights
Ohad Naharin, costumes
Teatro alla Scala New Production
Pre-recorded music
Three titles never before presented at La Scala, three acclaimed and influential contemporary authors, a new stylistic test for La Scala’s artists. In Chroma, which explores the drama of the human body and its ability to communicate emotions and deepest thoughts, McGregor’s inventive and energetic choreography which 20 years ago earned him the appointment as resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet. In Dov’è la luna, Jean-Christophe Maillot’s intimate work with its chiaroscuro tones, shakes and extends the vocabulary and technique of classical dance, pushed by the choreographer to its furthest boundaries. To finally explode with the enthralling power of Minus 16, one of the most distinguished manifestos of Ohad Naharin’s originality and his innovative movement language, which bursts into La Scala for the first time bringing dancers to challenge themselves, breaking down the barriers between artist and spectator in an intense and joyful experience for both.
La Scala Academy’s Ballet School Show
2 April 2026
Once again this year the young Ballet School students become acquainted with the great masters of the classical, modern and contemporary repertoires. To these aspiring young artists, dancing at the Teatro alla Scala means something more than simply putting their technical and interpretive skills to the test: it means having an educational and professional experience of the highest level on a much dreamed-of stage.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
From 21 to 30 May 2026
Choreography CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON
Music JOBY TALBOT
Sets and costumes BOB CROWLEY
Scenario NICHOLAS WRIGHT
Lights NATASHA KATZ
Projections JON DRISCOLL & GEMMA CARRINGTON
Conductor KOEN KESSELS
A huge success since its creation in 2011, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland solidifies Christopher Wheeldon’s place among the most interesting contemporary choreographers for his skill and originality in engaging and even entertaining audiences with a modern narrative ballet, described almost as “a classic of our time,” where academic technique blends with contemporary sensibility. An explosion of colours, innovative and sophisticated choreography, imaginative and astonishing costumes and sets – from puppetry to projections – and a score that combines contemporary sound worlds with sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century. With Alice, we are drawn into a myriad of adventures and encounters; the extraordinary and recognisable characters from Lewis Carroll’s books provide the opportunity for the artists to shine in a variety of styles, even winking at the great 19th-century ballets: how can one resist the Queen of Hearts in a hilarious send-up of the Rose Adage.
Don Quixote
From 2 to 16 July 2026
Choreography RUDOLF NUREYEV
Music LUDWIG MINKUS
Orchestration and adaptation JOHN LANCHBERY
Sets RAFFAELE DEL SAVIO
Costumes ANNA ANNI
Costume supervision IRENE MONTI
Conductor GAVRIEL HEINE
Lights ANDREA GIRETTI
Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote returns to the stage, a flagship production of the La Scala Ballet Company since 1980, when the famous ballet entered the repertoire with Nureyev himself in the lead alongside Carla Fracci. With its lively energy and the warm colours of the production by Raffaele Del Savio and Anna Anni, it will transport the audience with freshness, joy, virtuosity, and rich choreography to a captivating Spain, featuring gypsy dances, fandangos, matadors, windmills, and the suspended candour of the Garden of the Dryads. Set to Minkus’ immediate music, the adventures of Don Quixote and his loyal squire Sancho Panza intertwine, or rather serve as the backdrop for a love story and an evening of sparkling, temperamental dance, with amusing secondary roles and virtuosic leading parts. Through escapades, deceptions, and disguises, Don Quixote will dance with his Dulcinea, while the young Kitri and the barber Basilio will realise their dream.
Giselle
From 1 to 23 October 2026
Choreography JEAN CORALLI – JULES PERROT
revived by YVETTE CHAUVIRÉ
Music ADOLPHE ADAM
Sets and costumes ALEKSANDR BENOIS
reworked by ANGELO SALA & CINZIA ROSSELLI
Lights ANDREA GIRETTI
Conductor MIKHAIL AGREST
A story of love, betrayal, and redemption, set between joyful peasant festivals and the white throng of willis, as captivating as they are merciless: Giselle, the quintessential romantic ballet, continues to move audiences with its delicate story, drawing them in through the technique and sensitivity of the performers’ interpretation, in the contrast between a sunny world and a dark realm populated by spirits. The La Scala Ballet brings back the unforgettable choreography of Coralli-Perrot in the revival by Yvette Chauviré, who, with her care and refinement in roles like Giselle, elevated the classical tradition in all its purity and earned global acclaim. Her version, which first premiered at La Scala in 1950, saw her perform as the ill-fated young peasant girl who dreamed of love and loved to dance. With the classic La Scala staging by Aleksandr Benois, Giselle is a part of the theatre’s history, performed by its artists in many countries around the world, infusing each revival with new life and emotions, keeping this wonderful production alive.
Balanchine Bausch – Stravinsky
From 7 to 21 November 2026
Apollo
George Balanchine, choreography
© The George Balanchine Trust
Igor Stravinsky, music
Roberto Bolle, étoile (7, 11, 12, 18, 19e. September)
The performance of “Apollo”, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with the George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® Service standards established and provided by the Trust.
The Rite of Spring
Pina Bausch, direction and choreography
Hans Pop, collaboration
Igor Stravinsky, music
Rolf Borzik, set and costume design
New production Teatro alla Scala
A joint production of Teatro alla Scala and Pina Bausch Foundation 2026.
In the spirit of Stravinsky, timeless masterpieces, pinnacles of art and dance that have made history. A unique, highly anticipated event: for the first time, La Scala, its artists, and its audience will be overwhelmed by the telluric force of one of the most powerful readings of Le Sacre du printemps, the one created by Pina Bausch in 1975 for the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Emotional rawness, of rare expressionist power, earthy and dramatic in the viscerality of an ancient ritual, a true foundation of contemporary dance. Fundamental to 20th-century ballet is Apollo, which opens the evening, in the brilliance of Balanchine’s style, which in 1928, at the age of 24, achieved international recognition and began his lifelong partnership with the composer.
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.
So one female choreographer…and no Italian ones?
I never cared for Nureyev’s overly “busy” choreography. Odd Stravinsky double bill.
A very meagre list too. How many shows do they actually do? SF Ballet do more Nutcracker performances in December than this company does all year.
Still Bolle? Is there really no one better and younger than him to put on stage?
He’s a star in Italy. He guarantee a sell out show. Better and younger? Yes surely. Ma…
With respect. Bolle, in white, lacks the sleek line for Balanchine’s Apollo