Renato Zanella is the new director of the Ballet of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples
Renato Zanella, the Italian ballet dancer, choreographer and director, succeeds Clotilde Vayer as director of the Ballet of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples.
Born in Verona and trained at the Centre de Danse International Rosella Hightower in Cannes, Zanella has had a long career as a dancer, choreographer and artistic director.
Over the course of more than forty years, he has held senior positions at important European institutions, including the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Greek National Opera in Athens, the Romanian National Opera in Bucharest, the Arena di Verona Foundation and, more recently, the Slovenian National Ballet in Ljubljana, which he directed until 2025.
Zanella has created more than 200 dance works for ballet, opera and major events, and staged productions presented in leading theatres, including La Scala, the Royal Opera House in London, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Zurich Opera House and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome
A communication from the theatre says, “His artistic career is distinguished by a deep knowledge of the great classical and twentieth-century repertoire, flanked by a constant openness to contemporary language.”
He follows in the wake of Clotilde Vayer, the former Paris Opera Ballet dancer and Maître de ballet, who has successfully led the company for the past five (“not easy”) years.
To the relief of many, Zanella says that he will maintain the classical repertoire that Vayer has raised to new levels at the theatre, as well as presenting newer classics by Petit, Lifar, and Forsythe, as well as introducing John Cranko‘s Onegin, and commissioning a new Nutcracker from Italian dancer and choreographer Simone Valastro during the last season.
“I am honoured, happy and excited,” says the new director, “and I come with a great sense of responsibility to lead one of the most important groups on the international scene, in a theatre that has a history that others do not have, where the first dance school in Italy was founded. I will embrace this situation, which begins with the youngest members who come to the San Carlo hoping to become artists and live a life of dance and art, in a strong company rich in soloists of the highest level, and with an audience always ready to welcome something new while maintaining the continuity of the great repertoire.”
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.
i worked with renato at san francisco ballet as the pianist for his rehearsals. i thoroughly enjoyed the the experience. he was always cheery but serious at the same time. the result was a wonderful ballet to transfigured night by schonberg.