Demis Volpi
Demis Volpi, Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet as of the 2024/25 season.
The German-Argentinean received his dance education in Buenos Aires, at Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto and at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Germany. Subsequently he became a member of the Stuttgart Ballet. In 2006, Volpi choreographed his first work for the renowned "Noverre Society: Young Choreographers" series in Stuttgart. In 2013 was appointed Resident Choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet after the world premiere of his highly successful story ballet "Krabat". He took on his first directorship in 2020/21 as Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer of the Ballett am Rhein, which he will lead until summer 2024. Fascinated by stories and their potential to inspire people, he continues to explore the possibilities of storytelling in ballet. In his first season as Director of the Hamburg Ballet, he will create "Demian" based on the novel by Hermann Hesse.
During his time at the Stuttgart Ballet, Demis Volpi choreographed, among others, "Krabat" (based on Ottfried Preussler's novel), "Salome" (based on Oscar Wilde) and "The Soldier's Tale". He also created "The Nutcracker" for the Royal Ballet of Flanders and "Giselle" and "Closed Game" for the Ballett am Rhein. In addition, he has created numerous abstract works such "Aftermath" for the Stuttgart Ballet, "Sanguinic" for a quadruple bill titled "Four Temperaments" and "The thing with feathers" (both for Ballett am Rhein). In 2010, he created "The Carnival of the Animals" for the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, which was added to the repertoire of the Hamburg Ballet School by John Neumeier in 2012.
Over the past two decades, Volpi has created narrative and abstract works for renowned companies such as the American Ballet Theatre, the Ballet de Santiago de Chile, the Ballet Nacional del Sodre in Uruguay, the Latvian National Ballet, Ballett Dortmund, the Compañia Nacional de Danza de México, the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Canada's National Ballet School, where he was Guest Artist in Residence in 2014.
Since 2014, Volpi has also been working as an opera director, expanding the boundaries of theater genres. In 2017, he staged Benjamin Britten's "Death in Venice" in a celebrated co-production of the Stuttgart State Opera, the Stuttgart Ballet and the John Cranko School. At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, he interpreted "Bluebeard's Castle" by Béla Bartók.
Volpi was awarded the Erik Bruhn Prize in 2011, the Chilean Prize of the Art Critics' Circle in 2012 and the German Dance Prize "Future" in 2014. He was nominated for the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2017 for his full-length ballet "Salome" and, following the successful opera premiere of "Death in Venice", was voted Emerging Artist of the Year 2017 in the critics' choice of Opernwelt. Volpi was a member of the jury for the Prix de Lausanne 2018 and the International Competition for Choreography Hanover. In September 2019, his work and achievements as a choreographer over the past ten years were honored with the Merit Diploma at the Konex Awards in Buenos Aires.
March 2024
