Demis Volpi
Ballet Director & Principal Choreographer
© Sigrid Reinichs
Demis Volpi has been Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer of Ballett am Rhein since the beginning of the 2020/21 season. The German Argentine artist received his dance training in Buenos Aires, at Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto and at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. He then danced in the corps de ballet of The Stuttgart Ballet. In 2006 he began choreographing for the company as part of the evening “Noverre: Young Choreographers”. After his first narrative full-length ballet "Krabat" he was appointed Resident Choreographer in 2013. He has since continued to explore the possibilities of storytelling in ballet.
He choreographed both narrative and abstract works for companies such as American Ballet Theatre, Ballet de Santiago de Chile, Ballet Nacional del Sodre in Uruguay, Latvian National Ballet, Ballet Dortmund, Compañia Nacional de Danza de México and Ballet Vlaanderen. He has also created works for Canada’s National Ballet School, where he was Guest Artist in Residence in 2014.
Since 2014, Volpi has also worked as an opera director, challenging the boundaries of theatre genres. In 2017, he staged Benjamin Britten's “Death in Venice” in a co-production between the Stuttgart State Opera, the Stuttgart Ballet and the John Cranko School. For the Deutsche Oper am Rhein he interpreted the opera “Herzog Blaubarts Burg” by Béla Bartók.
Volpi was awarded the Erik Bruhn Prize in 2011, the Chilean Art Critics Circle Prize 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 premiere of "Death in Venice", was voted Young Artist of the Year 2017 in the critics' poll of the magazine Opernwelt. Demis Volpi was a member of the jury for the Prix de Lausanne 2018. In September 2019, his work and achievements as a choreographer over the past ten years were awarded the Merit Diploma at the Konex Awards in Buenos Aires.
For Ballett am Rhein, Demis Volpi created among others “Giselle”, "A Simple Piece", "Geschlossene Spiele", “The thing with feathers” and restaged pieces such as "Krabat", "The Nutcracker" and "one and others".
On August 1, 2024 Demis Volpi will succeed John Neumeier as Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet.
He choreographed both narrative and abstract works for companies such as American Ballet Theatre, Ballet de Santiago de Chile, Ballet Nacional del Sodre in Uruguay, Latvian National Ballet, Ballet Dortmund, Compañia Nacional de Danza de México and Ballet Vlaanderen. He has also created works for Canada’s National Ballet School, where he was Guest Artist in Residence in 2014.
Since 2014, Volpi has also worked as an opera director, challenging the boundaries of theatre genres. In 2017, he staged Benjamin Britten's “Death in Venice” in a co-production between the Stuttgart State Opera, the Stuttgart Ballet and the John Cranko School. For the Deutsche Oper am Rhein he interpreted the opera “Herzog Blaubarts Burg” by Béla Bartók.
Volpi was awarded the Erik Bruhn Prize in 2011, the Chilean Art Critics Circle Prize 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 premiere of "Death in Venice", was voted Young Artist of the Year 2017 in the critics' poll of the magazine Opernwelt. Demis Volpi was a member of the jury for the Prix de Lausanne 2018. In September 2019, his work and achievements as a choreographer over the past ten years were awarded the Merit Diploma at the Konex Awards in Buenos Aires.
For Ballett am Rhein, Demis Volpi created among others “Giselle”, "A Simple Piece", "Geschlossene Spiele", “The thing with feathers” and restaged pieces such as "Krabat", "The Nutcracker" and "one and others".
On August 1, 2024 Demis Volpi will succeed John Neumeier as Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet.