“COMPANY OF THE YEAR 2017.”
Magazin „tanz“

“EXPRESSIVE, POWERFUL AND SEXY.”
Kenny Farquharson, The Times


The Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg was re-formed in 2009 by Martin Schläpfer and is now regarded as one of the most successful and innovative ballet companies in Germany. After a vote in Die Deutschen Bühne had already given company first place in 2010, tanz magazine’s poll of international critics has named Martin Schläpfer “Choreographer of the Year 2010” and the Ballett am Rhein “Best Company” four years in a row in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. Since the 2016/17 season, Ballet Director Remus Şucheană manages the company alongside Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Martin Schläpfer.

45 dancers from 16 nations are represented in an ensemble, which consists entirely of soloists. The company can be seen not only on the Deutsche Oper am Rhein’s two stages at Opernhaus Düsseldorf and Theater Duisburg, but also in international touring and festival appearances. These have included performances at the Edinburgh International Festival, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre Moscow, Royal Opera House Muscat, the Israeli Opera Tel Aviv, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the Ballet Festival Week at the Bayerische Staatsballett in Munich, Staatsoper Berlin, the opera houses of Bilbao, Bonn, Cologne, Geneva, Gütersloh, The Hague, Hannover and Ludwigshafen, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Festival Musica Sacra Maastricht and the Internationale Maifestspiele in Wiesbaden.

One key focus of the Ballett am Rhein’s repertoire is the choreographic work of Martin Schläpfer, who in recent years has been able to condense his own style in more than 60 works into an art of ballet that is as individual as it is contemporary. Alongside Martin Schläpfer’s own ballets, the profile of Ballett am Rhein’s repertoire lies in a meticulously chosen interplay between historic ballets, contemporary masterpieces and numerous world premieres by a mixture of celebrated and young artists. This covers a spectrum from Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, August Bournonville, Kurt Jooss, Jerome Robbins and Antony Tudor to Merce Cunningham, William Forsythe, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp. Choreographers such as Nils Christe, Mats Ek, Marco Goecke, Jiří Kylián, Paul Lightfoot & Sol León, Amanda Miller or Regina van Berkel work with the Ballett am Rhein at the same time as Natalia Horecna, Young Soon Hue, Brigitta Luisa Merki, Terence Kohler, Ben J. Riepe or Remus Şucheană. In addition, the ensemble is regarded as one of the leading interpreters of Hans van Manen, who has so far trusted the company with ten of his works, even presenting it with the gift of a world premiere in 2014 with the ballet “Alltag”.

As musical partners, the Ballett am Rhein has two high-class orchestras at its disposal in the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and the Duisburger Philharmoniker. In 2014, “DEEP FIELD” with a commissioned score by Adriana Hölszky marked its first collaboration with the WDR Rundfunkchor Cologne. On tour, the Ballett am Rhein has worked together with the Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Stanislavsky Music Theatre Moscow, the Württembergische Kammerphilharmonie, the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria and many others.