Alberta Ballet 2025-2026 Season, Shows, Reviews

byCherilyn J. Lee

January 1, 2020 - Updated on June 10, 2025

Alberta Ballet

♦ Location: Calgary, Alberta – Canada

♦ Artistic Director: Francesco Ventriglia

♦ Affiliated School: Alberta Ballet School

♦ Founded in 1966 by Ruth Carse and Muriel Taylor

♦ Official Website of Alberta Ballet

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Alberta Ballet 2025-2026 Season

The Alberta Ballet 2025-2026 season, which the company is declaring as “The Greatest Season Ever Told”, features seven programs ranging from the contemporary to the classical, including the world premieres of Artistic Director Francesco Ventriglia’s Nutcracker and Romeo & Juliet.

The new production of ballet’s holiday tradition, accompanied by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, will showcase not only Ventriglia’s choreography but costume and sets designs by Gianluca Falaschi and Italo Grassi.

For Romeo & Juliet, set to Sergei Prokofiev’s score, Ventriglia teams up with three-time Academy Award winning designer, James Acheson.

Other full-length ballets scheduled are:

Ventriglia’s Once Upon a Time – A Thousand Tales which blends together characters from several fairytales such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Aladdin;
the Canadian premiere of Benjamin Pech’s Swan Lake which places focus on Siegfried’s closest friend, Benno, as the villain;
Roland Petit’s Notre Dame de Paris, inspired by Victor Hugo’s novel and set to Maurice Jarre’s score.

One of the season’s repertory programs is a triple-bill that pays tribute to Vaslav Nijinsky. Three female choreographers – yet to be announced – will present their interpretations of Afternoon of Faun, Petrushka, and Firebird.

The Winter Gala, which will be in its third year, opens 2026 with a program curated by Ventriglia for the Alberta Ballet’s artists and elite students of the affiliated Alberta Ballet School.

“I wanted to offer Alberta audiences an experience that brings together the very best of ballet—works that honour classical tradition while embracing bold, imaginative storytelling.

Each ballet is distinct in style, tone, and creative vision—yet together, they shape a repertoire woven with beauty, emotion, meaning, and storytelling. These connections create a powerful lineup, inviting audiences on a journey that lingers long after the final curtain falls.“

Francesco Ventriglia, Artistic Director of Alberta Ballet