Artistic Director Tamas Detrich has recently announced details of The Stuttgart Ballet 2023-2024 season, one that promises to attract devoted fans and encourage new ones.
World premieres by Artist in Residence Roman Novitsky plus Vittoria Girelli, Samantha Lynch, Morgann Runacre-Temple, and David Dawson highlight new creations for the company, as does the 53rd season of Noverre: Young Choreographers.
Revivals of former Artistic Director John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake, Edward Clug’s The Nutcracker, and Natalia Markarova’s staging of the “Kingdom of the Shades” scene from La Bayadère satisfy classical ballet lovers.
And the double and triple bills programmed showcase other 20th and 21st century works by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, William Forsythe, and Uwe Scholz.
The Stuttgart Ballet 2023-2024 Season Schedule

Romeo and Juliet | October 7, 2023 – July 24, 2024
Stuttgart Opera House
- Romeo and Juliet by John Cranko
In his version of Romeo and Juliet with poignant pas de deux, heated fencing matches, sumptuous balls and spirited carnival scenes, Cranko brings the hustle and bustle of Verona to life. He portrays his dreamy Romeo, his impetuous Juliet, his daredevil, clowning Mercutio and the ice-cold glittering villain Tybalt so clearly that one is drawn deeply into the breathtaking current of events from the first moment on.

Remember Me | October 30 – November 4, 2023
Stuttgart Opera House
- Initials R.B.M.E by John Cranko
- Requiem by Kenneth MacMillan
In 1972, John Cranko created Initials R.B.M.E. to the four movements of Johannes Brahms’ monumental 2nd Piano Concerto for his entire ensemble. The initials stand for four of his important muses, whose particular strengths he showcased in each movement:
- Richard Cragun, a dashing daredevil and masterful turner and jumper;
- Birgit Keil, an elegant ballerina with pristine lines and sparkling joie de vivre;
- Marcia Haydée, a radiant, soulful and heart-wrenching lyricist;
- Egon Madsen whose virtuoso petit allegro was full of mischievousness and wit.
Kenneth MacMillan created Requiem in memory of John Cranko three years after the choregrapher’s untimely death. Close friends and colleagues, Cranko was the first of the two to discover choreography for himself and encouraged MacMillan to give it a try as well.
To Gabriel Fauré’s funeral mass, MacMillan drew a portrait of a company coping with loss and grief but finding solace in each other and their love for their mentor.

Creations XIII – XV | November 25, 2023 – February 16, 2024
Stuttgart Playhouse
- World Premiere by Vittoria Girelli
- World Premiere by Samantha Lynch
- World Premiere by Morgann Runacre-Temple
Italian-born Vittoria Girelli, trained at the La Scala and English National Ballet schools, is a Demi-Soloist with the Stuttgart Ballet. Her first three works for the company – Chrysalis in 2020, Self-Deceit in 2022 and In Esisto in 2023 – displayed an astonishingly mature command of a unique, hypnotic choreographic vocabulary resulting in original pas de deux and mesmerizing group formations.
Greatly inspired by the visual arts – particularly of the 20th century – 25-year old Girelli seems to capture the Zeitgeist of her generation in terms of mood and aesthetics.
Australian-born Samantha Lynch is a Principal Dancer of the Norwegian Ballet where she initiated and runs the dancer’s choreography workshop NNB RAW. Together with Douwe Dekkers, she has created several works, including for: jake, which was selected for the International Draft Works series of the Royal Ballet in London.
She made her debut on the main stage in Oslo with A Boléro in the spring of 2021. This will be her first work for a German company.
Born in England, Morgann Runacre-Temple has created an extensive body of works for, among others, Northern Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet, English National Ballet, Ballet Central – and was Resident Choreographer of Ballet Ireland from 2009 to 2015.
Her mostly narrative, at times dystopian works often integrate the skillful use of video and/or live camera, resulting in an entirely new experience for dance audiences. This is her second visit to the Swabian capital: in 2019 she created a work for the Noverre: Young Choreographers.

The Nutcracker | December 13, 2023 – January 14, 2024
Stuttgart Opera House
- The Nutcracker by Edward Clug
Last season, a new production created especially for the Stuttgart Ballet by renowned choreographer Edward Clug celebrated its premiere at the opera house – after an absence of 50 years from the repertoire.
Inspired by E.T.A. Hoffman’s original novella “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”, Clug’s new version of The Nutcracker sparkles with wit and imagination, to which Jürgen Rose contributed fabulous sets and costumes. Clug’s Nutcracker immerses the audience in breathtaking dream worlds full of life-size toys, floating giant walnuts, hilarious camels as well as spooky mice. It transports adults back to their own childhood and delights children.

Shades of Blue and White | February 1 – May 3, 2024
Stuttgart Opera House
- “Kingdom of the Shades” from La Bayadère by Natalia Markarova, after Marius Petipa
- Blake Works I by William Forsythe
- Seventh Symphony by Uwe Scholz
This triple bill showcases three very different facets of classical ballet. This choreographically as well as musically outstanding evening shows just how versatile the art form can be.
In Natalia Makarova’s world-famous version of “Kingdom of the Shades” (based on Marius Petipa’s original choreography from 1877), a long line of dancers glides, one after the other, down a ramp before wafting across the stage in dreamlike unison.
Surrounded by this heavenly corps de ballet, the spirit of the temple dancer Nikia dances with her lover, the warrior Solo, who, in attempt to drown his sorrow over her death, has smoked opium, resulting in his vision of the “shade” of his beloved.
n 2016, William Forsythe, former resident choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet and director of the legendary Ballett Frankfurt, created Blake Works I to the bluesy-jazzy music of singer-songwriter James Blake.
The piece is a love-letter to classical ballet as only Forsythe can write it: cool, nonchalant, hip, beautiful and brilliant. Needless to say, dancers love dancing it and audiences watching it.
In 1991, Uwe Scholz created his Seventh Symphony to Ludwig van Beethoven’s eponymous composition for the Stuttgart Ballet. Whereas most choreographers shy away from this titan of classical music, Scholz boldly translated Beethoven’s majestic, rousing and exuberant music into dance.
On stage, the structure and composition of the two works combine to create an exemplary symbiosis. Scholz’s radiant, energetic and technically challenging choreography – seldom seen outside of Stuttgart but one of the most popular ballets in the Stuttgart Ballet repertoire- returns to the stage for the first time in almost a decade.

Swan Lake | April 6 – July 20, 2024
Stuttgart Opera House
- Swan Lake by John Cranko
Prince Siegfried falls in love with the beautiful Odette, but then mistakes his beloved for the alluring Odile. Blinded by Odile’s seductive powers, he makes a fatal mistake: he breaks his vow of fidelity and condemns Odette to remain imprisoned in the body of a swan.
Swan Lake, a tale of enchanted swan-maidens, set to Tchaikovsky’s famous late-Romantic composition, thrills both die-hard fans and newcomers worldwide, and no ballet repertoire should be without it. John Cranko created his own version, considered groundbreaking for the further staging history of the ballet, in 1963.

Noverre: Young Choreographers | May 25-26, 2024
Stuttgart Playhouse
- TBA
Young dance makers are usually courageous first-timers and they use this platform to venture into the art of making steps, experimenting with movement and translating creative thoughts into dance.

Novitsky / Dawson | June 28 – July 22, 2024
Stuttgart Opera House
- World Premiere by Roman Novitsky
- Symphony No. 2 (World Premiere) by David Dawson
This double bill unites two strong choreographers of contemporary ballet.
Roman Novitzky creates his first major work for the Opera House stage. After four successful pieces for the company in the smaller Schauspielhaus (Playhouse), the newly appointed Artist in Residence of the Stuttgart Ballet makes the leap into the “big house”.
Novitzky, a native Slovakian, is a storyteller who uses contemporary choreography to look beneath the surface, who translates his thoughts and feelings into dance in a profound and reflective way. Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, his new piece explores a question that is currently preoccupying us all as a society: Where is humanity headed? To paradise or to hell? Do we even have a choice? And: who is showing us the way?
David Dawson is one of the leading dance makers working in classical ballet today. His choreographic style transforms classical ballet in new ways, and his signature works have been praised by critics and audiences worldwide. Upon the invitation of Artistic Director Tamas Detrich, Dawson will create his first work for the Stuttgart Ballet.
Born in London and trained at the Royal Ballet School, among others, David Dawson danced with the English National Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet and with the Ballett Frankfurt under William Forsythe.
Featured Photo for The Stuttgart Ballet 2023-2024 Season of Mackenzie Brown, Jason Reilly and Agnes Su. Photo © Roman Novitzky/Stuttgarter Ballett.