But Berlin is always worth a visit!
Christian Spuck, ballet director of the Ballet Zurich, will take over as the Berlin Staatsballett’s artistic director starting from the 2023/24 season. Now It’s time to say good bye after 11 remarkable years.
We would like to thank Christian for all these unforgettable memories and magic moments that he has created through his extraordinary choreographies. Thinking of all his outstanding ballet performances he opened the ballet and dance world to us to a higher level. Our ballet company was turned into an internationally acclaimed institution under his leadership that toured the world and enchanted audiences everywhere.
In Berlin, Christian is embarking on a new adventure at Staatsballett Berlin. We wish him nothing but success and fulfillment. So let’s go more often to Berlin. BOVERY will be his first premiere on 20th October at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Podcast
Michael Küster in conversation with Christian Spuck reflecting on 11 years in Zürich (Podcast in German).
https://www.opernhaus.ch/backstage/zwischenspiel-ein-podcast-aus-dem-opernhaus-zuerich/folge-57/
Website opernhaus.ch
More about Christian Spuck
If you missed some ballets, get the book – just called SPUCK or order the latest DVDs of Ballet Zurich.
Biography of Christian Spuck, Ballet director with Ballet Zurich
Christian Spuck comes from Marburg and was trained at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. He began his dance career with Jan Lauwers’ Needcompany and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s Ensemble Rosas. In 1995 he became a member of the Stuttgart Ballet and served as the company’s resident choreographer from 2001 to 2012. In Stuttgart he created fifteen world premieres, including the story ballet Lulu. Eine Monstretragödieafter Frank Wedekind, Der Sandmann and Das Fräulein von S. after E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Christian Spuck has also worked with numerous renowned ballet companies in Europe and the USA. The Return of Ulysses (guest performance at the Edinburgh Festival) was created for the Royal Ballet of Flanders, and Woyzeck (after Georg Büchner) was premiered at the Norwegian National Ballet Oslo. The ballet Die Kinder, premiered at the Aalto Ballett Theater Essen, was nominated for the «Prix Benois de la Danse». His ballet Leonce und Lena (also after Georg Büchner) likewise premiered in Essen and subsequently was taken over by the Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal and the Stuttgart Ballet. The world premiere of Poppea//Poppea for Gauthier Dance at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart was voted one of the ten most successful dance productions worldwide by the magazine Dance Europe in 2010 and was awarded the German Theatre Prize Der Faust in 2011 as well as the Italian Danza/Danza Award. Christian Spuck is also active in the field of opera. Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice at the Staatsoper Stuttgart (2009) was followed by Verdi’s Falstaff at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden (2010), Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust (2014) and Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer (2017) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. March 2021, his ballet Orlando after Virginia Wolf premiered at the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow.
Since the 2012/13 season, Christian Spuck has been director of Ballett Zürich. Thus far, his Romeo und Julia, Leonce und Lena, Woyzeck, Der Sandmann, Messa da Requiem (a co-production of the Oper and Ballett Zürich), Nussknacker und Mausekönig and Dornröschen have been shown here. The ballet Anna Karenina after Lew Tolstoy, which premiered in Zurich in 2014, was taken over by the Norwegian National Ballet Oslo and the Stanislavski Theatre in Moscow in 2016, as well as by the Korean National Ballet in Seoul, and the Bavarian State Ballet in 2017. For Winterreise, which premiered in October 2018 in Zurich, he was awarded with the «Prix Benois de la Danse 2019». In autumn 2019, he staged Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (The Little Match Girl) by Helmut Lachenmann with Ballett Zürich, which was awarded «Production of the Year» by German magazine tanz.
Christian Spuck has been appointed Artistic Director of Staatsballett Berlin as of the 2023/24 season.
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Photo: Farewell of Christian Spuck and Katja Wünsche, prima ballerina with Ballet Zurich © Admill Kuyler
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