Eno Peci
Eno Peci was born in Tirana (Albania). He was educated at the Ballet Academy in his hometown and at the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera. In 2000 he joined the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera. In 2003 he was appointed demi-soloist and in 2009 soloist of the Ballett der Vienna State Opera und Volksoper.
His most important roles include Duke Albrecht and Hilarion in Elena Chernishova's "Giselle", the title roles in John Cranko's "Onegin" and Renato Zanella's "Spartacus", Rotbart in Rudolf Nureyev's "Swan Lake", Espada in Nureyev's "Don Quixote", Abderachman in Nureyev's "Raymonda", Prince Florimund in Peter Wright's "Sleeping Beauty", The King in Martin Schläpfer's "Sleeping Beauty", Ulrich in Roland Petit's "Die Fledermaus", Tybalt in John Cranko's "Romeo and Juliet", Lenski in John Cranko's "Onegin", Lescaut in Kenneth MacMillan's "Manon", Colonel "Bay" Middleton in Kenneth MacMillan's "Mayerling", TV choreographer in Maurice Béjart's "Le Concours", Touchstone in John Neumeier's "As You Like It", Potiphar in Neumeier's "Joseph's Legend", Monsieur Duval in Neumeier's "The Lady of the Camellias", Karenin in Boris Eifman's "Anna Karenina", teacher in Eifman's "Giselle Rouge", J. S. jr. in Renato Zanella's "Aschenbrödel", Drosselmeyer in Gyula Harangozó's "The Nutcracker", Don José in Davide Bombana's "Ballet: Carmen", Tchaikovsky in Ivan Cavallari's "Tchaikovsky Impressions", Bluebeard in Stephan Thoss' "Bluebeard's Secret", Soldier in Jo Strømgren's "Nutcracker", Miller in Léonide Massine's "The Tricorn", Frédéri in Roland Petit's "L'Arlésienne", Oberon in Jorma Elo's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Widow Simone in Frederick Ashton's "La Fille mal gardée", Death in Edward Clug's "Peer Gynt" as well as leading roles in works by Jerome Robbins - including the solo "A Suite of Dances" -, John Neumeier's "Le Pavillon d'Armide" and "Le Sacre", William Forsythe's "Slingerland pas de deux". Furthermore, he danced in works by George Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, Mauro Bigonzetti, Jiří Bubeníček, Nils Christe, Jiří Kylián, András Lukács, Thierry Malandain, Helen Pickett, Liam Scarlett, Twyla Tharp, Ben van Cauwenbergh, Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen and Christopher Wheeldon. He created the title role in Renato Zanella's "Petrushka", further roles were created in Zanella's "Spartacus", "Sensi" and "Duke's Nuts", Patrick C. Delcroix's "Silence sans reproche", Natalia Horecna's "Contra Clockwise Witness", Antony McDonalds & Ashley Page's "Ein Reigen" and in Daniel Proietto's "Blanc".
In 2009 Eno Peci started his career as a choreographer. He made his debut with "Cut" at "choreo.lab 09" of the Ballettclub Wiener Staatsoper & Volksoper. This was followed by "Exitium" (2012) and "Pavillon 12/2" (2014) for the "Young Choreographers" of the Ballet Club. For the Vienna State Ballet he created "Herzblume" (2013) and "Petruschka" (2017) at the Volksoper Wien. In 2018 and 2020 he choreographed the opening ceremony of the Vienna Opera Ball for the Vienna State Ballet and the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera.
Since 2014, Eno Peci has been working closely with the Origen Festival Cultural in Riom, Switzerland. He has also created several works for the "Gala des Étoiles" at the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg since 2015. In 2017, he created "Déjà-vu" for the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow and "Apocalypse" for the opening of the Julier Theatre in Julierpass (Switzerland). In 2019, "Swan Lake", a work commissioned by the Chemnitz Ballet, premiered with Eno Peci as choreographer and director (acts 1 and 3, act 2 and 4 after Lev Ivanov). In the same year, he created the pas de deux "RAIN" for the 6th Charity Gala of the Chemnitz Ballet. In 2021 his version of "Daphnis et Chloé" (music: Maurice Ravel) was premiered there. Other works were created for the "World Star Gala" at the Volkstheater in Vienna in 2018 and for the Gala D'Etoiles Internationales "Viva Maïa" at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes in 2019. Some of his pieces have been danced by the National Ballet of Kosovo in Prishtina and the Choreo Center Europe & Europaballett, among others. In 2020 Peci's piece "ZWEISAMKEIT" premiered with the Györi Ballet in Györ. In 2021 the premiere of "Angel" (music: Violin Concerto by Alban Berg) took place at the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana. This was followed in March 2023 by "MUZG", his first full-length premiere for the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Tirana. For the Vienna Philharmonic's Summer Night Concert on 8 June 2023 in the park of Schönbrunn Palace, Eno Peci choreographed a "shadow ballet" to Maurice Ravel's "Boléro" with members of the Youth Company of the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera. In January 2024, Eno Peci had the world premiere of his piece "4" at the Zabeel Theatre in Dubai, with Max Richter's newly composed music from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons".
In 2008, Eno Peci was appointed Honorary Ambassador of the Republic of Albania, and in 2017 he received the Key of Tirana, another important award from his home country. In 2018, he was awarded the title "Knight of the Order of Skanderbeg" by the President of Albania. On 13 December 2019, he received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. On 16 July 2023, Eno Peci was awarded the prestigious International Premio Capri Danza in the "alla carriera" category.