Alessandra Ferri becomes the next director of the Vienna State Ballet

The internationally acclaimed artist and prima ballerina assoluta Alessandra Ferri will lead the Vienna State Ballet from September 1, 2025. This was announced today, Tuesday, October 24, 2023, by Bogdan Roščić, Director of the Vienna State Opera, and Lotte de Beer, Director of the Volksoper Wien. She succeeds Martin Schläpfer, who has chosen not to extend his contract at the end of his term of office on August 31, 2025.

With Alessandra Ferri, one of the most influential personalities in the international ballet world of our time will take over the artistic leadership of the ballet company. The company is organized as an independent consortium of the Vienna State Opera and the Volksoper Vienna. As Director of the Vienna State Ballet, Ferri also acts as Artistic Director of the Vienna State Opera Ballet Academy.

Born in Milan in 1963, the artist can look back on a unique career: As a dancer, she has worked with the most important choreographers, who have also created numerous works especially for her. She was principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London and the American Ballet Theatre in New York, is prima ballerina assoluta at La Scala in Milan and has performed at all the major theaters and with all the major companies worldwide. In recent years, she has not only continued to enjoy international success as a dancer: from 2008 to 2014, she successfully directed the dance section of the renowned Spoleto Festival, acted as producer of international touring productions and devoted herself to teaching and directing rehearsals, including at the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and American Ballet Theatre (see following pages for a detailed biography).

Alessandra Ferri's personality, the artistic concept she presented and her plans for the future development of the Vienna State Ballet made her stand out from 39 competitors in the application process, which was accompanied by international dance experts. In close coordination with the directors of the Vienna State Opera and the Volksoper Wien, the designated director of the company will now begin the intensive preparation phase for her first season; details of the program will be announced as part of the 2025/2026 season presentations.

"There are few superlatives that have not yet been used to describe Alessandra Ferri's career as a dancer. I am very much looking forward to opening a new chapter in this unique career together with her in Vienna. In our conversations, she has shown a deep understanding of what a great repertory house needs programmatically - rooted in classical dance, as the State Opera is, and yet always open to contemporary forms of expression and the best dance creations of the present. I have come to know Alessandra as an enthusiastic and inspiring personality who is also analytical and has a quiet authority with which she will pass on her knowledge and wealth of experience to our dancers. I look forward to working with her with curiosity and great anticipation."

"I am overjoyed that we have been able to appoint Alessandra Ferri as the new Artistic Director of the Vienna State Ballet. Her vast experience, natural leadership qualities and outstanding career as one of the great prima ballerinas of our time make her the ideal person to lead our Vienna Ballet. With her clear yet empathetic, pragmatic but also open leadership style and, above all, her uncompromising standard of always achieving the highest artistic level, she will inspire our company at the Staatsoper and Volksoper in the best possible way. Her love and passion, her open-minded approach to ballet and dance in all its forms and her enthusiastic, never dogmatic approach to art promise a fruitful artistic partnership that I am very much looking forward to."

"It is with great pleasure that I accept this task. I am honored to lead this great group of dancers into the future and to share with them the knowledge I have been able to gather during my long and varied career around the world. I have had the privilege of being the muse for a number of fantastic choreographers and sharing the stage with outstanding partners. Now it is my great desire to share the knowledge and wisdom gained from this time with this extraordinary company. Over the years I have worked with a large number of companies, but curiously never with the Vienna State Ballet. I now see this as an advantage, as it allows me to approach my task with complete freedom and openness. To create a new, lasting connection with a clear vision. My desire is to be an inspiring and inspired director: inspired by my own journey and inspired by the journey of these wonderful, talented dancers."