Ballet Director

Frédéric Olivieri

Born in Nice, after graduating from the Conservatory, in 1977 he won the First Prize at the Prix de Lausanne, thus gaining direct admission to the Ballet School of the Opéra de Paris

In 1978 he joined the Paris Opéra Ballet Company under the direction of Violette Verdy and later of Rosella Hightower. He was appointed soloist in 1981, when Rudolf Nureyev was in charge of artistic direction of the Parisian complex.

At the Paris Opéra Theatre he danced the most important roles in the classical and contemporary repertoire, working with several guest choreographers such as Maurice Béjart, John Neumeier, Kenneth MacMillan, Alwin Nikolais, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Glen Tetley, and Roland Petit.

In 1985 he took part in the creation of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo as Principal Dancer under the direction of Pierre Lacotte and Ghislaine Thesmar, and after a few months in the presence of HRH Princess Caroline of Monaco he was awarded the title Étoile.

With Ballets de Monte-Carlo until 1993, he has interpreted all the most important roles in the classical repertoire, and has starred in creations expressly dedicated to him by choreographers like Uwe Scholz, Jean Christophe Maillot, John Neumeier, and Roland Petit.

In 1993 he became Principal of the Hamburg Ballet Company directed by the choreographer John Neumeier, where he ended his brilliant career as a dancer. Between 1996 and 2000, he was at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, first as Ballet Master of the MaggioDanza Company and from 2000 as Artistic Director. In 1998, he also took on the role of Ballet Master and artistic consultant for the Ballet of the Zurich Opera directed by Heiz Spoerli

Also in 2000, he became principal Ballet Master of the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala, of which he became Director in 2002, holding this position until 2007 and again from 2017 to 2020.

During his tenure, he expanded and renewed the repertoire of the Scala Ballet Company with new productions of major ballets and new creations by artists of undisputed caliber - jJust to name a few, Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Aszure Barton, Maurice Béjart, Mauro Bigonzetti, Vladimir Bourmeister, Jacopo Godani, Jiří Kylián, Wayne McGregor, Fabrizio Monteverde, John Neumeier, Roland Petit, Angelin Preljocaj, Jerome Robbins, and Christopher Wheeldon – and the Company presented his repertoire on the greatest stages of the world on numerous international tours.

Since 2003, he has been the Director of the Dance Department of the La Scala Academy, and since 2006, as the Director of the historic La Scala Academy Ballet School, he has provided his students with the opportunity to attend masterclasses with internationally renowned dancers and choreographers, enriching the repertoire with important titles by August Bournonville, George Balanchine, Mats Ek, Maurice Béjart, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, José Limón, Roland Petit, Angelin Preljocaj, and new creations by Davide Bombana, Shantala Shivalingappa, Matteo Levaggi, Emanuela Tagliavia, Valentino Zucchetti. He has also choreographed new editions of famous ballets for the School, such as The Nutcracker to Tchaikovsky's music, Cinderella to Prokofiev's music, and La fille mal gardée to Peter Ludwig Hertel's score.

Among the awards received, he is remembered for the Léonide Massine Prize (1986), the title of "Knight of the Order for Cultural Merits" conferred by Prince Ranieri of Monaco (1992), and the title of "Knight of Arts and Letters” awarded by the French Minister of Culture (2005).