John Neumeier (born February 24, 1939) is an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of Hamburg Ballet since 1973. Five years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also includes a boarding school for students. In 1996, Neumeier was made ballet director of Hamburg State Opera.

Biography

Neumeier was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he received his first ballet training. He continued his dance training in Chicago at the Stone-Camyrn School of Ballet and performed with Sybil Shearer and Ruth Page.[1] After completing a B.A. in English literature and theater studies at Marquette University in 1961, he continued his training in Copenhagen with Vera Volkova and at the Royal Ballet School in London. In 1963 he joined the Stuttgart Ballet under John Cranko, rising to the rank of soloist.[2] In 1969 Neumeier became director of the Frankfurt Ballet, before becoming director and chief choreographer at the Hamburg Ballet in 1973.[3] From 1971 through 1974 Neumeier was also guest choreographer for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, where he provided repertoire and staged his version of The Nutcracker.

Noted works

Neumeier's choreographic output consists of more than 170 works,[4] including many evening-length narrative ballets.[5] Many are drawn from literary sources, such as Don Juan (created for the Frankfurt Ballet, 1972),[6] Hamlet Connotations (1976)[7] The Lady of the Camellias (Stuttgart Ballet, 1978, 2010),[4][8] A Streetcar Named Desire (Stuttgart Ballet, 1983),[9] Peer Gynt (1989), The Seagull (2002),[10] Death in Venice (2003),[11] The Little Mermaid (Royal Danish Ballet, 2010),[11] Liliom (2011)[12] and Tatiana (2014).[13]

Of particular importance are his adaptations of plays by William Shakespeare, including Romeo and Juliet (Frankfurt Ballet, 1974), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1977),[4] Othello (1985),[14] As You Like It (1985), Hamlet (Royal Danish Ballet, 1985) and VIVALDI, or What You Will (1996).[4] He has reinterpreted and rechoreographed the seminal classics of the 19th century: The Nutcracker (Frankfurt Ballet, 1971), set in the world of 19th-century ballet, Illusions, like Swan Lake (1976), based loosely on the life of Ludwig II of Bavaria, The Sleeping Beauty (1978) and Giselle (2000).

He has choreographed works on Biblical subjects, including The Legend of Joseph (Vienna State Ballet, 1977), Saint Matthew Passion (1981),[4] Magnificat (Paris Opera Ballet, 1987),[15] Requiem (1991), Messiah (1999) and Christmas Oratorio (2007, 2013), as well as ballets inspired by mythological subjects: Daphnis et Chloe (Frankfurt Ballet, 1972),[16] Sylvia (Paris Opera Ballet, 1997), Orpheus (2009), Tristan (1982),[17] The Saga of King Arthur (1982) and Parzival - Episodes and Echo (2006). Neumeier is particularly inspired by the life and work of Vaslav Nijinsky[18] and has produced several ballets about him: Vaslav (1979),[4] the full-length Nijinsky (2000)[11] and Le Pavillon d'Armide (2009).[4] Neumeier has also choreographed a number of ballets to the music of Gustav Mahler, including the biographical Purgatorio (2011), set to Deryck Cooke's reconstruction of Mahler's Tenth Symphony. In addition, Neumeier has choreographed Mahler's First (Lieb' und Leid und Welt und Traum, Ballet of the 20th Century, 1980), Third (1975), Fourth (Royal Ballet, 1977), Fifth (1989), Sixth (1984) and Ninth (In the Between, 1994) symphonies, as well as the Rückert-Lieder (1976), Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Soldier Songs, 1989) and Song of the Earth (Paris Opera Ballet, 2015).

In 2017 he created and directed a new production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice for the Lyric Opera of Chicago featuring the Joffrey Ballet.[19]

Awards

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ "Chicago Dance History Project – John Neumeier". chidancehistory. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  2. ^ Foyer, Maggie (August 22, 2014). "Alive and Relevant". Financial Mail. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  3. ^ Kuiper, Kathleen. "John Neumeier". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Kathleen Kuiper. "John Neumeier". Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  5. ^ "Repertory since 1973". Hamburg Ballet. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  6. ^ Barnes, Clive (April 28, 1974). "Ballet: A New 'Don Juan'". The New York Times. p. 58.
  7. ^ Barnes, Clive (June 7, 1976). "The Dance: 'Hamlet' From Neumeier". The New York Times. p. 42.
  8. ^ Macaulay, Alastair (May 27, 2010). "Parisian Courtesan Returns, Bearing Feminist Credentials". The New York Times. p. C1.
  9. ^ Michael Crabb (June 4, 2017). "National Ballet's take on A Streetcar Named Desire inspired: review". Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  10. ^ Emily Alane Erken (Fall 2012). "Narrative Ballet as Multimedial Art: John Neumeier's The Seagull". 19th-Century Music. 36 (2): 159–171. doi:10.1525/ncm.2012.36.2.159.
  11. ^ a b c Veltman, Chloe (March 19, 2010). "Taking a Children's Tale to Dark New Depths". The New York Times. p. A25B.
  12. ^ Koegler, Horst (December 4, 2011). "John Neumeier's new "Liliom"". Dance View Times. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  13. ^ Raymond Stults (December 14, 2014). "Vishneva Shines in New Neumeier Ballet 'Tatiana'". The Moscow Times. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  14. ^ Lynn Colburn Shapiro (February 27, 2016). "Tragedy At Play In Hamburg Ballet's "Othello"". Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  15. ^ Magnificat, ballet de John Neumeier, par le Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris, création mondiale, Festival d'Avignon, cour d'honneur du Palais des papes, 27–31 juillet 1987, [programme] (in French). Festival d'Avignon. 1987.
  16. ^ Horst Koegler. "Three Vintage Neumeier Works in Hamburg". Dance View Times. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  17. ^ Norris, J. Lacy; Ashe, Geoffrey; Mancoff, Debra N. (January 14, 2014). The Arthurian Handbook (2nd ed.). Garland Publishing. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-317-77743-4.
  18. ^ de la Peña, Matthew (January 28, 2013). "Interview: John Neumeier". Time Out Chicago. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  19. ^ von Rhein, John (September 24, 2017). "Review: Triumphant new 'Orphee' presages strong partnership of Lyric Opera, Joffrey Ballet". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  20. ^ Hamburg (February 19, 2008). "Deutscher Tanzpreis für John Neumeier". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  21. ^ "John Neumeier". Prix Benois de la Danse. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  22. ^ a b "Neumeier". ORDEN POUR LE MÉRITE (in German). Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  23. ^ "John Neumeier". hamburg.de (in German). Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  24. ^ "John Neumeier". Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (in French). February 21, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  25. ^ Kaempf, Simone (April 29, 2020). "Erster Preisträger des Gustaf-Gründgens-Preises wird John Neumeier". Nachtkritik (in German). Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  26. ^ "John Neumeier". 京都賞. July 20, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  27. ^ Jacquier, Marielle (January 5, 2017). "A conversation with John Neumeier". Prix de Lausanne. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  28. ^ "Königin Margrethe II. von Dänemark zeichnet John Neumeier mit ihrer Ehrenmedaille "Ingenio et arti" aus". Dance for You Magazine (in German). May 21, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2023.

Sources

External links

Herbert von Karajan Music Prize Laureates
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