John Neumeier


John Neumeier is an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He was the director and principal choreographer of Hamburg Ballet from 1973 to 2024 and the artistic director of the ballet at the Hamburg State Opera from 1996-2024.
In 1978 he founded The School of the Hamburg Ballet, which includes a boarding school for 34 students. He has been the general director and artistic supervisor of the German National Youth Ballet since it was founded in 2011.

Life and career

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. After completing a BA 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. In 1969 Neumeier became director of the Frankfurt Ballet, before becoming director and principal choreographer at the Hamburg Ballet in 1973. From 1971-1974 Neumeier was also guest choreographer for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, where he provided repertoire and staged his version of The Nutcracker.
In 2001 and 2008 he served as a president of the jury at the Prix de Lausanne ballet competition.

Personal life

Neumeier and his partner, German cardiovascular surgeon Hermann Reichenspurner, got married in 2018 after 14 years together. They live in Hamburg.

Noted works

Neumeier's choreographic output consists of more than 170 works, including many evening-length narrative ballets. Many are drawn from literary sources, such as Don Juan, Hamlet Connotations ''The Lady of the Camellias, A Streetcar Named Desire, Peer Gynt, The Seagull, Death in Venice, The Little Mermaid, Liliom and Tatiana.
His adaptations of plays by William Shakespeare are of particular importance. They include Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, As You Like It, Hamlet and VIVALDI, or What You Will. Neumeier has reinterpreted and rechoreographed the seminal classics of the 19th century: The Nutcracker, set in the world of 19th-century ballet, Illusions, like Swan Lake, based loosely on the life of Ludwig II of Bavaria, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle.
He has choreographed works on biblical subjects, including The Legend of Joseph, St Matthew Passion, Magnificat, Requiem, Messiah and Christmas Oratorio, as well as ballets inspired by mythological subjects: Daphnis et Chloe, Sylvia, Orpheus, Tristan, The Legend of King Arthur and Percival – Episodes and Echo. Neumeier's work is particularly inspired by the life and work of Vaslav Nijinsky and he has produced several ballets about him: Vaslav, the full-length Nijinsky and Le Pavillon d'Armide. Neumeier has also choreographed a number of ballets to the music of Gustav Mahler, including the biographical Purgatorio, set to Deryck Cooke's reconstruction of Mahler's Tenth Symphony. In addition, Neumeier has choreographed Mahler's First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth symphonies, as well as the Rückert-Lieder, Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Song of the Earth.
In 2017 he created and directed a new production of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice for the Lyric Opera of Chicago featuring the Joffrey Ballet. Also in 2017, he premiered the full length ballet Anna Karenina'' in Hamburg, a co-production with the Bolshoi and the National Ballet of Canada.

Awards