The ballet adaptation of Abbé Prévost’s novel L’Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut shows Sir Kenneth MacMillan at his very finest, attesting as it does to his profound insight into human psychology, choreographic craft and narrative skill. The artist admirably expresses the power of fateful love in the central characters’ impassioned duets.

L'Histoire de Manon

State Opera

The Hungarian choreographer and former Artistic Director of Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, Youri Vámos, was inspired by Charles Dickens’s fairy tale and introduced a new staging version of this ballet. The story takes place in 19th-century London and tells of the magic of Christmas in transforming human character.

The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol

National Theatre Prague

Coppélia tells a story of love, yet, unlike other Romantic ballets, in which unrequited passion leads to death, it ends happily (with marriage, thus complying with the 19th-century conventions).

Coppélia

John Neumeier, the legendary American choreographer who for half a century helmed the Hamburg Ballett, based his Liliom on Ferenc Molnár’s 1909 eponymous play. He was the first to have created a dance adaptation of the work, depicting a tragic love story, set in the milieu of US fairs in the 1930s.

Liliom

The renowned Italian choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti created Scheherazade for the Czech National Ballet, in tandem with Carlo Cerri, his long-term collaborator. Based on the famous Middle Eastern story, the full-length ballet features a mesmerising, diverse dance idiom, and overwhelming visual dimensions. Mauro Bigonzetti, long-standing artistic director of the Aterballetto, Reggio Emilia, is a great modern dance innovator, one of the world’s most feted ballet creators and a sensitive storyteller. Blending contemporary and classical elements, he reveals and depicts the beauty of the human body almost like a sculptor, yet his works are far from academic. Bigonzetti has previously worked with the Czech National Ballet on three occasions. In 2016, Prague staged to great acclaim his Vertigo; in 2019, the Estates Theatre hosted the world premiere of Kafka: The Trial; and in the 2023/24 season, the State Opera presented his choreography to Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden within the unique project Holo Harmonies.

Paul Irmatov

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 2 - Dec 5, 2026

L'Histoire de Manon · Národní divadlo

9 - 25 Dec, 2026

The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol · Národní divadlo

23 - 30 Jan, 2027

Coppélia · Národní divadlo

Mar 20 - May 5, 2027

Liliom · Národní divadlo

Apr 17, 2027

Scheherazade · Národní divadlo

Future and recently performed repertoire

King Shahriyar in Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov

Národní divadlo

Franz in Coppélia by Delibes

Národní divadlo

Bob Cratchit / Devil in The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky

Národní divadlo

Des Grieux in L'Histoire de Manon by Massenet

Národní divadlo

Lescaut in L'Histoire de Manon by Massenet

Národní divadlo

About

Paul Irmatov hasn't added a bio