The Junior Company of the National Ballet has not only produced a lot of new dance talent, the youth ensemble also guarantees the development of its own and versatile repertoire. In the new tour program Made in NL, the group presents no fewer than three premiere works by female choreographers based in the Netherlands, combined with highlights from the oeuvre of 'Dutch Masters' Hans van Manen and Rudi van Dantzig.

Made in the Netherlands

Chassé Theater & Cinema Breda

Internationaal Theater Amsterdam

Leiden Theater

Meervaart

Orpheus

Park Theater Eindhoven

Stadsschouwburg

Stadsschouwburg Utrecht

Toon Hermans Theater

Places you have never visited, doors that normally remain closed... During the Open House you are very welcome to come and take a look at the entire theater and the Decoratelier in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. Stroll around the special world behind the scenes, follow workshops, enjoy various performances and watch some sneak peeks of performances from the

Open house

National Opera & Ballet

Can you go too far in protecting your child from the dangers of the world? Verdi's Rigoletto tells the story of a father who imprisons his daughter in an attempt to protect her from his depraved employer, the transgressive womaniser Duke of Mantua. In vain, as it turns out when his daughter ultimately falls in love, is seduced and kidnapped.

Rigoletto

From their mid-thirties to their early nineties: the four choreographers in Generation Dance vary considerably in age, but what unites them is that, each in their own way, they exuberantly celebrate the power of dance. The youngest, rising star Rena Butler makes her Dutch debut in this program, in combination with two recent hit productions by Ted Brandsen and William Forsythe and an 'all-time favorite' by Hans van Manen.

Generation Dance

How do you rock your baby to sleep while the howls of protest are flooding through the window? Can you soothe your child at all, as the fight for its future rages all around you?

Lullaby

Stimulating creativity and giving a platform to new voices in the dance world. That is the goal of New Moves , the young choreographers program that artistic director Ted Brandsen initiated in 2003. With New Moves, the dancers of Dutch National Ballet – and often young makers from outside – are challenged to explore their choreographic talents, which produces special surprises every year!

New Moves 2024-2025

In one of the strongest and most evocative post-war operas, Benjamin Britten paints the moving picture of an individual who succumbs to the hypocrisy of a small community.

Peter Grimes

A sun-drenched 'feel good' ballet! This is how you can easily characterize Alexei Ratmansky's internationally acclaimed Don Quixote . The Russian American top choreographer created this new version of the famous ballet classic for the National Ballet in 2010, resulting in a production that radiates pleasure, positive energy and the Spanish temperament.

Don Quixote

“Soon Lennox longed to become brave. And preferably as quickly as possible. He was ready for that now. Fortunately, for a boy who wasn't yet brave, Lennox looked pretty cool.” A musical story about courage, friendship, and the discovery that your world becomes bigger when you know more.

Lennox

In November 2024, The National Ballet will tour the Netherlands with two critically acclaimed classics of contemporary dance: Hans van Manen's romantic Four Schumann Pieces and Alexei Ratmansky's poetic The Fairy's Kiss . Two extremes of the dance spectrum, where the 'Dutch Master' opts for an abstract approach, while the Russian-American Ratmansky is inspired by a famous fairy tale.

Modern Classics

Amare

Maastricht University

Theater De Spiegel / Schouwburg Odeon

Theater Rotterdam

Eros cries and in the glitter of his tears the dark sides of love appear. For their brand new production Le lacrime di Eros, conductor Raphaël Pichon – with his ensemble and choir Pygmalion – and theater maker Romeo Castellucci go back to the roots of opera. Inspired by the creativity and experimental freedom that prevailed in Florence in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, they explore the subject that has been central to opera since the very beginning: love.

Le lacrime di Eros

Transfigurations, a decadent party and lots and lots of champagne. Under the musical direction of chief conductor Lorenzo Viotti and directed by Barrie Kosky, Dutch National Opera presents the most beloved operetta by 'waltz king' Johann Strauss Jr. in the dark days of December.

That Fledermaus

Nutcrackers are, according to a German folk legend, good luck charms. And that statement certainly applies to the international ballet world: since the premiere of the original version in 1892, The Nutcracker has become the most beloved and most visited ballet in the world, especially around the holidays. Also in the Netherlands, where 325,000 visitors have already been enchanted by the heart-warming version by Toer van Schayk and Wayne Eagling.

Nutcracker & Mouse King

“A wonderful performance for young and old,” wrote NRC after the premiere of Een lied voor de maat . And Theaterkrant concluded that the performance “deserves to be kept in the repertoire”. We kept that in mind: due to the overwhelming success, we are bringing the heart-warming youth opera back to Studio Boekman this Christmas holiday.

A song for the moon

The first two people on earth were in love. The third man killed the fourth. Die ersten Menschen tells the story of the first family in the Biblical history of humanity: Adahm and Chawa and their sons Kajin and Chabel. After the successful performances of the work during the corona pandemic, Rudi Stephan's unknown work, but 'excavated' by Dutch National Opera, returns in full glory.

Those first people

The first two humans on Earth fell in love. The third human murdered the fourth. Die ersten Menschen tells the story of the first family in the Biblical history of humanity, Adahm, Chawa and their two sons Kajin and Chabel. After performances in the midst of the COVID pandemic, which were highly praised by public and press alike, this ‘rediscovered’ work by Rudi Stephan is now returning to Dutch National Opera in all its glory.

Die ersten Menschen

To save himself from a fatal storm, King Idomeneo promises the god Neptune that he will kill the first human he encounters. Unfortunately, that turns out to be his son Idamante. The king becomes torn between fatherly love and his promise to the gods. This fateful dilemma is central to Mozart's masterpiece.

Idomeneo, re di Creta

Choreographer George Balanchine was not only crazy about women, but also about jewelry. In his Jewels the two come together in a masterful way: inspired by the most exclusive gemstones, the most important choreographer of the twentieth century pays tribute to women and to the French, American and Russian ballet styles respectively in this triptych.

Jewels

The end of a war. A child's birthday party. A wall falls in the center of the city. A first kiss. The economy collapses. A new millennium. It's getting warmer. Friends die. And everyone keeps buying new mobile phones.

We Are The Lucky Ones

Fifty years after her death, the significance of the Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum (ca. 1900 – 1975) is still indescribably great. In the new music theater performance OUM, her influential musical universe is combined with the book Visage retrouvé by the renowned writer and director Wajdi Mouawad.

The American theater and film choreographer Helen Pickett is praised as 'one of the few prominent women in contemporary ballet'. For her Dutch debut, she delves into the mind of the ruthless Lady Macbeth together with director James Bonas and composer Peter Salem.

Lady Macbeth

Whether it's winter or summer: Male Jacket is always ice-cold. Shivering, he goes looking for warmth, but even a thick layer of winter coats doesn't help. Is there nothing at all that can make Little Man Jacket stop shivering?

Mr. Coats

With Die Frau ohne Schatten , composer Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal created a layered fairy tale about two couples in search of meaning and new life in a cold and barren world.

The Frau ohne Schatten

In partnership with Opera Zuid and Nederlandse Reisopera, Dutch National Opera has developed a new concert experience. Together, the companies will be touring the Netherlands with a Purcell programme centred around the short opera Dido and Aeneas. This music from more than 300 years ago is interpreted by a new generation of opera singers under the leadership of the young Baroque specialist Camille Delaforge.

Dido and Aeneas

Musis Sacrum

Muziekcentrum Enschede

PLT - Theater Heerlen

'A dazzling total work of art' and 'sparkling and imaginative music theatre'. This is how the new dance opera How Anansi liberated the stories of the world was received at its world premiere in 2021. This season, the National Ballet and the National Opera are therefore once again highlighting the story about the resourceful fairytale spider Anansi with a lot of passion, verve and humor.

How Anansi liberated the stories of the world

Infanticide, cunning monks and a tsar falling prey to madness. In his large-scale choral opera, the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky tackled a theme that is still relevant today: the extremes to which a hunger for power can lead. Celebrated director Kirill Serebrennikov brings his own experiences in Russia into a grippingly topical reading of the work.

Boris Godunov

In the Holland Festival 2025, The National Ballet pays tribute to pure, abstract dance. New for the company is Other Dances by the American grandmaster Jerome Robbins. This choreographic jewel is combined with two recent highlights: Ted Brandsen's The Chairman Dances and David Dawson's The Four Seasons .

Other Dances

In 2025, Amsterdam will celebrate its 750th anniversary and the National Ballet will celebrate the occasion with Sasha Waltz' In C. This impressive production, which is somewhere between improvisation and choreography, is performed not only by the dancers of the National Ballet and the Junior Company, but also by residents from the seven boroughs of Amsterdam - from teenagers to seniors and from untrained dancers to folk dancers. and hip-hoppers.

In C

The National Ballet Academy recently entered a new phase in its existence with a brand new building. In this 'state of the art' dance house, pupils and students work all year round to perfect their technique. Culminating in the highlight of the academic year: the sparkling and always heart-conquering end-of-year performances on the big stage of National Opera & Ballet.

Nationale Opera & Ballet

Aug 31, 2024

Open house

2 - 29 Sep, 2024

Rigoletto

11 - 25 Sep, 2024

Generation Dance

18 - 20 Sep, 2024

Lullaby

29 - 30 Sep, 2024

New Moves 2024-2025

Nationale Opera & Ballet