Renato Zanella

Renato Zanella is an Italian-born ballet dancer, choreographer and director.

He studied classical ballet for several years before becoming a choreographer for various professional companies.

Due to his success, he has won many awards and honorary titles within the ballet community.

Zanella studied classical dance in his hometown before going on to complete his ballet education at École supérieure de danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower.

His first engagement as a dancer came in 1982 in Basel with Heinz Spoerli.

Zanella joined the Stuttgart Ballet in 1985 and was appointed permanent choreographer there in 1993, thanks to artistic director Marcia Haydée.

In 1989, Renato Zanella choreographed his first work, Die andere Seite.

It was presented at the Young Choreographers’ programme of the Stuttgart Ballet based Noverre Society (Stuttgarter Noverre-Gesellschaft), and was included as part of Stuttgart Ballet's repertoire.

“Stati d’animo” for Marcia Haydée and Richard Cragun followed in 1991.

In April 1992, Renato Zanella's first full-length ballet “Mann im Schatten” was premiered in Stuttgart.

He has choreographed several ballets for the Stuttgart Ballet including “Empty Place” (November 1992), “Black Angels” (March 1993) and his second full-length ballet “Mata Hari” (December 1993) with Marcia Haydée in the leading role.

“Empty Place” was later included in the repertoires of the Teatro Municipal de Lima and the Vienna State Opera.

In the summer of 1992, he choreographed “Voyage” for Vladimir Malakhov, which was first staged in October 1993 for the Vienna State Opera.

In December 1993, he staged “Konzertantes Duo” and followed a year later with “Watching Waters” for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

In June 1993, he created “Apollon” for the John Cranko School and Vladimir Malakhov.

He premiered his first creation for the Vienna State Opera Ballet, “La Chambre”, in February 1994.

In 1995, he was appointed artistic director and resident choreographer for the Vienna State Opera, a position he held for ten years until the end of the 2004/2005 season.

He also choreographed “Pieces of Earth” for Introdans in April 1995.

His first ballet as artistic director of the Vienna State Opera was “Konzertantes Duo”, which he premiered in September 1995.

In December 1995, he created “Mon Euridice” for Vladimir Malakhov.

“Love Beyond” was staged in September 1996, "Ostarrichi" was staged in October 1999, "Harlekin & Colombine" was staged in September 2001 and "Concerto Italiano" was staged in September 2003.

Renato Zanella premiered his first complete programme for the company – “Strawinski-Abend: Symphony, Movements, Sacre” in April 1996.

In February 1997, he staged “Elements” at Vienna's Odeon Theatre and the next month he created “Alles Walzer”.

In December 1997, he staged "Laus Deo" at the Vienna State Opera.

He was responsible for the choreography of “... schatten von sehnsucht ...” (February 1998) and “Moses and Aron” (October 1999) for the Ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Berlin State Ballet).

His full-length ballet “Wolfgang Amadé” premiered in March 1998 and was staged for the Madlenianum Opera and Theatre in Belgrade.

From 2001 to 2005, Renato Zanella also acted as artistic director of the Vienna State Opera Ballet.

In 2003, he choreographed the opera “Die Zauberin” for a co-production of the Teatro San Carlos in Lisbon and the Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersburg.

From 2005 to 2011, he worked as a freelance artist on a global scale and, in September 2011, he was appointed artistic director of the Greek National Ballet in Athens.

In January 2021, he was appointed artistic director of ballet in the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

In the 2005/2006 season, he choreographed the ballet “Der Spielmann” for Birgit Keil in Karlsruhe.

“Die Sieben Todsünden” was choreographed for the Neue Oper Wien in 2005.

Furthermore, Renato Zanella choreographed the ballets for “Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen”, “Le prophète” and “Guillaume Tell” at the Vienna State Opera and served as movement director in “Don Giovanni” and “Roméo et Juliette”.

He also provided choreography for “Jenůfa”, “Der Riese vom Steinfeld”, “Jonny spielt auf”, “Daphne” and “Le nozze di Figaro”.

Renato Zanella choreographed the full-length ballet “Peer Gynt” for the Ballett des Teatro dell´Opera di Roma (November 2007) and “Amandi” for the Baden State Theatre Ballet in Karlsruhe (das Ballett des Badischen Staatstheater Karlsruhe) (April 2008).

In December 2007, Zanella choreographed the ballet interludes for the opera “La Juive”, which premiered in Zürich.

Renato Zanella was responsible for setting movement for the singers in Salvatore Sciarrino's Perseus and Andromeda.

Zanella also choreographed for John Adam's opera “A Flowering Tree”, which was premiered at the Chicago Opera Theater in May 2008.

In 2011, the opera “Die Trojaner”, was premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with dance sequences created by Renato Zanella.

In May 2011, the operetta “Die lustige Witwe”, was premiered at the Vienna Volksoper with ballet interludes choreographed by Zanella.