Norwegian National Opera and Ballet

The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet () is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisation in the country, it is currently resident at the Oslo Opera House, since the spring of 2008.

History Founded in 1957, the company had Kirsten Flagstad as its first general manager, from 1958 to 1960, and placed an emphasis on presenting operas and ballets written by Norwegian composers, and Norwegian as the standard language of the opera singers.Nygaard, Jan, "The Theatre System of Norway", in Theatre Worlds in Motion: Structures, Politics and Developments in the Countries of Western Europe (eds. Hans van Maanen & Stephen Wilner). Editions Rodolpi B.V. (Amsterdam, ), pp. 476–477 (1998). Subsequent general managers have included Bjørn Simensen. The Ballet School at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet was founded in 1965. In January 2009, the Norwegian Opera and Ballet was reorganized, during the tenure of Tom Remlov as general managing director. The company's current general manager is Nils Are Karstad Lysø.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Den Norske Opera campaigned for a number of years for construction of a new opera house, with preference in the Bjørvika district, a harbour area of downtown Oslo. The Oslo Opera House was opened in the spring of 2008. In 2008 Radio Marconi, an Italian company, installed a seatback multimedia system, from an idea of Geir Mortil of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, allowing audiences to follow opera libretto in other languages in addition to the original language.

The current chief executive officer of the company is Geir Bergkastet. Past artistic directors of the opera company have included Paul Curran (2009–2011), Anne Gjevang (as interim director), Per Boye Hansen and Annilese Miskimmon (2017–20). Randi Stene is the current opera director of the company. The company's current director of ballet is Ingrid Lorentzen, who succeeded Espen Giljane in the post. Past music directors have included John Fiore. In February 2022, the company announced the appointment of Edward Gardner as its artistic advisor, with immediate effect, and as its next music director, effective 1 August 2024.

The company

Principal dancers NameNationalityTrainingOther companies (inc. guest performances)Alex Cuadros JoglarReal Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Mariemma Royal Ballet SchoolNorwegian National Ballet 2 Ballet Nice MéditerranéeDingkai BaiRoyal Ballet SchoolDutch National BalletDouwe DekkersVienna Conservatory Royal Ballet SchoolVienna State Ballet Dutch National BalletGrete Sofie Borud NybakkenRoyal Conservatory of The Hague Royal Ballet SchoolBolshoi BalletLucas LimaRoyal Ballet SchoolThe Royal BalletMelissa HoughKirov Academy of BalletBoston Ballet Houston BalletRicardo Castellanos Catalunya Ballet Youth Company Rodolfo Castellanos Royal Ballet SchoolNorwegian National Ballet 2 English National BalletSamantha LynchAustralian Conservatoire of BalletSan Francisco Ballet Houston BalletSilas HenriksenOslo National Academy of the ArtsNederlands Dans TheaterWhitney JensenValentina KozlovaBoston BalletYolanda CorreaVocational School of Arts, Holguín Cuban National Ballet SchoolCuban National Ballet

Corps de ballet

Alberto Ballester Alicia Rose Couvrette Anaïs Touret Andrew Coffey Anna Sheleg Arianna Maldini Astrid Lyngstad Celine Kraal Daniela Cabrera Dmytro Litvinov Elise Nøkling-Eide Erik Murzagaliyev Freya Thomas Murzagaliyev Gabriel Gudim Gina Storm-Jensen Giuseppe Ventura Hana Nonaka Aillon Idun Sofie Landgraff Bækken Isaac Martin Isabel Vila Isabella Boyd James Linus Lynch Jane Park Joakim Visnes Johanne Wien Pedersen Jonathan Olofsson Josh Nagaoka Julie Petanova Kenji Wilkie Klara Brænne Leonardo Basilio Leyna Magbutay Louka Do Vale Tinoco Marchela Marinova Marco Pagetti Martin Dauchez Mathias Tannæs Miharu Maki Nae Nishimura Natasha Jones Dale Nora Elise Augustinius Pedro Alcantara Pol Monsech Riccardo Ambrogi Shaakir Muhammad Simon McNally Simon Regourd Sonia Vinograd Taeryeong Kim Thea Gudim Breder Tsukino Tanaka Vasilii Tkachenko Veronika Selivanova Youngseo Ko

See also Henny Mürer Radio Marconi

References

External links Norwegian National Opera and Ballet website Norwegian National Opera and Ballet website