Christopher Wheeldon
Director and Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined The Royal Ballet London in 1991. In 1993, he joined the New York City Ballet and was promoted to soloist in 1998. He was named NYCB’s first Resident Choreographer in July 2001. Since then, Wheeldon has created and staged productions for many of the world’s major ballet companies, including the San Francisco Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and Hamburg Ballet, among others. In 2007, he founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company and was appointed an Associate Artist for Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London.
Christopher Wheeldon now serves as Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet. He has created many works for the company, including the full-length ballets Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale, both of which were co-productions with The National Ballet of Canada.
In 2012, his ballet Cinderella premiered at Het Nationale Ballet and is making its way to audiences worldwide. For the Metropolitan Opera, he choreographed the Dance of the Hours for Ponchielli’s La Gioconda (2006) and Richard Eyre’s production of Carmen (2012) as well as ballet sequences for the feature film Center Stage (2000) and the musical Sweet Smell of Success on Broadway (2002). Wheeldon created a special excerpt for the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, and in April 2016, he was the Artistic Director for the Fashion Forward exhibition in Paris at the Musée des Arts décoratifs.
In 2014, Wheeldon directed and choreographed the Broadway musical version of An American in Paris, which had productions in Paris, New York, and London and has toured extensively through America, China, Japan and Australia. The Joffrey Ballet presented the world premiere in 2016 of The Nutcracker reimagined by Christopher Wheeldon and in 2017 he directed and choreographed Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon starring Kelli O’Hara and Patrick Wilson at New York City Center. 2019 saw the premiere of Corybantic Games at The Royal Ballet and a re-staged version of Cinderella for the English National Ballet at Royal Albert Hall. Like Water for Chocolate, a full-length ballet for The Royal Ballet had its premiere in June 2022 and its American premiere with American Ballet Theatre in 2023.
Oscar© is his latest full-length ballet for The Australian Ballet which had its premiere in September 2024.
Most recently he directed and choreographed MJ The Musical which opened on Broadway in February 2022, winning four Tony Awards, including “Best Choreography”. The latter is currently on Broadway, touring America, in London’s West End, and will open in Hamburg and Sydney.
Among Christopher Wheeldon’s other awards are another Tony Award for Best Choreography for An American in Paris, two Tony Nominations for “Best Director”, an Outer Critics Award for “Best Choreography” and Direction for An American in Paris, the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, the American Choreography Award, the Dance Magazine Award, South Bank Show Award, multiple London Critics’ Circle Awards, and the Léonide Massine Prize for new choreography. Wheeldon’s productions of Cinderella and The Winter’s Tale received the Benois de la Danse, and he is an Olivier Award winner for his ballets Aeternum for The Royal Ballet and Polyphonia for Morphoses.
Christopher Wheeldon was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and is an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom and resides in New York City.
After Fool's Paradise in the 2015/16 season, the Vienna State Ballet presented Christopher Wheeldon's first full-length ballet at the Vienna State Opera in the 2024/25 season with the Austrian premiere of The Winter's Tale.
Performances with Christopher Wheeldon
Ballett-Gala 2026
Cast on Monday 29. June 2026
Living Legacies
Cast on Friday 18. September 2026
Abo 6
Ticket information
Einen Wochentag und Lieblingsplätze wählen und fünf Vorstellungen in einer Saison genießen.
In diesem Abo sind folgende Vorstellungen enthalten:
| 10. Oktober 2025 | Fin de partie |
| 14. November 2025 | Falstaff |
| 09. Jänner 2026 | Manon |
| 08. Mai 2026 | Giselle (Ballett) |
| 29. Mai 2026 | Les Pêcheurs de perles |
| 18. September 2026 | Living Legacies |
| 20. November 2026 | Madama Butterfly |
| 08. Jänner 2027 | Die verkaufte Braut |
| 05. März 2027 | Un ballo in maschera |
| 25. Juni 2027 | I Capuleti e i Montecchi |
Living Legacies
Cast on Saturday 19. September 2026
Ballettzyklus »Familie«
Ticket information
Vom Jungen, der nicht erwachsen werden möchte, über ein humorvolles Tanzspektakel bis hin zur »perfekten Einführung in die Ballettkunst«: Für alle Menschen ab 10 Jahren lädt der Familienzyklus zum Träumen, Lachen und Verzaubern ein.
Alle Termine dieses Zyklus 2025/26
Living Legacies
Cast on Friday 25. September 2026
Living Legacies
Cast on Monday 28. September 2026
Ballettzyklus »Reise durch die Welt des Tanzes«
Ticket information
Werke bedeutender Choreografinnen und Choreografen führen durch die Tanzgeschichte – von Fokines Le Spectre de la Rose (1911) bis zu McGregors zeitgenössischem Yugen. Ein vielfältiges Spektrum der Ballettkunst erwartet Sie.
Living Legacies
Cast on Friday 22. January 2027
Abo 8
Ticket information
Einen Wochentag und Lieblingsplätze wählen und fünf Vorstellungen in einer Saison genießen.
In diesem Abo sind folgende Vorstellungen enthalten:
| 03. Oktober 2025 | Fin de partie |
| 23. Jänner 2026 | Idomeneo |
| 20. Februar 2026 | Luisa Miller |
| 17. April 2026 | Visionary Dances (Ballett) |
| 22. Mai 2026 | Eugen Onegin |
| 02. Oktober 2026 | Tosca |
| 13. November 2026 | La Fille du régiment |
| 22. Jänner 2027 | Living Legacies |
| 19. Februar 2027 | Der Rosenkavalier |
| 16. April 2027 | Così fan tutte |
Living Legacies
Cast on Friday 29. January 2027
Living Legacies
Cast on Monday 1. February 2027
Living Legacies
Cast on Saturday 6. February 2027
Ballettzyklus »Ballett³ zum Verschenken«
Ticket information
Quer durchs Repertoire des Wiener Staatsballetts mit drei vielseitigen Produktionen – das ideale Geschenk für alle, die das Ballett als Kunstform kennen lernen möchten.
Living Legacies
Cast on Sunday 7. February 2027
Abo 22
Ticket information
Einen Wochentag und Lieblingsplätze wählen und fünf Vorstellungen in einer Saison genießen.
In diesem Abo sind folgende Vorstellungen enthalten:
| 30. November 2025 | Věc Makropulos |
| 08. Februar 2026 | Jewels (Ballett) |
| 08. März 2026 | Nabucco |
| 03. Mai 2026 | Der fliegende Holländer |
| 28. Juni 2026 | Die Zauberflöte |
| 18. Oktober 2026 | Die Entführung aus dem Serail |
| 15. November 2026 | Madama Butterfly |
| 07. Februar 2027 | Living Legacies |
| 07. März 2027 | Un ballo in maschera |
| 18. April 2027 | Manon Lescaut |
Living Legacies
Cast on Thursday 11. February 2027
Abo 18
Ticket information
Einen Wochentag und Lieblingsplätze wählen und fünf Vorstellungen in einer Saison genießen.
In diesem Abo sind folgende Vorstellungen enthalten:
| 04. September 2025 | Otello |
| 16. Oktober 2025 | Così fan tutte |
| 05. Februar 2026 | Jewels (Ballett) |
| 28. Mai 2026 | Eugen Onegin |
| 25. Juni 2026 | Il trittico |
| 17. September 2026 | Le nozze di Figaro |
| 15. Oktober 2026 | Die Entführung aus dem Serail |
| 07. Jänner 2027 | Werther |
| 11. Februar 2027 | Living Legacies |
| 01. April 2027 | Parsifal |