‘We can’t just live on one sort of repertoire’: Qld Ballet’s new plan to bring world’s best

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Queensland Ballet’s artistic director has revealed a 2026 season that will bring international choreographers to Brisbane.

The ambitious plan comes despite the company posting a large financial loss in 2024.

Famous choreographers Christian Spuck (Germany), Leo Mujic (Croatia), Edward Clug (Romania), Derek Deane (England) and Goyo Montero (Spain) are among those coming to town to work with the company on Australian premieres and one world premiere.

Ivan Gil-Ortega, artistic director of the Queensland Ballet.

Artistic director Ivan Gil-Ortega said the season was designed to take the company “to the next level”.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for our audiences to experience the latest creations from some of the world’s most influential choreographers – works that are shaping ballet’s future,” he said.

He said it was important for Queensland Ballet’s dancers to work with such talent.

“That will enrich them, not only as dancers, but for those who want to eventually become choreographers.”

Spanish-born Gil-Ortega’s first season comes at a pivotal time for Queensland Ballet, which posted a $9.456 million loss for the year ending December 31, 2024, and cut 27 staff.

He took over the role in February from acting artistic director Greg Horsman, who has since left the company.

Horsman was running the show after artistic director Leanne Benjamin quit six months into the job following clashes with the Queensland Ballet board.

Benjamin, in turn, had been hired to replace long-time artistic director Li Cunxin, who resigned in 2023.

Gil-Ortega said he was hired on a four-year contract to take the company on a “journey” through to 2029.

“I think we – Brisbane – have an opportunity to show the world.”

Spuck, who is artistic director of the Staatsballett Berlin, will bring a monumental production, Messa da Requiem, to the new Glasshouse Theatre in March.

In addition to dancers, the production features Brisbane Chorale, Canticum Chamber Choir and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra playing the music of Verdi.

<i>Hamlet</i> by Leo Mujic is one of several Australian premieres to be staged by Queensland Ballet in 2026.

“I think this company has never done a ballet where they had 100 singers on stage,” Gil-Ortega said.

Mujic, of the Croatian National Theatre, will stage his ballet of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, to music by Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky.

A landmark new production of seasonal favourite The Nutcracker by Deane was also on the cards.

Australian choreographer Garry Stewart is creating a work to songs by Sia Furler titled Elastic Hearts, which will play in Brisbane in April after its premiere at HOTA in November.

“Ballet companies today can’t just live on one sort of repertoire,” Gil-Ortega said.

In regard to the company’s finances, he said he was working hard to create an environment “where we can be sustainable”.

“Being in the arts is hard. That’s just how it is …. we’re not in it for the money,” he said.

Queensland Ballet executive director Dilshani Weerasinghe said Gil-Ortega’s leadership would generate “lasting cultural and economic value for our company and our state”.

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