The Little Mermaid

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Marquette University, he studied dance in his native city Chicago, Copenhagen, and London.  In 1963 John Cranko invited him to join Stuttgart Ballet, where he progressed to soloist and continued his choreographic development which began at Marquette. Appointed Director of Ballet Frankfurt in 1969, he soon caused a sensation with his new interpretations of such well-known ballets as The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. In 1973, he became Director and Chief Choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet. Under his direction, the Hamburg Ballet became one of the leading ballet companies on the German dance scene and soon received international recognition.

As a choreographer, Mr. Neumeier has continually focused on the preservation of ballet tradition, while incorporating elements of modern dance and giving his works a contemporary dramatic framework. His ballets involve multiple styles and range from new versions of full-length story ballets to musicals and symphonic ballets as well as choreographies to sacred music. His latest creations for the Hamburg Ballet are Ghost Light in 2020, Beethoven Project II, Hamlet 21, a new version of The Sleeping Beauty in 2021, Dona Nobis Pacem, and in 2024 Epilogue. In addition to his great commitment to the Hamburg Ballet, he regularly works as guest choreographer with more than 50 of the most renowned international ballet companies.

In 1975, John Neumeier conceived the Hamburg Ballet Days as a climax and end to each season. Three years later, he founded The School of the Hamburg Ballet. Today more than 80 % of the company’s dancers are graduates from the school. In 2011, Neumeier founded Germany’s National Youth Ballet, a creative and independent company that finds its performing spaces in schools, retirement homes and prisons among other venues.

John Neumeier has received some of the most prestigious international awards. He holds the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the French Order of Arts and Letters and the Legion of Honor. In 2015, the Inamori Foundation presented John Neumeier with the Kyoto Prize for his contributions to the Arts and Philosophy. In 2017, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Awards of the Prix Benois de la Danse and the Prix de Lausanne as well as the Erich Fromm Prize. In 2019, he received the People's Republic of China Friendship Award. In 2021, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark awarded John Neumeier the Medal of Honor “Ingenio et arti”, a personal honor bestowed by the Danish royal house on outstanding personalities in the field of arts and sciences.  Recently he was made a member of the prestigious “Pour le Mérite,” a German organization of international scholars and artists.

In 2006 Mr. Neumeier established the John Neumeier Foundation with the aim of preserving and eventually making available to the public his extensive library and collection of dance and ballet-related art, documents, and memorabilia.  John’s foundation now has an affiliation in the United States called The Friends of the John Neumeier Foundation. 

A renaissance artist for modern times, Lera Auerbach is a widely recognized conductor, pianist, and composer. She is also an award-winning poet and an exhibited visual artist. All of her work is interconnected as part of a cohesive and comprehensive artistic worldview.

Lera Auerbach has become one of today’s most sought-after and exciting creative voices. Her performances and music are featured in the world’s leading stages – from Vienna’s Musikverein and London’s Royal Albert Hall to New York’s Carnegie Hall and Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.

Auerbach’s exquisitely crafted, emotional, and boldly imaginative music reached global audiences. Orchestral collaborations include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Munich’s Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, and Vienna’s ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester, among many others. Auerbach’s works for orchestra are performed by the world’s leading conductors, including Manfred Honeck, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Charles Dutoit, Andris Nelsons, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, and Marin Alsop, to mention only a few.

During the 22-23 season, Lera Auerbach performed concerts with Hilary Hahn at Wigmore Hall in London and Boulez Saal in Berlin. She also conducted Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony with Enescu Philharmonic in the subscription series, as well as played and conducted Mozart’s Piano Concerto K466. 

Other recent season highlights also included WienModern’s 3.5-hour production of Demons & Angels with Auerbach as conductor. Washington D.C.’s National Symphony premiered her 4th Symphony “ARCTICA” – a work commissioned by the National Geographic Society.  Also, her Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra “Diary of a Madman” commissioned by the Munich Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, received its global premieres with cellist Gautier Capuçon.

Her 4th Violin Concerto “NYx: Fractured Dreams” was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Alan Gilbert and Leonidas Kavakos, and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra premiered her symphonic poem Eve’s Lament with Marin Alsop. In 2022, the Nuremberg State Philharmonic presented the world premiere of Symphony No. 5 “Paradise Lost” conducted by Joana Mallwitz, and her Symphony No. 6 ‘Vessels of Light,’ a commission of Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, was unveiled in Lithuania as part of the city’s Cultural Capital of Europe celebrations and received its American premiere at Carnegie Hall on April 19, 2023.

Amare at the Hague will present a two-week Auerbach Festival in October 2023, including all aspects of her artistic offerings, conducting, piano performance, composition, poetry, and visual art.

Her music is championed and recorded by today’s most prominent classical performers, including violinists Gidon Kremer, Leonidas Kavakos, Daniel Hope, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Gluzman, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin; cellists Alisa Weilerstein, Gautier Capuçon, Alban Gerhardt, David Finckel; violists Kim Kashkashian, Nobuko Imai, and Lawrence Power, and many others.

Auerbach is equally prolific in literature and the visual arts. She incorporates these forms into her professional creative process, often simultaneously expressing ideas visually, in words, and through music. She has published three books of poetry in Russian, and her first English-language book, Excess of Being – in which she explores the rare form of aphorisms. Her next book, an illustrated work for children, A is for Oboe, published by Penguin Random House, won Audiofile Best Audiobook 2022. She is the recipient of the 2021 Marsh Hawk Press – Robert Creely Memorial Award for her English poetry manuscript “Morning Music.

Auerbach has been drawing and painting all her life as part of her creative process. Her visual art is exhibited regularly, included in private collections, and represented by leading galleries.

Lera Auerbach holds multiple degrees from the Juilliard School in New York and the Hannover University of Music, Drama, and Media in Germany. Her teachers include Milton Babbitt, Rosalyn Tureck, Joseph Kalichstein, and Einar Steen-Nøkleberg.  The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, selected her in 2007 as a Young Global Leader, and since 2014, she has served as a Cultural Leader.  Boosey and Hawkes / Sikorski publish her music, and recordings are available on ECM, Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, Sony Classical, Alpha Classics, BIS, Cedille, and many other labels.