Promotions, new joiners and departures for the 2023/2024 Season

Promotions

The following promotions have been made in the Company.

Aitor Arrieta and Emma Hawes are promoted to Lead Principal.

Julia Conway is promoted to First Soloist.

Lorenzo Trossello is promoted to Soloist.

Ivana Bueno, Henry Dowden, Noam Durand, Rentaro Nakaaki and Victor Prigent are promoted to Junior Soloist.

Alice Bellini, Georgia Bould, Eireen Evrard, Giorgio Garrett, Minju Kang, Adriana Lizardi and Eric Snyder are promoted to First Artist.

Breanna Foad is promoted to 8^th Year Artist of the Company.

Congratulations to these fantastic dancers!

New Company members

We look forward to welcoming some new faces in the Company.

From Semperoper Ballett Dresden, Principal Sangeun Lee and First Soloist Gareth Haw join English National Ballet this week as Lead Principal and First Soloist respectively.

Also joining from Semperoper Ballett Dresden are Anna Nevzorova, and Ukrainian dancer and former Mariinsky Theatre member Vsevolod Maievskyi, as Junior Soloists at the start of the season.

From Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Edvinas Jakonis joins as First Artist.

Making a welcome return to English National Ballet as Guest Artist is former Principal, Laurretta Summerscales, who will perform with the Company in Nutcracker at the London Coliseum this winter and Swan Lake in-the-round at the Royal Albert Hall in June. Laurretta is currently Principal Dancer with Bavarian State Ballet in Munich.

New Artistic team members

The new season will also see several exctiting additions to the Aristic team.

Joining the ballet staff team as Ballet Master is Carmen Piqueras from Birmingham Royal Ballet. As previously announced Cynthia Harvey, joins as Associate Guest Repetiteur working across the season, and Alessandra Ferri and Alejandro Parente join as Guest Repetiteurs.

Joining as Creative Director of ENBYouthCo is dance artist Carolyn Bolton, currently lecturer at London Contemporary Dance School and ballet instructor for Trinity Laban’s Centre for Advanced Training.

Departures

As previously announced, after nine years with the Company, First Artist Sarah Kundi leaves to take up a position at The Royal Ballet School.

Also leaving at the end of the season are Artists of the Company Paige Bestington, Noah Benzie-Drayton, Poppy Frankel, Lulu Toner, Daisy Wales, and Oscar Ward.

Soloist Rina Kanehara and Artists of the Company Amber Hunt, Jade Longley and Alejandro Moreno left the Company mid-season.

Ballet Mistress Anu Sistonen also leaves the Company at the end of the season.

We offer our sincere thanks to each of these artists for their many contributions, and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.

Board of Trustees

English National Ballet today announces that Sir Roger Carr will step down as Chair by the end of 2023. Sir Roger joined as Chair of the Board of Trustees in 2018, succeeding the late Justin Bickle. The search for a new Chair is underway and the Company expects to announce Sir Roger’s successor this winter.

Sir Roger commented: “It has been a great privilege to serve as Chair of English National Ballet’s Board of Trustees for the past five years. I am proud to have overseen the Company’s move into its world class, purpose-built facilities in Canning Town, the refreshment of a strong board, and the successful navigation of the impact of the pandemic. As I near the end of my second term and English National Ballet enters a new chapter with the arrival of a new artistic director, I felt the time was right for the Executive team to build a long term future in partnership with a new Chair, and collectively realise Aaron’s artistic vision for the Company. Against this background I look forward to seeing this remarkable and talented company flourish long into the future.”

In June 2023 English National Ballet welcomed Sanaz Amidi and Sandra Honess to its Board of Trustees. With a portfolio career in both public and private sectors, Sanaz is Chief Executive of Rosetta Arts and Chair of Creative Newham. Sandra is Head of Legal at British Council with longstanding involvement and advocacy for the charity sector.