Francesco Gabriele Frola

Birthplace
Aosta, Italy

Training
Professione Danza Parma, Italy; The School of the Hamburg Ballet, Germany and Fomento Artistico Cordobés in Mexico.

English National Ballet
Joined in 2018, promoted to Lead Principal in 2020. Leading roles include Des Grieux, Manon, Nephew/Prince, Nutcracker, Prince Siegfried, Swan Lake, Prince Guillaume and Benjamin in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella, Conrad and Birbanto in Le Corsaire and Harald Lander’s Etudes.

Repertoire
Roles include the title role in Nijinsky; Albrecht in Giselle, Peter/The Nutcracker in The Nutcracker; Prince Florimund in The Sleeping Beauty; Lensky in Onegin, Florizel in The Winter’s Tale, James in La Sylphide, Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet and Lescaut in Manon. Other roles include Swan Lake, A Month in the Country, Cinderella, Don Quixote, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, La Fille mal gardée, The Four Seasons, Allegro Brillante, Opus 19/The Dreamer, Chroma, Theme and Variations, A Streetcar Named Desire, Pinocchio, Le Spectre de la Rose, Piano Concerto #1 and Carousel (A Dance).

Career highlight
Dancing Neumeier’s Nijinsky at the Champs Elysées Theatre, Paris

Other info
Awarded the Rolex Dancers First Award (2015) for his performance of the title role in Nijinsky and Prince Florimund in The Sleeping Beauty, and the Patron Award of Merit in 2014. In 2012, he won the Silver Medal at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition and the Bronze Medal in the International Ballet Competition in Cuba in 2010. He was also a semi-finalist at Prix de Lausanne in 2008 and received the prize for Best Male at the Grand Prix Pavlova in 2006 and 2003.