The Australian Ballet has unveiled a 2027 season built around grand-scale storytelling, landmark revivals and contemporary choreography, with five mainstage productions taking the company from March through December.

Artistic Director David Hallberg described the program as “one of the biggest seasons we’ve ever presented”, bringing together some of ballet’s most enduring works with significant Australian premieres and repertoire returning to the company after decades.

“Season 2027 is about the breadth of scale of what we offer our audiences,” Hallberg said. “Whether it is one of the greatest fairy tales ever created, or a world that stretches the imagination, 2027 brings storytelling to the heart of performance.”

The Australian Ballet’s Swan Lake. Photo © Pierre Toussaint

The season opens with Hallberg’s reimagining of Anne Woolliams’ Swan Lake, which returns to Melbourne from 16–27 March at the Ian Potter State Theatre, with Orchestra Victoria, before travelling to the Sydney Opera House from 9–28 April, accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra.

The production, first presented by The Australian Ballet in 2023, marks 50 years of Swan Lake in the company’s repertoire. Fittingly, Tchaikovsky’s score will be performed by a full live orchestra.

The Australian Ballet in Kunstkamer, 2022. Photo © Daniel Boud

Next comes Kunstkamer, the contemporary work created by Sol León, Paul Lightfoot, Crystal Pite and Marco Goecke. Following its acclaimed Australian premiere in 2022 (Limelight gave it a five-star review), the work was originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater’s 60th anniversary and has become a distinctive part of TAB’s contemporary repertoire. It returns to the Sydney Opera House from 6 May before Melbourne performances at the Ian Potter State Theatre from 11 June.

Melbourne then receives an Australian premiere with Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling, running from 29 June to 10 July at the Ian Potter State Theatre. Set to music by Franz Liszt, arranged by John Lanchbery, the psychologically intense ballet explores the final days of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and is regarded as one of the defining works of 20th-century dance.

Mayerling (Sir Kenneth MacMillan). Photo courtesy of Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden

The production will be performed exclusively in Melbourne, giving audiences the opportunity to see a work that Hallberg describes as a “marathon test of artistic and athletic endurance”.

The season’s major revival is Sir Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, returning to The Australian Ballet for the first time in 47 years. The production forms part of the international Ashton Worldwide Celebration, marking the choreographer’s life and legacy.

Following its Adelaide premiere (4–11 September), Cinderella travels to Melbourne from 25 September–to 9 October, then Sydney from 26 November t0 22 December. The Melbourne performances will feature Orchestra Victoria, while the Sydney season will be accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra.

Ashton’s choreography will be reunited with Kristian Fredrikson’s original 1972 costume designs, which are being recreated for the revival, alongside a new set by Richard Roberts paying homage to Fredrikson’s designs. The Australian Ballet is the only company in the Southern Hemisphere presenting Cinderella as part of the five-year Ashton celebration.

The Australian Ballet, 2008: The Concert (Jerome Robbins). Photo © Branco Gaica

The final mainstage offering, Mixed Bill: Modern Masters, brings together three major choreographic voices: George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and William Forsythe. The Melbourne season (16–23 October), features Balanchine’s Duo Concertant and Kammermusik No. 2, Robbins’ comic The Concert and Forsythe’s technically demanding The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude.

Sydney audiences will see the program from 12–20 November, but with Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial replacing Kammermusik No. 2.

Principal Packages go on sale in Melbourne on 9 September and in Sydney on 16 September, followed by Create Your Own Packages on 14 October 14 and single tickets on 11 November. For more information and ticket purchases, visit australianballet.com.au