Heinz Spoerli

Heinz Spoerli was born in Basel. He began professional ballet training at the age of 17. At 19, he secured his first engagement at the Theater Basel under Wacław Orlikowski. Further engagements followed from 1963 to 1973 as a soloist in Cologne under Todd Bolender, with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, and from 1971 to 1973 at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He created his first choreographic works starting in 1967, achieving his first major success in 1972 with Le chemin at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva. From 1973, Heinz Spoerli served first as chief choreographer and ultimately as ballet director at the Theater Basel, where he also initiated and directed the Basel tanzt festival from 1987 to 1991.

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He created numerous new dance works and achieved international acclaim for his full-length narrative ballets and new interpretations of classical ballets, including La fille mal gardée, Giselle, Swan Lake and La belle vie. Examples of his contemporary ballets and shorter formats include Chäs, Miniatures, Dead End and Loops. He also worked as a choreographer at the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, and many other major venues.

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From 1991 to 1996, Spoerli served as ballet director at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, where he created new productions including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Joseph's Legend, and the Goldberg Variations. From 1996 to 2012, Spoerli was ballet director and choreographer at the Zurich Opera House, where his piece …And Colours That Shine Right Through the Breast (1996) was also created. Spoerli has received numerous awards, including the Hans Reinhart Ring in 1982.