January 2019 Press Release becomes Royal guest Principal for the 2019/20 Season

After 16 years with , Thiago Soares has decided to make this Season his last as a Principal dancer with The Royal Ballet in order to focus on new projects in dance and the performing arts. He will return as a guest Principal in the 2019/20 Season. His documentary film Primeiro Bailarino (Principal Dancer) will be screened in the Linbury Theatre on 21st January, giving a unique insight into his dance journey in London and Brazil. He will also feature in a new work by Goyo Montero in the Linbury Theatre as part of New Work New Music. Thiago will also dance in his first solo venture Duelo with Brazilian pianist Marcelo Bratke at the Tivoli Theatre, Lisbon in February and he will also perform in Mayerling on tour with the Company in the summer.

Soares comments, ‘I’m so grateful to The Royal Ballet and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with so many incredible artists during my time here. I’m thankful for being “adopted” by the UK and for being so warmly welcomed as part of the Royal Opera House family. I want to thank Director Kevin O’Hare for helping me develop my plans for the future and for facilitating the next step in my artistic career.’

Director Kevin O’Hare comments, ‘Thiago has had an extraordinary career with The Royal Ballet. He has performed a huge range of roles across both the classical and contemporary repertory. His imposing stage presence has been particularly memorable in dramatic roles such as Onegin, Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling and King Leontes in The Winter’s Tale. He will be missed as a regular on the Royal Opera

House stage but I am delighted to be able to invite him back in the 2019/20 Season.’

Thiago Soares joined The Royal Ballet as a First Artist in 2002 and was promoted to Principal in 2006. He has performed leading roles across the Company’s broad repertory including Giselle, and The Sleeping Beauty among the classics, ’s Thaîs Meditation, and La Fille mal gardeé, ’s Onegin, Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling, Manon, Romeo and Juliet and Song of the Earth and ’s . In more recent work Soares has featured in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale and After the Rain, Liam Scarlett’s Sweet Violets, Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl and Tetractys and Arthur Pita’s The Wind.

Soares was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1981 and trained at the Centro de dança, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, joining the Municipal Theatre Ballet in Brazil in 1988. In 2002 he trained with the in St Petersburg and that same year was invited by , then Director of The Royal Ballet, to join the Company. Soares has won a number of awards including silver at the 1998 Paris International Dance Competition, gold at the 2001 Moscow International Ballet Competition and Outstanding Male Artist (Classical) at the 2004 Critics’ Circle National Awards. In 2018 he was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the Brazilian government for services to art.

ENDS Images of Thiago Soares can be downloaded from the following link https://we.tl/t-ZE8ARwaAJh

NOTES TO EDITORS

Thiago Soares Primeiro Bailarino screening 21 January 7.30pm The Linbury Theatre Tickets £10 - £17

Primeiro Bailarino (Principal Dancer). This documentary follows Thiago Soares during a season with The Royal Ballet as he prepares to return home to Brazil for one of the most challenging performances of his career. Film shown in Portuguese with English Subtitles / Event includes post show Q&A with Thiago Soares.

New Work New Music Wednesday 6 – Saturday 9 February 2019 6, 8, 9 February at 7.45pm 9 February matinee at 2.45pm The Linbury Theatre Tickets £7 - £30 The Royal Ballet makes its first appearance in the Linbury Theatre with the London Sinfonietta, one of the world’s leading contemporary music ensembles. This co- curated programme compromises a line-up of six world premieres from leading choreographers including Aletta Collins, Alexander Whitley, Goyo Montero and Kristen McNally.

Tickets available from the Royal Opera House Box Office www.roh.org.uk +44 (0)20 7304 400

Duelo – Thiago Soares and Marcelo Bratke Wednesday 19 – Thursday 20 February Tivoli Theatre Lisbon, Portugal Further information www.teatrotivolibbva.pt/en

Royal Ballet Press Office For further information or interview requests please contact Ashley Woodfield, Head of Ballet Press Tel – 0207 212 9165 / Mobile – 07984513676 [email protected]

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