Renato Zanella
Dance Director

Renato Zanella was born in Verona, Italy, in 1961. He began his ballet training at the local ballet school and in 1981 went to Cannes to study with Rosella Hightower.

His first engagement as a dancer took place in Basel, Switzerland, in a production directed by Heinz Spoerli. In 1985 he joined the Stuttgart Ballet and was appointed house choreographer in 1993 by Marcia Haydée. In 1985 Joan Holender named him Ballet Director of the Vienna State Opera; in 2001 he became the Artistic Director of the Vienna State Opera Ballet School, positions he held until 2005. In 2007, after the world premiere of Peer Gynt at Teatro del Opera di Roma, Maestro Peter Tiboris invited him to choreograph for the International Festival of the Aegean.  Maestro Myron Michalidis appointed him as Director of the Greek National Ballet in 2011.

Renato Zanella has choreographed ballets for the Stuttgart Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Introdans, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Swedish Ballet, Istanbul State Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet, Ballet du Rhin, Vereinigte Bühnen Krefeld/Mönchengladbach, Teatro San Carlo (Napoli), Croatian National Theatre, Badische Staatstheater, Municipal Ballett of Lima, National Ballet of Portugal, Ballett Berlin, Balletto dell'Opera di Rom, and the San Francisco Ballet.

He created solo works for Marcia Haydée, Carla Fracci, Beatrice Knop, Anastasia Volotchkova, Simona Noja, Shoko Nakamura, Polina Semionava, Olga Esina, Maria Kousouni, Richard Cragun, Tamas Detrich, Vladimir Malakhov, Manuel Legris, Roberto Bolle, Giuseppe Picone, Alessio Carbone, Eno Peci, Egon Madsen, and Nicholas Le Riche.

He also choreographed for numerous opera productions including the Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, New Opera Wien, San Carlos in Lisbon, Teatro alla Scala, Marijnski Theater, Bregenz's festival, London's Royal Opera House, Opera of Zürich, and Chicago Opera Theater.

In 1995 Danza & Danza magazine named him the "Best Italian Choreographer Abroad." The same publication also conferred the titles "Best Artistic Director" in 2001 and "Best Italian production." In 2000 he received the "Premio Internazionale Gino Tani," and he received the "Jakob Prandtauer-Preis" from the city of St. Pölten (Austria) for his artistic achievements. In 2007, for his production of Peer Gynt at the Opera di Roma, he was recognized by Danza & Danza for the best production of the year. Additionally, Austrian President Thomas Klestil honored him with the Austrian Special Distinction for Arts and Sciences Award in 2001.