Ballet Director

Karl Alfred Schreiner

Born in Salzburg, Karl Alfred Schreiner received his training at the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera. His first engagements took him to the Graz Opera and from 1995 to 2000 to the Vienna State Opera, where he was appointed semi-soloist in 1999. He then danced for »Introdans« and from 2002 in the Abcdancecompany St. Pölten. He has also performed as a dancer with the Gervasi dance company, Nicolas Musin and for Ismael Ivo in numerous projects.

Karl Alfred Schreiner has been working as a choreographer since 1999. His early works include commissions for the Young Choreographers of the Vienna State Ballet, the Tel Aviv Opera House, the St. Pölten Festival Theatre and the full-length works »Winterreise« and »Der Nussknacker« at the Klagenfurt City Theatre.

In addition to his work for film, music theatre and contemporary dance, Karl Alfred Schreiner was assistant to Ismael Ivo, Artistic Director of the Dance Department at the Venice Biennale and for Impuls Tanz in Vienna from 2008‒2011. Karl Alfred Schreiner has worked for many years with directors such as Josef E. Köpplinger, Torsten Fischer, Henry Mason, Keith Warner and numerous others. His work has taken him to the Vienna State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Hamburg State Opera, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Aalto Theatre Essen, the Graz Opera, the Volksoper Vienna, the Wexford Festival, the Opera Strasbourg, the Copenhagen Opera and to numerous projects at home and abroad.

Karl Alfred Schreiner has been ballet director of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz since the 2012/2013 season, choreographing pieces such as »Im weißen Rössl«, »King Arthur«, »My Fair Lady«, »The Messiah« and »Armors Fest« and created ballets such as »Sleeping Beauty«, »memento mori«, »Berlin 1920«, »Schlagobers«, »Chicago 1930«, »Jean und Antonín«, »Der Nussknacker«, »Atlantis«, »Undine – Ein Traumballett«, »Giselle« and »Peer Gynt«.

Here he also founded the »Minutemade« format, which brought many renowned choreographers such as Roy Assaf, Alexander Ekman, Andonis Foniadakis, Marco Goecke, Damien Jalet, Ina Christel Johanessen, Benoit Lachambre and Marina Mascarell to Munich. The ballet of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz has also toured with guest performances and collaborations from Beijing, Shanghai, Cremona, Houston and Ludwigsburg to the Heidenheim Opera Festival, among others. Under his direction, the ballet was honoured with the »Dance Prize of the City of Munich« in 2022. Karl Alfred Schreiner also works as a coach and jury member for dance competitions.