Ri­chard Siegal

Richard Siegal is the founder and artistic director of The Bakery (2006) and Ballet of Difference (2016). He has been honored with the New York Bessie Award, the German Theater Prize Der Faust, and the Munich Dance Prize. His internationally recognized body of work encompasses performances, digital media projects, workshops, and publications.

Siegal has created commissioned works for numerous prestigious institutions, festivals, and companies, including the Bavarian State Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, Ballet National de Marseille, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, São Paulo Dance Company, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Bodytraffic, Festival d’Automne, International DANCE Festival Munich, The Forsythe Company, Tanz im August, Ballett Frankfurt, and Théâtre National de Chaillot. Many of his works have also been conceived for and in collaboration with major museums, among them the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Museum Brandhorst and Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, as well as the Kolumba Museum in Cologne.

Musical collaborators have included Igor Levit, Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch, Alva Noto, Alberto Posadas, L’Ensemble Intercontemporain, Diane Labrosse, Arto Lindsay, and Hubert Machnik. In the fields of visual art, architecture, and industrial design, he has worked with Anish Kapoor, Konstantin Grcic, François Roche, Didier Faustino, and Zimoun. Collaborations in costume and fashion design include projects with Alexandra Bertaut, Flora Miranda, Bernhard Willhelm, Becca McCharen / Chromat, and Marta Jakubowski together with stylist Edda Guddmundottir.

Siegal has been Artist-in-Residence at the Ruhrtriennale, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, ZKM Karlsruhe, Bennington College, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, and Muffatwerk Munich. From 2005 to 2015, he was an Associate Artist with The Forsythe Company. He is a MacDowell Fellow and an honorary member of Benois de la Danse of the Bolshoi Ballet. In 2016, Richard Siegal founded Ballet of Difference in Munich. From 2019 to 2024 it was based at Schauspiel Köln. With the 2025/26 season, Richard Siegal is Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer at the Staatstheater Nürnberg.

Photo © Julia Puder