Sir Peter Wright honoured as Founding Director Laureate of Birmingham Royal Ballet

Forty-five years after Sir Peter Wright was appointed Director of Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, today Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) announces that his title will change from Director Laureate to Founding Director Laureate of the company. This recognises Sir Peter’s important role moving Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, (the touring company of The Royal Ballet), from London to Birmingham in 1990, and changing the company’s name.

More than 30 years before the levelling-up agenda, Sir Peter Wright (now aged 96), had the ambitious vision to relocate one of the country’s largest arts organisations from the capital to Britain’s second city. With this new title, the company recognises Sir Peter Wright’s central role in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s history. To celebrate, BRB will perform three of his most important ballets that he created for Birmingham Royal Ballet in the 2022/2023 season.

Sir Peter Wright said: ‘I am delighted to be honoured in this way. Birmingham Royal Ballet remains very close to my heart. I can’t wait to see the refurbished version of my Nutcracker in all its original glory, this Christmas. I made the show as a gift to the City when we moved to Birmingham. In 2020, the Company had plans to mark the 30th anniversary of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s bold move to the West Midlands, so this moment feels like a delayed celebration of that to me. And what better way to mark the occasion than by reviving three of my productions, two of which will tour and all three staged in our home city! I have so many wonderful memories of this company and remain devoted to it.’

Sir Peter’s body of work continues to be performed by companies all over the world and he is undisputedly one of the most eminent names in ballet.

This autumn Birmingham Royal Ballet will stage his Coppélia in Plymouth and Birmingham followed by the £1 million refurbished production of his Nutcracker in the company’s home city, and in the spring Swan Lakewill tour across the UK.

Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet Carlos Acosta said ‘It is an honour and a privilege to recognise Sir Peter in this way and to celebrate his life’s work by performing three of his ballets this season. He was one of the great Artistic Directors, building on the heritage of Dame Ninette de Valois, but also always looking to the future success of Birmingham Royal Ballet. He has been a constant inspiration to everyone he has worked with during his tenure and ever since. I particularly want to thank him for the support he has offered me as I took over during the challenging pandemic. I am very proud to be following in his footsteps and to be upholding the classical values and traditions manifested in his repertoire.’

Peter Wright was born in 1926. At the age of 16, his mother took him to a performance of Les Sylphides, and it was this experience that led him to pursue dance as a career. His father was an accountant and, being a Quaker, was also very religious. He did not approve of his only son wanting to pursue a career in dance, which led to Wright leaving both home and school at the age of 17.

After leaving home, Wright auditioned for Ninette de Valois, to join what is now the Royal Ballet School, but was rejected. He subsequently decided to accept an offer from the German choreographer Kurt Jooss to become an apprentice with his company "Ballets Jooss". Sir Peter made his debut as a professional dancer with the Ballets Jooss during World War II. He trained with the company for two years, dancing in many expressionist and modern dance works. Eventually, Wright decided he needed to train in classical ballet, so he returned to London to study with Vera Volkova, a leading teacher of the Vaganova method. He then re-auditioned for Ninette de Valois, who offered him a contract to dance with the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the predecessor of today's Birmingham Royal Ballet.

In 1955, de Valois gave Wright his first opportunity to direct, making him responsible for the formation of the Sadler's Wells Opera Ballet, a troupe of dancers who would perform the dances in the operas at the Sadler's Wells Opera company. Later in 1957, he received his first commission as a choreographer, creating the ballet A Blue Rose for the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. In 1959, Wright was appointed as a teacher at the Royal Ballet School.

In 1969 he returned to The Royal Ballet as Associate to the Directors and then became Associate Director. In 1977 he was appointed Director of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, taking the Company to Birmingham in 1990, when it became Birmingham Royal Ballet. On his retirement in July 1995 he was made Director Laureate of Birmingham Royal Ballet. He received the Evening Standard Award for Ballet in 1981, and in 1985 was made a CBE. In 1990 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from London University, the University of Birmingham conferred on him the title of Special Professor of Performance Studies and he was presented with the Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dancing. In 1991 he was made a Fellow of the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music. He also won the 1991 Digital Premier Award, which he used to commission a new ballet for the Company. He was awarded a knighthood in the 1993 Queen's birthday honours list, in 1994 an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Birmingham and the Critics' Circle Award 1995 for Distinguished Services to the Arts.