The Designer and Iconic Choreographer Have Worked Together on Numerous Productions for the Hamburg Ballet
Albert Kriemler, creative director of Akris, has crafted a series of elegant dresses and suits for the dancers in John Neumeier’s final production, Epilogue. The world premiere took place on Sunday, June 30, 2024, at the Hamburg State Opera, performed by the Hamburg Ballet.
John Neumeier, marking the end of his 51-year tenure as director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet, presents Epilogue as an intimate piece inspired by chamber music. The production features compositions by Richard Strauss, Franz Schubert, and Simon & Garfunkel, which influenced the ballet’s subtle tones and movements developed by Neumeier and his ensemble.
Kriemler’s costumes reflect the musical themes. For Richard Strauss’s “Frühling” from the song cycle “Die Vier letzten Lieder,” Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian graced the stage in an asymmetrical red techno-mesh dress. Dancers donned flowing, lemon and butter-yellow crêpe georgette pants to evoke the light’s exuberance. In the segment inspired by “September,” Kriemler designed a soft stone-blue shirt and silk georgette skirt to capture the blend of summer’s abundance and impending darkness.
For Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” which explores modern society’s loneliness, Kriemler chose 1940s Film Noir-inspired greige men’s suits. Franz Schubert’s piano sonatas were represented by a light, structured net dress in chai for soloist Ida Praetorius.
The stage set, influenced by Italian Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca, inspired Kriemler to create tourmaline-green-blue organza dresses. Additionally, a dusky beige-grey painting by della Francesca, “The Stigmatisation of St. Francis,” inspired a rust-red cotton stretch top and charcoal jeans ensemble.
Epilogue marks the final collaboration between Neumeier and Kriemler, who have worked together for nearly two decades on various ballet projects. Their partnership includes productions like Beethoven Project II (2021), Turangalîla (2016), Josephs Legende/Verklungene Feste in Hamburg (2008) and Vienna (2015), and the Vienna State Opera Ballet’s New Year’s Concert (2006). Kriemler also designed costumes for prima ballerina Anna Laudere in Anna Karenina, co-produced with the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow, and the National Ballet of Canada, Toronto.
