Royal Ballet School Graduate becomes Scottish Ballet’s new Artistic Director

Scottish Ballet’s Chair of the Board of Directors, Zoe van Zwanenberg, has announced that Christopher Hampson, a former student of The Royal Ballet School is to become Artistic Director of Scotland’s national company.

Christopher joined The Royal Ballet Upper School in 1989 graduating in 1992 to join English National Ballet where he performed until 1999.

Over the years, Christopher has become a renowned choreographer. For English National Ballet he choreographed a new version of The Nutcracker in 2003 which was designed by satirist Gerald Scarfe and his Double Concerto won the Barclays Theatre Award and the Critics' Circle Award for Best Classical Choreography the same year.

Christopher has created works for many companies internationally including The Royal New Zealand Ballet, The Atlanta Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, to name a few with his work being been performed on virtually every continent.

Christopher joins fellow former student Kevin O’Hare in recent announcements of former Royal Ballet School students being appointed to lead top British ballet companies.


Picture: Christopher Hampson rehearsing Double Concerto with English National Ballet’s Daria Klimentová.

Photo: Patrick Baldwin