Fernando Melo

Fernando Melo is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and resides in Sweden. At the age of sixteen he was awarded a scholarship to train at the Vienna State Opera Ballet; since then he has been in Europe, building his career as a dancer and choreographer and creating works for stages around the world. Among the companies he has choreographed for are Göteborgsoperans Danskompani, Skånes Dansteater, Norrdans, Sweden, National Dance Company Wales, UK, Introdans, Netherlands, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Munich, Germany, Luzerner Theater, Switzerland, Aterballetto, Italy and Ballet Hispanico New York, USA. Fernando also choreographs and directs dance film; his most recent film Nonstop was screened at Cinedans in the Netherlands. Prior to this, he created Mahjong, which screened at several international film festivals and received the 2010 Audience Award at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. Future engagements include visits to Balletto di Toscana, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Theater Osnabrück and Nashville, USA among others.

Fernando also choreographs for opera, working extensively with the director Patrick Kinmonth on such projects as Gassmann’s L’Opera seria for La Monnaie, Brussels with René Jacobs, Strauss’ Daphne at Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse with Hartmut Haenchen, and Glanert’s Solaris for Oper Köln with Lothar Zagrosek. Fernando also collaborates with the German team of director Ralf Pleger and sculptor and designer Alexander Polzin, the most recent projects include co- productions of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde for La Monnaie, Brussels and Teatro Comunale di Bologna conducted by Alain Altinoglu and Juraj Valčuha respectively, and a dance version of Mozart's Mitridate, a co-production with Royal Danish Opera, Malmö Opera and Concerto Copenhagen. Fernando has also previously worked with director Cristina Pezzoli on Puccini’s Le Villi for the Teatro Luciano Pavarotti, Modena and Teatro Valli, Reggio Emilia conducted by Pier Giorgio Morandi.