Val Caniparoli's final curtain
After more than five decades onstage, Val Caniparoli is giving his final performance with San Francisco Ballet on March 28 and will shift focus exclusively to choreography. It's a significant moment for a choreographer-dancer with a long company legacy. (pointemagazine.com)
Val Caniparoli’s catalog exceeds 200 credited works across ballet, theater, opera, symphony, film and television, and more than 60 companies have mounted his choreography. (sfballet.org) His 1995 Lambarena was nominated for the Prix Benois de la Danse in 1997 and was later featured on Sesame Street. (smuinballet.org) Caniparoli has received ten National Endowment for the Arts grants for choreography, two Choo‑San Goh Awards (including for Lambarena and Open Veins), and an Isadora Duncan Award for Sustained Achievement. (sfballet.org) He served as resident choreographer at Ballet West (1993–97) and Tulsa Ballet (2001–06) and was appointed rehearsal director and resident choreographer under Helgi Tomasson in the early 1980s. (sfballet.org) Calendar listings show Caniparoli remains actively commissioned: Richmond Ballet lists an eighth world premiere in May 2026, and Tulsa Ballet programs his co‑choreographed Nutcracker for its 2026 season. (richmondballet.com) (tulsaballet.org) Since 2000 he has created or co‑created five separate Nutcracker productions for different companies, with three of those editions still performed annually. (pointemagazine.com) Major opera and symphonic institutions — including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and the San Francisco Symphony (in Mlada conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas) — have commissioned his choreography. (sfballet.org)
