Alexander Neef, the director of the Paris Opera, then picked Martinez. In a statement, Neef said Martinez’s “brilliant career, his experience as the director of a company and a choreographer, as well as his sensitivity to the issues of mediation and inclusion, will assure the stability, reputation and excellence of the Paris Opera Ballet.”
Martinez was born in Cartagena, Spain, and began his dance training there before moving to the Rosella Hightower Center in Cannes, France. In his late teens, he won a scholarship, at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne competition, to study at one of several notable ballet schools. He chose the Paris Opera Ballet School, and a year later, in 1988, joined the company. A technically accomplished and versatile dancer, he rose rapidly through the competitive ranks of the Opera, becoming an étoile in 1997.
He began to choreograph while still dancing with the Paris Opera Ballet, creating the full-length “Les Enfants du Paradis” for the company in 2008, and continuing to make new works during his tenure at the National Dance Company of Spain. During his time there, Martinez rebuilt the company — which had served almost exclusively as a vehicle for the work of its former director Nacho Duato — into a repertory ballet troupe, while weathering funding cuts. He restaged 19th-century classics, and brought in works by George Balanchine, Mats Ek and Roland Petit, as well as promoting Spanish choreographers like Ivan Perez and Alejandro Cerrudo.
Since leaving the National Dance Company of Spain in 2019, Martinez has worked as an independent choreographer, creating works for the Rome Opera Ballet and the Croatian National Theater. Before taking up his position in Paris in December, he will restage his version of “Le Corsaire” for the Royal Swedish Ballet. The Paris Opera Ballet statement says he will “renounce his choreographic activity” in order to focus on directing the company.
Martinez said that, under his leadership, the Paris Opera Ballet would keep showing a number of its classic Rudolf Nureyev productions — though not necessarily all — and works by important French choreographers including Serge Lifar and Maurice Béjart. He added that he hoped its engagement with contemporary choreographers like Crystal Pite and Ohad Naharin would continue.
