Massimo Murru began studying dance at the La Scala Ballet
School, from where he graduated in 1990. He became a member
of the corps de ballet in the same year. He was named First
Ballet Dancer in 1994 after his first performance as the protagonist
in Kenneth MacMillan's L'Histoire de Manon.
Since then he has danced leading roles in such classic productions
as The Nutcracker by Nureyev, Poliakov, and Hynd; R. Nureyev's
Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella; Giselle by Bart,
Ruanne, Guillen, and Ek; P. Schaufuss's La Sylphide; Natalia
Makarova's La Bayadere; H. Lander's Etudes; K. MacMillan's
Romeo and Juliet; R. Hynd's The Merry Widow opposite Carla
Fracci and Susan Jaffe; U. Scholtz's The Red and the Black;
J. Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew; MacMillan's Winter Dream;
F. Ashton's Marguerite and Armand, A Month in the Country,
and Ondine; and G. Balanchine's Agon, Apollo, The Four Temperaments,
and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
He is a versatile and intense performing artist who establishes
an excellent working relationship with the most important
contemporary choreographers.
He became one of the favorite dancers of Roland Petit who
chose him to perform in many of his ballets: Carmen, The Bat
opposite A. Ferri, Proust, and Notre Dame de Paris in which
he danced, as a guest artist, as first étoile at the
Paris Opera. Mr. Petit composed many works for Massimo Murru:
Cheri opposite C. Fracci and later opposite D. Kalfouni and
A. Assiylmuratova, Bolero to the music of M. Ravel, Swan Lake
and its Evil Spells, and the solo The Dead Leaves.
He danced the role of Albrecht in Mats Ek's Giselle, and the
role of Don José opposite S. Guillem at Covent Garden
in London for the debut of Mats Ek's Carmen in the repertory
of the Royal Ballet.
At La Scala he danced the leading role in J. Neumeier's Daphnes
and Chloe and in W. Forsythe's Quartet.
Besides La Scala in Milan and other important Italian theaters,
Massimo Murru has danced leading roles in Buenos Aires, Sydney,
Melbourne, New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Paris, and
Mexico City. He is especially appreciated by Japanese audiences
who have been able to see him perform many times over the
years at the World Ballet Festival and in productions opposite
A. Ferri and S. Guillem.
In March 2004 he was invited to participate in the 4th International
Ballet Festival and dance in Sleeping Beauty at the Kirov
Theater in St. Petersburg opposite D. Vishneva.
In December 2003 he was named Etoile of La Scala, Milan.
