Eno Peci

Eno Peci was born in Tirana (Albania). He was educated at the Ballet Academy in his hometown and at the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera. In 2000 he joined the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera. In 2003 he was appointed demi-soloist and in 2009 soloist of the Ballett der Vienna State Opera und Volksoper (since 2010 Vienna State Ballet).

Over the course of his career, he danced numerous leading roles in the great classical ballets – such as Duke Albrecht and Hilarion in Elena Tchernichova’s Giselle, Rothbart in Rudolf Nureyev’s Swan Lake, Espada in Nureyev’s Don Quixote, Abderakhman in Nureyev’s Raymonda, Drosselmeyer in Gyula Harangozóʼs The Nutcracker, Prince Florimund in Peter Wright’s The Sleeping Beauty, and the King in Martin Schläpfer’s Sleeping Beauty. However, he was especially able to showcase his dramatic artistry in narrative ballets, such as the title roles in Renato Zanellaʼs Spartacus and John Cranko’s Onegin, Tybalt in Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Karenin in Boris Eifman’s Anna Karenina, or Monsieur Duval in John Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias. He also excelled in comic roles, such as Ulrich in Roland Petit’s Die Fledermaus and Widow Simone in Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée. Other important roles include Don José in Davide Bombanaʼs Ballet: Carmen, Bluebeard in Stephan Thossʼ Bluebeardʼs Secret and Miller in Léonide Massineʼs The Tricorn.

In addition, he acquired an exceptionally versatile neoclassical and contemporary repertoire, ranging from works by George Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, and Jerome Robbins to Paul Taylor, Hans van Manen, Twyla Tharp, and extending to Nils Christe, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Jorma Elo, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, András Lukács, Thierry Malandain, and Helen Pickett.

Eno Peci also inspired several choreographers to create roles for him, including Renato Zanella – among others, the title role in Petrushka – Patrick C. Delcroix, Natalia Horecna, Antony McDonald, Ashley Page, and Daniel Proietto.

Guest performances have taken him to numerous European countries and overseas.

Since 2009, Eno Peci has also been active as a choreographer. He made his debut with Cut at “choreo.lab 09” presented by the Ballet Club of the Vienna State Opera & Volksoper at the Odeon Theater in Vienna. Further works followed for the Ballet Club’s “Young Choreographers” series. For the Vienna State Ballet, he created Herzblume (2013) and Petrushka (2017) at the Volksoper Vienna. In 2018 and 2020, Peci choreographed the ballet interludes for the opening of the Vienna Opera Ball, with dancers of the Vienna State Ballet and the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera. In March 2026, he will stage My first Nutcracker for NEST, the Vienna State Opera’s new performance venue, working with students of the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera.

Since 2014, Eno Peci has maintained a close collaboration with the Swiss Origen Festival Cultural in Riom. He has also created several works since 2015 for the Gala des Étoiles at the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg. In 2017, he choreographed Déjà-vu and Apocalypse for the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow, on the opening of the Julier Theater at the Julier Pass (Switzerland). In 2019, Swan Lake premiered for Die Theater Chemnitz, with Eno Peci alongside Sabrina Sadowska responsible for the choreography and staging of Acts 1 and 3. His version of Daphnis et Chloé (music by Maurice Ravel) premiered there in 2021.

Further creations include works for the World Star Gala 2018 at the Volkstheater in Vienna and the 2019 Gala d’Étoiles Internationales Viva Maïa at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes. Several of his pieces have been performed by the National Ballet of Kosovo in Prishtina and by the Choreo Center Europe & Europaballett.

In 2020, Zweisamkeit premiered at the Győri Ballet in Győr, followed in 2021 by Angel (music: Violin Concerto by Alban Berg) at the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana. In March 2023, his first full-length world premiere, Muzg, was staged at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Tirana.

For the Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic on June 8, 2023, in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace, he choreographed a “shadow ballet” to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, featuring members of the youth company of the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera. In January 2024, his piece 4, set to Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, had its world premiere at the Zabeel Theatre in Dubai.

Numerous awards have recognized Eno Peci’s artistic achievements. In 2008, he was appointed Honorary Ambassador of the Republic of Albania. In 2017, he received “The Key of Tirana”, and in 2018 the title “Knight of the Order of Skanderbeg” – both prestigious honors from his home country. In 2019, he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. In 2023, he received the renowned International Premio Capri Danza in the “lifetime achievement” category, followed by the Premio Internazionale “Consonanze Artistiche” in May 2025 at the Teatro Comunale “Cesare Galeotti” in Pietrasanta.