Yolanda sonnabend biography

Overview

Designer and painter Yolanda Sonnabend (1935 - 2015) made her Royal Ballet debut in 1963, creating set and costume designs for Kenneth MacMillan’s Symphony. Her work with MacMillan spanned more than 30 years, including such works as Rituals, Valley of Shadows, Requiem, My Brother, My Sisters and Playground.

Other designs for The Royal Ballet included for Anthony Dowell’s production of Swan Lake, Natalia Makarova’s production of La Bayadère and Michael Corder’s L’Invitation au voyage. She has also worked regularly with Dowell, other collaborations including on his productions of The Nutcracker (Strasbourg) and Cinderella (Lisbon) and his Five Rückert Songs (Rambert Dance Company).

Sonnabend was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

She studied at the Slade School of Fine Art 1955-60 under Nicholas Georgiadis, just as MacMillan, who had a powerful visual sense, was demanding new approaches to ballet design. Thanks t