Jacopo Tissi was born in 1995, in Northern Italy, in a town called Landriano (Pavia), 20 kms south of Milan.
At the age of ten he entered the Scala Theatre Academy where he was taught by Maurizio Vanadia and Leonid Nikonov.
After graduating with honours in 2014, he joined the Vienna State Opera Ballet under the direction of Manuel Legris.
In the 2015/16 season, he joined the Corps de Ballet at La Scala Opera Theatre directed by Makhar Vaziev, and a few months later made his debut performing the role of Prince Desiré in the world première of Sleeping Beauty (the choreographic version staged by Alexey Ratmansky) partnered by Svetlana Zakharova, étoile of La Scala and principal dancer with the Bolshoi.
He then performed in L’Histoire de Manon (choreography by K. MacMillan) in the principal role of the nobleman Des Grieux, and in Cinderella (choreographed by M. Bigonzetti) in the role of the prince.
During this season he was awarded the Danza&Danza prize for best new talent and the Prix Ballet 2000.
In 2017 Jacopo Tissi joined the Bolshoi Ballet directed by Makhar Vaziev since 2016, under the guidance of highly acclaimed Russian artist Alexander Vetrov: he was the first Italian dancer to become part of the Russian theatre company.
During his first season there he was promoted to the rank of first solo dancer and performed over ten main roles in the following ballets: Études (choreographed by H. Lander); Jewels (choreographed by G. Balanchine) which he also performed, that same year, at New York’s Lincoln Center; Swan Lake (the choreographic version staged by Y. Grigorovich) in the role of Siegfried; The Nutcracker (the version by Y. Grigorovich); La Bayadère (Grigorovich’s version) in the lead role of Solor; Raymonda in the role of Jean de Brienne; Le Corsaire – Grand pas des éventails (choreographic version by Yuri Burlaka and Alexey Ratmansky after Marius Petipa).
In 2018 Tissi returned to La Scala Theatre with the Bolshoi Ballet to perform Solor in La Bayadère.
That same year, at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg he performed La Bayadère, partnered by renowned Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, in honour of Olga Moiseyeva’s ninetieth jubilee.
In December that same year, Jacopo Tissi was awarded the Ambrogino d’oro, the highest honour given by the city of Milan, as well as the Danza&Danza prize as best Italian dancer abroad.
In 2019 he was invited by London’s Royal Ballet as a guest artist to perform the role of Romeo in MacMillan’s version of Romeo and Juliet, partnered by principal dancer Marianela Nuñez.
That same year he received two important awards: the Premio Positano prize and a theatrical arts award from “La Roma Russa” Festival.
In recent years Jacopo Tissi has widened his classical and modern repertoire playing the roles of Albrecht in the world premiere of Giselle (choreographed by A. Ratmansky); Romeo in Romeo and Juliet; Taor in The Pharoah’s Daughter; Forgotten Land (choreographed by J. Kylián); Caravaggio; Come un respiro (choreographed by M. Bigonzetti); Gabrielle Chanel (choreographed by Y. Possokhov) in the role of “Boy” Capel; Nureyev (choreographed by Yuri Possokhov) in the role of Erik Bruhn.
Jacopo Tissi is former principal dancer at Bolshoi Theatre, and currently guest artist at Teatro alla Scala.
