Peter
Farmer

Benois de la Danse laureate

Born in Luton, England in 1941, Peter Farmer's prolific career in set and costume design includes over 300 productions in dance and theatre.

Farmer's first work in ballet was the design of Jack Carter's Agrionia in 1964 for Ballet Rambert. Since then he has created designs for most major ballet companies around the world including Stuttgart Ballet, The Royal Ballet Touring Company, London Festival Ballet, The Australian Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Vienna State Opera, Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

He made his debut with The National Ballet of Canada in 1973 when he designed Erik Bruhn and Celia Franca's production of Les Sylphides. At that time he was no stranger to the Romantic style of design, having earlier created costumes and sets for Erik Bruhn's 1972 production of Chopiniana for the Royal Danish Ballet and Dame Alicia Markova's Les Sylphides for Northern Ballet Theatre and London Festival Ballet. In 1990, Farmer returned to the National Ballet to design the company's production of Robert North's Troy Game.

In 1992 Farmer designed the sets and costumes for Houston Ballet's production of Manon. This production entered the repertoire of the National Ballet in 1996. In 1995, The Australian Ballet unveiled Farmer's sets and costumes for their production of Madame Butterfly choreographed by Stanton Welch. This production is also in the repertoire of the National Ballet (2001).

Farmer continues to design for dance creating sets and costumes for many companies across North America.