The apex of Tchaikovsky’s creativity for dance, together with Swan Lake, The Nutcracker was commissioned by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, impresario of the Imperial Theatres, who in the wake of the success of Sleeping Beauty, strongly advocated renewed collaboration between the choreographer Marius Petipa and the composer Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij, commissioning both a ballet and an opera. The result was the single act Iolanta and in fact, The Nutcracker Suite and Iolanta were performed on the same evening in December 1892, on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. The ballet is based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Nussknacker und Mausekönig (Nutcracker and King of the Rats, 1816), which Petipa transformed into the enchanted scenario of a real fairy tale, concealing the disconcerting and disturbing thrill of the literary source with a graceful and childish tone. It will be staged in a new version created by the Canadian choreographer Wayne Eagling in collaboration with Solymosi Tamás: the interpretation will be entrusted to étoiles, first dancers, soloists and dance corps of the Budapest National Opera, for whom the choreography was specifically designed.