Queensland Ballet’s Artistic Director Li Cunxin has announced that his 11th season with the company will feature an adaptation of Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin’s classic Australian novel My Brilliant Career. The world premiere is to be choreographed by Cathy Marston, who will shortly take over as Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer of Ballett Zürich, when Christian Spuck leaves to head up the Staatsballett Berlin in 2023.

Queensland Ballet’s My Brilliant Career. Photo © David Kelly

“To have Cathy Marston, one of the world’s most highly regarded choreographers, create My Brilliant Career as an original work for us is truly amazing,” says Li. “Her unique works are story-driven with incredible protagonists and have been commissioned around the world in companies such as The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet and Danish Royal Ballet.”

Literary adaptations are a hallmark of Marston’s oeuvre, having previously created Wuthering Heights when she was Ballet Director at the Konzert Theater Bern, as well as Jane Eyre for The Royal Ballet and Snowblind, based on Edith...