This year's orchestral ballet premiere deals with the universal human theme of the search for a better world in two independent and yet interconnected choreographies. World star Diana Vishneva will embody the title role in "Maria", inspired by the New Testament female figure of Mary Magdalene to music penned by the renowned composer and pianist Lera Auerbach. Montero does not approach his main character with the intention of a religiously motivated interpretation, but portrays her as a strong personality. For the second part of the ballet evening, “The Ship of Fools”, the choreographer uses Richard Strauss' complex musical oeuvre as a source of inspiration for the first time. Influenced, among other things, by Michel Foucault's "Madness and Society", Montero devoted himself to the motif of the Exodus,