Pick up the luggage and start walking,” the choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti called out to 14 dancers from the New York City Ballet assembled in a bright studio at Lincoln Center. “No, not like military,” he corrected in his musical Italian-accented English, demonstrating how to stride purposively. “You’re leaving home, and, though you’re sad, you have accepted your fate.”

Mr. Bigonzetti is no stranger to NYCB, having choreographed two other ballets for the company. But his new work, “Oltremare” (“Overseas”), which will have its premiere at NYCB on Wednesday, is particularly momentous. It is the first work Mr. Bigonzetti has produced for the company since he resigned his position as artistic director of Italy’s pre-eminent independent troupe, Aterballeto, last November in order to choreograph full time. “Eleven years as an administrator in Italy is like 22 years in any other country. Oh, the politics!” he said ruefully. “I’m at home here. I love the company. I love the dancers. Now that we know one another, they can go deeper inside my work and I can go deeper inside them to find who they are and what is best for them.”

A small, handsome man, with chiseled features and the carriage of a dancer, he broke into a big smile when the dancers conveyed the right tone in rehearsal. “I was inspired to make this ballet by an old postcard showing immigrants leaving by ship for a new country,” he told them. “I thought of the millions of people who have had the courage to go into the unknown. Here in the United States, of course, but also all over the world. My great-grandfather left Italy to work in the mines in Belgium and stayed 20 years. It’s really the story of humanity.” After the dancers formed a semicircle, one broke from the group and flung herself to the floor. The music, which until then had been quietly atmospheric, swelled as the dancers paired off to launch into a series of passionate duets. They embraced, their legs entwined in sensual combinations, then stretched away from one another, torn between intimacy and freedom. Their conflicted emotions came into bold focus as the thundering score filled the room, the plaintive sound of the accordion dominating the drums. Over the next two hours, Mr. Bigonzetti rehearsed the group together and in pairs, giving the dancers time to find their way into his choreography.

As in his other works for NYCB, “Vespro” (2002) and “In Vento” (2006), “Oltremare” is striking in its dramatic and intensely physical modern dance aesthetic, far closer in spirit and style to the works of William Forsythe than George Balanchine. “I’ve never choreographed like this before for anyone,” he said after the rehearsal, looking relaxed and satisfied as he stretched out in a lounge near the studio. His collaborator, the composer Bruno Moretti, joined him, cheerfully reporting that the first orchestra rehearsal of the score had gone well.

Mr. Moretti created the atmospheric score in close collaboration with Mr. Bigonzetti. “I started by making clips for Mauro, little bits of music to see if I was on the right track,” Mr. Moretti explained. “I begin at the piano but then move to the computer where I complete my work. The accordion is most important because it expresses the melancholy so central to the ballet.”

The dancers bask in the pair’s obvious enthusiasm for their work. “Mauro and Bruno create a wonderfully optimistic environment,” Maria Kowroski, a principal who danced in his two previous ballets, said. “Mauro gets so excited and loves working, and makes us look our best. His movement challenges us in new ways but it feels right and natural and organic. The music sweeps us into the emotions.”

The ballet marks the soloist Tyler Angle’s first time working with Mr. Bigonzetti.

“Mauro puts so much humanity into the ballet,” Mr. Angle said. “His last two works for us were very passionate but this one is even more so. We’re not used to working in his realm. It’s very flattering that he’s doing it with us. It gives us a little bit of ownership.” Mr. Bigonzetti expressed similar appreciation for his dancers. “It’s a new sensibility so it can’t be easy,” he said of his work. “But they’re so generous. They give everything. They have no limits. I don’t know another company with such range.”