Cardillac

Fabio Luisi hails from Genoa. He is the general music director of the Opernhaus Zürich, the principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and music director designate of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a post he will take up in 2020. From 2011-2017, Fabio Luisi was principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and from 2005-2013 principal conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker, as well as general music director of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Sächsische Staatsoper (2007-2010), artistic director and principal conductor of the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig (1999-2007), and music director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (1997-2002). With the latter, he made numerous CD recordings (Poulenc, Respighi, Mahler, Liszt, a recording of the complete symphonic works of Arthur Honegger, and Verdi’s Jérusalem und Alzira). He is music director of the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca (Apulia) and has appeared as guest conductor with numerous renowned ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, the NHK Tokio, the Münchener Philharmoniker, the Filarmonica della Scala, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra, as well as with various prominent opera orchestras. He appeared at the Salzburg Festival with performances of Richard Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae und Die Ägyptische Helena. His most important appearances at the Opernhaus Zürich include, among others, the new productions of three Bellini operas, as well as Rigoletto, Fidelio, Wozzeck and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Important CD recordings include Verdi’s Aroldo, Bellini’s I puritani and I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann, as well as the symphonies and the oratorio Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln by Franz Schmidt, the largely forgotten Austrian composer. In addition, he has recorded various symphonic poems by Richard Strauss, and a lauded reading of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 with the Staatskapelle Dresden. His recordings of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra won Grammy awards. He received the Premio Franco Abbiati, the coveted Italian critics’ prize, in 2013, and in 2014 won the Grifo d’Oro from the city of Genoa. He was awarded the Anton Bruckner Ring by the Wiener Symphoniker, and is a Cavalier of the Italian Republic. The «Philharmonia Records» recording label, founded by the Philharmonia Zürich in 2015, has issued CD recordings of works by Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Rachmaninoff, Bruckner, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Frank Martin under Fabio Luisi’s musical director, as well as DVD records of Rigoletto (stage direction: Tatjana Gürbaca), Wozzeck (stage direction: Andreas Homoki), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (stage direction: Christof Loy), the Messa da Requiem (stage direction /choreography: Christian Spuck), and Das Land des Lächelns (stage direction: Andreas Homoki).

Kornél Mundruczó, geboren in Ungarn, studierte an der Universität für Theater- und Filmkunst in Budapest und ist ein renommierter europäischer Film-, Theater- und Opernregisseur, dessen Inszenierungen auf internationalen Festivals und Bühnen gezeigt werden. Seit 2003 debütieren seine Filme regelmässig bei den Filmfestspielen in Cannes. Johanna, seine filmische Opernadaption der Geschichte von Jeanne d’Arc, lief 2005 in der Reihe Un Certain Regard. Dort wurde 2014 auch Underdog gezeigt, der den Hauptpreis dieser Sektion erhielt. Sein erster englischsprachiger Film, Pieces of a Woman (2020) mit Vanessa Kirby, Shia Labeouf und Ellen Burstyn, wurde zum Netflix-Hit. Seit 2003 arbeitet Kornél Mundruczó auch für die Bühne. In Ungarn gründete er 2009 zusammen mit der Theaterproduzentin Dóra Büki die freie Theaterkompanie Proton Theatre. Ihre Produktionen wurden weltweit auf mehr als 100 Festivals gezeigt, darunter Frankenstein-Project, Hard to be a God/Es ist nicht leicht, ein Gott zu sein, Dementia und Imitation of life / Scheinleben / Látszatélet. 2017 wurde Imitation of Life für den Deutschen Theaterpreis DER FAUST nominiert. An der Vlaamse Opera inszenierte er 2014 Herzog Blaubarts Burg/Winterreise und 2016 Die Sache Makropulos. Letztere wurde in der Kategorie Neuinszenierung für die International Opera Awards 2017 nominiert. 2019 feierte seine Inszenierung von Liliom von Ferenc Molnár, einer Koproduktion mit den Salzburger Festspielen, am Hamburger Thalia Theater Premiere. Zu seinen jüngsten Arbeiten in der Oper zählen Lohengrin und Tosca an der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Tannhäuser an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper sowie Salome am Grand Théâtre in Genf. Die von ihm inszenierte Oper Sleepless von Peter Eötvos wurde in der Kritikerumfrage des Fachmagazins Opernwelt zur Uraufführung des Jahres 2022 gekürt.

Monika Korpa wurde in Lettland geboren und studierte Textilkunst an der Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Riga und Bühnenbild an der Kunstakademie Lettlands, wo sie mittlerweile als Dozentin tätig ist. Sie arbeitet in den Bereichen Szenografie für Theater, Oper und Film, Installation und Fotografie und entwarf Bühnenbilder für das New Riga Theatre, das Lettische Nationaltheater und die Lettische Nationaloper, das Mariinski-Theater und das Michailowski-Theater in St. Petersburg, das TR Warszawa und die Wiener Festwochen. Seit 2000 verbindet sie eine enge Zusammenarbeit mit dem Regisseur Alvis Hermanis am New Riga Theatre, am Schauspiel Frankfurt, an den Münchner Kammerspielen, am Schauspielhaus Zürich, am Wiener Akademietheater sowie bei der Ruhrtriennale und den Berliner Festspielen. Mit Kornél Mundruczó hat sie seit 2016 mehrere Arbeiten verwirklicht, u.a. anderem Die Sache Makropulos an der Vlaamse Opera und am Grand Théâtre de Genève, Pieces of a Woman am TR Warszawa, Liliom bei den Salzburger Festspielen und am Thalia Theater in Hamburg sowie Evolution bei der Ruhrtriennale. 2022 schuf sie Bühnenbild und Kostüme für die Uraufführung von Peter Eötvös’ Oper Sleepless an der Staatsoper Berlin, 2024 erfolgte dort Rusalka. Nach ihrem Debüt an der Bayerischen Staatsoper mit der Neuproduktion von Lohengrin 2022 gestaltete sie dort 2023/24 Bühne und Kostüme für die Neuinszenierung von Tosca. An der Berliner Volksbühne entstand 2024 Method. Am Grand Théâtre de Genève, wo sie zuvor Voyage vers l'espoir von Christian Jost auf die Bühne brachte, erfolgte 2024/25 Salome.

Klaas-Jan de Groot is a Dutch conductor and choral director. After studying in The Hague and Cardiff, from 2016 to 2022, he acted as an assistant to chorus director Ching-Lien Wu at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, where he prepared several productions and projects with the opera chorus. Since 2018, he has worked regularly with the Netherlands Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor). From 2018 to 2024, he was annually engaged as assistant to chorus director Eberhard Friedrich at the Bayreuth Festival. He has conducted various concerts and performances with Opera Zuid, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, and the Essen Philharmonic. From 2022 to 2025, he was chorus director at the Aalto Theatre in Essen. Since 2023, he has worked regularly with the NDR Vokalensemble in Hamburg. In 2024, he made his debut with both the MDR Radio Choir and the Rundfunkchor Berlin. As part of a program supporting emerging talent, Klaas-Jan de Groot was awarded the prestigious Dutch conducting prize of the Anton Kersjes Fund in 2021. Beginning with the 2025/26 season, he is choral director at the Zurich Opera House.

Elfried Roller is a native of Stuttgart. While studying electrical engineering, he worked part-time at a private theater in Karlsruhe. This was followed by professional training at the Stuttgart Opera House. He then moved to the Staatstheater Kassel, where he created lighting designs for directors such as Armin Petras, Volker Schmalöer, Schirin Khodadadian, and Hans Henning Paar. Since 2008, Elfried Roller has been employed at the Zurich Opera House. There he designed the lighting for productions such as “La finta giardiniera” directed by Tatjana Gürbaca, Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux” by David Alden, as well as Sebastian Baumgarten’s productions of “Hamletmaschine,” “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,” “Belshazzar,” “Turandot,” and “America.” In 2023, a guest engagement took him to the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena,” directed by David Alden.

Kathrin Brunner was born in Zurich. She studied German, Musicology, and French in her hometown and at the Humboldt University in Berlin. After various assistant directorships (including "The Threepenny Opera" at the Lucerne Theater, directed by Vera Nemirova) and dramaturgy internships, she has been a dramaturge at the Zurich Opera House since 2008. There, she has worked with directors such as Achim Freyer ("Moses und Aron"), Harry Kupfer ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", "Tannhäuser"), Stephan Müller, Guy Joosten, Damiano Michieletto, Christof Loy ("La straniera", "Alcina", "I Capuleti e i Montecchi", "Don Pasquale", "La rondine"), Willy Decker ("Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria", "The Turn of the Screw"), Andreas Homoki ("Wozzeck", "Das Land des Lächelns", "La forza del destino"), Christoph Marthaler ("Il viaggio a Reims", "Orphée et Euridice"), Barrie Kosky ("Die Gezeichneten", "Boris Godunov"), Nadja Loschky, Nina Russi, Jan Essinger, and Jetske Mijnssen ("Idomeneo", "Hippolyte et Aricie", "Platée").
At the 2012 Salzburg Festival, she worked on "La bohème" with Damiano Michieletto. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-founded the concert series "Altchemie live" at the Alte Chemie in Uetikon. In 2025, she served as dramaturge for Jetske Mijnssen’s production of Francesco Cavalli’s "La Calisto" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Kata Wéber studied at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest and now works as a screenwriter and playwright. Her plays have been performed in Poland (“Die Fledermaus”, Pieces of a Woman, TR Warszawa), Germany (Minime, Volksbühne Berlin), Switzerland (Hotel Lucky Hole, Schauspielhaus Zürich) as well as Hungary (Imitation of Life, Evolution, Proton Theatre Budapest), and have received numerous awards. During these years, she began working for Proton Cinema and started her collaboration with director Kornél Mundruczó. Their first film together, White God, won the “Un Certain Regard” prize in Cannes in 2014 and celebrated its North American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. Their next original films, Jupiter’s Moon and Evolution, were presented in competition at Cannes in 2017 and 2023. In 2018, she received her DLA degree summa cum laude from the University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest. Her first opera libretto, Journey of Hope, based on the Oscar-winning film by Xavier Koller, was premiered at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Her first English-language screenplay, Pieces of a Woman, was part of the official selection of the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Her most recent play, Parallax, premiered in 2024 at the Wiener Festwochen.