#Entscheide dich!
A music theater project by and for young people on themes from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale Die kleine Meerjungfrau
Participating students
Melanie Auinger, Alessia Aversa, Luca Caprez, Manuel Carulli, Gayatri Chawla, Heja Demir, Elisa Fiammengo, Luca Fischer, Dragan Gojkovic, Adriana Gomez, Marlon Grabner, Lara Grande Hernandez, Dominic Guyer, Yara Hinder, Lonita Honi, Leoni Hürlimann, Eljesa Idrizi, Alenka Jenni, Elia Kramer, Mona Krebser, Enya Marbot, Silas Mazenauer, Ivan Nikolov, Noa Piera, Julie Portmann, Felix Riediker, Iain Ritter, Niklas Schmid, Abril Schneider, Esmée Senn, Arza Shala, Anina Soyka, Louisa Spörli, Pedro Suelzle, Noel Thala, Anna Vallado, Alea Weidmann, Laura Weidmann, Naemi Weiss, Lazar Zivkovic
Homeroom teachers
Pascal Benz, Adrian Truninger
Supported by
Dates & Tickets
July 2025
Good to know
#Entscheide dich!
Abstract
#Entscheide dich!
The hashtag projects at the Zurich Opera House are a central part of our educational work and represent the most intensive and comprehensive program for connecting young people with music theatre and dance. Over the course of an entire school year, students from a graduating class have the opportunity to develop their own full-length play and publicly present it at the end on our studio stage. An experienced team of artists from dance, theatre, and music accompanies the students on their journey—from play development through scenic and choreographic elaboration to the premiere.
For young people on the threshold of adulthood, as well as for those working artistically, one thing holds true: we are constantly forced to make decisions. We must continually choose for or against something from a multitude of possibilities and face the question of whether the impulses we follow are sustainable and meaningful. The decisions we make have consequences and can profoundly change our lives and personalities.
In Hans Christian Andersen’s famous fairy tale, The Little Mermaid makes a consequential decision: she wants to give up her tail fin and leave the world of water to find happiness on land. Inspired by Andersen’s fairy tale, which is also the theme of the ballet new production Of Wind, Light and Waters in the 2024/25 season, the project #Entscheide dich! (Make Your Choice!) revolves around the theme of life-changing decisions that may no longer be reversible. The little mermaid sacrifices much to make her great longing come true and to become part of an unknown, foreign world. How far would you go to make your dreams come true? Where are your limits? What are you willing to sacrifice for your dreams? Is the price worth paying? These questions will be explored in the new theatre and dance production that will be staged with and by young people in June 2025.
Biographies

Andreas Sauter, Director
Andreas Sauter
Born in Zurich, Andreas Sauter studied «Scenic Writing» at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since graduating in 2002, he has lived and worked in Berlin as a playwright and director for theatre and radio plays. He also leads writing workshops and play development projects throughout the German-speaking world. As a solo author and in collaboration with Bernhard Studlar, he has written over 20 plays and radio dramas, which have been performed nationally and internationally and have received multiple awards. From 2015 to 2022, Andreas Sauter was the Artistic Director of Dramenprozessor at Theater Winkelwiese in Zurich, a development program for new dramatic writing.

Simon Wehrli, Choreography
Simon Wehrli
Simon Wehrli (Switzerland / Slovenia) began his career as a musician before attending the Accademia Teatro Dimitri in Verscio (CH) and studying contemporary dance at Trinity Laban in London (UK). He toured across Europe, the USA, and Africa with Collettivo Spettatori, 50collective, and Sons of Sissy/Simon Mayer. As a dancer, actor, and musician, he has worked with choreographers in cities such as London, New York, Brussels, Porto, Zurich, Basel, and Vienna.
Simon teaches dance both in Switzerland and abroad, is a guest lecturer in the Bachelor's program in dance at La Manufacture in Lausanne, and is involved in his own productions and collaborations (including Križaj/Wehrli/Gisler, Ælia art collective). In recent years, he has also increasingly developed pieces with children and young people.

Simon Wunderlin, Music Direction
Simon Wunderlin
Simon Wunderlin is a multi-instrumentalist, sound engineer, composer, and music educator. As a music teacher and facilitator, he collaborates with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Zurich Opera House, Silberbüx macht Schule, and Bildung & Kultur – die Wunderlinie. He loves creating things with people that didn’t exist before. His projects reach people of all ages and those with disabilities. Universities regularly invite him to share his expertise. Artistically, he is active with Simon in Wonderland, the duo Hess & Wunderlin, and the vocal project Stimmenfeuer PURA.

Elisa Alessi, Stage and costume design & Aesthetic overall concept
Elisa Alessi
Elisa Alessi, born in 1981 in Basel, lives in Zurich and works as a freelance scenographer, set designer, costume designer, interior architect, and object designer. In 2008, she completed her studies in interior architecture and scenography at the University of Art and Design in Basel, graduating with a final project under Frédéric Dedelley. In the fields of interior architecture and design, she worked at Studio Hannes Wettstein and with Ushi Tamborriello. Following internships in directing and set design with Andreas Herrmann and Max Wehberg at the Lucerne Theater, she worked as an assistant set designer at Konzert Theater Bern from 2010 to 2013. Numerous projects in drama, dance, and musical theater were realized at Konzert Theater Bern, Theater Orchester Solothurn, Deutsches Theater Göttingen, as well as in the independent theater scene (Theater am Hechtplatz in Zurich, Schlachthaus Bern, Theater Roxy Basel). She has collaborated with directors including David Benjamin Brückel, Olivier Keller, Jan Stephan Schmieding, Ragna Guderian, Katharina Ramser, Dieter Kaegi, and Volker Hesse, as well as choreographers Cathy Marston and Tabea Martin. At the Zurich Opera House, she created the stage designs for «Konrad oder das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse» (2018) and «Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer» (2023).

Roger Lämmli, Assistand set designer
Roger Lämmli
Roger Lämmli, originally a secondary school teacher, trained as a theater pedagogue at Till Theaterpädagogik (ZHdK) and studied French at the University of Neuchâtel. He has worked at Zurich Opera House for 16 years, where he is head of music theater education and was president of the kulturvermittlung-zh association for twelve years. He develops various educational formats for different age groups, creates participatory productions for children such as Fairytales on the Sound Carpet, Music Stories and imprO-Opera, develops pieces with young people and, as production manager, realizes various #education projects with school classes at Zurich Opera House.