I puritani

Daniele Squeo ist seit der Spielzeit 2020/21 Generalmusikdirektor am Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. Von der Zeitschrift Opernwelt wurde er 2021 als «bester Dirigent des Jahres» für das Dirigat der Salome nominiert. Er studierte in seiner Heimat Italien Klavier und Chordirigieren und anschliessend Orchesterleitung in Weimar. Squeo ist Preisträger mehrerer internationaler Wettbewerbe, so gewann er u.a. 2011 mit Madama Butterfly den XVIII. Wettbewerb für Junge Dirigenten der Europäischen Union in Spoleto. Er dirigierte bisher Orchester wie das MDR-Sinfonieorchester, die Wiener Symphoniker, das Sinfonieorchester Basel, die Philharmonie Baden-Baden sowie die Nürnberger und Bochumer Symphoniker. 2016/17 wurde er 1. Kapellmeister am Staatstheater Karlsruhe und leitete dort Neuproduktionen wie L’elisir d’amore, Anna Bolena, Der Freischütz, Faust und Turandot. Ausserdem dirigierte er zahlreiche Repertoire-Produktionen wie Die Zauberflöte, La bohème, Iphigénie en Tauride, Carmen, Tosca, La traviata, Macbeth und Romeo und Julia. 2017 leitete er am Theater Basel die Neuproduktion La Cenerentola und 2018 bei den Bregenzer Festspielen Il barbiere di Siviglia. Seine 2016 begonnene Zusammenarbeit mit dem Musikkollegium Winterthur (Dornröschen) setzte er 2019 mit der Neuproduktion Schwanensee und mehreren Sinfoniekonzerten fort. Im gleichen Jahr debütierte er mit Lucrezia Borgia in der Tschaikowski Concert Hall in Moskau. 2019 dirigierte er die Neuproduktion Rigoletto auf der Seebühne bei den Bregenzer Festspielen. Am Opernhaus Zürich dirigierte er zuletzt Il turco in Italia.

Andreas Homoki was born in Germany in 1960 as the son of a Hungarian family of musicians and studied school music and German studies in West Berlin. In 1987 Andreas Homoki joined Cologne Opera as an assistant director and evening director, where he was engaged until 1993. From 1988 to 1992 he was also a lecturer in stage practice at the opera school of the Cologne University of Music. His first own productions were created there. In 1992 his first guest production took him to Geneva, where his interpretation of "Die Frau ohne Schatten" attracted international attention. The production, which was later also shown at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, received the French Critics’ Prize of the Year in 1994. From 1993 to 2002 Andreas Homoki worked as a freelance opera director and staged productions, among others, in Cologne, Hamburg, Geneva, Lyon, Leipzig, Basel, Berlin, Amsterdam and Munich. As early as 1996 he made his debut at the Komische Oper Berlin with "Falstaff", followed by "Die Liebe zu drei Orangen" (1998) and, in 2000, "Die lustige Witwe". In 2002 Andreas Homoki was appointed chief director of the Komische Oper Berlin as the successor to Harry Kupfer, and in 2004 he became its intendant. In addition to his directing work at the Komische Oper Berlin, he staged productions, among others, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Saxon State Opera Dresden and the Hamburg State Opera. In July 2012 he staged Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s "David et Jonathas" under the musical direction of William Christie for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, a production that was later shown, among other places, in Edinburgh, Paris and New York. From the 2012/13 season to 2024/25 Andreas Homoki served as intendant of Zurich Opera House and staged there, among others, "Der fliegende Holländer" (a co-production with La Scala in Milan and the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo), "Fidelio", "Juliette", "Lohengrin" (a co-production with the Vienna State Opera), "Luisa Miller" (Hamburg State Opera), "Wozzeck", "My Fair Lady" (Komische Oper Berlin), "I puritani", "Médée", "Lunea" (named "World Premiere of the Year 2017/18" by the magazine Opernwelt), "Iphigénie en Tauride", "Nabucco", "Simon Boccanegra", "Les Contes d’Hoffmann", "Salome", the "Ring des Nibelungen" and "Carmen". Andreas Homoki has been a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts since 1999.

Henrik Ahr, born in Bensberg, worked as a freelance artist after training as a chef and studied architecture in Leipzig from 1995 to 2001. He designed his first stage sets in 2000 for the Neue Szene in Leipzig and in 2001 at the Theaterhaus Jena for Palahniuk’s "Fight Club" Since 2005, he has lived and worked as a set designer and painter in Vienna. Since autumn 2010, he has also held the professorship for stage design at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Arthur Schnitzler’s "Liebelei" in 2002 at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, directed by Michael Thalheimer, was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen. With Thalheimer, he realised further projects, including Brecht’s "Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti" in Hamburg, Schubert’s "Winterreise" at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and "Rigoletto" at the Theater Basel. He worked with Christof Loy for the first time in 2008 at the Theater an der Wien (Richard Strauss’ "Intermezzo"), followed – also with Loy – by "Lucrezia Borgia" at the Bavarian State Opera and Paul Claudel’s "Der Tausch" at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. At the Deutsches Theater Berlin, he designed the sets for Hauptmann’s "Einsame Menschen" and Schnitzler’s "Der einsame Weg". He has a long-standing artistic collaboration with Tatjana Gürbaca. Together they have created, among other works, "Arabella" at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Wagner’s "Parsifal" at the Vlaamse Oper Antwerpen, Hasse’s "Leucippo" at the Schwetzingen Festival and at Cologne Opera, "La traviata" at Oslo Opera, "The Ring Trilogy" and "Capriccio" at the Theater an der Wien, "Parsifal" in Antwerp and "Le Grand Macabre" in Zurich, where he also designed the sets for "Die Schatzinsel", "Fidelio" and "I puritani".

Barbara Drosihn, born in Hamburg, trained as a dressmaker before studying costume design at the University of Applied Sciences. Since then, she has worked as a freelance costume designer at venues including the Thalia Theatre, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Burgtheater Vienna, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Dresden and Cologne, on productions by Michael Thalheimer, Stephan Kimmig, Nicolas Stemann, Andreas Kriegenburg and Stefan Bachmann, amongst others. She designed her first opera, "Lucrezia Borgia", in 2009 for Christof Loy at the Bavarian State Opera; further productions followed with "Parsifal", "Der Rosenkavalier", "Der Ferne Klang" for the Royal Opera in Stockholm, "Das Wunder der Heliane" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, "Così fan tutte" at the Salzburg Festival and "Don Pasquale" at the Zurich Opera House. Here she also created the costumes for Andreas Homoki’s productions of "I puritani" and "Fidelio". She also enjoys a close collaboration with Tatjana Gürbaca. For her, she designed the sets for "Parsifal" and "The Flying Dutchman" at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, "La traviata" in Oslo, "Capriccio" and the "Ring" trilogy at the Theater an der Wien, "La finta giardiniera" in Winterthur/Zurich Opera House and "Le Grand Macabre" at the Zurich Opera House. Her most recent works include "Der Schatzgräber" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (dir. Chr. Loy), "Káťa Kabanová" at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (dir. T. Gürbaca), "Il trittico" at the Salzburg Festival (dir. Chr. Loy), "Die Königskinder" in Amsterdam, "Herzog Blaubarts Burg/Der wunderbare Mandarin" at the Theater Basel (dir. Chr. Loy), "Rusalka" at the Staatsoper Hannover (dir. T. Gürbaca) and "Erfolg" at the Residenztheater Munich, directed by Stefan Bachmann. 

Franck Evin, born in Nantes, moved to Paris at the age of 19 to study piano. At night he accompanied singers at the café théâtre Le Connétable and also began to take an interest in lighting. He eventually decided on a combination of music and technology. Thanks to a scholarship from the French Ministry of Culture, he became assistant to the head of lighting at the Opéra de Lyon in 1983. There he worked, among others, with Ken Russell and Robert Wilson. In 1986 he began working as a freelance lighting designer at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus and passed the master lighting designer examination in 1993. Particularly close during this period was his collaboration with Werner Schröter and with the conductor Eberhard Kloke. This was followed by productions in, among other places, Nantes, Strasbourg, Paris, Lyon, Vienna, Bonn, Brussels and Los Angeles. From 1995 to 2012 he was artistic director of the lighting department at the Komische Oper Berlin and was responsible there for all new productions. During this time, Andreas Homoki, Barrie Kosky, Calixto Bieito and Hans Neuenfels became especially important collaborators for him. In 2006 Franck Evin was awarded the "OPUS" in the category of lighting design. From the 2012/13 season to 2024/25 he worked as artistic director of the lighting department at Zurich Opera House. In addition to his work in Zurich, he continued to be involved as a guest in international productions, for example at the opera houses in Oslo, Stockholm, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Munich and Graz, as well as at the Opéra Bastille, La Scala in Milan, Teatro La Fenice, Vlaamse Opera and the Bayreuth Festival.

Ernst Raffelsberger comes from Gmunden, Upper Austria. He studied music education and church music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna as well as choral conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. From 1983 to 1986 he was Kapellmeister of the Vienna Boys’ Choir. During this time, he led the ensemble in Vienna and on tours through Europe, South Africa, Canada, and the USA. From 1986, Ernst Raffelsberger was choral director and Kapellmeister at the Salzburg State Theatre (participating in the Salzburg Mozart Week and the Salzburg Festival). In 1989 he moved as choral director and Kapellmeister to the theatre in Freiburg/Breisgau. Since autumn 1993, Ernst Raffelsberger has been engaged at the Zurich Opera House as choral director. Here he has since supervised around 150 premieres and countless revivals and worked with many renowned conductors such as Marco Armiliato, Riccardo Chailly, Teodor Currentzis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Gianandrea Noseda, and Franz Welser-Möst. Guest performances with the Zurich Opera House have taken him to Vienna, London, Paris, and Tokyo. From summer 2012 he additionally began a ten-year activity as choral director of the Vienna State Opera Chorus Association at the Salzburg Festival. There he collaborated successfully with, among others, Riccardo Muti, Mariss Jansons, and Sir Simon Rattle. After Ernst Raffelsberger ended this work with the festival summer 2021, he has since 2025 once again been responsible, at Maestro Muti’s request, for choral preparation for his festival concerts in Salzburg. Numerous CD and DVD recordings document his work in Zurich as well as in Salzburg.

Claus Spahn was chief dramaturge at the Zurich Opera House during Andreas Homoki’s tenure as artistic director. There, he supervised music theater projects by Wolfgang Rihm, Helmut Lachenmann, George Benjamin, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, and world premieres by Heinz Holliger, Christian Jost, and Stefan Wirth. As a production dramaturge, he worked with directors such as Sebastian Baumgarten, Herbert Fritsch, Jan Philipp Gloger, Tatjana Gürbaca, Andreas Homoki, Barrie Kosky, Nadja Loschky, David Marton, and Evgeni Titov. He also shares a close artistic partnership with the choreographer and former director of Zurich Ballet, Christian Spuck. For him, Spahn was involved in the development of the productions “Anna Karenina,” “Nussknacker und Mausekönig,” and “Monteverdi” in Zurich, he also wrote libretti for the ballets “Orlando” based on Virginia Woolf (world premiere in 2021 at the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet) and “Bovary” based on Gustave Flaubert (world premiere in 2023 at the Berlin State Ballet). Additionally, he is the librettist of the chamber opera “The Dream of You” by Swiss composer Xavier Dayer, which premiered in 2017 at the Zurich Opera House. Before joining the Zurich Opera House, Claus Spahn was the arts editor for 14 years at the German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, where he was responsible for the music section. From 1990 to 1997, he worked as a freelance music journalist mainly for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bavarian Broadcasting. Claus Spahn was born in Germany, studied classical guitar in Freiburg im Breisgau, and completed training at the German School of Journalism in Munich.