Ruben Drole, bass-baritone, is a native of Winterthur and studied at the Zurich University of Music. In 2004 he joined the International Opera Studio, and in 2005 he became a member of the ensemble of the Zurich Opera House, where he appeared, among others, as Lucio Cinna (J. C. Bach’s "Lucio Silla"), Haly ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Argante ("Rinaldo"), Wurm ("Luisa Miller"), and as Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte" conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He also made his debut as Papageno at the Semperoper Dresden in 2015. Further projects with Harnoncourt included Kezal ("Die verkaufte Braut") and Haydn’s "Schöpfung" at the Styriarte Graz, Beethoven’s "Christus am Ölberge" in Vienna and Lucerne, a Japan tour (Mozart’s "Requiem" and Handel’s "Messiah"), as well as Leporello ("Don Giovanni") at the Theater an der Wien. In the Zurich cycle of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas staged by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, he performed as Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), and Leporello. He sang the same roles under Welser-Möst with the Cleveland Orchestra. At the Salzburg Festival in 2012 he appeared as Achilla ("Giulio Cesare") and returned in 2013 for Haydn’s "Il ritorno di Tobia" and Walter Braunfels’ "Scenes from the Life of Joan of Arc". In Zurich he has sung, among others, Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte"), Alaskawolfjoe ("Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"), the Soldier ("The Soldier’s Tale"), Odysseus ("The Odyssey"), Antonio ("Le nozze di Figaro"), as well as Duchess/Caterpillar in "Alice in Wonderland". He was also recently seen in "Amerika" and in the ballet evening "Nachtträume".