Ruben Drole, a bass-baritone, was born in Winterthur and studied at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2004, he joined the International Opera Studio and in 2005 the ensemble of Zurich Opera House, where he appeared, among other roles, 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 Styriarte Graz, Beethoven’s "Christus am Ölberg" in Vienna and Lucerne, a tour of Japan (Mozart’s "Requiem" and Handel’s "Messiah") and Leporello ("Don Giovanni") at Theater an der Wien. In the Zurich cycle of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and Franz Welser-Möst, he appeared as Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro") and Leporello. Under Welser-Möst, he also performed the same roles with the Cleveland Orchestra. At the Salzburg Festival in 2012, he sang Achilla ("Giulio Cesare") and appeared there in 2013 in Haydn’s "Il ritorno di Tobia" and Walter Braunfels’ "Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna". In Zurich, he has sung, among others, Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte"), Alaskawolfjoe ("Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny"), Soldier ("Die Geschichte vom Soldaten"), Odysseus ("Die Odyssee"), Duchess/Caterpillar in "Alice im Wunderland" and Frank ("Die Fledermaus"). Most recently, he also appeared in the ballet evening "Nachtträume". In the 2026/27 season, he will take on the role of Baron Mirko Zeta in Lehár’s "Die lustige Witwe" for the first time.