Macbeth

Teodor Currentzis ist seit 2010 Künstlerischer Direktor des Staatlichen Opernhauses und Balletttheaters in Perm/Russland. Er studierte Violine am Konservatorium seiner Heimatstadt Athen sowie Dirigieren in St. Petersburg bei Ilja Musin. Internationalen Ruhm erwarb er sich mit seinem 2004 gegründeten Originalklangensemble Musica Aeterna, mit dem er u.a. im Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, im Wiener Konzerthaus, im Amsterdamer Concertgebouw, in der Berliner Philharmonie und im KKL Luzern gastierte. Als Operndirigent war er u.a. mit Bergs Wozzeck und Mozarts Don Giovanni am Moskauer Bolschoi­ Theater, Verdis Macbeth an der Bayerischen Staatsoper und an der Opéra Bastille, Schostakowitschs Lady Macbeth von Mzensk am Opernhaus Zürich, Bizets Carmen und Mozarts Così fan tutte in Baden-Baden und einem Purcell-Abend sowie Wagners Tristan und Isolde am Teatro Real in Madrid zu erleben. Bei den Bregenzer Festspielen dirigierte er 2010 Weinbergs Die Passagierin. Er arbeitete mit Orchestern wie dem Mahler Chamber Orchestra sowie den Münchner und den Wiener Philharmonikern. Bereits dreimal wurde er mit dem renommierten russischen Theaterpreis «Die goldene Maske» ausgezeichnet. Zurzeit erscheint bei Sony ein Mozart/da Ponte-Zyklus unter seiner Leitung. Die Figaro-Einspielung erhielt 2014 den «Echo Klassik». Im Sommer 2015 gab er mit Strawinskys Perséphone und Tschaikowskis Iolantha seinen Einstand beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Am Opernhaus Zürich war er zuletzt mit dem Orchestra La Scintilla und einem Rameau-Programm konzertant zu erleben und leitete erst kürzlich die Neuproduktion von Macbeth.

Joana Mallwitz has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin since the beginning of the 2023/24 season, making her the first woman to lead one of the major Berlin orchestras. In 2020, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival with Mozart’s "Così fan tutte". Joana Mallwitz has also celebrated major successes at the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Oper Frankfurt, and the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. She is a guest conductor with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Bamberg Symphony. When she took up her position at Theater Erfurt in the 2014/15 season, she became the youngest General Music Director in Europe. In 2018, she moved to the Staatstheater Nürnberg in the same position and was named "Conductor of the Year" one year later. In 2024, the documentary film "Joana Mallwitz – Momentum" by Günter Atteln was released about her. Born in Hildesheim, Joana Mallwitz studied at the University of Music, Theatre and Media Hanover. She is a recipient of the Bavarian Constitutional Order. For her many years of work in music education and the promotion of young talent, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2023. At the Zurich Opera House, she conducted "Der Rosenkavalier" in 2025.

Barrie Kosky was Artistic Director and Chief Stage Director of the Komische Oper Berlin from 2012 to 2022. He directs at major opera houses such as the Bavarian State Opera, the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Vienna State Opera, as well as at the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals, the Glyndebourne Festival, and at theatres including the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Schauspiel Frankfurt. In 1996, he was Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival, and from 2001 to 2005, he served as Co-Director of the Schauspielhaus Wien. His award-winning production of "The Magic Flute" (together with 1927) at the Komische Oper Berlin has since been seen in over 45 cities worldwide. For "From the House of the Dead" at the Hanover State Opera, he received the theatre prize "Der Faust" in 2009, and for "Castor et Pollux" at the English National Opera, he was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award in 2011. His Bayreuth production of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" was named "Performance of the Year" in the 2017 Opernwelt critics’ poll. Under his leadership, the Komische Oper Berlin was named "Opera House of the Year" for the 2012/13 season, followed in 2015 by the International Opera Award in the category "Ensemble of the Year." Barrie Kosky has been named "Director of the Year" several times, including in 2014 at the International Opera Awards, in 2016 in the Opernwelt critics’ poll, and in 2020 by the magazine Die deutsche Bühne. In 2022, he received the Order of Merit of Berlin and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2024. At the Zurich Opera House, Barrie Kosky has staged "La fanciulla del West," "Macbeth," "Eugen Onegin," "Die Gezeichneten," "Boris Godunov," and "Manon Lescaut."

Klaus Grünberg, a native of Hamburg, studied stage design under Erich Wonder in Vienna and has since worked as a freelance stage and lighting designer at theatres and opera houses across Europe, as well as in Kuwait and Buenos Aires. For many years, he has collaborated with composer and director Heiner Goebbels, as well as with Tatjana Gürbaca and Barrie Kosky. His recent works include "The Magic Flute," "Macbeth," "Werther," "Lucia di Lammermoor," and "The Merry Widow" at the Zurich Opera House; "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" and the Berlin-themed evening "…und morgen könnt ihr mich!" at the Komische Oper Berlin; "Ulisse" and "La Juive" at the Frankfurt Opera; "Simon Boccanegra" at the Aalto Music Theatre Essen; "Rusalka" at the Hanover State Opera; "L’incoronazione di Poppea" at the Theater Bremen; and Gogol’s "The Government Inspector" at the Burgtheater Vienna. In 1999, Klaus Grünberg opened MOMOLMA (Museum of More or Less Modern Art) in Hamburg.

Anne Kuhn, born in Chemnitz, studied Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen. After numerous stage and set design assistantships, including with Beatrice Schultz, Klaus Grünberg, and Wolfgang Gussmann, she has been collaborating regularly with stage and lighting designer Klaus Grünberg since 2008. In addition, she realizes her own independent projects. Anne Kuhn lives and works as a stage designer and illustrator in Berlin and Hamburg. She has worked on productions such as "The Nose" (Royal Opera House Covent Garden), "Don Giovanni" and "Simplicius Simplicissimus" (Theater Bremen), "Rusalka" (Hanover State Opera), "Der Freischütz" (Aalto Music Theatre Essen), as well as at the Komische Oper Berlin on "Frühlingsstürme," "Pelléas et Mélisande," and "Akhnaten." At the Zurich Opera House, she collaborated with Klaus Grünberg on the stage designs for "Macbeth" and "The Merry Widow" (directed by Barrie Kosky), as well as for "Aida," "The Magic Flute," "Werther," and "Lucia di Lammermoor" (directed by Tatjana Gürbaca).

Klaus Bruns, born in Mülheim an der Ruhr, studied stage and costume design at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Engagements as a costume designer took him, among others, to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Schauspielhaus Graz, the Hamburg State Opera, the Frankfurt Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Dutch National Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as to the festivals in Bayreuth and Salzburg. He maintains a close collaboration with Barrie Kosky, with whom he created productions, among others, at the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as at the Hanover State Opera, Schauspiel Frankfurt, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. For the costumes of Kosky’s Bayreuth production of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", Klaus Bruns was named Costume Designer of the Year in 2018 by the magazine Opernwelt. Further collaborations connect him with directors such as Harry Kupfer, Peter Mussbach, Götz Friedrich, Kirsten Harms, Jetske Mijnssen, and Christof Loy. For Damiano Michieletto, he designed, among others, the costumes for the world premiere of Alexander Raskatov’s "Animal Farm" in Amsterdam, for which he received an Oper! Award in 2024. At the Zurich Opera House, productions created with Barrie Kosky include "La fanciulla del West", "Macbeth", "Die Gezeichneten", "Eugene Onegin", "Boris Godunov", and "Manon Lescaut".

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.