Oiseaux Rebelles

Dani Rowe is Australian and the current Artistic Director of the Oregon Ballet Theatre (USA). After a ten-year career as a soloist with The Australian Ballet, she danced with Christopher Wheeldon’s company “Morphoses” and with the Houston Ballet before joining Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 1). There she worked with, among others, Jiří Kylián, Crystal Pite, Mats Ek, and Sol León/Paul Lightfoot. As a choreographer, she has created numerous works for San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, and Royal New Zealand Ballet. Dani Rowe’s full-length ballet “Marilyn,” inspired by the life of Marilyn Monroe, premiered in April 2025. It is the most successful program in the history of the Oregon Ballet Theatre to date and will be performed by major American ballet companies through 2027. Dani Rowe will collaborate with Ballett Zürich for the first time in 2025.

The conductor Matthew Rowe is originally from London. Since his debut with the Dutch National Ballet in 2004, he has maintained a close connection with the company and was appointed Music Director and Artistic Director of the Dutch Ballet Orchestra in 2013. In 2024, he stepped down from this dual role and now serves as Principal Guest Conductor. His major ballet productions include Christopher Wheeldon’s «Cinderella», Krzysztof Pastor’s «The Tempest», Shen Wei’s «Sacre du Printemps», and the world premieres of Ted Brandsen’s «Mata Hari», Yuri Possokhov’s «Violin Concerto», and Jorma Elo’s «Sibelius 4th Symphony». His extensive repertoire spans works by many renowned choreographers, including numerous pieces by George Balanchine, Hans van Manen, Alexei Ratmansky, and David Dawson. In addition, Rowe conducts classics such as «Swan Lake», «The Nutcracker», «The Sleeping Beauty», «Romeo and Juliet», «Don Quixote», «Paquita», «Giselle», and «Coppélia». Further productions with the Dutch National Ballet and the Dutch Ballet Orchestra include the European premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s «The Fairy’s Kiss» and the world premieres of David Dawson’s «Requiem» with music by Gavin Bryars and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s «Frida» with music by Peter Salem. Matthew Rowe has also enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with Nederlands Dans Theater, where he has worked with many contemporary choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Lightfoot/León, Marco Goecke, Alexander Ekman, Hofesh Shechter, and Crystal Pite. Most recently, he conducted «Do Not Run, Do Not Fly», featuring world premieres by Marcos Morau and Yoann Bourgeois. He has also conducted performances with San Francisco Ballet, Vienna State Ballet, the National Ballet of Japan, Hong Kong Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Finnish National Ballet, Polish National Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet.

Jörg Zielinski comes from Berlin and has been living in Switzerland since 1991. He completed his training and studies in Berlin, Basel, and Zurich. His production management at Theater Basel and his senior role at "The Really Useful Group" gave him experience with international theater productions. He worked at Expo.02 in Yverdon-les-Bains as well as on the spatial installation Hotel Offen in Baden. He gained design experience at Vitra. As head of the props department at the Zurich Opera House, he collaborated with the Shanghai Opera House. This collaboration led to contacts with the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing and the Zurich University of the Arts, where he was invited to give lectures. As part of a master’s program, Jörg Zielinski gives lectures at the Bern University of the Arts. He designs and realizes stage sets and scenic installations. Designs have been created for the Zurich Opera House, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the London studio "United Visual Artists," and various independent projects. His photographs have been published and exhibited internationally.

Louise Flanagan is originally from England. After completing her ballet training at the Royal Ballet School, she danced at the Vanemuine Theatre in Estonia. She then shifted her focus to costume design, earning a degree from Middlesex University and completing a professional tailoring apprenticeship. She went on to work as a costume tailor on numerous high-profile films, musicals, and operas in England. Since 2013, she has been working as a freelance costume designer for dance and opera, collaborating with choreographers and directors such as Jörg Mannes, Kinsun Chan, Cathy Marston, Marcel Leemann, Terence Kohler, Sam Brown, Lillian Stillwell, Mauro Astolfi, Yuki Mori, Andreas Heise, Francesca Frassinelli, Peter Leung, Dimo Kirilov Milev, and Ihsan Rustem. Her work has been featured in international companies including the Bavarian State Ballet, Ballett Zürich, Ballett am Rhein, Stanislavsky Ballet Moscow, Theater Magdeburg, Theater Münster, Theater Regensburg, Oper Graz, Theater St. Gallen, Ballet du Capitole Toulouse, and the Origen Cultural Festival. She also assisted costume designer Emma Ryott at Ballett Zürich, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and the Staatsballett Berlin. Louise received a grant from the German Dance Association (Dachverband Tanz Deutschland) to research and develop a database of sustainably produced fabrics for dance costumes. By sharing and implementing her findings, she aims to reduce the environmental impact of new productions— taking a step toward greater ecological sustainability in dance and theatre.

Martin Gebhardt was lighting designer and Head of Lighting for John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet. From 2002 onward he collaborated with Heinz Spoerli and the Ballett Zürich. Ballet productions of both companies took him to renowned theatres across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. At Zurich Opera House he created the lighting design for productions by Jürgen Flimm, David Alden, Jan Philipp Gloger, Grischa Asagaroff, Matthias Hartmann, David Pountney, Moshe Leiser/Patrice Caurier, Damiano Michieletto, and Achim Freyer. At the Salzburg Festival he designed the lighting for "La bohème" and for a new version of Spoerli’s "Der Tod und das Mädchen". Since the 2012/13 season Martin Gebhardt has been Head of Lighting at Zurich Opera House. He maintains a close collaboration with choreographer Christian Spuck (including "Winterreise", "Nussknacker und Mausekönig", "Messa da Requiem", "Anna Karenina", "Woyzeck", "Der Sandmann", "Leonce und Lena", "Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern"). He has also worked as lighting designer for choreographers Edward Clug (including "Strings", "Le Sacre du printemps" and "Faust" in Zurich), Alexei Ratmansky, Wayne McGregor, Marco Goecke, and Douglas Lee. He collaborated with Christoph Marthaler and Anna Viebrock on Handel’s "Sale" and Rossini’s "Il viaggio a Reims" in Zurich as well as on "Lulu" at the Hamburg State Opera, and with Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito at the Grand Théâtre de Genève for "Les Huguenots". In 2023 he designed the lighting for Spuck’s ballet "Bovary" at the Staatsballett Berlin and in 2024 for Rossini’s "Tancredi" at the Bregenz Festival. He was also the lighting designer for Cathy Marston’s "Atonement" at Zurich Opera House.

Michael Küster is from Germany. After studying German studies, art, and speech science at the University of Halle, he worked as a presenter, author, and speaker at various broadcasting stations in Germany. There, he hosted numerous classical music programs and live broadcasts of major concert events, including those from the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Semperoper Dresden, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
Since 2002, he has been a dramaturg at the Zurich Opera House, working with directors such as Matthias Hartmann, David Alden, Robert Carsen, Moshe Leiser/Patrice Caurier, Damiano Michieletto, David Pountney, Johannes Schaaf, and Graham Vick.
As dramaturg of Ballett Zürich, Michael Küster has collaborated since 2012 with Cathy Marston, Marco Goecke, Marcos Morau, Kim Brandstrup, Edward Clug, Alexei Ratmansky, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, and Hans van Manen. Together with Christian Spuck, he worked on productions including «Winterreise» («Prix Benois de la Danse»), «Romeo and Juliet», «Messa da Requiem», and «The Sleeping Beauty».
At La Scala in Milan, Michael Küster was dramaturg for Matthias Hartmann’s opera productions of «Der Freischütz», «Idomeneo», and «The Queen of Spades».

Born in Malmö in 1945 and raised in an artistic family, Mats Ek first studied theatre, became an actor, then trained as a dancer and joined the company of his mother Birgit Cullberg, the Cullberg Ballet, which he later temporarily directed. In 1976 he began choreographing, creating socially critical works such as "Soweto" and numerous shorter pieces, adapting literary material such as "Bernarda Albas Haus" and reinterpreting, in his dynamic and expressive movement language, the cornerstones of the ballet repertoire. This led to "Giselle" (1982), "Le sacre du printemps" (1984), "Schwanensee" (1987), "Carmen" (1992), and "Dornröschen" (1996). He is also a guest choreographer for many of the world’s leading companies, working with the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Norwegian National Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Stuttgart Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, La Scala Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the Paris Opera Ballet, among others. He writes, acts, and directs for numerous theatres. In 2008 he created "Place," a pas de deux for Ana Laguna and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has also produced two video films with star ballerina Sylvie Guillem, and many of his best-known works have been adapted for television. In 2025 Mats Ek celebrated his 80th birthday. For the Royal Swedish Ballet he created the choreography "A Cup of Coffee" to mark the occasion.

The conductor Matthew Rowe is originally from London. Since his debut with the Dutch National Ballet in 2004, he has maintained a close connection with the company and was appointed Music Director and Artistic Director of the Dutch Ballet Orchestra in 2013. In 2024, he stepped down from this dual role and now serves as Principal Guest Conductor. His major ballet productions include Christopher Wheeldon’s «Cinderella», Krzysztof Pastor’s «The Tempest», Shen Wei’s «Sacre du Printemps», and the world premieres of Ted Brandsen’s «Mata Hari», Yuri Possokhov’s «Violin Concerto», and Jorma Elo’s «Sibelius 4th Symphony». His extensive repertoire spans works by many renowned choreographers, including numerous pieces by George Balanchine, Hans van Manen, Alexei Ratmansky, and David Dawson. In addition, Rowe conducts classics such as «Swan Lake», «The Nutcracker», «The Sleeping Beauty», «Romeo and Juliet», «Don Quixote», «Paquita», «Giselle», and «Coppélia». Further productions with the Dutch National Ballet and the Dutch Ballet Orchestra include the European premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s «The Fairy’s Kiss» and the world premieres of David Dawson’s «Requiem» with music by Gavin Bryars and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s «Frida» with music by Peter Salem. Matthew Rowe has also enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with Nederlands Dans Theater, where he has worked with many contemporary choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Lightfoot/León, Marco Goecke, Alexander Ekman, Hofesh Shechter, and Crystal Pite. Most recently, he conducted «Do Not Run, Do Not Fly», featuring world premieres by Marcos Morau and Yoann Bourgeois. He has also conducted performances with San Francisco Ballet, Vienna State Ballet, the National Ballet of Japan, Hong Kong Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Finnish National Ballet, Polish National Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet.

Marie-Louise Ekman (b. 1944) is a Swedish artist, filmmaker, playwright, and cultural leader known for her distinctive and inimitable fusion of visual art, theatre, and film. In the 1960s, she became part of Sweden’s avant-garde and pop art movement. She developed a playful yet pointed visual language through which she explored themes such as gender, identity, and social norms. Over the decades, she directed numerous films and theatre productions and wrote many plays for both stage and screen. Beyond her creative work, Ekman has also held leading positions in the arts sector. In 1999, she became the first female professor and later president of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, and she successfully served as director of Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theatre for six years. Today, she is considered one of Sweden’s most influential contemporary cultural figures and is celebrated for her innovative, interdisciplinary contributions to the arts. Major exhibitions of her work have been shown in Paris, London, and New York. Her set and costume designs for Mats Ek include «Orpheus and Eurydice», «The House of Bernarda Alba», «Antigone», «Cain and Abel», «Giselle», «The Park», «Swan Lake», «Carmen», «Bolero», and «Le Sacre du printemps» — presented in cities such as London, Milan, Munich, Paris, Lyon, Stockholm, and now also Zurich.

Ellen Ruge was born in Oslo and lives in Stockholm. She has designed lighting for numerous theatre, opera, public building, and ballet productions across Scandinavia, Europe, the USA, Cuba, China, and the United Kingdom — including for La Scala in Milan, the Opéra Garnier in Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Bavarian State Ballet, the Hamburg Ballet, the Warsaw Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Rambert, Cullberg Ballet, the Norwegian National Opera, the Finnish National Opera, the Icelandic National Opera, the Royal Danish Opera, the Royal Swedish Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, and Scottish Opera. Further productions have been created at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the Joyce Theater in New York, the Spoleto Festival, Brown University in the USA, the NCPA in Beijing and Shanghai, and Teatro Marti in Havana. She has been awarded, among others, the Swedish Critics’ Prize and the Swedish King’s Medal.