Romeo und Julia

The internationally renowned choreographer Cathy Marston holds both British and Swiss citizenship. Since August 2023, she is the director of the Ballett Zürich. She received her dance training in Cambridge and at the Royal Ballet School in London. Between 1994 and 1999, she danced with Ballett Zürich, the Luzerner Theater Ballet, and Konzert Theater Bern. From 2002 to 2006, she was an Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House in London, and from 2007 to 2013, she served as ballet director at Konzert Theater Bern. Cathy Marston has been working as a highly successful freelance choreographer for many years and has been invited to work with numerous renowned international companies and institutions. She has created works, among others, for The Royal Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Ballet Black, the National Ballet of Cuba, as well as Opera Australia and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. In recent years, she has increasingly worked in the United States, with commissions for San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago. In her choreographic works, she brings major literary classics to life through dance, and approaches significant historical figures in unexpected and original ways. She achieved great success with her ballet adaptations "Mrs. Robinson" (Charles Webb), "Snowblind" (Ethan Frome), "Jane Eyre" (Charlotte Brontë), and "Of Mice and Men" (John Steinbeck). Unconventional perspectives also shape her biographically inspired works "The Cellist", "Victoria", and "Witch-Hunt". Cathy Marston has received multiple awards for her choreographic work, including a South Bank Sky Arts Award and the British National Dance Award. In 2020, the International Institute for Dance and Theatre honored her with an award for excellence in international dance. The highlight of her first season as director of Ballett Zürich was the 2024 world premiere of "Atonement", based on the novel of the same name by Ian McEwan (a co-production with Joffrey Ballet). In addition, her pieces "The Cellist" and "Snowblind" were performed in Zurich. In the previous season, her Clara Schumann ballet "Clara" premiered. In 2026, she will choreograph "Romeo and Juliet" for Ballett Zürich.

The internationally renowned choreographer Cathy Marston holds both British and Swiss citizenship. Since August 2023, she is the director of the Ballett Zürich. She received her dance training in Cambridge and at the Royal Ballet School in London. Between 1994 and 1999, she danced with Ballett Zürich, the Luzerner Theater Ballet, and Konzert Theater Bern. From 2002 to 2006, she was an Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House in London, and from 2007 to 2013, she served as ballet director at Konzert Theater Bern. Cathy Marston has been working as a highly successful freelance choreographer for many years and has been invited to work with numerous renowned international companies and institutions. She has created works, among others, for The Royal Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Ballet Black, the National Ballet of Cuba, as well as Opera Australia and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. In recent years, she has increasingly worked in the United States, with commissions for San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago. In her choreographic works, she brings major literary classics to life through dance, and approaches significant historical figures in unexpected and original ways. She achieved great success with her ballet adaptations "Mrs. Robinson" (Charles Webb), "Snowblind" (Ethan Frome), "Jane Eyre" (Charlotte Brontë), and "Of Mice and Men" (John Steinbeck). Unconventional perspectives also shape her biographically inspired works "The Cellist", "Victoria", and "Witch-Hunt". Cathy Marston has received multiple awards for her choreographic work, including a South Bank Sky Arts Award and the British National Dance Award. In 2020, the International Institute for Dance and Theatre honored her with an award for excellence in international dance. The highlight of her first season as director of Ballett Zürich was the 2024 world premiere of "Atonement", based on the novel of the same name by Ian McEwan (a co-production with Joffrey Ballet). In addition, her pieces "The Cellist" and "Snowblind" were performed in Zurich. In the previous season, her Clara Schumann ballet "Clara" premiered. In 2026, she will choreograph "Romeo and Juliet" for Ballett Zürich.

Edward Kemp, born in Oxford, has collaborated with Cathy Marston on more than twenty ballets, including seven for Bern Ballett. Recent collaborations include "Summer & Smoke" (Houston/American Ballet Theatre), "Of Mice and Men" (Joffrey), "Mrs. Robinson" (San Francisco), "The Cellist" (Royal Ballet), "The Suit" (Ballet Black), "Lady Chatterley’s Lover" (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal), "Liaisons Dangereuses" (Royal Danish Ballet), and a screenplay for Disney+. He has written texts for composers such as Sally Beamish, Victoria Borisova Ollas, Jason Carr, Tansy Davies, Terry Davies, Péter Eötvös, Stuart MacRae, Julian Philips, and Gary Yershon. In theatre, his works include "King James Bible" (National Theatre), "The Mysteries" (Royal Shakespeare Company), as well as stage adaptations of Bulgakov’s "The Master and Margarita" (Chichester/Complicite/Avignon), Lessing’s "Nathan the Wise" (Chichester/Off-Broadway/Shaw Festival), and Faulkner’s "As I Lay Dying" (Baton Rouge). He also adapted works by Brecht, Goldoni, Kleist, Lorca, Prokofiev, Molière, Racine, and Sibelius for the stage and translated novels by Paul Auster, Eça de Queirós, Charles Dickens, Knut Hamsun, Ted Hughes, Salman Rushdie, and W. G. Sebald. He has written dramas and comedies for BBC Radio and directed plays and musicals in the United Kingdom and the United States, from authors such as Gertrude Stein and William Shakespeare to Alan Bennett and Stephen Sondheim. From 2008 to 2021 he was Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Today he is Chief Executive of the Royal Literary Fund, the oldest literary charity in the United Kingdom.

David Fleischer is from Australia. As a stage and costume designer, he has collaborated with renowned theatre, dance, ballet, and opera ensembles. He studied at the National Institute for Dramatic Arts in Australia. In 2012/13, he was the resident designer for the Sydney Theatre Company. For Rafaela Bonachela and the Sydney Dance Company, he created numerous productions, including "Impermanence," which was presented on international tours. He collaborated with Cathy Marston and the Queensland Ballet on "My Brilliant Career." In theatre, David Fleischer has designed over fifty plays and musicals, including the musical "Fangirls" in London’s West End and Suzie Miller’s hit play "RGB: Of Many One" for the Sydney Theatre Company. He has a close collaboration with director Kip Williams, working together on productions such as "The Harp in the South," "Love and Information," "Chimerica," "Playing Beatie Bow," "The Golden Age," "Children of the Sun," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof." Recently, they worked together on the new opera "Gilgamesh," a co-production of Sydney Chamber Opera and Opera Australia, as well as "The Rape of Lucretia." David Fleischer has received numerous awards, including two Australian Production Design Guild Awards and the Berlin Music Opera Award.

Martin Gebhardt was lighting designer and master electrician for John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet. From 2002 onward he collaborated with Heinz Spoerli and 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 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.

Edward Kemp, born in Oxford, has collaborated with Cathy Marston on more than twenty ballets, including seven for Bern Ballett. Recent collaborations include "Summer & Smoke" (Houston/American Ballet Theatre), "Of Mice and Men" (Joffrey), "Mrs. Robinson" (San Francisco), "The Cellist" (Royal Ballet), "The Suit" (Ballet Black), "Lady Chatterley’s Lover" (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal), "Liaisons Dangereuses" (Royal Danish Ballet), and a screenplay for Disney+. He has written texts for composers such as Sally Beamish, Victoria Borisova Ollas, Jason Carr, Tansy Davies, Terry Davies, Péter Eötvös, Stuart MacRae, Julian Philips, and Gary Yershon. In theatre, his works include "King James Bible" (National Theatre), "The Mysteries" (Royal Shakespeare Company), as well as stage adaptations of Bulgakov’s "The Master and Margarita" (Chichester/Complicite/Avignon), Lessing’s "Nathan the Wise" (Chichester/Off-Broadway/Shaw Festival), and Faulkner’s "As I Lay Dying" (Baton Rouge). He also adapted works by Brecht, Goldoni, Kleist, Lorca, Prokofiev, Molière, Racine, and Sibelius for the stage and translated novels by Paul Auster, Eça de Queirós, Charles Dickens, Knut Hamsun, Ted Hughes, Salman Rushdie, and W. G. Sebald. He has written dramas and comedies for BBC Radio and directed plays and musicals in the United Kingdom and the United States, from authors such as Gertrude Stein and William Shakespeare to Alan Bennett and Stephen Sondheim. From 2008 to 2021 he was Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Today he is Chief Executive of the Royal Literary Fund, the oldest literary charity in the United Kingdom.

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».