Samson et Dalila

Gianandrea Noseda has been General Music Director of the Zurich Opera House since the 2021/22 season. In addition, he is Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, he became Music Director of the newly founded Tsinandali Festival and the Georgian Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra. From 2007 to 2018, Noseda served as General Music Director of the Teatro Regio di Torino, where he artistically reshaped the opera house during his tenure. Noseda has conducted the world’s leading orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic) as well as at the most prestigious opera houses (La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House) and festivals (BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Verbier). He has also held leading positions with the BBC Philharmonic (Chief Conductor), the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor), the Mariinsky Theatre (Principal Guest Conductor), and the Stresa Festival (Artistic Director). His discography comprises more than 80 CDs, with a special focus on the "Musica Italiana" project, which features neglected 20th-century Italian repertoire. Born in Milan, Noseda is a Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana and received the Order of Merit of the City of Milan in 2024. In 2015, he was named "Musical America’s Conductor of the Year," was awarded "Conductor of the Year" at the 2016 International Opera Awards, and received the Puccini Prize in 2023. In the same year, the Oper! Awards honored Noseda as "Best Conductor," particularly recognizing his interpretations of the first two "Ring" operas at the Zurich Opera House.

Evgeny Titov, born in Kazakhstan, completed his acting training at the Theatre Academy in St. Petersburg and worked for several years as an actor before studying directing at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. Productions he developed there included Copi’s "Das Schlangennest" — with a guest performance at the Vienna Burgtheater — and a production of Gogol’s "Die Heirat", which was invited to the Körber Studio Junge Regie at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg in 2016. Engagements then took him, among others, to the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Landestheater Linz, the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Münchner Residenztheater, and the Salzburg Festival, where he staged Gorky’s "Summerfolk" in 2019. Since opening the 2021/22 season at the Komische Oper Berlin with an acclaimed production of Enescu’s "Œdipe", Evgeny Titov has been a regular guest at internationally renowned opera houses. He made his debut at the Zurich Opera House with George Benjamin’s "Lessons in Love and Violence", followed by Monteverdi’s "L’Orfeo". At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, he introduced himself with Mozart’s "Le nozze di Figaro", and in Strasbourg he staged Monteverdi’s "L’incoronazione di Poppea". In the 2024/25 season, he directed "Tannhäuser" at the Oper Graz, "The Love for Three Oranges" at the Semperoper Dresden, Shakespeare’s "King Lear" at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, and Tchaikovsky’s "Iolanta" at the Vienna State Opera. At the Salzburg Festival, he made his operatic debut with Peter Eötvös’ "Three Sisters". His most recent works include "Salome" at the Komische Oper Berlin and "Wozzeck" at the Oper Graz.

Rufus Didwiszus studierte Bühnen- und Kostümbild in Stuttgart bei Jürgen Rose und ar­bei­­tet seither als freier Bühnenbildner in Theater-, Opern- und Tanz­produktio­­­nen, u. a. mit Barrie Kosky (La Belle Hélène, Die Perlen der Cleopatra und Anatevka an der Komischen Oper Berlin; La fan­ciul­la del West, Die Gezeichneten und Boris Godunow am Opernhaus Zü­­­rich; Orphée aux enfers, Salzburger Festspiele; Fürst Igor, Opéra de Paris; Der Ro­senkavalier, Bayerische Staatsoper), Tho­mas Ostermeier (u.a. Shop­pen &Ficken in der Baracke des Deutschen Theaters Berlin mit Einladung zum Berliner Theatertreffen und nach Avignon; Der blaue Vogel am Deutschen Theater, Feuergesicht am Schauspiel­haus Hamburg, Der Name bei den Salzburger Festspielen und an der Ber­li­ner Schau­­bühne, The Girl on the Sofa beim Edinburgh Interna­tio­nal Festival und an der Schaubühne, Vor Son­nen­­auf­gang an den Münchner Kammer­spie­len), Sasha Waltz, Tom Kühnel, Christian Stückl, Stefan Larsson, Tomas Alfredson und Christian Lollike. Seit 2004 entwirft und inszeniert Rufus Didwiszus mit Joanna Dud­ley eigene Musik-Theater-Performances, u. a. in den So­phien­sae­len, an der Schaubühne und im Ra­dial­system in Berlin sowie im BO­ZAR in Brüssel. Mit seiner Band «Friedrichs» war er in Der weisse Wolf am Staats­theater Stuttgart zu sehen. Zudem war er als Gastdozent an der Aka­­demie der Bildenden Künste München und an der Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee tätig. Für Christian Spuck entstanden die Bühnenbilder zu Der fliegende Hol­län­­der an der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Nussknacker und Mause­könig, Winter­reise, Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern,  Dornröschen und Monteverdi beim Ballett Zürich sowie Orlando am Moskauer Bolschoitheater.

The Irish costume and set designer Annemarie Woods won the Ring Award in Graz in 2011 together with the British director Sam Brown. In joint productions with Sam Brown she designed, among others, "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" at the Teatro Sociale di Como, "Der Zigeunerbaron" at Stadttheater Klagenfurt, "Sigurd der Drachentöter" at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, "Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno" at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s opera "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy, and "La Cenerentola" at Lucerne Theatre. She also has a long-standing collaboration with director Oliver Mears, for whose productions of "Macbeth", "Salome", "L’elisir d’amore" and "Don Giovanni" she likewise designed the costumes and sets. Further works include "Candide" in Nancy, "Agrippina" in Limerick, "My Fair Lady" in Karlsruhe and "L’Heure espagnole/Gianni Schicchi" (directed by Bruno Ravella) at the Opéra National de Lorraine. With Ted Huffman she collaborated, among other projects, in Frankfurt on "Rinaldo", in Cologne on "Salome", in Montpellier on "Le Songe d’une nuit d’été", at Deutsche Oper Berlin on "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and in Zurich on "Madama Butterfly". She also designed the costumes for "Pagliacci/Cavalleria rusticana" in Amsterdam (directed by Robert Carsen), for "La traviata" at the Komische Oper Berlin (directed by Nicola Raab) and for "Osud" at the Janáček Brno Festival (directed by Robert Carsen). At Zurich Opera House she designed the costumes for Adele Thomas’s production of "Il trovatore", Ted Huffman’s productions of "Madama Butterfly", "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "Roméo et Juliette", as well as for Evgeny Titov’s production of "L’Orfeo".

Martina Borroni, in Mailand geboren, ist Tänzerin und Choreografin. Sie studierte zeitgenössischen Tanz an der Accademia Pier Lombardo di Susanna Beltrami. Nach ihrem Studium tanzte sie für verschiedene Kompanien in Mailand und nahm Meisterkurse bei Emio Greco und Wim Vandekeybus. 2012 gab sie ihr Debüt an der Komischen Oper Berlin als Tänzerin und Dance Captain in Orfeo von Claudio Monteverdi. Ausserdem war sie u. a. in Tod in Venedig / Kindertotenlieder an der Schaubühne Berlin (Regie: Thomas Ostermeier) sowie in Orfeo ed Euridice an der Staatsoper im Schiller Theater zu erleben. Sie arbeitete als Tänzerin, Dance Captain und choreografische Assistentin in den Bereichen Oper, Operette und Musical (Cats bei den Luisenburg-Festspielen, Tanz der Vampire in Wien) und kam so mit den verschiedensten Genres und Tanzstilen in Berührung. In den vergangenen Jahren arbeitete sie vor allem an der Komischen Oper unter Barrie Kosky und Otto Pichler und war in West Side Story, Ball im Savoy, Candide, Orfeo, Die Perlen der Cleopatra, Kiss Me Kate, Frühlingsstürme, Orpheus in der Unterwelt (Salzburger Festspiele) und Yiddish Revue zu erleben. Seit 2018 arbeitet sie auch mit Regisseur Max Hopp zusammen und war für die Choreografie in Zanaida am Staatstheater Mainz verantwortlich. Als Choreografin arbeitete sie ausserdem am Maxim Gorki The­ater mit Marta Górnicka und für das dortige Political Voice Institut. Mit Barkouf choreografiert sie zum ersten Mal im Bereich der Operette.

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.

Klaas-Jan de Groot is a Dutch conductor and choral director. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been Chorus Director of the Opernhaus Zürich. After studying in The Hague and Cardiff, he served from 2016 to 2022 as assistant to Chorus Director Ching-Lien Wu at the Dutch National Opera, where he prepared several productions and projects with the opera chorus. Since 2018, he has worked regularly with the Netherlands Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor). From 2018 to 2024, he served annually as assistant to Chorus Director Eberhard Friedrich at the Bayreuth Festival. He has conducted various concerts and performances with Opera Zuid as well as with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and the Essener Philharmoniker. From 2022 to 2025, he was Chorus Director of the Aalto-Theater in Essen. Since 2023, he has worked regularly with the NDR Vokalensemble in Hamburg. In 2024, he made his debut with the MDR-Rundfunkchor as well as with the Rundfunkchor Berlin. In recognition of his support for emerging talent, Klaas-Jan de Groot was awarded the prestigious Dutch Conducting Prize of the Anton Kersjes Fonds in 2021.

Fabio Dietsche studied dramaturgy at the Zurich University of the Arts as well as cross flute with Maria Goldschmidt in Zurich and with Karl-Heinz Schütz in Vienna. He gained his first experience as a dramaturge in 2012/13 with Xavier Zuber at Konzert Theater Bern, where he accompanied, among others, Matthias Rebstock’s production of "neither" (Beckett/Feldman) at the Berner Reithalle. Since 2013, he has been a dramaturge at the Zurich Opera House, where he completed his studies with the production dramaturgy of Puccini’s "La bohème." There, he has been involved, among others, in the world premieres of Stefan Wirth’s "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and Leonard Evers’ "Odyssee," the chamber opera "Jakob Lenz" by Wolfgang Rihm, and the Swiss premiere of Manfred Trojahn’s "Orest." He has worked with, among others, Robert Carsen, Tatjana Gürbaca, Rainer Holzapfel, Andreas Homoki, Ted Huffman, Mélanie Huber, Barrie Kosky, Hans Neuenfels, and Kai Anne Schuhmacher. He is currently studying cultural management on a part-time basis at the University of Zurich.