Scylla et Glaucus

The French harpsichordist and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm is a specialist in Baroque repertoire. For 25 years, she has led her own Baroque ensemble, Le Concert d’Astrée. She is currently also engaged in an artistic collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Recently, Emmanuelle Haïm made her debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and returned to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Opera House for a new production of Rameau’s "Platée." She regularly conducts the Berlin Philharmonic. She has made her debut with the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and the Vienna Philharmonic, performing in Vienna and at the Lucerne Festival. In 2000, she founded Le Concert d’Astrée, which quickly gained an international reputation. In the 2024/25 season, she led a new production of Handel’s "Semele" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, a revival of Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas" at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and a concert tour in Spain. In the summer of 2025, she conducted a new production of Handel’s "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" at the Salzburg Festival. This season includes, among others, Handel’s "Semele" in Amsterdam and Leclair’s "Scylla et Glaucus" at the Zurich Opera House, alongside performances of Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater" in France and Spain. Her extensive discography has been honored with numerous awards, including the Victoires de la Musique Classique and the Echo Deutscher Musikpreis. Her most recent releases include a CD of Handel’s Italian cantatas and a DVD recording of Rameau’s "Les Boréades." Emmanuelle Haïm is a Chevalier of the Ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur, an Officier des Arts et des Lettres, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.

Claus Guth, born in Frankfurt am Main, studied philosophy, German studies, and theater studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as well as theater and opera directing at the University of Music in Munich. Since 1990, he has worked as a freelance director with a focus on music theater. He gained international attention with his Mozart productions at the Salzburg Festival, in particular the "Da Ponte Cycle." He has directed at leading opera houses worldwide, including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Zurich Opera House, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Bavarian State Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Teatro Real Madrid, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro San Carlo, Bolshoi Theatre, and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. For "Pelléas et Mélisande" (Debussy) and "Daphne" (Strauss) at the Frankfurt Opera, he received the FAUST Prize. In 2022, "Jenůfa" at the Royal Opera House was awarded the Olivier Award, and Georg Friedrich Haas’ "Bluthaus" at the Bavarian State Opera was named Best International Production in Austria. In 2023, he received the Oper! Award for Best Director, and in 2025, the International Opera Award as Director of the Year. Particularly formative are his Wagner productions such as "Lohengrin" (Milan), "Tannhäuser" (Vienna), "Tristan und Isolde" (Zurich), and "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (Hamburg). In addition, he has realized numerous world premieres, including Jarrell’s "Bérénice," Furrer’s "Violetter Schnee," Czernowin’s "Heart Chamber," Ruzicka’s "Celan," and Dusapin’s "Il Viaggio, Dante." Original creations, including his collaborations with composer Helmut Oehring, "Samson" with Raphaël Pichon, or "Doppelgänger" at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, complement his work.

Étienne Pluss was born in Geneva, where he initially ran an art gallery before beginning studies in stage design at the University of the Arts in Berlin. He started his theater career as a design assistant to Achim Freyer and Karl-Ernst Herrmann. Since 2000, he has been working as a freelance stage designer and has since worked at numerous renowned houses in both theater and opera. He has a close collaboration with Claus Guth. For Guth’s productions, he created, among others, the stage designs for Beat Furrer’s "Violetter Schnee" at Staatsoper Unter den Linden (FAUST Theater Prize 2019), "La bohème" at Opéra National de Paris, "Die Sache Makropulos" at Staatsoper Berlin, Dusapin’s "Il Viaggio, Dante" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, "Don Carlo" at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, "Salome" at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in cooperation with the Metropolitan Opera New York, as well as "Bluthaus" at the Bavarian State Opera. In addition, he designed the sets for Weinberg’s "Die Passagierin" at the Graz Opera and "Hamlet" at the Komische Oper Berlin, both directed by Nadja Loschky. For "Il trittico" at the Salzburg Festival, he collaborated with Christof Loy. With Richard Brunel, he realized the stage designs for Boesmans’ "On purge bébé" at La Monnaie in Brussels and Escaich’s opera "Shirine" in Lyon. With Evgeny Titov, he developed Shakespeare’s "Richard III." at Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf. In 1998, he was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen; the following year, he received the Kainz Medal for his work on Thomas Bernhard’s "Claus Peymann kauft sich eine Hose und geht mit mir essen." Most recently in Zurich, he designed the stage for "Alice."

Ursula Kudrna was born in Vienna and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. With her expressive, visually striking costumes, she has been shaping the international opera and theater scene for many years. In 2019, she was named "Costume Designer of the Year" in the critics’ survey of Opernwelt. This was largely due to her designs inspired by fairy tale and circus motifs for Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte" for the opening of the Salzburg Festival, as well as the Pieter Brueghel–inspired costumes for Beat Furrer’s "Violetter Schnee," directed by Claus Guth at the Staatsoper Berlin. She has a long-standing collaboration with Claus Guth, including on "Salome" at the Metropolitan Opera New York, "Die Sache Makropulos" at Staatsoper Berlin, "Turandot" at the Vienna State Opera, "Samson" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and "Die Liebe der Danae" at the Bavarian State Opera. Since 2003, she has designed costumes for numerous renowned houses, including Staatsoper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin, Teatro alla Scala, Zurich Opera House, Mikhailovsky Theatre St. Petersburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Volksbühne Berlin, and Theater Basel. With Philipp Stölzl, she worked on productions such as "Orpheus in der Unterwelt," "Der fliegende Holländer," "Il trovatore," "Faust," and "Rienzi." With Lydia Steier, she realized productions including "Giulio Cesare," "Jephtha," "Káťa Kabanová," "Candide," and Stockhausen’s "Donnerstag aus Licht" (Production of the Year 2016). In addition, she collaborated with Jürgen Flimm on productions such as "Manon Lescaut," "Le nozze di Figaro," Rossini’s "Otello," and Sciarrino’s "Ti vedo, ti sento, mi perdo," as well as Schumann’s "Scenes from Goethe’s Faust" for the reopening of the Staatsoper Berlin in 2017.

Sommer Ulrickson was born in California and completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In Berlin, she initially worked as an assistant to Johann Kresnik at the Volksbühne as well as for Sasha Waltz & Guests and the Schaubühne under Thomas Ostermeier. Numerous independent works have taken her across Europe. As a director and choreographer, she has received multiple awards. From 2004 to 2014, she was choreographer and resident director of the Freilichtspiele Schwäbisch Hall. In 2006, she was Lucas Artist in Residence at the Montalvo Center for the Arts, and between 2006 and 2008 also a guest lecturer in Santa Cruz. Works were created, among others, for the Deutsches Theater Berlin, the Sophiensaele, the Pierre Boulez Saal, the 92nd Street Y in New York, and the Neuköllner Oper Berlin. There she directed music theater productions such as "Lovesick," "Wagner for Sale," and "Wüstinnen." Other directing works include "Shockheaded Peter" (2013), "Ferne Nähe" (world premiere 2011), "Fidelio" (Tiroler Festspiele Erl 2014), and "Maria de Buenos Aires" (Theater Regensburg 2023, Broadway World Award). As a choreographer, she has worked, among others, with David Hermann ("Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern"), Hans Neuenfels ("Salome"), Daniela Kerck ("Babylon"), as well as with Wolfgang Nägele in Seoul and Bielefeld. In 2025, she choreographed "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Komische Oper Berlin. She has an ongoing collaboration with Claus Guth, including on "Salome," "Jeptha," "Die Sache Makropulos," "Turandot," "Chowanschtschina," "Samson," and "Cabaret." In addition, she realizes projects with musicians such as Alban Gerhardt, Ryoko Aoki, and the Ensemble Phantasm, which, after its premiere at the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2023, also appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival.

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.

Alice Lapasin Zorzit completed her piano studies at the Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Boccherini in Lucca and continued her training at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz, where she graduated with distinction in 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in choral conducting. During this time, she gained her first experience in the opera world as a répétiteur at the Landestheater Linz. In 2017 she took part in the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy, and in the 2018/19 season she served as a répétiteur with the Orchestra Academy of the Zurich Opera House. The 2019/20 season brought an engagement as deputy children’s choir director and guest pianist at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. She subsequently moved to the Staatstheater Darmstadt, where she worked from 2020 to 2022 as deputy chorus director and children’s choir director. Alongside her professional development, she continued her academic studies: in 2021 she completed her Master’s degree in conducting and opera coaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, followed in 2022 by a part-time Master’s degree in cultural management (EMAA) at the University of Zurich. As a cultural manager, she was a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Bank Foundation (AMH) and founded the artist agency ArteMIS in 2024. From 2023 to 2025, Alice Lapasin Zorzit was chorus director with conducting duties at the Landestheater Coburg, and in the summer of 2025 she worked as chorus assistant at the Bayreuth Festival. Since January 2026 she has been deputy chorus director at Zurich Opera House.

Roman Reeger studied Historical Musicology and Law at the University of Hamburg. He gained his first theatre experience as an intern and assistant at the theatres in Oldenburg and Kiel, as well as at the Staatsoper and the Schaubühne in Berlin. In 2013, he joined the dramaturgy department of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. From 2020 to 2025, he was a senior dramaturg and member of the opera management team at Theater Basel. Guest engagements have taken him to the Baden-Baden Easter Festival and the Munich Biennale for New Music Theatre, among others. He has collaborated with directors such as Christoph Marthaler, Herbert Fritsch, Thom Luz, Benedikt von Peter, Philippe Quesne, Claus Guth, Andreas Kriegenburg, Anna Bergmann, Eva-Maria Höckmayr, and Jürgen Flimm, and has overseen world premieres of works by composers including Jörg Widmann, Oscar Strasnoy, Lucia Ronchetti, Manos Tsangaris, Beat Furrer, Hèctor Parra, and Herbert Grönemeyer. As a freelance author, he has contributed to specialist journals, exhibition catalogues, and CD booklets, regularly gives lectures, and has taught as a lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been Chief Dramaturg at the Zurich Opera House.

The dramaturge, born in Berlin in 1972, studied German studies, philosophy, and religious studies at the Free University of Berlin. Since 1998, she has worked in theater and especially in opera. She maintained a working relationship of more than twenty years with director Hans Neuenfels. In addition, she has worked with directors such as Kazuko Watanabe, Johan Simons, Frank Hilbrich, Tobias Kratzer, David Hermann, and Amélie Niermeyer. Over the years, she has developed long-term collaborations with Claus Guth, Christof Loy, and Nadja Loschky, which continue to this day. Currently, she is in close working relationships with Ulrich Rasche, Shirin Neshat, and Barbara Lluch. She has taught dramaturgy at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg (Costume class Reinhard von der Thannen), at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna (Stage design class Erich Wonder), at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (Directing class Amélie Niermeyer), at the Weissensee Academy of Art in Berlin (Stage design class Stefan Hageneier), and at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. From 2001 to 2008, she worked as a freelance contributor to the Süddeutsche Zeitung in the literature section. From 2009 to 2018, she worked at the Bavarian State Opera as visual dramaturge and was visual editor of the magazine "Max Joseph."