Andonis Foniadakis was born on the Greek island of Crete. He studied at the Greek National School of Dance in Athens and won a Maria Callas Scholarship to study at the Rudra-Bejart School in Lausanne. As a dancer, he performed with the Bejart Ballet Lausanne, the Ballet of the Opéra de Lyon, and Saburo Teshigawara/KARAS. In the 2016/17 season, he was Artistic Director of the Greek National Ballet and currently serves as the ensemble’s resident choreographer. In 2003, he founded his own dance company “Apotosoma,” with which he toured throughout Europe and the United States. He has created choreographies for renowned international companies, including the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Sydney Dance Company, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, the Geneva Ballet, the Ballet of the Opéra de Lyon, Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Aterballetto, Ballet du Rhin, Compañía Nacional de Danza Madrid, the Rambert Dance Company, the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the Sao Paolo Dance Company, the Benjamin Millepied Dance Company, the Washington Ballet, the Israel Ballet, and the Bejart Ballet Lausanne. Recent works include “Primal Light” and “Death and the Maiden” for Tanz Kassel, “Circumstellars” for the Philadelphia Ballet, “Selon Desir” for Introdans, “Far Side” for Ballet Basel, “Strangelove” for the Hong Kong Ballet, “Almyra” for Gauthier Dance, “Troja/Troy” for the Ballet of the Theater am Gärtnerplatz Munich, and “Ikarus” for the Ballet Hanover. Andonis Foniadakis has received, among others, the Italian Danza/Danza Award and was most recently honored as “Choreographer of the Year” in the critics’ poll of the German “Tanznetz.” In 2026, he will choreograph, among others, for Acosta Danza in Havana and, for the first time, for Ballet Zurich.

The German-born, Paris-based Greek fashion entrepreneur and costume designer Anastasios-Tassos Sofroniou began his career as a fashion editor in Athens before moving to London, where he collaborated with stylist and fashion director Isabella Blow (Vogue) and photographers such as Richard Avedon, David LaChapelle, and Mario Testino for publications including "The Face," "Interview US," "British GQ," "Elle," and "Sunday Times Style." In 2010, he founded his contemporary menswear brand "Conquistador," followed by the creative agency "StudioSTOUTT" in 2022. Since 2011, Anastasios Sofroniou has been teaching at leading universities for fashion design and fashion management, including Polimoda (Florence), ModArt, and EIML (Paris). Since 2011, he has also been designing costumes for contemporary dance and opera. In collaboration with choreographer Andonis Foniadakis, he has created numerous productions for renowned companies such as the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Maurice Béjart Ballet, the Geneva Ballet, the Hong Kong Ballet, Gauthier Dance, Cedar Lake NY, the Sydney Dance Company, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, the State Ballet Hanover, Tanz Kassel, the Opera Florence, and Rambert Dance.

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».