Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Born from the cold waters of a lake, the water sprite Rusalka aspires to become a woman out of love for the prince with whom she is smitten. The witch who agrees to help her warns that her transformation will come at a high price: not only will she have to sacrifice her voice, but failure will mean eternal damnation.A lyric tale inspired in part by Andersen's The Little Mermaid, Antonín Dvořák's penultimate opera, first performed in Prague in 1901, boasts spellbinding music, with orchestration as sparkling as the silver moon shimmering in the waters.Seamlessly slipping into this organic, poetic universe, Robert Carsen devises a staging of great visual inventiveness: using an interplay of symmetries and duplications, he evokes reflections in the water as much as the mirror of dreams, revealing the impasse of an unnatural transgression.

Rusalka: A supernatural aquatic creature The Water Goblin: Rusalka’s father The Prince: A human loved by Rusalka The Foreign Princess: Rusalka’s human rival Ježibaba: A witch Three nymphs: Rusalka’s sisters The Forester, The Kitchen Boy: Servants at the royal castle

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Rusalka (saison 18/19) avec Camilla Nylund (Rusalka)

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Rusalka

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Born from the cold waters of a lake, the water sprite Rusalka aspires to become a woman out of love for the prince with whom she is smitten. The witch who agrees to help her warns that her transformation will come at a high price: not only will she h

Antonín Dvořák

Antonin Dvořák was born on September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, a small village near Prague. From the age of five he played the violin in his father's family inn. The village teacher taught him organ, piano and viola. After studying at the Prague Organ School, he joined the orchestra of the Prague National Theatre as a violinist, where he remained until 1871. His experience as an orchestral musician gave him an insider's view of a vast classical and contemporary repertoire. He played under the direction of Bedřich Smetana and Richard Wagner, among others. His first compositions date from this period, including his first two symphonies, his first chamber music works, and his first songs. From 1871 to 1878 he lived in poverty as the organist of St. Adalbert's Church in Prague, devoting himself entirely to composition. A meeting with Brahms brought him into contact with the publisher Simrock, who published his famous Slavonic Dances in Berlin in 1878, opening doors for Dvořák all over the world, especially in England, where he conducted nine times and even received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University. Dvořák also conducted in Germany, Hungary, and Russia.In 1892, he accepted an invitation from the National Conservatory in New York, where he taught until 1895.Upon his return to Prague, he resumed his professorship at the Conservatory and became its director in 1901. Towards the end of his life he devoted himself mainly to opera. He died suddenly of a stroke on May 1, 1904 in Prague. Dvořák's oeuvre is rich, showing constant inspiration from Czech folklore and the influence of Brahms and Liszt. It includes ten operas (including Dimitri, Le Jacobin, Le Diable, and Catherine), numerous symphonies (including the famous Symphony No. 9, known as the "New World" Symphony, composed during his stay in the United States), religious works (the Stabat Mater), chamber music, and more. He tackled every genre except ballet.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

Australian soprano Nicole Car has performed on major international opera stages, including La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and the Opéra national de Paris. In 2021, she was named a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Her discography includes two solo albums, The Kiss and Heroines, which were recorded on the ABC Classics label.She has recently appeared as Mimi in La Bohème in London, New York, Vienna, and Munich; Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in New York and Vienna; Salomé in Hérodiade at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and in Berlin; Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes in New York and Milan; ; Leonora (Il trovatore) in Montreal; Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) in San Francisco and Dresden; Elisabetta (Don Carlo) in Berlin and Vienna; and Desdemona (Otello) and Blanche de La Force (Dialogues des Carmélites) in Vienna.For the 2025–2026 season, Car will take on four new roles, including the title role in Rusalka at the Opéra national de Paris, the Vienna State Opera, and Opera Australia. She will also perform as the three main heroines in Il Trittico at the Vienna State Opera. She will continue her interpretations of great Verdian roles as Elisabetta in Don Carlo at the Dallas Opera and as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.She played the role of Mimi at the San Francisco Opera and the Vienna State Opera. She sang the role of Ellen Orford in a concert version at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and was the featured soloist in a gala concert at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie.At the Opéra national de Paris: Eugene Onegin (Tatiana), 2017; La Bohème (Mimi), 2017; Carmen (Micaëla), 2019 and 2023; Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira), 2019 and 2022; Don Carlo (Elisabeth de Valois), 2019; and Simon Boccanegra (Maria Boccanegra), 2023.

Car.Nicole 

Sergei Skorokhodov made his debut in 2007 and became a soloist at Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre where he performed all the great roles in the tenor repertoire. He has sung under the baton of Valery Gergiev at a number of other theatres and venues, including the Baden-Baden Festival, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Washington Opera, and the Welsh National Opera. He has been making regular guest appearances at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre since his 2008 debut there as Grigori in Boris Godunov (a role he also sang at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich). His repertoire includes the title role of Lohengrin, Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Ivan (The Nose), Erik (Der Fliegende Holländer), Ismaele (Nabucco), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Alfredo (La Traviata)—roles he has performed on the stage of Berlin’s Deutsche Oper, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Valencia’s Palau de la Musica, Chicago’s Lyric Opera, and the Glyndebourne Festival, under the baton of conductors like Riccardo Muti, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Jurowski, Edo de Waart, Plácido Domingo, Kirill Petrenko, and Kent Nagano. More recently, he played Vaudémont (Iolanta) at the Bolshoi Theatre and the Staatstheater in Mannheim and Zinovy (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District) at the Bayerische Staatsoper. He also sang Verdi’s Requiem at the Munich Philharmonie, the title role of Lohengrin in Essen, Andrei (Khovanshchina) for his house debut at Milan’s La Scala, Calaf (Turandot) at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, and Erik (Der Fliegende Holländer) at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, he made his house debut at the Mariinsky Theatre singing the title role of Tannhäuser.Sergei Skorokhodov is making his Paris Opera debut

Skorokhodov.Sergei

Ekaterina Gubanova studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. She performs regularly on the world's greatest opera stages, including New York's Metropolitan Opera, Milan's La Scala, London's Royal Opera House, Vienna's Staatsoper, Munich's Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Madrid's Teatro Real, the Opéra national de Paris and the Bayreuth Festival. Her debut as Kundry (Parsifal) in Vienna was the highlight of her career. One of her most important roles is Brangäne (Tristan and Isolde), but her repertoire also includes Mère Marie (Dialogues des carmélites), Fricka (L'Or du Rhin and La Walkyrie), Waltraute (Le Crépuscule des dieux), Princess Eboli (Don Carlo), Amneris (Aida), Adalgisa (Norma), Judith (Bluebeard's Castle), Venus (Tannhäuser), Marguerite (The Damnation of Faust), Ortrud (Lohengrin) and the Foreign Princess (Rusalka), to name but a few. Ekaterina Gubanova also performs in concert. She works regularly with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Semyon Bychkov, Philippe Jordan and Nathalie Stutzmann.At the Opéra national de Paris: The Magic Flute (Third Lady), 2005; Otello (Emilia), 2005; Madame Butterfly (Suzuki), 2006; Tristan et Isolde (Brangäne), 2005, 2008, 2018; Les Contes d'Hoffmann (the Muse, Nicklausse), 2007, 2010; Bluebeard's Castle (Judith), 2015, 2018 ; Don Carlo (Princess Eboli), 2017 ; Rhine Gold (Fricka), 2020 ; Valkyrie (Fricka), 2020 ; Oedipus (Jocasta), 2021 ; Lohengrin (Ortrud), 2023; Salomé (Herodias), 2024

Ekaterina Gubanova

Dimitry Ivashchenko was born in Barnaul, Russia and studied in Novosibirsk and Karlsruhe. From 2000 to 2004, he was a member of the Augsburg Opera Company during which time he sang the roles of Gremin in Eugene Onegin and the title role in Don Quichotte. He soon found himself making numerous guest appearances around the world. In particular, his rendition of Philippe II in the French version of Don Carlos in Darmstadt and of Kaspar in Der Freischütz at the Baden-Baden Festival were both highly praised. In addition, he sang the roles of the Commendatore (Don Giovanni) and Frère Laurent (Roméo et Juliette) at the 2010 Salzburg Festival; Pogner (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and the Water Goblin (Rusalka) at the Komische Oper in Berlin, and Banco (Macbeth) at the Lille Opera. He also made his house debut at the Paris Opera in 2012 as Sparafucile (Rigoletto). That same year, he performed the title role of Boris Godunov in Dortmund. Soon thereafter, he made house debuts at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich (Sparafucile) and the Lyric Opera in Chicago (Pogner). He has played Gurnemanz (Parsifal) and Méphistophélès (Faust) in Darmstadt; Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) at the Baden-Baden Festival, the Berlin Philharmonie (under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle), the Teatro Petruzelli in Bari, the Paris Opera, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Dresden Semperoper, the Aix Festival and the Komische Oper in Berlin. His other roles include Rocco (Fidelio) at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and with the Dresdner Philharmoniker; Daland (Der Fliegende Holländer) in Geneva and at the Teatro Real in Madrid; Osmin (Die Entführung auf dem Serail) at the Dresden Semperoper; Hunding (Die Walküre) at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and the Capitole in Toulouse; the four demonic roles in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Komische Oper in Berlin; Khovansky (Khovanshchina) in Amsterdam; Oroveso (Norma) in Toronto; Zacharie (Le Prophète) in Toulouse; Henry VIII (Anna Bolena) in Bordeaux; and Sparafucile at the Metropolitan Opera. Dimitry Ivashchenko also performs in concert (Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, Verdi’s Requiem, Bruckner’s, Requiem, Shostakovich’s Symphony N°14, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death). More recently, he appeared as Kontchak (Prince Igor) and Fafner (The Ring) at the Paris Opera, Rocco in Zurich and Prince Gremin at the Vienna Staatsoper.

Dimitry Ivashchenko

Since winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions in 2007, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton has been performing on the leading international operatic stages: Metropolitan Opera New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Real Madrid, Houston, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco Opera Houses, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich,Santa Fe Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival… She also performed concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Iceland, London, Prague, the Czech Republic, Oulu, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Valencia.









She was named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards and received the Readers’ Award at the 2021 International Opera Awards, the Beverly Sills and Richard Tucker Awards, as well as First Prize and Melody Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Her solo albums include “ All Who Wander”, which earned the the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award, and “Unexpected Shadows”, which earned a 2022 Grammy® nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Outside the lyrical stages, Jamie Barton has been using her voice to support the causes of women, homosexuals and other marginalised communities. Her lively social media presence on Instagram and Twitter serves as a hub for conversations about body positivity, diet culture, social justice issues, and LGBTQ+ rights.

At the Opéra national de Paris: The Rake's Progress (Baba the Turk), 2024

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Member of the Paris Opera Lyric TroupeIn 2002, Florent Mbia joined Françoise Petro's singing class at the École nationale de musique de Montreuil. In 2008, he was awarded a first prize in singing with congratulations from the jury, and a diploma in chamber music studies in 2009. He has taken part in numerous masterclasses with artists such as Jose Cura and Thomas Moser. In 2008, he was a finalist in the Strasbourg International Singing Competition, and won the E. J. Marshall prize (best baritone) at the Paris International Competition (UFAM), degree "Honneur".In 2009, he won first prize at the Forum lyrique européen d'Arles, first prize at the Concours international de chant de Clermont-Ferrand and joined the Paris Opera Chorus. He became resident artist at the Centre lyrique Clermont-Auvergne during the 2010-2011 season. He sings Norton (La cambiale di matrimonio) and the bass part in Rossini's Petite Messe solennelle.He has appeared as the Second Companion (Wozzeck), Montano (Otello), Orpheus (Orpheus and Eurydice), Papageno (The Magic Flute), the Notary (Don Pasquale), Don Giovanni and Don Alfonso in Mozart se déguise directed by Stephen Taylor. In 2021, he performs the role of Laurence (Le Magnifique) at the Opéra de Reims.He has performed as soloist in concerts, oratorios and masses such as Duruflé's Requiem, Fauré's Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Handel's Messiah and Carmina Burana.He is a member of the Paris Opera Lyric Troupe since the 2023-2024 season. À l'Opéra national de Paris : La Bohème (le sergent de ville), 2017 ; Mazeppa (un régisseur de scène), 2019 ; Otello (un araldo), 2019 ; Tosca (un geôlier), 2021 ; Rigoletto (le comte de Ceprano), 2021 ; La Force du destin (un maire), 2022 ; Turandot (Ping), 2023 ; La Traviata (Il Marchese d'Obigny), 2024 ; Salomé (Fünfter Jude), 2024 ; La Vestale (le Chef des aruspices, un consul), 2024 ; La Fille du régiment (Hortensius), 2024 ; L'Or du Rhin (Donner), 2025.

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Member of the Paris Opera Lyric Troupe Trained at the Paris Opera Academy Seray Pinar graduated from the lyric art department of Ankara's Hacettepe University in 2019. In 2020, she perfects her skills in Italy before returning to Turkey to continue her training with contralto Ferda Yetişer. From 2021, she performs several concerts at the Ankara National Opera, where she sings the role of Lola (Cavalleria rusticana). She wins first prize for student opera singers in 2018 at the Izmir National Young Solists competition, and first prize in the professional edition of the same competition in 2022.She joins the Paris Opera Academy in September 2022, for two seasons, and&nbsp;took part in all the concerts and recitals at the Opéra Bastille's Amphithéâtre Olivier Messiaen and at the Palais Garnier. She participated in the exchange between the Academy and the Lindemann Young Artist Program at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in Renée Fleming's masterclass at the Studio Bastille.With the Academy artists, Seray Pinar performed the role of Lucilla in La Scala di seta directed by Pascal Neyron at the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet, and the role of Emma Jones in Street SceneS&nbsp;directed by Ted Huffman at the MC93 Bobigny.In 2023, she will perform the Marquise Melibea (Il viaggio a Reims) at the Rossini Opera Festival Academy. Most recently, she won third place in the Neue Stimmen competition. She is a member of the Paris Opera Lyric Troupe for the 2024-2025 season.At the Paris Opera: L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (l'Enfant), 2023 ;&nbsp;Les Brigands (Adolphe de Valladolid), 2025

Pinar.Seray 3 (c) Marco Borelli

Trained at the Paris Opera Academy Member of the Paris Opera Lyric TroupeOriginally from Moscow, Margarita Polonskaya began studying music and theater at an early age. In 2016, she won first prize at the Karpacz International Opera Festival (Poland) and third place in the Russian singing competition Masterpieces of Russian Music. In 2017, she graduated from Moscow's Gnessin Academy. A student at Salzburg's Mozarteum University since 2018, she was a finalist and scholarship holder at the 25th Ferruccio Tagliavini International Singing Competition in Deutschlandsberg and received the Ein Gianna Szel scholarship. She won a scholarship from the Amicitia Association of Friends of Young Artists.

She appears at the Mozarteum University's Opera Studio, where she sings the roles of Marguerite (Faust), Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), and Ritualist (Tea by Tan Dun). In 2022, she performed Pamina (The Magic Flute) at the Immling Festival.With the Paris Opera Academy, that she joined in September 2022 for two seasons, she sang Giulia (La Scala di seta) at the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet and Anna Maurrant (Street Scenes) at the MC93 in Bobigny, among others. She sang the role of Prince Ozia (La Giuditta) at the Auditorium du Musée du Louvre. Margarita Polonskaya took part in the concert tour Les compositrices et la mélodie française, in partnership with the Palazzetto Bru Zane, performing in Paris, Venice, and at the Internationale Musikfestspiele Saar.

Margarita Polonskaya has won the AROP 2022-2023 prize, the 29th Cercle Carpeaux lyric prize, and was a prizewinner at the 15th Concours international de la mélodie de Gordes. She has recently performed Stabat Mater by Pergolèse in Oppède-le-Vieux, Mimi (La Bohème) in Autun, and Eurydice (Orphée et Eurydice) in Saint-Guillaume and Strasbourg.She is a member of the Paris Opera Lyric Troupe for the 2024-2025 season.
At the Opéra national de Paris: The Magic Flute (Erste Dame), 2022, 2024; L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (the Princess), 2023; L'Or du Rhin (Woglinde), 2025; Il Trittico (Suor Genovieffa), 2025; The Barber of Seville (Berta), 2025

Margarita Polonskaya

Member of the Paris Opera TroupeDutch mezzo-soprano Maria Warenberg finished her studies with distinction at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam under the guidance of Sasja Hunnego. She is a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2023 and a multiple prize winner at the Classic Young Masters competition.In 2021 she debuted as Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette) at Opera Zuid. As a former member of the Dutch National Opera Academy in Amsterdam she made her debut in various opera productions, including d Costanza (Haydn’s L’isola disabitata) with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under the baton of Kenneth Montgomery.Other highlights of her career include concerts at Tivoli Vredenburg Hall in Utrecht and at Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. She also took part in the convert verison of Janacek’s The Makropulos affair with the Radio Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Karina Canellakis, also at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.Besides opera repertoire, Maria Warenberg has a passion for the Lied repertoire and has performed in the leading festivals and concert venues in the Netherlands. She has, among others, performed a recital at the International Lied Festival Zeist and sung Berlioz’s Les Nuits d'été with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie during the Voices Festival at Gut Holzhausen.She recently made her role debut as Annio (La clemenza di Tito) at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, in a production that was also presented in Luxemburg and in Vienna as part of the Wiener Festwochen.She is a member of the Paris Opera Lyric Troupe for the 2024-2025 season, and will also perform in recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.







At the Paris Opera: Les Brigands (Bianca), 2024; The Cunning Little Vixen (the Dog), 2024&nbsp;; I Puritani (Enrichetta di Francia), 2025

; Il Trittico (La Suor infermiera), 2025

Warenberg.Maria 1 (c) Romy Treebusch

beinart noa

Kazushi Ono’s musical personality was formed by the cultures of Japan, where he was born, and Europe, where he studied. His work reflects both influences, and crosses styles and forms, from Baroque to new commissions and from orchestral to opera. His passion, musical intellect and ability to communicate meaning across languages and cultures have led to longstanding relationships around the world.



He is Music Director of Brussels Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Appointed as Artistic Director of Opera at New National Theatre Tokyo in 2018, he recently renewed until 2029–30, making his tenure the longest in the theatre’s history. He previously served as Music Director at Opéra de Lyon (2008–17), La Monnaie (2002–8) and Bade State Opera Karlsruhe (1996–2002).



Ono has guest conducted at La Scala (Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Verdi’s Macbeth) and Bayerische Staatsoper (Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel and Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer), and made several appearances at Hamburg Opera and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.



He often commissions composers and has collaborated several times with Mark-Anthony Turnage, including on Silent Cities and Hibiki. He has also conducted works by Toshio Hosokawa, George Benjamin, Martin Matalon and Tōru Takemitsu, and among many opera world premieres, Hosokawa’s Hanjo, Arnulf Hermann’s Der Mieter and, most recently, La Monnaie’s premiere of Bernard Foccroulle’s Cassandra.



Ono is equally at home with classic operatic repertoire, conducting new productions of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and L’Enfant et les sortilèges at Glyndebourne and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher at Opéra de Lyon. He has worked on ambitious collaborations with boundary-breaking directors such as Dmitri Tcherniakov, Romeo Castellucci, Pierre Audi, William Kentridge and Mariusz Treliński. This season he conducts New National Theatre Tokyo’s premiere of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell.



With Rusalka, he makes his third appearance at Opéra de Paris, having conducted Hindemith’s Cardillac (2008) and Szymanowski’s King Roger (2009).

Canadian-born Robert Carsen trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before moving into directing, lighting and set design. He recently directed Peter Grimes and L'Orontea in Milan, Werther in Baden-Baden, La Clémence de Titus and Jedermann in Salzburg, Les Voyages de Monsieur Brouček in Brno and Berlin and Les Fêtes d'Hébé at the Opéra Comique. Other recent productions include Cabaret at Lido de Paris, Aida at London's Royal Opera House, Œdipe Roi and Œdipe à Colone (Sophocles) in Siracusa, Arabella in Zurich, Idomeneo in Madrid and Rome and Oceane in Berlin.For the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, he staged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Orlando, The Magic Flute, Sémélé and Rigoletto; at the Opéra Comique, Platée and Les Fêtes vénitiennes; at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Armide, Iphigénie en Tauride and Orphée et Eurydice; at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Candide, My Fair Lady and Singin' in the Rain. Other productions include Falstaff and Le Chevalier à la rose at London's Royal Opera House and New York's Metropolitan Opera; Rinaldo and Le Couronnement de Poppée at Glyndebourne; La Traviata at La Fenice in Venice; Don Giovanni at La Scala in Milan; Ariadne auf Naxos in Munich; Tetralogie in Cologne, Venice, Barcelona and Madrid; Carmen in Amsterdam. He has been artistic director and set designer for several exhibitions in Paris, London and Chicago.Officier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Robert Carsen received the 2021 International Opera Award, the Abbiati critics' prize, the Prix XXI in Spain and the Italian Opera Star prize. In the 2025-2026 season, he will direct Così fan tutte at La Scala in Milan and Antigone (Sophocles) in Siracusa.At the Opéra national de Paris: Manon Lescaut, 1991; Les Capulet et les Montaigu, 1995; Nabucco, 1995; Lohengrin, 1996; Alcina, 1999; Les Contes d'Hoffmann, 2000; Rusalka, 2002; Les Boréades, 2003; Capriccio, 2004; Tannhäuser, 2007; Elektra, 2013; The Magic Flute, 2014; gala Renée Fleming, 2022; Ariodante, 2023; gala Maria Callas, 2023

Michael Levine was born in Toronto and studied at the Central School of Art and Design in London. He works in theatre, cinema, and opera all over the world. He has designed the sets (often combined with the costumes design) for the
Bregenz Festival (Madama Butterfly), the New York Metropolitan Opera (Parsifal, Madame Butterfly, Eugene Onegin, Mefistofele), Milan’s La Scala (Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Don Giovanni, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), London’s Royal Opera House (Der Fliegende Holländer), the Vienna Staatsoper (Dialogues des carmélites), the Paris Opera (The magic flute, Elektra, Capriccio, Les Boréades, Rusalka, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Nabucco, I Capuleti e i Montecchi), the English National Opera (Rigoletto, Rudolf Rojahn’s Heart of a Dog), Chicago’s Lyric Opera and Madrid’s Teatro Real (Rigoletto, Billy Budd), the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam (Die Zauberflöte), the Lyon Opera (Parsifal, Tabachnik’s Benjamin, dernière nuit), Turin’s Teatro Regio (Rusalka), the Théâtre du Châtelet (Candide), the Rhine Opera (La Bohème), the Canadian Opera Company of Toronto (Wozzeck, Idomeneo, Oedipus Rex, and the sets and costumes for the complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring), the Aix Festival (Die Zauberflöte, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), the Zurich Opera (The Queen of Spades, Sweeney Todd), the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (The Rape of Lucretia), London’s Complicite Theatre (A Disappearing Number, Mnemonic), and the Royal National Theatre, the Old Vic Theatre, the Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre and theatres in London’s West End and on Broadway. In
2021-2022, he created the set designs for Peter
Grimes and Jenůfa (Royal Opera
House, London), The Cunning Little Vixen
(Bavarian State Opera Munich), Carmen and Turandot (Dutch National Opera) and La
Mouette (Royal Dramaten Theatre Stockholm).  His work has received numerous awards including a Gemini Award, the Prix de la Critique in Paris, the Edinburgh Festival Music Award, two Dora Awards and the Toronto Arts Award. He was promoted to the rank of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2002.

Peter Van Praet was the head lighting designer at the Opéra de Flandre. There, he began working with Robert Carsen. He then oversaw revivals of Sémélé at the English National Opera and Tosca at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.For Carsen, he designed the lighting for Kátia Kabanová and La petite renarde rusée at the Opéra de Flandre; Jenůfa at the Saito Kinen Festival; Der Rosenkavalier at the Salzburg Festival and the Royal Opera House in London; and Don Giovanni at La Scala in Milan. He also designed the lighting for La Petite Renarde rusée, L'Affaire Makropoulos, De la maison des morts, and Don Carlo at the Opéra national du Rhin; Falstaff at La Scala in Milan and the Royal Opera House in London; CO2 at La Scala in Milan; and The Beggar's Opera at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord.... Van Praet also designed the lighting for Norma, Bluebeard's Castle, and The Cunning Little Vixen in Brussels for Christophe Coppens. He designed the lighting for Carmen and Les Vêpres siciliennes in Rome, Aida and Tosca in Macerata, as well as the sets and lighting for La Favorite at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo and Bordeaux. Last season, he designed the lighting for L'Orontea at La Scala in Milan and Les Voyages de Monsieur Brouček at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.During the 2025–26 season, he designed the lighting for Così fan tutte at La Scala in Milan.At the Opéra national de Paris, he designed the lighting for Rusalka (2002), Les Boréades (2003), Capriccio (2004), Tannhäuser (2007), Elektra (2013), The Magic Flute (2014), and Ariodante (2023). He also designed the lighting and sets for Nixon in China (2023).

Philippe Giraudeau studied dance in La Rochelle and made his debut in France before joining the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and Second Stride. In 1988 he won the “London Dance and Performance Award”. He has performed in England as an actor and a dancer at the National Theatre (Skriker and Pericles), the Royal Opera House (Chérubin), the Orange Tree Theatre (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme), the Royal Court Theatre (A Mouthful of Birds), and the I.C.A. Theatre, London (The Princess of Cleves and Secret Gardens). He has created the choreography for numerous opera productions in collaboration with Tim Albery (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merry Widow at the Metropolitan Opera, From the House of the Dead and Boris Godunov at the English National Opera, The Flying Dutchman at the Royal Opera House in London), Robert Carsen (Semele, The Cunning Little Vixen, Kátia Kabanová in Antwerp, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Alcina and Rusalka at the Paris Opera, Dialogues des carmélites in Amsterdam and Milan, Il Trovatore at the Bregenz Festival, Der Rosenkavalier in Salzburg and at London’s Royal Opera House, La Traviata at La Fenice, Elektra in Tokyo, Manon Lescaut in Vienna, Salomé in Florence, Iphigénie en Tauride in Chicago, Rinaldo in Glyndebourne, Don Giovanni at Milan’s La Scala, The Love for Three Oranges in Berlin, Rigoletto at the Aix Festival), Richard Jones (Jenůfa in Amsterdam and Chicago, Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opera North and the English National Opera, Juliette ou la clé des songes at the Paris Opera, Un ballo in maschera and La Bohème at the Bregenz Festival, Les Troyens at the ENO, The Cunning Little Vixen in Amsterdam, Annie get your Gun at the Young Vic in London), Antony McDonald (Aida, Samson et Dalila and Snatched by the Gods / Broken Strings at the Scottish Opera, Bernstein’s Wonderful Town at the Grange Park Opera, Lohengrin at the Welsh National Opera), Stephen Langridge (Arianna in Creta at the Reis Opera, Tangier Tattoos for the Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Otello at the Salzburg Festival, Minautor at Covent Garden, La Damnation de Faust in Chicago), and John Fuljames (The Enchanted Pig at the Young Vic in London, From the House of the Dead at the Opera North).

After studying Piano and Composition at the G.B. Martini Conservatoire in Bologna, Alessandro Di Stefano began his career as a concert pianist. Awarded a grant by the G. Verdi Conservatoire of Milan, he specialised in chamber music and operatic repertoire and took part in numerous recitals. Discovering an increasing interest in choral conducting, he continued his studies with Franco Monego at the Milan Conservatoire where he obtained first prize for conducting and choir training and took part in master classes with Aldo Ceccato and Piero Bellugi. In 2000, whilst continuing to pursue his career as a concert pianist and accompanist, he joined the Nice Opera company as vocal coach and was appointed assistant chorus master. He also worked as vocal coach for Traviata at the Antibes Festival and participated in a number of operatic productions for the Chorégies d’Orange. He conducted the Nice Opera Orchestra on numerous occasions, notably during the Nice Baroque Festival. In 2004, he joined the Paris Opera as Assistant Chorus master, since when he has worked alongside a number of prestigious conductors including Philippe Jordan, Daniel Oren, Evelino Pido, Renato Palumbo, Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov, Gustav Kuhn, Michail Jurowski and Kent Nagano. From 2007 to 2009, he was Chorus master and in 2008 accompanied the Opera Chorus to Japan on a tour featuring Tristan and Isolde and Ariane et Barbe-Bleue conducted by Semyon Bychkov and Lylvain Cambreling.Alessandro Di Stefano has now participated in over 50 Paris Opera productions and numerous radio broadcasts for France Musique and Radio Classique as well as various audiovisual recordings. He is currently Assistant Chorus master at the Paris Opera. In 2015, he was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the Minister of Culture Fleur Pellerin.

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