Lighting Designer

Georges Bizet’s titular heroine is as captivating a character as any in the history of opera. The different interpretations of Carmen are legion: we have the seductress, the personification of forbidden yearning, the standard bearer for the “eternally female” in the brutal battle of the sexes, the anarchist unfettered by bourgeois angst and compulsions, the archaic clairvoyante seeing her own death in the cards - yet free, as she does not dread her destiny. Few opera heroines are so open to interpretation and hence so able to serve as a mirror held up to society.

Carmen

Deutsche Oper Berlin

«L'amour est un oiseau rebelle», sings Carmen in Georges Bizet’s opera of the same name. Mats Ek, the Swedish dance legend, made Carmen the heroine of a ballet at the Cullberg Ballet in 1992. He based it closely on the novella by Prosper Mérimée, which also forms the basis for the opera, in which Don José tells the story of Carmen from his death cell. Playing with classic gender roles, Mats Ek avoids common Carmen clichés and finds a deeply human interpretation. Another strong female figure is at the center of Dani Rowe’s choreography. After a career as a dancer with the Australian Ballet and the Nederlands Dans Theater, the Australian-born choreographer now heads the Oregon Ballet Theater. She is creating her first choreography for the Ballett Zürich, set to the music of Mussorgsky’s «Bilder einer Ausstellung», in the orchestral version by Maurice Ravel.

Rebel Birds

Zurich Opera House

In 1897, three scientists set out to fly over the North Pole in a gas balloon. They never returned. Then, a discovery. Their fate, shrouded in mystery for decades, is revealed through a found camera and rolls of film that were buried in the ice for 33 years. This theatrical exploration blends dance, music, film, and projection to tell a poetic and impressionistic distortion of the true story. A loving tribute to photography and its capacity to expose the power, beauty, and fragility of the environment, this show is a metaphoric comedy about memory, destiny, legacy, and hubris in the face of nature’s force.

White Box

Emmett Robinson Theatre at College of Charleston

Verdi’s celebrated dramatic masterpiece is a triumph of opera, brimming with some of its greatest musical highlights.

Rigoletto has everything one could wish for in Italian opera: a gripping storyline and unforgettable melodies that stay with you long after the curtain falls—including the famous tenor aria La donna è mobile.

Rigoletto

Royal Danish Opera

One day. Three ways to die. Director Eirik Stubø takes on one of opera literature's most multifaceted portraits of women and with perhaps the most beautiful music of all - Puccini's Tosca.

Lighting Designer

Ellen Ruge

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 12 - Dec 9, 2025

Rebel Birds · Opernhaus Zürich

Oct 25, 2025 - Jun 12, 2026

Carmen · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Jan 16 - Mar 11, 2026

Rigoletto · Royal Danish Opera

Mar 28 - Apr 28, 2026

Tosca · Norrlandsoperan

Past events

Oct 25, 2025 - Jun 12, 2026

Carmen · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Oct 12 - Dec 9, 2025

Rebel Birds · Opernhaus Zürich

About

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