Rifail Ajdarpasic (Set-Designer and Exhibition-Designer)
Born 1975 in Stuttgart (Germany).
He graduated in Set-Design and Exhibition-Design at the Highschool of Arts and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe (Germany).
At the beginning of his career as set-designer he was responsible for various modern dance productions in the Off-Ballet-series for the young choreographers of the Vienna Opera House.
From 2003-2007 he realized in close collaboration with Ariane Isabell Unfried regurarly the set-designs for the international opera and theatre productions of the spanish director Calixto Bieito in Germany, England, Switzerland and Spain, embossing thereby significantly his direct aesthetics on stage at that time. Out of this period are among others outstanding and internationally awarded productions as La Taviata, Il Trovatore, The Rake's Progress, Elektra, Don Carlos, King Lear and Hamlet.
At the same time he collaborated frequently as set-designer with the american director Francisco Negrin at the well-known opera houses in Spain, as in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, as well as in Germany and France, among others for outstanding and widely noticed productions as Temistocle, L'arbore di Diana and Una cosa rara.
Since 2007 he is also designing regurarly the sets for the opera productions of the venezuelan-german director Carlos Wagner in Germany, Spain, Switzerland and France for outstanding productions as Un ballo in maschera, La vie parisienne, La damnation de Faust, The fall of the house of Usher, Der fliegende Holländer and Lohengrin.
2011 the contemporary opera production Gegen die Wand, where he was responsible for the set, was awarded with the most prestigious german theatre award Der Faust.
Among the premiered productions of the last years where he designed the sets, are titles like L’Italiana in Algeri and Iolanta in France, as well as the awarded opera production Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor in Switzerland and Belgium, all of them directed by David Hermann. The last mentioned production was awarded with the Parisian Critics Award in 2014.
Part of that period of time are as well the internationally widely noticed production Oedipe directed by Hans Neuenfels at the Opera House Frankfurt, Thais at the Opera Bonn directed by Francisco Negrin, Macbeth and I due Foscari in Germany and the Festival in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland directed by Carlos Wagner and Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen in Germany directed by Sebastian Welker.
For the productions of the italian director Nicola Berloffa he designed the sets for L’Italiana in Algeri in France at the Opera Houses in Marseille and Avignon, as well as for the awarded production Carmen at the Opera House in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland, the Opera House of Tenerife in Spain and the Rennes Opera House in France.
Amongs some of the premiered productions in the years 2017-2019 are titles like Rigoletto at the Opera House in Frankfurt, the world premiere of the contemporary opera Crusades by the german composer Ludger Vollmer in Freiburg, Lotario for the International Handel-Festival in Göttingen in Germany and the Opera House in Bern in Switzerland, Don Carlo. A Requiem in Münster and The Nutcracker in Munich.
During this period were as well premiered the musicals Die Dreigroschenoper/The Three-Penny-Opera in Dresden, Jesus Christ Superstar within the Open-Air-Festival in Magdeburg directed by Sebastian Ritschel, the american musical Street Scene by Kurt Weill directed by Hendrik Müller and the baroque opera Serse for the renowned International Handel-Festival in Karlsruhe directed by Max Emanuel Cencic.
Among the from 2019 onwards premiered productions are titles like Pénélope in Frankfurt, Cecilia Valdés at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid in Spain and the musical Cabaret in Klagenfurt in Austria directed by Immo Karaman.
In 2021 the opera Der Glöckner von Notre Dame/The Hunchback of Notre Dame by the composer Franz Schmidt was premiered within the Open-Air-Festival in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland directed by Carlos Wagner.
Most recently premieres were the contemporary opera Morgen und Abend by the austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas for the Opera House in Graz in Austria and The Rake's Progress in Mainz, Germany.
Among some of the upcoming premieres are titles like Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for the Opera House in Leipzig, Germany and Ravnen for the Danish National Opera.
Ariane Isabell Unfried (Set-Designer and Costume-Designer)
Born 1971 in Hamburg (Germany).
She studied Set-Design and Costume-Design at the Royal School of Dramatical Arts in Madrid, the Highschool of Applicated Arts in Vienna and at the Highschool of Arts and Media (ZKM) in Karlruhe (Germany), where she graduated in Set-Design.
At the beginning of her career as costume-designer and set-designer she was responsible for various modern dance- and theatre productions in Spain and Austria, where she collaborated frequently with the austrian choreographer and dancer of the Vienna Opera House-Ballet Nikolaus Adler.
From 2003 to 2007 she realized in close collaboration with Rifail Ajdarpasic regurarly the set-designs, as well as frequently the costume-designs for the international opera and theatre productions of the spanish director Calixto Bieito in Germany, England, Switzerland and Spain. Out of this period are among others outstanding and internationally awarded productions as La Taviata, Il Trovatore, The Rake's Progress, Elektra, Don Carlos, King Lear and Hamlet.
At the same time she collaborated frequently as set- & costume-designer with the american director Francisco Negrin at the well-known opera houses in Spain, as in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, as well as in Germany and France, among others for outstanding and widely noticed productions as Temistocle, L'arbore di Diana, Una cosa rara and 2014 Thais at the Opera House in Bonn.
Since 2007 she is also designing regurarly the costumes for the opera productions of the venezuelan director Carlos Wagner in Germany, Spain, Switzerland and France for outstanding productions as La damnation de Faust, The fall of the house of Usher and recently I due Foscari.
2011 the contemporary opera production Gegen die Wand, where she was responsible for the costumes, was awarded with the most prestigious german theatre award Der Faust.
Among the premiered productions in the last years where she designed the costumes, are titles like Iolanta in France, as well as the awarded opera production Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor in Switzerland and Belgium, all of them directed by David Hermann. The last mentioned production was awarded in 2014 with the Parisian Critics Award.
For the awarded production Carmen of the italian director Nicola Berloffa she designed the costumes at the Opera House in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland, the Opera House of Tenerife in Spain and the Rennes Opera House in France.
Among some of the premiered productions from 2017 onwards are titles like the world premiere of the contemporary opera Crusades by the german composer Ludger Vollmer in Freiburg, Lotario for the International Handel-Festival in Göttingen in Germany and the Opera House in Bern in Switzerland, Don Carlo. A Requiem in Münster, The Nutcracker in Munich and in 2020 recently Rigoletto for the Danish National Opera in Denmark.
Among some of the upcoming premieres are titles like Otello and Ravnen for the Danish National Opera and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for the Opera House in Leipzig, Germany.