The Next Generation of Creative Teams
Like Alchemists in a Strange Lab
Competitions such as the RING AWARD offer young creative teams a platform to present their ideas for a modern opera world. In the 2025 edition of the award, nine teams competed in the semi-finals with their innovative production concepts of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo; three of them proceeded to the finals. During the weeks before the final presentations, OperaVision spoke to several of the young talents from the fields of directing, stage and costume design. Here they share insights into their work and artistic visions. What drives the creative minds of tomorrow, and what does opera have to do with a chemistry lab?
First Steps
Long before an opera production comes to life on stage, usually years in advance, the creative team begin their work. Whether it is a baroque opera, a double bill evening or a new composition in the making, the creative team collect thoughts and ideas, set a thematic focus, develop a concept and shape the story that they want to present to the audience.
Maria Chagina is one of the young directors and describes her profession as ‘primarily an organiser of ideas, space and people’ who, in opera, becomes a ‘mediator between music and interpretation, determining the lens through which the audience will experience the musical work.’ With a musical background as violinist, her first crucial step of directing is to study the musical score, the biographical and political context as well as the literary sources of the work. Once a concept has been developed, the director acts as a ‘bridge between the conception and the practical realisation of a vision’, describes the young director Giorgio Pesenti. ‘It’s a bit like being an obstetrician: taking care of bringing an idea into the world, guiding it towards life. The director’s task is always to inspire others throughout the artistic process, so that they keep alive the care and emotional openness needed to bring a project to life.'
While the skillset for good directing can be acquired and developed through training, many of the emerging talents draw vital inspiration for their careers from initial experiences that they gained outside the opera business. During their acting education, director Finn Nachfolger witnessed ‘differences in how directors work with the people on stage depending on their own experience on stage. My education enables me to find a language to talk to my performers and to understand the difficulties that can arise during rehearsals or performances.’ Having also gained working experience backstage, Finn hopes that ‘this will help to communicate in a better way with all the people involved in a production.’
Set and costume designer Heike Hümpfner also ended up in musical theatre by roundabout means, which she finds very enriching. While studying architecture, she discovered that buildings can have narrative qualities: ‘For me, a building was never just a structure; it was a narrative unfolding in space, shaped by its surroundings and the people moving through it.’ How appropriate for opera that makes stories come to life through the interplay of music, libretto, space and design. ‘My architectural training taught me how space can affect the human body and stir emotion, how materials, proportions, and light can create an atmosphere that resonates on both a physical and psychological level. Bringing that sensibility into opera means creating a world on stage that doesn’t just illustrate the narrative but embodies it - allowing the set to become an active partner in the storytelling.’
Collaboration and Communication
For many of the young creatives, close collaboration is essential - be it within the team, with those involved on and behind the stage, or with organisations outside the direct opera circle. Set designer Anouk Hufschmid Hirschbühl emphasises: ‘Collaboration between the director and their designers is key! You want your characters to live in the space and in their costumes, their clothes. The stage design is simply a space if you do not have the characters and the story.’ Heike Hümpfner believes that this is a decisive and characteristic quality of the next generation of opera professionals: ‘We are living in a time where artists are blending traditions with new, diverse perspectives. The strength lies in embracing that fusion - whether it’s incorporating new technology, exploring cross-disciplinary collaborations, or creating more inclusive, relevant spaces for the opera to evolve. There’s an openness to risk and experimentation that will propel the art form into exciting new realms.’
After all, ‘it’s important to recognise how much the world has changed since the 17th century’, says Maria Chagina. ‘Our perception of time and content has become much more rapid—we are now accustomed to short, quickly changing pieces of content. I believe that any encounter between opera and other, younger forms of art like pop culture, video installations, street art, and performance is beneficial, as it creates a point of connection with a younger audience.’ And not only the young, finds Anouk Hufschmid Hirschbühl, who is convinced that the art form of opera, perceived as intimidating and expensive, must be made more accessible: ‘It needs to open its doors more, work with the local city and town. Show people that they know melodies, arias, stories that have come from opera or that have inspired an opera piece. I wish for opera to remain colourful, create inspiration, and work through its problematic themes and issues that keep being portrayed on stage. I wish for it to explore new ground, and be played musically, visually and academically.’ By collaboration, this art form can be kept alive and young.
Responsibility and Sustainability
Apart from inspiring content that opera deals with in various spaces and that can anchor the genre in the 21st century, the young creatives see the need to respond to the crises of our time: ‘As an artist, I believe we have a responsibility to create not only meaningful art but also to consider the environmental impact of our work,’ describes Heike Hümpfner, who aspires to use eco-friendly materials, minimise waste in the production process and recycle stage parts or costumes. However, she sees this as a motivation: ‘Sustainability also means fostering a mindset of creativity within limitations - finding beauty in what’s available and being resourceful without sacrificing artistic integrity.’
Undoubtedly, thinking about production processes in terms of its ecological footprint is part of the work of the new generation. In addition, they see the need to reflect on social, cultural and political sustainability, questions of diversity, accessibility and (human) resources. As the design duo Giulia Bruschi and Riccardo Mainetti say: ‘Simply choosing sustainable raw materials is not enough; sustainability involves a series of decisions from the project’s conception to its premiere, engaging all institutions and individuals involved.’ Finn Nachfolger, for example, regards ‘diversity as a key factor of sustainability to keep theatre and our stories alive. This means also adapting to different needs and to understand that humans are a resource that needs to be taken care of.’
For Giorgio Pesenti, sustainability needs to be addressed at the root: ‘A work is sustainable if its purpose can generate meaning, relationships, and impact in the present.’ As an active part of an art form that is still largely financed by public resources, the young director takes a clear stance: ‘We can no longer afford art for art’s sake. We urgently need to build a new ecology of art - an open ecosystem that can go beyond self-referentiality and truly engage with the times we live in.’
‘Opera, often perceived as elitist, now has the opportunity to reinvent itself,’ says Pesenti. ‘It can become a collective voice, a shared ritual, a political gesture. Theatre can and must move between institutional spaces and the public sphere, between professionals and citizens, playing an active role in shaping new social imaginaries.’ Director Franciska Éry sees this as a great opportunity for the work of the next generation: ‘Opera’s biggest asset in sustainability is its power to hold a room full of strangers in the dark, listening to the same thing without any tech in hand. Our productions should advocate for values that inspire people to also take steps towards sustainability.’
The Power of the Next Generation
Despite, or perhaps because of the many challenges, the young creatives are hopeful about the future. Franciska Éry demands: ‘Let emerging artists trust their instincts. Allow them to carve their own worlds out in their process and their execution of vision. Let them do weird stuff. Allow them to take risks. The opera of tomorrow is collaborative; it takes inspiration from other genres, other mediums. Artists have to be curious and not worry about making mistakes.’ And sometimes, it might mean that bigger is not always necessarily better, notes Maria Chagina, who is ‘a fan of simple solutions and chamber productions, where theatre is born from almost nothing. You don’t necessarily need a big budget to reach the audience on an emotional level.’
Eagerness to experiment, curiosity, and collaboration, a willingness to take risks, openness and courage: is there a recipe for success for the opera of tomorrow? ‘We are like alchemists in a strange lab,’ say the designers Giulia Bruschi and Riccardo Mainetti when describing their profession, ‘surrounded by flasks, odd liquids, smoke and steam. Our ingredients come from an equally strange inventory: the dust of tradition, or a theatre technician with forty years of experience; objects found by chance, or others chosen and debated for months. Some materials arrive at the last second; others have been waiting in a drawer in the brain, until they suddenly make sense. Our dream is to find the perfect formula to bring fiction to life.’
What almost sounds like the search for the philosopher’s stone is also a driving force for the young opera professionals, as Bruschi and Mainetti conclude: ‘It’s a constant, exhausting search for that fragile balance. You never know when, or why, it works. But when it does, it makes every sacrifice worth it.’
Hannes Föst
