Bluebeards Castle Biographies
Thomas Oliemans
Duke Bluebeard
Dutch baritone Thomas Oliemans has established himself in recent years on leading international opera, concert, and festival stages as a singer of outstanding musicality, intelligence and compelling stage presence. His debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York last season as Papageno was highly acclaimed by the critics: ‘a singular Papageno’ (New York Times) and ‘the star of the show’ (New York Classical Review).
Last season he returned to De Nationale Opera Amsterdam as Father-in- Law in Saariaho’s Innocence and as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. He also appeared in recitals at Oxford Lieder Festival together with pianist Hans Eijsackers and in the Netherlands, accompanying himself on the piano.
Thomas Oliemans has appeared at Metropolitan Opera New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Staatsoper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the English National Opera among others. His repertoire spans from Mozart to the 21st century like Papageno/Die Zauberflöte, Figaro, Il Conte di Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo, Don Alfonso/Cosi fan tutte, Mr. Redburn/Billy Budd, Schaunard, Marcello/La Bohème, Faninal/Der Rosenkavalier, Peter Besenbinder/Hänsel und Gretel, Valmont/Quartet (Francesconi), Le Témoin/L’Apokalypse Arabe (Odeh-Tamimi), Pluto/Eurydice – Die Liebenden blind (Trohjahn).
Thomas Oliemans has had the pleasure to collaborate with conductors and ensembles such as Daniel Barenboim, Ivor Bolton, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Natalie Stutzmann, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra and many others.
A sought-after recitalist, he has appeared in Oxford, Cambridge, Vienna, Zürich, Stuttgart, Basel, Antwerp, London (Wigmore Hall), New York, Toronto, Tokyo and Paris with pianists Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson and Paolo Giacometti. His repertoire includes the great song cycles by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf and Mahler, French repertoire from Caplet to Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc and Ravel up to numerous works of the 21st century. Thomas Oliemans is a regular guest at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and was artist in resident there last season.
Deirdre Angenent
Judith
Mezzosopraan
Following Deirdre’s much acclaimed appreciation of her interpretation of Judit in Bluebeard’s Castle at Aalto Theater Essen in 2022, she was invited to Israel for this role by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under Steven Sloane in December 2022 and in October 2023 she sang this part again with the Bochumer Symphoniker. Next to singing Judit at Opera Zuid, the 2024- 2025 season includes the demanding role of Marie in Wozzeck (Berg), Essen and Angela Rose in The Listeners (Missy Mazzoli- German première), Essen. Next to that, she will sing a lot of concert repertoire.
In May and June 2024 she jumped in for Venus in Tannhäuser, on very short notice, both in Schwerin (Dresden version) and made her house debut at Badisches Staatstheater Karlruhe (Pariser version), while at the same time making her debut as Marie in Wozzeck (Berg). Engagements in the 2022-2023 season included Verdi’s Requiem in Tonhalle Zürich and a Beethoven concert in the Philharmonie in Essen (9th symphony and lieder). She sang a series of Tannhäuser performances (Venus) at Aalto Theater Essen, Germany. In June 2022 she jumped in for two performances of Tannhäuser at the Wartburg in Eisenach, where she sang this part several times before.
In the 2020-2021 season she made her debut as Leonore in Fidelio in Metz. Other engagements include Waldtaube (Gurre-Lieder) and Fenena (Nabucco) at Aalto Theater Essen, Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Opéra de Lausanne and Das Meininger Staatstheater, Judit (Bluebeard’s Castle) with the Essener Philharmoniker, Sieglinde (Walküre) at Aalto Theater Essen, Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel) at Opéra National de Nancy, Venus (Tannhäuser) at Das Meininger Staatstheater, and Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra in Seoul, and Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito) with The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Furthermore, she performed at La Chaise-Dieu Festival, France, with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 and at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder.
Deirdre graduated summa cum Laude gaining a master’s degree in Opera in Amsterdam (DNOA) in 2010. She also studied the Dutch language. Deirdre lives with her family in The Netherlands (close to Nijmegen).
Duncan Ward
Conductor
British conductor Duncan Ward has established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile conductors of his generation. He is Chief Conductor of Philzuid (South Netherlands Philharmonic), a position he has held since 2020/21.
The 2023/24 season saw Duncan return to the London Symphony Orchestra for two highly acclaimed projects at the Barbican, with Abel Selaocoe and Isabelle Faust as soloists. Recent symphonic highlights include with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Finnish Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Trondheim Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Les Siècles, Lucerne Symphony and Kammerakademie Potsdam. Duncan made his debut at Zurich Opera with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as returning to Oper Köln for Peter Grimes.
Duncan returns to London in Autumn 2024 to conduct a new production of Britten’s Turn of the Screw at English National Opera. In 2024/25 he also debuts at Opera National de Lyon (Cosi fan Tutte), Stuttgart Staatsoper (Death in Venice), Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Osaka Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique du Quebec & Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra alongside return visits to Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen & NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic.
Duncan made his North American debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2022 with Die Zauberflöte. He conducted the opening ceremony of Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchester, broadcast live on TV, alongside memorable concerts with Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony, Balthasar Neumann and NDR Elbphilharmonie orchestras.
Duncan is passionate about a hugely wide-ranging repertoire, equally at home working with period instrument ensembles such as Les Siècles or Balthasar Neumann, as with contemporary music specialists like Ensemble Modern or Ensemble Intercontemporain. Committed to several music charity projects, in his late teens Duncan co-founded the WAM Foundation, enabling young British musicians to teach in schools across India. He has also regularly collaborated with the South African non-profit organisation MIAGI, for whom he directed a major tour in 2018 to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. Through his work across India, Duncan had the rare privilege to be personally invited to study Indian classical music with the late great sitarist Ravi Shankar.
Kenza Koutchoukali
Director
In her work, stage director Kenza Koutchoukali explores the fantasy dimension of reality. She was affiliated with KASKO, house for music theatre, in the 2018/19 season. Over the past few years, Kenza has worked with composers such as Anne-Maartje Lemereis, Jan-Peter de Graaff, Leonard Evers and Mathilde Wantenaar to create various forms of opera and music theatre.
After having directed GOUD! (Evers), a children’s opera co-produced by Dutch National Opera and Opera Zuid (the Netherlands), she made her debut on the main stage with the production of How ANANSI freed the stories of the world (Neo Muyanga, Maarten van Hinte and Shailesh Bahoran), as well as teaming up with Antony Hermus to direct Bluebeard’s Castle (Bartók) at an off-site location in 2022. She recently stage-directed Elektrische Fische, a new chamber opera by composer Hannah Eisendle, for the Vienna State Opera in Austria. Koutchoukali is currently working on a new production for Dutch National Opera and the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra with composer Bushra El-Turk.
Yannick Verweij
Scenography, costume- en light design
Yannick Verweij (1994, Cabadbaran, The Philippines) is scenographer and theatre maker. He trained at HKU University for the Arts Utrecht, The Netherlands (BA Theatre Design, grad. 2017) and at the School of Arts (KASK) in Ghent, Belgium (MA Drama, grad. 2021). He gained experience by working for international stage designers such as Clement & Sanôu, Michael Levine and video designer Finn Ross.
In recent years, Verweij has developed a passion for writing and directing new opera works, focusing on the processes of multidisciplinary collaboration and communication. As a maker, his field of interest spans a gamut of disciplines within the performing arts, including design (sets, costume, lighting, video), directing and writing. He worked on projects that have been performed in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Japan. Verweij also teaches theatre design at HKU University for the Arts in Utrecht. Recent projects include a set designs for Philharmonie de Luxembourg, Theater Oostpool in Arnhem (the Netherlands) and the design of the scenography for the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Upcoming engagements are with Dutch National Opera and Opera Zuid, De Toneelmakerij and Theater Oostpool.
Wout van Tongeren
Dramaturgy
Wout van Tongeren studied theatre and philosophy at ArtEZ University of the Arts Arnhem, Utrecht University and Radboud University. He worked as a dramaturge with companies such as Silbersee, Orkater and Mugmetdegoudentand. Since 2017, he has been working at Dutch National Opera & Ballet. Earlier, he was involved at Opera Zuid in Die Zauberflöte (2019, directed by Jorinde Keesmaat). He has worked with director Kenza Koutchoukali on various productions since 2020.
Lochlan Brown
Assistant conductor
Lochlan is an Australian pianist, composer and conductor, currently based in Amsterdam. His recent performances as a conductor include Candide at Lithuanian National Opera and the world premiere Anansi at De Nationale Opera. He also works regularly with Opera Zuid and Nederlandse Reisopera. Lochlan’s interest in theatre began as a repetiteur at Western Australian Opera and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School in Brisbane, Australia. He then moved to New York to pursue studies in orchestral conducting and collaborative piano at the Mannes School of Music. He spent his summers at the Miami Music Festival as rehearsal director and assistant conductor. While in New York, Lochlan performed for several productions at Opera on Tap, Bare Opera, Long Island Opera and On Site Opera. For the 2018-2019 season, Lochlan was offered the position of Maestro Collaboratore at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and the following season he joined De Nationale Opera Studio in Amsterdam. As a pianist, Lochlan has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, on Dutch television and radio, including Podium Witteman and Mondo. Lochlan also enjoys working in TV, film and musical. He has created arrangements and orchestrations for projects combining opera, hip-hop, ballet, electronica and other cross-genre elements – some of which have appeared at the Opera Forward Festival. In 2021 and 2022, he was the coach and assistant to Leonard Evers on the successful TV competition show, ARIA, which will return for a third season. In Lochlan’s first season at Opera Zuid, he assisted Enrico Delamboye on an innovative film production of L’elisir d’amore. He then assisted at Opera Zuid during the productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lady in the Dark and Orphée aux Enfers.
Joep Hupperetz
Assistent director
Joep Hupperetz is a dramaturg and theater professional, having earned a Master of Arts in Theatre Studies from the University of Amsterdam in 2021. During his studies, he actively gained interdisciplinary experience within the opera and theater world, including key roles at Opera Zuid, where he served as second assistant director and assistant dramaturg. He was also a dramaturg and librettist for the IDIOSYNCRATIC production at the Opera Forward Festival, demonstrating his ability to shape both classical and contemporary narratives.
Joep’s career highlights include two seasons (2017-2019) as a producer for JONG DeLaMar, as well as his ongoing role as a permanent dramaturg at Opera Zuid, which he joined in 2020. His work there includes celebrated productions like Kurt Weill’s Lady in the Dark (Winner of Opera of the Year 2022, Place de l’Opera), Eternal Road (a liederabend about Kurt Weill for Théâtres de la Ville Luxembourg), and Christopher Gillett’s adaptation of Der Schauspieldirektor (2023), set to appear at the Buxton International Festival in 2025.
In addition to his work at Opera Zuid, Joep’s versatility as a dramaturg has been showcased in numerous projects, including a new adaptation of Salieri’s Armida at Opera Nijetrijne (2023). Looking ahead, his upcoming engagements include collaborations with director and choreographer Dreya Weber on Le Villi & Silenzio (May 2025) and a premiere of Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ (March 2025).
Cédric Rath
Assistent dramaturgy (intern)
Cédric Rath, born in 2000, is a Utrecht-based musicologist specializing in Dutch music history, music theory, and sonology. After also studying Liberal Arts at ArtEZ University of the Arts and University College Maastricht, he is currently pursuing a Research Master’s in Musicology (RMA) at Utrecht University, where he explores the intersections of theatre studies and music history. In addition to his academic work at the Department of Media and Cultural Studies (UU), Cédric is actively involved as a composer and pianist for film and theatre.
Justas Čeponis
Repetitor
Justas Čeponis is a repetiteur at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. He also regularly performs solo as well as chamber music. He has shared the stage with renowned partners, including cellist Nicholas Jones from the United Kingdom, and distinguished singers such as Asmik Grigorian, Olga Peretyatko, Vida Miknevičiūtė, and Edgaras Montvidas.
In the opera theater, he collaborates closely with esteemed conductors like Maestro Sesto Quatrini, Marcello Bufallini, Modestas Pitrėnas, and Rafael Sanchez Araña. He also works with opera director Dalia Ibelhauptaitė at the Vilnius City Opera. Together, they represented Lithuania at EXPO 2020 in Dubai alongside the Vilnius City Opera and the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. In 2023, Justas began collaborating with the Nederlandse Reisopera in Enschede on Thomas Adès’ opera Powder Her Face.
Philzuid
Orchestra
We let everyone experience unforgettable moments of happiness
That is our mission, that is what we aim for and what we want to do for you. Philzuid is an orchestra of and for everyone. We constantly push our boundaries by seeking new challenges to touch the hearts, minds and souls of people of all ages. From Eindhoven and Maastricht, we are connected to all inhabitants of North Brabant, Limburg and Zeeland, but also far beyond, at home and abroad. Led by intendant Stefan Rosu and with chief conductor Duncan Ward, we let everyone experience unforgettable moments of happiness. We are the symphony orchestra of the South.
Continuous innovation is in our blood: We are happiness makers
An important core value for Philzuid is ‘renew’. We are a versatile orchestra that is constantly innovating. We are known for our great symphonic concerts with well-known musical works in all concert halls in the South of the Netherlands and beyond, but we are also creators. We are constantly pushing our boundaries. We invent and create new concert formulas in unexpected locations. We research changes in the world of classical music within the Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music (MCICM). The MCICM is an interdisciplinary research centre in which the orchestra, Maastricht University and Zuyd University work together. In it, the orchestra fulfils a laboratory function, putting new ideas directly into practice.
We are also proud of our extensive educational programs. Small ensembles with musicians from the orchestra travel to primary schools to let pupils experience live classical music up close and involved. In theatres or concert halls, pupils meet the entire symphony orchestra and participate in performances. For secondary schools, we create programs where pupils experience live classical music and come into contact with our musicians.
We are happiness sharers by connecting
We are connectors on all fronts. A second core value in our organisation. We respond to social issues and events. We have a lively connection with southern Dutch society. We are there first and foremost for the inhabitants of North Brabant, Limburg and Zeeland. In this region, the largest part of the Netherlands, we have become indispensable with major public events such as Opera op de Parade and Opera Sing Along in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. How about the Liberation Concert in Margraten or our high-profile performances at festival Cultura Nova in Heerlen and, of course, the popular Vastelaovend and Carnival concerts in Limburg and Brabant. Of great significance are also the various collaborations, such as with contemporary music festival November Music in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, with amateur musicians and with up-and-coming talent from the Maastricht and Tilburg conservatoires in the Orchestra Academy. We also connect with the business community, such as during inspiring business events like our Philinspired and various custom-made arrangements.
We bring happiness and want to surprise
That’s what we are all about. With every concert, every performance, every project, we want to surprise and let people experience a bit of happiness. Surprise is ónly our third core value. Everyone who visits a concert, experiences emotive moments. They are moments of surprise and amazement, from inner peace to inspiration and from reflection to getting extra energy. Our goal is for everyone to start feeling these moments of happiness with our music. And how beautiful it is that the first word of our old naming philharmonic has the same sound as the English word Feel. The word ‘Phil’ is pronounced ‘Feel’. By putting all kinds of feelings behind the word ‘Phil’, everyone can fill in how a happy moment is experienced and felt: From Phil Good, Phil Amazing, Phil Nice, Phil Wonderfull, to Phil Relaxed, Phil Special. In short, an endless use of words that describe people’s happy moments when they experience our music. This ambition has led to changing our naming from philharmonie zuidnederland to Philzuid!