Artists 2021
Remus Şucheană
Choreographer
Remus Şucheană is a German-Romanian citizen and studied at the Ballet School of Cluj-Napoca. He completed his education with a scholarship from the Birgit Keil Foundation at the Academy of Dance in Mannheim.
In 1998 he won 1st prize at the St. Pölten International Ballet Competition and a year later 1st prize in Vienna. From 1999 to 2009 he was a member of ballettmainz until he joined Ballett am Rhein as a soloist in 2009. Remus Şucheană danced in ballets by renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Nils Christe, Kurt Jooss, Jirí Kylián, Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, Hans van Manen, Twyla Tharp and Antony Tudor.
He interpreted important solo roles in numerous works of the choreographer Martin Schläpfer. Schläpfer appointed him as his co-director in 2014/15 and entrusted him with the direction of the Ballet School of the Ballet am Rhein. In 2016/17 he took over as director of the company and presented himself as choreographer for the first time with "Concerto grosso Nr. 1", followed by the world premieres of "Romance", "Abendlied", "Fantaisies", "Symphony No. 1" and "Symphonic Poem" on the contemporary composition by Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Most recently he was ballet director of the Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg.
Photo: Gert Weigelt
Antonio Somera
Dancer
Antonio Somera Jr. is an exceptional dancer from Vancouver, Canada. He has performed internationally in works by Sita Ostheimer, Igor Bacovich & Iratxe Ansa, Manuel Ronda, Mala Kline and KT Niehoff. At home Antonio interprets works for local choreographers and companies such as Julie Chapple/Future Leisure, Alvin Erasga Tolentino/Co.ERASGA, Dancers Dancing, The Response Dance Company and OURO Collective. He is also a passionate student of the street dance movement and is part of the Waacking community. Since he integrates his passion for both street dance and contemporary dance techniques, Antonio dedicates his creative practices to building meaningful experiences through playful exploration.
Brice Asnar
Dancer
France
French born Brice Asnar received his training at the École Nationale Supérieure de Danse in Marseille and at the Royal Ballet School in London, where he obtained first experience on stage in Royal Ballet performances while still a student. After completing his studies, he took up an engagement at Northern Ballet Theatre in Leeds, dancing in productions by David Nixon including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Wuthering Heights”, “The Nutcracker” and “Swan Lake”.
A year later he went to the Ballet de L’Opéra National de Bordeaux, where he appeared in Mikhail Fokine’s “Pétrouchka” and Léonide Massine’s “Le sacre du printemps”. There he received further engagements with the English National Ballet and the Karlsruhe State Ballet. He was seen as Harlekin in “Der Nussknacker – Eine Weihnachtsgeschichte”, the Russian in “Dornröschen – Die letzte Zarentochter” by Youri Vámos and one of the Six Friends in “Momo” by Tim Plegge. Peter Breuer gave him the role of the Falcon in “Siegfried”.
In the programme “Choreographers introduce themselves” in 2014 Brice Asnar presented his choreography “Omnis II”. As from the 2015/16 season he has become a member of the Ballett am Rhein and since then danced in choreographies by Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Robert Binet, August Bournonville, Kurt Jooss, Hubert Essakow, Hans van Manen, Ohad Naharin, Ben J. Riepe, Jerome Robbins, Martin Schläpfer, Remus Sucheana and Terence Kohler among others. With “As it leaves ...” he presented his first choreography for the Ballett am Rhein.
Carmen Iglesias
Dancer
Carmen Iglesias was born in Madrid. She received her diploma in Danza Española at the Real Conservatorio de Madrid in 1994 and graduated in Art at the Universidad Complutense Madrid in 1998. She completed her training in the disciplines of Classical, Spanish and Contemporary Dance and Flamenco with Ciro, La China, Paco Romero, Carmela Greco, Cristóbal Reyes, La Tati, Carmina Ocaña, Dagmara Brown and Michelle Man, among others. For many years she has been a solo dancer in renowned Spanish dance companies such as Cia La Tati and Cia Rafael Amargo.
Engagements have also taken her to the companies of Joaquin Cortés, Carmen Cortés, María Pagés, José Greco and the Ballet Antología, with performances at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the City Center and Town Hall in New York, the opera houses in Frankfurt, Dresden, Hanover and Hamburg, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Opera Jackie Gleason in Miami and the Teatro Lope de Vega in Madrid. Since 2009 Carmen Iglesias was a member of the dance company Flamencos en route.
Claudio Costantino
Dancer
Claudio Costantino began his dance education at the Maison d'Art in Catanzaro and continued it in Florence at the Balletto di Toscana. From 2004 to 2008 he delighted the audience with the company Junior Balletto di Toscana. Until 2012 he worked with the Basel Ballet under the artistic direction of Richard Wherlock. This was followed by an engagement at the theatre in Regensburg. He danced choreographies by Johan Inger, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato, Stephan Toss, Rami Be'er, Fabrizio Monteverde, Christopher Bruce, Jorma Elo, Yuko Mori and Shumpei Nemoto. Since 2014 he works as a freelance artist.
Dominic Harrison
Dancer
The English native most recently danced with the National Ballet of Ireland, Royal Ballet of Flanders and Mainfranken Theater Würzburg.
From 2014 to 2018, Dominic Harrison was engaged by Ballet Vorpommern, Germany. He also appeared in the film Ballet Átha Cliath by Howard Jones. Previously, he thrilled audiences at Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. He completed his training at the Central School of Ballet in London.
Eleanor Freeman
Dancer
The Australian received her education at the Victorian College of Arts. She began her career in 2011 at the Queensland Ballet under Ballet Director Li Cunxin as a trainee. In 2012 she was promoted to regular dancer and danced in various choreographies, for example under Nils Christe. In the 2016/17 season she will become part of the ensemble of the Staatsoper Hannover. Afterwards she changed to the Ballet am Rhein in Düsseldorf and inspired the audience by dancing in choreographies by Hans van Manen, Jerome Robbins, Martin Schläpfer, Martin Chaix and Remus Şucheană.
Fran Kovacic
Dancer
The Croatian dancer began his career in 2009 in Zagreb at the "Škola za balet i ritmiku" and completed his master's degree at the Academy of Dance of the State Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim.
2012 to 2018 he danced at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in Derek Deane's "The Nutcracker". During this time, he had numerous engagements at the "Hungarian Dance Academy" in Budapest as well as at the "Škola za klasični balet" in Zagreb. At the ballet gala of the Birgit Keil Dance Foundation in 2018 Fran Kovacic performed "Soirée Musicales" by Kenneth Macmillan. The following year the piece was performed at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. Fran Kovacic won the 3rd place of the "Ballet Competition Mia Čorak Slavenska".
Karima Nayt
Singer
Singer, modern dancer and actress from Algeria - Karima Nayt is a multi-talented artist who has troll-bounded audiences all around the world. Rewarded by the National Conservatory of Algiers, Karima started her career as a dancer as well as an actress both on film and on stage. Attracted by the dynamic cultural life in Cairo, she decides to move there in 1998. She, then, becomes a soloist-dancer in the modern dance company of the Cairo Opera House, and a singer with Grammy-awarded musician and composer Fathy Salama and his group Sharkiat.
Marlucia do Amaral
Dancer
The Brazilian dancer Marlúcia do Amaral studied at the National School of Ballet Havana, the Joffrey Ballet School New York and received a scholarship from the Tanzstiftung Birgit Keil at the Akademie des Tanzes in Mannheim. In 2000 Martin Schläpfer engaged her in his "ballettmainz". She danced numerous choreographies by George Balanchine, Christopher Bruce, Nils Christe, Kurt Jooss, Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, Hans van Manen, Eric Oberdorff, Gisela Rocha, Nick Hobbs and Twyla Tharp.
From 2009 she was a member of the Ballet am Rhein/Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she danced choreographies by Jirí Kylián, William Forsythe, Brigitta Luisa Merki, Marco Goecke, Jerome Robbins, Mark Morris, Antoine Jully, Hubert Essakow, Terence Kohler and Natalia Horecna. The highlights: Hans van Manen's "The Old Man and Me" and the world premiere of "Alltag" by Martin Schläpfer.
Marlúcia do Amaral has won many prizes - she won the competition in Joinville (Brazil), the Buenos Aires International Competition, the silver medal at the Dance Competition for Young Talents of the Conseil International de la Danse Paris of UNESCO, the critics' prize Prêmio Acorianos as "Best Dancer". She has been named as "outstanding dancer" in critics' surveys many times. In November 2019, Marlúcia do Amaral received the German Theatre Prize "Der Faust" in the category "Actress Dance" for her impressive interpretation of Odette in Martin Schläpfer's "Swan Lake".
Sara Pennella
Dancer
The Italian dancer Sara Pennella completed her dance studies at the Balletto di Toscana in Florence in 2009 and subsequently danced at the Compagnia Giovanile Junior Balletto di Toscana and the Compagnia Giovane Balletto Mediterraneo. From 2012 to 2014 she was a member of the Oniin Dance Company and toured worldwide. In the following years she worked as a freelance dancer with the Samady Dance Company, Artemis Danza and already in 2015 and 2019 for tanz&kunst königsfelden in "SIBIL.LA" and "IKARUS, flieg oder stirb" (IKARUS, fly or die). She has been a member of the Performing Arts Company NoGravity since 2018.
Valentina Pedica
Dancer
Valentina Pedica was born in Fabriano, Italy. She studied dance at the IDA Ballet Academy in Ravenna and completed her ballet and contemporary studies in Madrid at the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Mariemma. After master studies throughout Europe, she became a member of the Celli Contemporary Ballet in Rome in 2012. In 2013 Valentina wins the 1st prize at the Spoleo International Dance Competition. In the dance film "Motion Games" by Lucas van Woerkum and Ruben Van Leer (NL) she performs in the choreography of Lukas Timulak (Nederlands Dans Theater). Since 2013 she has been a dancer at Dantzaz Konpainia and has worked with renowned choreographers such as Itzik Galili, Lukas Timulak and Jacek Przybylowicz. Further engagements already took her to Switzerland in 2015 for the tanz&kunst königsfelden production "SIBIL.LA" and again in 2019 for "IKARUS, stirb oder flieg" (IKARUS- die or fly) and to Madrid for the Elephant in the Black Box Company.
David Schnee - Kaleidoscope String Quartet
David Schnee is regarded as one of the most versatile viola players of his generation. He pursues diverse projects, which stylistically range from contemporary and experimental classical music to jazz, pop and film music. He also appears as an improviser and composer. David Schnee is a founding member of the cross-genre Kaleidoscope String Quartet, as well as violist and artistic director of the Ensemble TaG Winterthur. As a studio musician, he has already recorded music for numerous feature films and documentaries, as well as for numerous Swiss artists. He has recently played with Stephan Eicher, Nik Bärtsch, Pablo Nouvelle, Benjamin Clementine, Blixa Bargeld, Glen Hansard as well as the Cinematic Orchestra. David Schnee was also a founding member and for 8 years violist of the internationally successful and award-winning Zurich Galatea Quartet.
Ronny Spiegel - Kaleidoscope String Quartet
Ronny Spiegel began taking violin lessons from his grandmother Katharina Hardy when he was six years old. In 1993 he was accepted at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London where he was a pupil of Natascha Boyarskaya.
In 2009 Ronny Spiegel will complete his studies with Gyulla Stuller at the Lausanne School of Music. Master classes with Yehudi Menuhin, Tibor Varga, Erich Höbarth, Mauricio Fuks, Jean-Pierre Wallez, Sandra Goldberg & Isaac Malkin shaped his education.
Today Ronny Spiegel is known as a freelance musician in various genres. Among his long-standing and permanent formations are the Balkan quartet "musique en route", the "Kaleidoscope String Quartet" and the piano quartet "s-ensemble", with whom he plays numerous concerts at home and abroad. As a guest concertmaster he performs with the Camerata Schweiz, the Basel Sinfonietta, the Collegium Basel or the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester. Since 2016 Ronny Spiegel is also a member of the La Folia Baroque Orchestra.
Sebastian Braun - Kaleidoscope String Quartet
Sebastian Braun was born in Winterthur in 1990. At the age of five he received his first cello lesson with Emanuel Rütsche at the Winterthur Conservatory. From 2007 on he studied with Conradin Brotbek at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, where he graduated with distinction in 2011. He then continued his studies with Thomas Demenga at the Basel Music Academy, where he graduated with the highest marks in his Master of Performance in summer 2015.
He was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Symphony Orchestra and played in several ensembles, including as principal cellist of the Chamber Academy Basel and the "Young Eurasian Soloist" chamber orchestra. He was a member of the Schnitzler Quartet, with whom he made several recordings for the West German Radio and regularly gave concerts at home and abroad.
Sebastian Braun has won first prizes in several solo and chamber music competitions, including the Domnick Cello Competition for New Music in Stuttgart, the Swiss Music Competition, the Carl Wendling Chamber Music Competition and the Concours Mirabent in Spain. Sebastian Braun is the 2nd prize winner of the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition 2016 and a scholarship holder of the Migros Culture Percentage, the Rahn Cultural Fund, the Foundation of the Basel Orchestra Society and the PE Funding in Mannheim. Sebastian Braun plays a cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore (Milan 1692).
Simon Heggendorn - Kaleidoscope String Quartet
The Bernese composer Simon Heggendorn completed his studies at the Bern University of the Arts in 2009 with a concert diploma with distinction. He is the winner of the BEST Trächsel scholarship.
He is interested in the interfaces between classical, jazz and improvised music. The Kaleidoscope String Quartet is at the centre of this activity. KSQ has been present in Germany and abroad since 2011 and has released three albums. It combines the classical formation of the string quartet with idioms of jazz, rock and pop music. As a freelance musician he appears in various projects as a versatile musician. He has worked with renowned artists such as Silvie Courvoisier, Efrat Alony, Nik Bärtsch, Joe Haider, Stephan Eicher, Andreas Gabriel and many more.
In 2016 he was a stage musician in the acting production of KonzertTheaterBern "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". Since 2018 Simon Heggendorn has been teaching jazz violin at the Lucerne Academy of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU).