Rifail Ajdarpasic
set designer
Stuttgart born Rifail Ajdarpasic designed sets for Oper Frankfurt for this production of Rigoletto, Enescu's Oedipe with Hans Neuenfels and Pénélope, Fauré's only opera. Engagements this season include Cecilia Valdés at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and& Cabaret in Klagenfurt. After studying set design at the University for Design in Karlsruhe Rifail Ajdarpasic started working closely with Ariane Isabell Unfried on sets for international productions of plays and operas directed by Calixto Bieito, embarking on a completely new concept of theatre design. Productions during this time included La traviata, Il trovatore, The Rake’s Progress, Don Carlos, King Lear and Hamlet. He has also worked with Francisco Negrin in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, Germany and France on works including Temistocle, L’arbore di Diana and Una cosa rara which were praised in the press and much talked about. He started designing sets for Carlos Wagner productions in 2007, which included Un ballo in maschera, La vie parisienne, Der fliegende Holländer and Lohengrin. The opera Gegen die Wand / Up against the Wall won him a 2011 DER FAUST theatre prize. His sets have been seen in The Merry Wives of Windsor in Switzerland, Serse at the Karlsruhe International Handel Festival and Jesus Christ Superstar and The Threepenny Opera in Germany. He returns to Oper Leipzig during the 2024/25 season for a new Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk - following on from Temistocle (2005) and The Merry Widow (2006)