Wouter Van Looy is a leading figure in the international opera and musical theatre scene. His productions have been staged at venues including the Ruhrtriennale, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Luzerner Theater, the Theaterspektakel Zürich, „Mexico Musica y Escena“ in Mexico, the Opéra de Lille, the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, the Holland Festival, the Bregenz Festival and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

Wouter Van Looy also founded the Zonzo Compagnie and organises BIG BANG, an adventurous music festival for young audiences, which takes place in thirteen European cities and, since 2019, in Ottawa as well. BIG BANG has been honoured with the EFFE Award for its role as one of Europe’s most innovative festivals. The Zonzo Compagnie has staged award-winning productions such as „Listen to the silence“, „Slumberland“, „Mile(s)tones“ and „BerBerio“. Wouter Van Looy has been honoured with the YAMA Award (2012, 2015 and 2019), the KLARA Prize (2013), the YEAH Award (2013), the Music Theatre NOW Award (2015) and the EFFE Award (2015).

Wim Catrysse (1973) lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1997, he completed his Master’s degree in Fine Art at Sint-Lukas University College of Art and Design in Brussels. From 1997 to 2000, he undertook postgraduate studies at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK) in Antwerp, followed by a one-year course at the Glasgow School of Art.

Since the late 1990s, Wim Catrysse has been exploring the dynamics of self-constructed architectural settings or the potentially fictional qualities of phenomenal environments, analysing subjectivity and, by extension, the illusion of control. He translates this investigation into single- and multi-channel video installations in which both participants and viewers are challenged in a fundamental, primal way through the evocation of vertigo. This precondition of boundaries serves to confront the viewer with the underlying motives. Catrysse’s artistic approach combines intuition with technical thinking, which often leads to complex cinematographic image constructions.

Peter Verhelst (1962) is one of the most renowned writers of his generation. He writes poetry, novels, novellas, children’s and young adult literature, screenplays, songs and plays. For his poetry, he has been awarded the Jan Campert Prize and the Herman De Coninck Prize, amongst others. For his novel „Tongkat“, he received the Jonge Gouden Uil, the Gouden Uil, the Bordewijk Prize and the Culture Prize awarded every three years by the Flemish Community. His young adult novel „Het Geheim van de Keel van de Nachtegaal“ was honoured with three major young adult literature prizes: the Gouden Uil, the Gouden Griffel and the Woutertje Pieterse Prize.

Peter Verhelst is not only a writer but also a director at NTGent, and he curated the Bruges art project QNX together with the lettering artist Maud Bekaert. Following „Medea“ and „Moby Dick“, „Arthur“ is the third project on which Peter Verhelst and Veenfabriek have collaborated.

Peter Quasters (born 1969) studied biochemistry at Hogeschool Gent. After completing his studies, he taught himself to become a set designer for the performing arts and specialised in lighting design. His visual creations are characterised by his fascination with abstract and sculptural forms. Examples of this include „Earth Diver“ (2016), „Harriet“ (2018), „The Valley“ (2019) and „The Mass Man“ (2022).

He has worked with performing artists such as Claron McFadden, Hans Op de Beeck, Wouter Van Looy, Alex Ho, Julia Cheng, Heiner Goebbels, Pierre Audi, Shuang Zou, Jean Lacornerie, Jorge Léon, Jan Sobri, Wouter Deltour, Paul Koek, Letizia Renzini, Annelies Van Parys, Wim Catrysse, Wim Henderickx, Hilda Paredes and Kurt D’haeseleer.

His designs have featured in productions at the Ruhrtriennale, the Beijing Music Festival, the NY Prototype Festival, the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio (London), the Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Opera Forward (Amsterdam), the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Klara Festival, the Holland Festival, the Operadagen Rotterdam, the Boralis Festival (Bergen), November Music, the Ultima Festival (Oslo), Festival Actoral (Marseille), Montréal Les Coups de Théâtre, Valetta 2018, Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Festival Vértice (Mexico City), Opéra de Rouen, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Dijon, Le Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Kunstfestspiele Hannover, Radar Festival (Varna) and the Armel Opera Festival (Budapest).

Tobias Kokkelmans (1980) studied theatre and music studies at the University of Amsterdam and worked as a dramaturg at Emio Greco PC, the Festival of Flanders (Brussels/Ghent) and the Ro Theater. He wrote regularly for arts magazines such as TM – Theatermaker, Etcetera and recto:verso. From 2004 to 2014, he taught at the Amsterdam Theatre School. Together with het Transitiebureau, he founded the discussion platform De Agenda. He is currently responsible for festival dramaturgy and artistic direction at the Operadagen Rotterdam. He works with various ensembles, including Muziektheater Transparant (Antwerp), Wunderbaum and Urland. He is also chair of the jury for the Gieskes Strijbis Podium Prize.

RUBY RENTAL (b. 1996) is a costume designer and art director. She obtained a Master’s degree in Theatre Costume from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2018. She has worked as a costume designer on short films including The allegory of the painted woman by Nelson Polfliet and Game Meat by Nathan Naenen. She has created costumes and sets for music videos, including Out of Sight by jaguar jaguar and Ton Waes by GIJS. In the theatre, she has previously collaborated on projects with het Nieuwstedelijk, Martha Tentatief and DeStudio.

As an art director, she has designed sets for television, including, most recently, for Unplugged +, a music programme for PickX+.

Ruby draws great inspiration from the collage of everyday life, unusual combinations and colourful expressions.

As well as theatre and film, Ruby also works as a visual artist, specialising primarily in illustrative sculptures.

Timo Tembuyser (b. 1991, Aalst (BE)) is a singer, performer, composer and theatre maker who works in Belgium and the Netherlands.

He combines his backgrounds in architecture, theatre and music, and works with ensembles with which he seeks to create space for genuine listening. He composes polyphonic scores that interweave different voices in a balanced way – moving in and out of harmony, cacophony and silence. His final work Missa Mama Nova (2024) is a choral dance ritual exploring the mother archetype, performed by an ensemble of eight dancers.

The longing for unity is deeply rooted in Timo’s practice. As the child of divorced parents who lived in completely separate worlds, and as a queer child at a Catholic school, he always sought truth and connection. As an eternal nomad, he moved from place to place, from project to project, from school to school. After completing a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Design at Ghent University (2014), Timo trained as a versatile performer at the Toneelacademie in Maastricht (2019).

Alongside his studies, Timo discovered the most important elements of his practice whilst living in communities in Greece and Portugal, and during his initiation into shamanism and plant-based medicine with the Shipibo tribe in the Peruvian Amazon. After numerous collaborative projects and working in and with ensembles, Timo continued his studies as a vocalist as part of the Master’s in Musical Theatre at Fontys in Tilburg (2024). Here he conducted research into the solo voice and the soloist emerging from the choir.

Over the past few seasons, Timo has been collaborating with directors including Aïda Gabriëls and Nicole Beutler. Together with Hélène Vrijdag, Timo forms one half of the creative duo Studio SIBLING. Based on a shared fascination with the voice and shared values concerning care, pleasure activism and gender-queerness, they develop a method and repertoire that they share with one another and with others.

The Belgian mezzo-soprano Els Mondelaers She obtained a Master’s degree in Classical Singing with great distinction at the Ghent Conservatory, where she also specialised as a soloist in contemporary music. On this vocal journey, she was mentored by Mireille Capelle. Prior to this, she obtained a Master’s degree in Music Theory and Music Pedagogy at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven.

Gradually, she expanded her career from that of a specialist performer of classical contemporary music to that of an all-round performer. New challenges such as musical and/or physical improvisation, music creation, acting and movement presented themselves. The world of music theatre, contemporary dance and performance, alongside contemporary concert venues, became her second home. She is valued for her personal commitment to projects and her enthusiasm for taking on artistic challenges.

She has performed as a soloist with various music theatre and/or dance companies, vocal and instrumental ensembles and orchestras, including Folkoperan Stockholm (SE), Muziektheater Transparant (BE), Silbersee (NL), LOD (BE), Muziektheater Hollands Diep (NL), Dyane Donck Company (NL), Strijbos & Van Rijswijk (NL), Theaterproductiehuis Zeelandia (NL), Kunst/Werk (BE), Panama Pictures (NL), Jelena Kostić (NL), GRIP (BE), Little WOTAN (NL), Post uit Hessdalen (BE), Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (BE), HYOID Contemporary Voices (BE), Spectra ensemble (BE), ChampdAction (BE), HERMESensemble (BE), ICTUS (BE), Contempoartensemble (IT), Nadar Ensemble (BE), I solisti del Vento (BE), Vlaams Symfonisch Orkest (BE),  DoelenEnsemble (NL), Asko | Schönberg ensemble (NL), Slagwerk Den Haag (NL), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (NL), Ensemble Klang (NL), Atlas Ensemble (NL), Nieuw Ensemble (NL). In September 2009 she was invited by the Lucerne Festival Academy (CH) to perform Berio’s Sinfonia conducted by Pierre Boulez.

Together with sound artist Dyane Donck, she forms NYX. They combine their diverse talents in a performance concept that blends modern classical composition with art-pop and electronic music. With their production MYRIAM, they have toured in Vienna (Austria), London (UK), Halland (Sweden), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Groningen (Netherlands), Antwerp (Belgium), Leeuwarden (Netherlands), Den Bosch (Netherlands), etc.

As a visiting professor and coach, she is affiliated with the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp (BE) and KASK Contemporary Music Gent (BE), and she was invited by the Fontys Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Tilburg (NL)

Jo Thielemans (born 1976) studied sound engineering at the SAE Institute in Brussels at the start of the century, and since then he has been:

– Sound engineer for contemporary classical ensembles (Bl!ndman, I Solisti, …).

– Sound designer and technician for theatre productions (Bronks, Muziektheater Transparant, …)

– Singer and guitarist in the tribute band Dirty Machine, who perform Tom Waits songs.

– Guitarist and sound engineer in bands such as Strange Feathered Friends (Americana), Campina Reggae, Grasjas (reggae) and Bizarorama (hard to categorise but certainly very energetic).

– Composer, producer and soundscape artist for video, film and other productions.

– Recording engineer for classical and other music (Jon Birdsong, Onze Rijkdom, etc.)

His current musical project is an electronic collaboration with pianist Anthony Romaniuk.
His aesthetic lies somewhere between Tom Waits and Four Tet.