Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet is a dramatic soprano, Master Voice Teacher, Co-Director and

Artistic Consultant of the Indemini Festival. Among the theatres in which she has performed are Opéra National de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera, Teatro Madrid, Oper

Frankfurt, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Liceu, La Fenice, Maggio Musicale, and the

Metropolitan Opera. During her varied career, she has sung over 50 lead roles. She began her

career with the Italian and Russian dramatic roles, moving into her Wagnerian home in her early 30’s. Ms. Charbonnet has sung all the lead Wagnerian dramatic roles. Her recordings include Isolde with Armin Jordan in Geneva, Elektra with Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue with the Liceu, Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle from The BBC Proms, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with James Conlon and the Maggio Musicale, and Erwartung with Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the WDR. Her vast experience as a singer is complimented by more than 3 decades of teaching. Ms. Charbonnet is Associate Professor of Voice at the Hemu in Lausanne, Switzerland and maintains private studios in both Europe and the USA, and is a sought-after Master class technician.  

 Peter Nilsson is a vocal coach and Head of Musical Studies at Dutch National Opera Academy

(Den Haag/Amsterdam), and a regular guest with the Broadcast Choir and the Netherlands Opera. He has worked closely with Yves Abel, Marc Albrecht, Daniele Callegari, Paolo Carignani, Riccardo Frizza, Hartmut Haenchen, Ingo Metzmacher, Yannick Nézet- Séguin, Julian Reynolds, Carlo Rizzi, and Mark Wigglesworth. 

Peter is also an active accompanist for vocal master-classes, including Roberta Alexander, Elly Ameling, Diane Forlano, Hartmut Haenchen, Jard van Nes, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Charlotte Margiono, Nelly Miricioiu, and both series of Masterclasses given by Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh.  Peter is also an active accompanist for vocal master-classes, including Roberta Alexander, Elly Ameling, Diane Forlano, Hartmut Haenchen, Jard van Nes, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Charlotte Margiono, Nelly Miricioiu, and both series of Masterclasses given by Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh. 

Robin Guarino is a theatre, opera and film director based in New York City and Cincinnati.    She has directed over 90 original productions and her work has been presented by opera companies, theaters, orchestras and festivals including the Metropolitan Opera, The San Francisco Opera, The Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, The Cincinnati Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis,The Glimmerglass Opera Festival, The Bard Summer Festival, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the BAM Next Wave Festival among others. Lincoln Center has long been an artistic home to Robin. She became a member of the Metropolitan Opera Stage Directing Staff in 1992 directing, Così fan tutte with James Levine for Live in HD and Der Rosenkavalier with Edo de Waart for Live in HD which was voted best music event of 2009 by the New York Times . Robin’s films have been shown at international film festivals throughout the United States and Europe and her film, Crossing the Atlantik was broadcast on Independent Focus, PBS. Robin is deeply committed to the development of new work. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Opera Fusion: New Works and has helped developed 20 world premier operas for companies including, The Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera to name just a few. To date she has directed 7 world premier operas. Her recent production of the world premiere of Blind Injustice for Cincinnati Opera garnered national acclaim by the Wall Street Journal, NPR’s “All things considered”, and Opera News and was identified as groundbreaking new work and “opera as activism” addressing the theme of false incarceration in the criminal justice system. A visionary of young artist training she has served as the Dramatic Advisor to the Juilliard Opera Theater (2004-2008) and the J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair of Opera and Artistic Director at The Cincinnati College-Conservatory (2008-2019). She has been an artist-in-residence at the San Francisco Opera Center, Merola Program since 2002. She has held artistic residencies at The Glimmerglass Festival, The Wolftrap Opera Festival, The Lindemann Program, The Houston Grand Opera Young Artists program, and is in demand as a teaching artist. She is a tenured full professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is currently working as Director/ Dramaturg on an opera entitled Robeson/Moscow with the same creative team that produced Blind Injustice.

Fernando Martín-Peñasco  graduated with distinction in classical piano from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where he studied under Professor Peter Bithell (solo performance) and Pamela Lidiard (lied accompaniment). He then continued his répétiteur  studies with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden conductors Alexander Vitlin and David Robert Coleman at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, where he also took part in masterclasses with Sir Donald Runnicles and Alexander Merzyn. From season 2021/22 Fernando is a member of the Internationales Opernstudio – Opernhaus Zürich.

As a répétiteur, he has played regularly for masterclasses of renowned singers, vocal coaches and conductors based in Berlin such as Jeanne-Michèlle Charbonet, Janet Williams, John Norris or Ivan Angelov. Before his time in Zürich, he had also taken part in small opera projects including La Boheme, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Madama Butterfly and Trouble in Tahiti (at Hans Eisler), and also musical theatre such as Grand Hotel, Five Last Years, Hairspray, Seussical and many others. In 2020, he took part in the Carmen production at the Staatstheater Cottbus with conductors Mario Venzago and Johannes Zurl. 

At the Opernhaus Zürich,  he has taken part in productions such as ‘Il Mondo della Luna’, ‘Serse’ (also playing continuo), ‘Jakob Lenz’, ‘Monteverdi Ballet’, ‘Die Odyssee’ and the children show ‘Hexe Hillary geht in die Oper’, as well as broadened his repertoire by accompanying more than a hundred singers in auditions during these two years. 

In this time, he has also collaborated with the Luzerner Theater as a cembalist cover for ‘Alcina’, and with Theater St. Gallen for the preparation/edition of the piano score, and recording of the new opera ‘Lili Elbe’ (which will premiere in September 2023).

An avid self-taught classical and modern improviser, Fernando has also worked with Robert Levin, David Dolan and Emilio Molina, and participated in courses for ballet pianists at the Royal Academy of Dance in London. He has since employed this skill in various schools (Ballet and Country Dance), examinations, performances in London, Berlin, Madrid and Zürich. He has been part of the Hotel Gl'amouresque show in Berlin for over 5 years. 

Regarding piano and chamber music, he was awarded the GSMD Beethoven Prize during his studies in London, and subsequently the third prize at the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe competition in 2015, for which he had the opportunity to play a piano recital at St Martin-in-the-Fields. He also received the Akoesticum Talent Programme Scholarship for chamber music in the Netherlands, and took part in music festivals such as Aurora in Sweden (for three years), as well as in several projects with youth orchestras such as YMSO or ULSO and concerts in various european countries. He has also studied with international pianists such as Boris Berman, Peter Donohoe or Lilya Zilberstein.

Luise Breyer-Aiton is Artistic and General Director, as well as Founder, of the Indemini Festival.

Ms. Breyer-Aiton is a young dramatic soprano and creator of VoiceRelease Massage & Hypno Coaching (Hypno Massage) , a specialised technique utilising many modalities of body and mind work, designed for the unique needs of singers and musicians. She has a private practice in Berlin and Lausanne and has worked with artists and international theatres such as Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Komische Oper, ENO, ROH, Opéra de Lyon, Grange Park Opera, and Welsh National Opera. Luise recently started training  others in this field, in expanding her practise and passing on her knowledge of her created method.

Xoco (Schoko)

(Schoko) is our company and festival mascot and therapy dog, always there to play with you, cuddles and exploring the world and nature. 

Rosmarie Brennwalder & Beat Wüthrich

We are both retired and live happily ever since 2006 in Indemini. At www.lunsole.ch we rent apartments to guests. «Indemini Festival»: We are enthusiastic about the high quality under professional guidance. The annual festival is a unique asset to the village at the beginning of the world! We are happy to help!

Beat (Bewe) and Rosmarie (Rosi) are very dear to us and the Festival, our jewels of the Festival!

Indeminesi and the whole village volunteers- we are so grateful for all your help and input!

Catering Team

Conni Zink, lyric Soprano, chef and fee of the festival! 

Corne Ran, Tenor and Organizer, but in Indemini, he is our festival "fee"!