Back

About the artists

Representing the U.S., the Zamperla Zoppe brothers are from one of the two great families in circus history. Of Italian heritage, but now residents of the United States, Olissio and Matt perform on the ground and on horseback. Caroline Williams, a graduate in dressage from the German Equestrian Federation, also resides in the United States. She is an eighth generation circus artist. She has trained and performed in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. Voki Kalfayan presents Cheval’s clown acts along with Christian Ferland.

From France are Sébastien Desenne, a vaulting specialist; and Stéphane Simon, who got his career off the ground as an acrobat with 57 horses at Euro Disney. Stéphanie Jeanne Outin mastered in theatrical studies and was one of the stars in the French equestrian show Cheval-Tango. Marion Duterte has solid training in acrobatics and is an accomplished athlete who has competed in many riding contests. Émilie Jumeaux is a highly-skilled vaulter and acrobat. Her talents have earned her appearances in television commercials, feature films and television movies.

Stanislav Lazarov, Aslan Dzalaev, Oleg Tsopanou, Batraz Tsokolaev and Lev Gigolaev perform the perilous yet breathtaking Cossack numbers. The skills they use to perform this art have made these Russian Cossack riders famous around the world.

From Bulgaria, Ivan Vladimirov, one of the world’s greatest vaulters, is now a trainer with CHEVAL. His unique bareback vaulting performance involving a perilous jump off two horses and onto a fourth row of horses galloping behind side by side earned him an illustrious international reputation.

Hungary’s David and Robert Donnert come from a famous circus family. In 1995, they were joined by Anita Fuzy, a decorated gymnast. Since then, they have performed in a variety of circus shows and have won numerous awards in Europe and the United States.

Two French-Canadian artists also are a part of the production. Caroline Macé is experienced in acrobatics and gymnastics. She is also an accomplished athlete in a wide variety of other sports. Christian Ferland, who does a comedic sketch, became known for his international tour with the celebrated acrobatic theatre company, DynamO Théâtre.

Accompanying this equestrian theater are seven musicians and singers. These virtuosos will perform live during the show, interpreting the original music of composer Bernard Poirier. Claude Vendette, a saxophonist, also leads the orchestra, which includes Guido Del Fabbro on the violin and mandolin, Bobby Bordeleau on guitar, Alexandre Fouquet on bass, Paul Seney on the drums and Paulo Vaillancourt on keyboard. The two singers are Lou Babin and Catherine Granger.

Gilles Ste-Croix has assembled a team of seasoned collaborators, including the best behind-the-scenes creators for CHEVAL. In 1980, Ste-Croix's long-time fascination with the circus arts inspired him, along with a group of other street performers, to create Les Échassiers de Baie Saint-Paul (the Baie-Saint-Paul Stiltwalkers). The club staged the Fête Foraine de Baie Saint-Paul. This carnival of buskers, in turn, gave rise to today's Cirque du Soleil, which was founded in 1984. In 1988, Ste-Croix was named its Artistic Director. In addition to his role of coordinating the worldwide search for new talent, he became Director of Creation for all Cirque du Soleil productions in 1990 and is now the President and Founder of CHEVAL THEATRE inc.

Key members of the creative team include costume designer François Barbeau, who is well known in the theater world. He taught at Montreal's National Theatre School, and became a resident costume designer for Théâtre du Rideau Vert, designing all the costumes for the company's productions since 1962. In 1996, he received the Governor General's Award for his outstanding contribution to the arts, and in 1998, he was appointed to the Order of Canada.

Since 1990, set designer Michel Crête has designed sets for Cirque du Soleil productions, including Fascination, Saltimbanco, Alegría, Mystère, Quidam, "O" and La Nouba. In 1998, Crête was honored with the Entertainment Design Production of the Year award for "O".

In 1992, sound engineer Guy Desrochers joined the creative team of Cirque du Soleil for the Nouvelle Expérience and Fascination productions. Later, Guy designed the sound for the North American, European and Asian tours of Alegría. More recently, he created the sound environment for Dralion. Guy has worked with famous artists such as Céline Dion, Bryan Adams, Chris De Burgh and André-Philippe Gagnon.

Others on the team include musical composer Bernard Poirier. Active since 1995 as a musical director, composer and clarinetist for Fanfare Poupour, this former member of Trafic d'influence is also the sound and musical director for many other theatrical and dance projects. Moreover, he has composed the music for numerous films: La Beauté de Pandore, Si le travail m'était conté, Troubles, and Les Cloches.

The equestrian choreographers of CHEVAL are Bernard Quental and Igor Kassaev. Quental, a native of France, distinguished himself with Zingaro, the famed equestrian theater company. Kassaev, a Russian master equestrian and choreographer, won first prize at the Festival de Monte Carlo in 1984. He became known for his Cossack art performance, Riders of the Night, which toured Russia, Canada, and the United States.

Lighting designer Guy Simard has collaborated on more than 300 theatrical productions. His work with many opera houses in the U.S. opened the door for work in the most prestigious performance halls of Japan, Australia and Canada. The Jean-Paul Mousseau Foundation Prize was awarded to him for innovative talents reflected in all of his artistic work in the theatre world.

Guy St-Amour, tent architecture for CHEVAL THEATRE, has always worked behind the scenes. Since 1977, he has been involved in every aspect of backstage production and has earned a solid reputation for his work in the creation, design and installation of traveling shows like the circus. He has worked for more than 10 years with Cirque du Soleil, has founded Les Productions Artéfact and has been the Director of Production for Les Légendes fantastiques in Drummondville, Quebec.

Poster illustrator Richard Morin is a Renaissance man. Through the 1990s, he worked on projects as varied as puppet design, theatrical set design, textile design for costumes, and theater and circus mask design. He has collaborated on projects with Théâtre de l'Oeil, Théâtre Le Carrousel, Théâtre Guichet Montparnasse, Productions Petit Bonhomme, Cirque du Soleil and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

The company’s activities are managed from its head office in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, southeast of Montreal, where rehearsal studios for the artists as well as a riding arena have been built entirely from recycled materials.