International Opera Studio

Thalia Cook-Hansen is from the USA. After studying voice in the USA and Canada, she completed her master’s degree at the Dutch National Opera Academy. She also attended masterclasses with, among others, Elliot Madore, Floris Visser and Lynne Dawson. In Amsterdam, she appeared, among other roles, as Nerina in Haydn’s "La fedeltà premiata", Fanny in Rossini’s "La cambiale di matrimonio", Bastienne in Mozart’s "Bastien et Bastienne" and Adele in "Die Fledermaus". She sang Barbarina ("Le nozze di Figaro") at the Estates Theatre in Prague as well as the First Lady ("Die Zauberflöte") and Mademoiselle Silberklang ("Der Schauspieldirektor") in Toronto. Her repertoire also includes roles such as Bubikopf in Viktor Ullmann’s "Der Kaiser von Atlantis", Singer No. 1 in Conrad Susa’s "Transformations", Amore in Monteverdi’s "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria" and the title role in Donizetti’s "Lucia di Lammermoor". Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. Most recently, she appeared here, among other roles, in "Gianni Schicchi" and "Der Rosenkavalier". In the 2026/27 season, she will perform roles in "La rondine", "Alice im Wunderland", "Die lustige Witwe" and "Angels in America".

Bass Bowen Ding is studying voice/opera at the University of Music, Drama and Media Hanover in the class of Prof. Marek Rzepka. In the 2026/27 season, he is a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. Here, he takes on roles including Rabonnier in Puccini’s "La rondine", Pritschitsch in Lehár’s "Die lustige Witwe" and the Flemish Deputies in Verdi’s "Don Carlo". He can also be seen in "La fanciulla del west" and "Tosca".

Karima El Demerdasch is a German-Egyptian mezzo-soprano. She studied in Cairo and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with John Evans. In 2024, she was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and in 2023 she participated in the Georg Solti Accademia. In productions at the Guildhall School, she appeared, among other roles, as Prince Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus") and Dido ("Dido and Aeneas"). In a production by Opera Kipling, she performed the title role in "La Cenerentola" at London's Upstairs at the Gatehouse theatre in 2023. In 2025, she participated in the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival and made her debut at London's Barbican Hall. Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House.

Evan Gray is a Swiss bass-baritone from Winterthur. He began his musical training as a treble in the Zurich Boys’ Choir and later transitioned to the bass vocal range. After his initial vocal studies at the Winterthur Conservatory, he went on to study at the renowned Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. His previous roles include the Forester ("Das schlaue Füchslein"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), and Leporello ("Don Giovanni"). As an accomplished recital singer, he has performed Schubert’s "Winterreise" and Vaughan Williams’ "Songs of Travel" on multiple occasions and has worked with artists such as Julius Drake and Robert Holl. From 2023 to 2025, he was a guest at the Marlboro Music Festival, where he developed a close artistic relationship with pianist Mitsuko Uchida, who has invited him again for the 2026 summer edition. Since the 2025/26 season, Evan Gray has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

Guram Margvelashvili is from Georgia. He completed his vocal studies at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire in 2024. From 2019 to 2023, he was a member of the Tbilisi Opera Studio, where he performed roles including the Priest and Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte", Valentin in Gounod’s "Faust", and the title roles in "Don Giovanni" and "Eugen Onegin". He also sang Belcore in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore". Guram Margvelashvili received several scholarships and was a finalist in the Giuseppe Di Stefano International Singing Competition in Sicily and the Tamar Iveri International Singing Competition in Georgia. Since the 2025/26 season, Guram Margvelashvili has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. In the 2026/27 season, he can be seen here, among other things, in Puccini’s "La rondine", Lehár’s "Die lustige Witwe", "La fanciulla del West", Verdi’s "Don Carlo" and "Angels in America".

Bass Theodore McAlindon graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied with Mark Wildman and Jonathan Papp. He began his career in the choir of Ely Cathedral and with the Opera North Youth Company, and attended masterclasses with, among others, Christopher Maltman, Simon Keenlyside, Matthew Rose, and Susan Bullock. At the Academy, he sang the Speaker/Second Armed Man in "Die Zauberflöte" as well as Azarias in "The Burning Fiery Furnace", and appeared in opera scenes as Bartolo in "Le nozze di Figaro", as Baculus in "Der Wildschütz", and as Falstaff in "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor". He sang Benoît and Alcindoro in "La bohème" at the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute in Montreal under the direction of Etienne Dupuis. He has also covered Father Trulove in "The Rake's Progress" at the Grange Festival and sung in world premieres of contemporary operatic works at the Tête à Tête Festival. Since this season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio.

The Northern Irish soprano Hannah McKay studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Yvonne Kenny, where she sang Mrs Coyle in Britten's "Owen Wingrave" and the title role in Respighi's "Lucrezia". She is the winner of numerous competitions, including the Clonter Opera Prize in 2026 and the Audience Prize at the Glenarm Festival of Voice in 2024. In the same year, she was also a finalist in the Irish Heritage Bursary Competition. She has attended masterclasses with, among others, Thomas Allen, Miah Persson, Lawrence Brownlee and Sir Antonio Pappano. To date, her roles have included the Mother in Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" with Heritage Opera, Puccini's Suor Angelica at West Green House Opera and the Slave in Strauss' "Salome" at the Barbican Hall. She has been a member of the International Opera Studio since the 2026/27 season.

Cashlin Oostindië is a Dutch mezzo-soprano. She received her training at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and in Athens, as well as privately with Lauren Athey-Janka and Eva-Maria Westbroek. During her studies, she was a member of Young Opera Noord Holland, sang Marcellina ("Le nozze di Figaro"), was part of the chorus in Poulenc’s "Dialogues des Carmélites" and appeared as a soloist at the Lefkas Music Week Festival in Greece. In concert, she sang the alto parts in Bruckner’s "Requiem" and Rossini’s "Petite Messe solennelle". Together with pianist Florence van der Does, she regularly gives song recitals in the Netherlands. Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House.

The baritone Lazar Parežanin was born in Belgrade. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Martin Vacha and at the Zurich University of the Arts with Markus Eiche. In 2023, he won First Prize and the ENOA Award at the International "Bruna Spiler" Competition. To date, his roles have included Dr Cajus in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre, as well as Martino in Rossini's "L’occasione fa il ladro" and a role in the Monteverdi project "Combattimenti" at Theater an der Wien. He has been a member of the International Opera Studio since the 2026/27 season.

Mexican tenor Rafael Rojas completed his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), where he was awarded the prestigious "International Artist Diploma" scholarship. Last season, he made his debut as Rafael in Christof Loy's new production of "El Gato Montés" at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. At the RNCM, he appeared as the Prince in the college's production of Prokofiev's "L'amour des Trois Oranges" and as the Schoolmaster in Janáček's "Das schlaue Füchslein". Forthcoming engagements include appearances at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Before his studies in Manchester, he was a member of the Mexican Opera Studio, where he appeared in Bizet's "Carmen", Massenet's "Manon", and a selection of Mexican operas by Melesio Morales, Carlos Jiménez Mabarak, and Daniel Catán. In 2022 and 2023, he won first prize at the Mexican Metropolitan Opera's regional Laffont Competition, and in 2022 he won first prize at the Carlo Morelli Zarzuela Competition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. In 2024, he performed at the Houston Grand Opera's "Concert of Arias", and in 2026 he was awarded second prize at the Clonter Opera Competition. Since this season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

The Armenian bass Mikayel Sargsyan has appeared in recent years at the Armenian National Opera in Yerevan as well as in other international productions. His repertoire includes, among others, Dulcamara in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore", Sarastro in Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte", Colline in Puccini’s "La bohème", the Bonze in "Madama Butterfly" and the Forester in Janáček’s "Das schlaue Füchslein". From the 2026/27 season, he will be a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House, where he will appear in, among others, Puccini’s "La rondine", Verdi’s "La traviata", "La fanciulla del West", "Tosca" and "Don Carlo".

The tenor Tautvydas Slizauskas is from Lithuania and studies voice in the class of Prof. Brigitte Lindner at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. In the 2026/27 season, he will become a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. Here, he will appear, among other roles, as Benvolio in Gounod’s "Roméo et Juliette", Ninetta in Puccini’s "Manon Lescaut" and Raoul de Saint-Brioche in Lehár’s "Die lustige Witwe". Further performances will take him to the Zurich stage in "La rondine", "Alice im Wunderland" and "Angels in America".

Italian soprano Mariam Suleiman completed her vocal studies at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome under Virna Sforza. In 2023/24, she took part in the "Fabbrica" Young Artist Programme at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, during which she appeared in the title role of Pauline Viardot's "Cendrillon" and in concerts in Tokyo and at Expo 2025 in Osaka. In 2025, she won the competition Voci in Barcaccia. Largo ai giovani!, organised by the Italian broadcaster Rai Radio 3. She was also a finalist at the Teatr Wielki's International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw and at the Concorso Renata Tebaldi, where she received three special prizes. In 2025/26, she took part in the Mascarade Opera Emerging Artist Programme in Florence. Her most recent engagements include Isabella in Salieri's "La partenza inaspettata" at the Reate Festival 2025, the world premiere of Silvia Colasanti's "Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth" with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, and the soprano part in Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater" with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento in Bolzano. At this year's Salzburg Festival, she appeared in "King Arthur Junior". Since this season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

Soprano Natália Tuznik was born in Budapest and completed her vocal studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music there. She was awarded the Junior Prima Prize. In 2023, she was a member of the Opera Academy at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw and the following year joined the "exzellenz labor oper", founded by Hedwig Fassbender. She has taken part in numerous masterclasses and worked with artists including Éva Marton, Claudio Di Segni, Anatoli Goussev, Izabela Kłosińska, Fausto Nardi, Katelan Trần Terrell, Michał Biel and René Massis. In 2022, she made her debut as Wellgunde ("Götterdämmerung") at the Hungarian State Opera and sang the First Lady ("Die Zauberflöte") on a tour of Japan. At the Hungarian State Opera, she has also sung the title role in Gluck’s "Iphigenie auf Tauris", Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni", Alice Ford in "Falstaff" and, most recently, Countess Almaviva in "Le nozze di Figaro". Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. Most recently, she appeared here as Curra in "La forza del destino", among other roles, and in the 2026/27 season she will perform roles in "Die Walküre", "Don Carlo" and "Elektra".

Salvador Villanueva is a Mexican tenor. He completed his vocal training at the Universidad de Sonora and subsequently at the Mexican Opera Studio, where he sang roles including Goro in "Madama Butterfly" and Remendado in "Carmen." In the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, he was a member of the Opera Studio at the Amsterdam Opera, performing roles such as Gastone ("La traviata"), Borsa ("Rigoletto"), the tenor role in Tom Johnson’s The Four Note Opera, and the Sailor ("Dido and Aeneas"). In 2024, he returned to Mexico to sing the title role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Salvador Villanueva was a finalist in singing competitions in Mexico City and ’s-Hertogenbosch. He has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House since the 2025/26 season.

Ava Linvog is from Seattle. After studying at the Eastman School of Music and Vassar College, she worked as a freelance répétiteur based in New York City. In the USA, she has collaborated with Opera Omaha, North Carolina Opera, the St. Petersburg Opera Company, and the Brevard Music Center. Ava Linvog has given song recitals in New York, supported by City Lyric Opera, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and Glyndebourne America. In 2025, she was a Vocal Piano Fellow at the Music Academy of the West and subsequently a scholarship recipient at Arizona Opera. Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a répétiteur and a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House.

Seunghun Shin was born in Uljin, South Korea, and studied with Prof. Björn Lehmann at the Berlin University of the Arts and Prof. Caspar Frantz at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. In the field of vocal repertoire, he was coached by Christian Hornef, Klaus Sallmann and Axel Bauni. He also studied fortepiano and harpsichord with Alexander von Heißen, Lucas Blondeel and Mitzi Meyerson. He has received awards at several competitions, including the "Wolfgang Meyer" Chamber Music Competition, the Paula Salomon-Lindberg "Das Lied" Competition and the Artur Schnabel Competition. He has worked as a guest répétiteur at the Tischlerei of Deutsche Oper Berlin, with the children’s chorus of Staatsoper Berlin, and with the collectives "operation der künste" and "Dorf macht Oper", among others. From 2022 to 2026, he worked in the vocal department of the Berlin University of the Arts, accompanying the contemporary song class, vocal classes and audition training at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Seunghun Shin has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House since the 2026/27 season.

The French pianist Thibaut Trouche studied at the Haute école de musique in Geneva with Dominique Weber, where he also specialised in piano accompaniment. From 2022 to 2024, he worked at the Haute école de musique in Geneva as a piano accompanist in the vocal department. From 2024 to 2026, he was a member of the Opera Studio at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, where, as a répétiteur, he accompanied productions including "The Three Robbers", "La traviata", "Brundibár", "The Fantasticks" and "Les mamelles de Tirésias". In a duo with mezzo-soprano Valérie Pellegrini, he reached the final of the Mahler Competition in Geneva in 2022. In 2025, he made his debut as a choir director at Victoria Hall in Geneva with the choir of the Comédie Lyrique Romande. Since the 2026/27 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio as a répétiteur.