Opernhaus Zürich

Yannick Debus studied singing at the University of Music Lübeck, at the University of Music Basel and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. His first engagements include the Father in "Hänsel and Gretel" at Schloss Weikersheim, Guglielmo in "Così fan tutte" at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, the Emperor in Ullmann’s "Kaiser von Atlantis" as well as Figaro in Milhaud’s "La mère coupable" at the Theater Basel and Emireno in Handel’s "Ottone" at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. From 2020 to 2022 he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House. He has a close collaboration with René Jacobs, under whose direction he has appeared as Jesus ("St John Passion") at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as Apollo (Handel’s "Apollo e Dafne"), as Kilian and Ottokar ("Der Freischütz") among others at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, in Handel’s "Israel in Egypt" at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Konzerthaus Freiburg and the Berlin Philharmonie, as well as in the title role of Monteverdi’s "Orfeo" with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in the Berlin Philharmonie, the Philharmonie de Paris and at the Liceu in Barcelona. He also sang Jesus ("St Matthew Passion") with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Francesco Corti on tour including Frankfurt, Madrid, Budapest, Zurich and Seoul. Since the 2024/25 season he has been a member of the ensemble of the Zurich Opera House. Here he most recently sang Harlekin ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Lesbo ("Agrippina"), the title role in Wolfgang Rihm’s "Jakob Lenz", Schaunard in "La bohème", Lescaut in Massenet’s "Manon", Dr. Falke in "Die Fledermaus" and Don Fernando in "Fidelio".

Ruben Drole, bass-baritone, is from Winterthur and studied at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2004, he joined the opera studio and in 2005 the ensemble of the Zurich Opera House, where he performed roles including Lucio Cinna (J.C. Bach’s "Lucio Silla"), Haly ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Argante ("Rinaldo"), Wurm ("Luisa Miller"), and Papageno in the production of "Die Zauberflöte" conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. As Papageno, he also made his debut at the Semperoper Dresden in 2015. Other projects with Harnoncourt included Kezal ("Die verkaufte Braut") and Haydn’s "Die Schöpfung" at Styriarte Graz, Beethoven’s "Christus am Ölberg" in Vienna and Lucerne, a Japan tour (Mozart’s "Requiem" and Handel’s "Messiah"), and Leporello ("Don Giovanni") at the Theater an der Wien. In the Zurich cycle of Mozart/Da Ponte operas directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, he appeared as Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), and Leporello, the same roles he performed under Welser-Möst with the Cleveland Orchestra. At the Salzburg Festival 2012, he sang Achilla ("Giulio Cesare") and appeared in 2013 in Haydn’s "Il ritorno di Tobia" and Walter Braunfels’ "Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna." In Zurich, he has performed roles including Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte"), Alaskawolfjoe ("Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny"), Soldier ("Die Geschichte vom Soldaten"), Odysseus ("Die Odyssee"), Duchess/Caterpillar in "Alice im Wunderland," and Frank ("Die Fledermaus"). He also recently appeared in the ballet evening "Nachtträume."

Irène Friedli grew up in Räuchlisberg, Switzerland, and completed her studies at the Basel Music Academy with a soloist diploma. The alto furthered her training in the interpretation class of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin, attended masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, and studied with Helen Keller. She has won numerous awards at international song competitions. Since 1994, she has been a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House. Here, she has sung roles including Second and Third Lady ("The Magic Flute"), Mercédès ("Carmen"), the title role in Ravel’s "L’Enfant et les sortilèges," Elsbeth ("Schlafes Bruder"), Lily ("Harley"), Annina and Flora ("La traviata"), Flosshilde ("Das Rheingold," "Götterdämmerung"), Marcellina ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Emilia ("Otello"), Lucia ("Cavalleria rusticana"), Olga in Peter Eötvös’ "Drei Schwestern," Marthe (Gounod’s "Faust"), Margret ("Wozzeck"), Lovis in Jörn Arnecke’s "Ronja Räubertochter," Flower Maiden and Voice from Above ("Parsifal"), Gertrud/Crone ("Hänsel und Gretel"), Clotilde ("Norma"), Mother/Other Mother ("Coraline"), Card Dealer ("Arabella"), and Nurse ("Boris Godunow"). In the world premiere of the family opera "Odyssee," she portrayed Eurycleia/Mother, and in "Girl with a Pearl Earring" she sang Tanneke. In 2012, she appeared at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. Most recently in Zurich, she has performed roles including the Queen of Hearts ("Alice in Wonderland"), Filipjewna ("Eugene Onegin"), Tisbe ("La Cenerentola"), Miss Bentson ("Lakmé"), Frau Waas/Frau Mahlzahn ("Jim Knopf"), Head Cook ("Amerika"), Ninetta ("I vespri siciliani"), Annina ("Der Rosenkavalier"), and Gertrud/Crone ("Hänsel und Gretel").

Nathan Haller is from Canada and studied voice at the Juilliard School in New York. In 2013, he participated in the International Meistersinger Academy in Neumarkt. From 2015 to 2017, he was a member of the OperAvenir Studio at Theater Basel, where he sang roles such as Tamino ("The Magic Flute"), Romeo ("Romeo and Juliet"), and Oronte ("Alcina"). In 2016, he appeared as Belmonte ("The Abduction from the Seraglio") at the Akko Opera Festival in Israel, and in 2017/18 as François in Leonard Bernstein’s "A Quiet Place" at Neue Oper Wien. Further engagements took him to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Vienna Volksoper, the Malmö Opera, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. On the concert stage, he performed at the New York Festival of Song at Carnegie Hall and in Handel’s "La Resurrezione" with William Christie. He made his debut at the Zurich Opera House in 2018 in Schreker’s "Die Gezeichneten" and returned the following year as Albazar ("Il turco in Italia") as well as later in the title role of Mitterer’s "Tapferen Schneiderlein". Since the 2021/22 season, Nathan Haller has been a member of the Zurich Opera House ensemble. Here, he has recently sung roles including Mercure in Rameau’s "Platée", Gobin/Un giovane/Adolfo in Puccini’s "La rondine", Boni ("Die Csárdásfürstin"), Pong ("Turandot"), a Dance Master ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), as well as Andrès in "Les Contes d’Hoffmann", First Jew ("Salome"), Victorin ("Die tote Stadt"), Raoul de St. Brioche ("Die lustige Witwe"), Goro ("Madama Butterfly"), Valzacchi ("Der Rosenkavalier"), and Dr. Blind ("Die Fledermaus").

Yewon Han is a South Korean soprano. She completed her bachelor’s degree at Seoul National University and continued her training in the Young Artist Program of the Korea National Opera Studio, as well as from 2022 to 2024 in the International Opera Studio in Zurich. She has interpreted a wide range of roles in Korea and Europe, including Lauretta in "Gianni Schicchi", Papagena in "Die Zauberflöte", Adele in "Die Fledermaus", Romilda in "Serse", Li Si in "Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer", Titania in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", and Najade in "Ariadne auf Naxos". In 2025, she appeared as Ophelia in "Hamlet" at the Buxton International Festival. She has received numerous awards, including first prize at the 60th Concurso Tenor Viñas (2023), third prize at the International Singing Competition Neue Stimmen (2022), as well as several first prizes at major singing competitions in South Korea. Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a permanent ensemble member of the Zurich Opera House and has recently been seen there in "Hänsel und Gretel", "Manon", and "Carmen".

Johan Krogius began his musical training in the boys’ choir of the Domkantorei Cantores Minores in Helsinki. He later studied in Helsinki and Stockholm, won the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 2021, and in the same year was awarded first prize at the Helsinki Song Competition. In opera, he has sung roles such as Jaquino ("Fidelio") and Pong ("Turandot") in Helsinki, First Man and Juhana in "The Last Temptations" at the Opera in Jyväskylä, Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Finnish National Opera, Kuska ("Chowanschtschina") with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen in Helsinki and Stockholm, and Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Opera in Tampere and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he also performed as Don Ottavio and Ismaele ("Nabucco") in 2024 and as Macduff ("Macbeth") in 2025. From 2022 to 2024, he was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Berlin State Opera, where he performed roles including Leukippos (Strauss’ "Daphne"), Tamino, First Armored Man and First Priest ("Die Zauberflöte"), Innkeeper and Major-domo to Faninal ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Trojan ("Idomeneo"), Parpignol ("La bohème"), and Borsa ("Rigoletto"). As a guest, he returned to the Berlin State Opera as Tybalt ("Roméo et Juliette"), among others. On the concert stage, he has appeared with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and made his debut in 2024 with Mozart’s "Requiem" at the Berlin Philharmonie. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the ensemble at the Opera House Zurich, where he has performed in "Der Rosenkavalier," "Tosca," and "Carmen."

Siena Licht Miller, German-American mezzo-soprano, studied voice at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She completed her training with courses at Opera Philadelphia, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Aspen Music Festival. She is a scholarship holder of the Bagby Foundation, prizewinner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Marilyn Horne Rubin Foundation and the Gerda Lissner Foundation. Highlights of her career so far have been role debuts as Hermia in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", Second Lady in "Die Zauberflöte" and one of the two solo roles in the world premiere of "Denis and Katya" by Philip Venables at Opera Philadelphia. At the Aspen Opera Center she sang the title role in Ravel’s "L’Enfant et les sortilèges" under the direction of Robert Spano. She also regularly devotes herself to art song. She sang in the "The Song Continues" series at Carnegie Hall in celebration of her mentor Marilyn Horne and toured the USA with a recital together with pianist Kevin Murphy. In the 2020/21 season she was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House and sang there in "Maria Stuarda", "Simon Boccanegra", "Viva la mamma", "Salome", "Odyssee", in the ballet "Monteverdi", in "L’italiana in Algeri" as well as Flosshilde in "Das Rheingold". Since the 2022/23 season she has been a member of the ensemble of the Zurich Opera House, where she was recently seen as Lucilla ("La scala di seta"), Hänsel ("Hänsel and Gretel") and Annio ("La clemenza di Tito").

Andrew Moore, an American bass-baritone from New Jersey, received his training at Rutgers University (Mason Gross School of the Arts) and at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 2019, he reached the New England Region Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where he was awarded the Susan Eastman Encouragement Award. Further important artistic milestones included the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco as well as the Santa Fe Opera, where he appeared as an Apprentice Singer in "La bohème", "Così fan tutte", and "Jenůfa". From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House. He was subsequently engaged in the company ensemble, which he has belonged to since the 2022/23 season. There, he has appeared as Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Paolo Albiani ("Simon Boccanegra"), Don Fernando ("Fidelio"), De Brétigny ("Manon"), Marullo ("Rigoletto"), Paris ("Roméo et Juliette"), Marchese d’Obigny ("La traviata"), Pritschitsch ("Die lustige Witwe"), Johann ("Werther"), and Fix ("In 80 Tagen um die Welt"). His recent international engagements include his debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic as bass soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 as well as his Salzburg debut as Marchese d’Obigny ("La traviata"). In summer 2026, he will appear at the Salzburg Festival as Johann ("Werther"). His repertoire also includes roles such as Leporello ("Don Giovanni"), Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), and Rocco ("Fidelio").

Valeriy Murga studied at the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv. He was a finalist at both the 41st International Singing Competition in Toulouse (1996) and the 7th Julian Gayarre Competition in Pamplona (1998). In 1997, he won second prize at the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens and took part in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1999. From 1997 to 1999, he was a soloist at the Ukrainian National Opera in Kyiv, where he performed roles including Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Escamillo ("Carmen"), Schaunard ("La bohème"), and the title roles in "Eugene Onegin", "Don Giovanni", and "Prince Igor". His repertoire also includes roles such as Marchese di Posa ("Don Carlo") and Shaklovity ("Khovanshchina"). At the Zurich Opera House, he first joined the International Opera Studio and during this time appeared as Sciarrone and Jailer ("Tosca") as well as Monterone ("Rigoletto"). Since the beginning of the 2000/01 season, he has been a permanent ensemble member at the Zurich Opera House and has since appeared in roles including Prince Yeletsky ("Pique Dame"), Moralès ("Carmen"), Second Soldier ("Salome"), Alessio ("La sonnambula"), Ali ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Wagner ("Faust"), Sacristan ("Tosca"), and Bogdanowitsch ("Die lustige Witwe"), as well as in family operas such as "Das Gespenst von Canterville", "Robin Hood", "Das verzauberte Schwein", "Jim Knopf", and "Wir pfeiffen auf den Gurkenkönig". He has also appeared as a guest in Eugen d’Albert’s "Tiefland" at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and in "L’italiana in Algeri" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, and has performed in concerts at the Tonhalle Zurich.

Liliana Nikiteanu studied at the Conservatory in Bucharest. She received her first permanent engagement in 1986 at the Musiktheater Galati. She has won numerous awards, and in 2000, Opernwelt named her "Best Young Singer of the Year." Her repertoire includes over 80 roles, which she has performed in Zurich, where she has been an ensemble member since 1991, as well as in other opera houses, including Octavian ("Der Rosenkavalier") at the Bastille, the Vienna and Hamburg State Operas, Ježibaba ("Rusalka") in Montreal, Sesto ("La clemenza di Tito") in Dresden, Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") in Vienna and Munich, Dorabella ("Così fan tutte") in Dresden, Munich, Salzburg, and Aix-en-Provence, Fjodor ("Boris Godunow") in Salzburg, Margarethe ("La damnation de Faust") in Brussels, and Dulcinée ("Don Quichotte") at Theater an der Wien. In Zurich, she has performed all Mozart roles of her fach as well as roles such as Ljubascha ("Die Zarenbraut"), Nurse (Dukas’ "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue"), and Fricka ("Das Rheingold"). As a concert singer, her repertoire ranges from Bach to Berio. In Bamberg, she sang Berenice by Haydn under Adam Fischer, in Paris Berlioz’ "Les nuits d’été" under Heinz Holliger, in Copenhagen Verdi’s Requiem, and in Tel Aviv and Haifa Bruckner’s Te Deum under Zubin Mehta. Conductors who have shaped her include Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Claudio Abbado, Fabio Luisi, Franz Welser-Möst, John Eliot Gardiner, René Jacobs, and Philippe Jordan. Most recently, in Zurich, she has performed roles including Tisbe ("La Cenerentola"), Praškowia ("Die lustige Witwe"), Mama ("Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig"), Sir Pumpkin ("In 80 Tagen um die Welt"), as well as in the music-theater evening created for her, "Wie du warst! Wie du bist!"

Rebeca Olvera is from Mexico. She studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City and was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House from 2005 to 2007. She subsequently became a permanent ensemble member here and sang roles including Adina ("L’elisir d’amore"), Norina ("Don Pasquale"), Berenice ("L’occasione fa il ladro"), Giulia ("La scala di seta"), Rosina (Paisiello’s "Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Blonde ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail"), Madame Herz ("Der Schauspieldirektor"), Dorinda ("Orlando"), Isolier ("Le comte Ory"), Adalgisa ("Norma"), and Zaida ("Il turco in Italia"). In doing so, she worked with conductors such as Ralf Weikert, William Christie, Marc Minkowski, Nello Santi, Adam Fischer, Fabio Luisi, Diego Fasolis, Franz Welser-Möst, Emmanuelle Haïm, and Alessandro De Marchi. She gave concerts with José Carreras in South America and Europe (including the Carreras Gala 2007 on ARD) and with Plácido Domingo in Mexico. She sang Adalgisa alongside Cecilia Bartoli at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Edinburgh Festival, and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Isolier at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Clorinda ("La Cenerentola") at the Vienna State Opera, and Contessa di Folleville ("Il viaggio a Reims") at the Royal Danish Opera. She also appeared as Berta ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") and in the gala concert "Carmencita & Friends" at the Salzburg Festival. In Zurich, she was most recently heard as Despina ("Così fan tutte"), Musetta ("La bohème"), Frasquita ("Carmen"), Mi ("Das Land des Lächelns"), Stasi ("Die Csárdásfürstin"), and Waldvöglein ("Siegfried").

Andrew Owens, tenor, was born in Philadelphia and studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory. He is a prizewinner of several competitions, including the Zarzuela Prize at the Tenor Viñas Competition. He participated in the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival and was a member of the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. From 2012 to 2014 he was a member of the Young Ensemble of the Theater an der Wien, where he appeared at the Kammeroper in works including "La bohème", "La Cenerentola", "Fidelio", "Attila", "Mathis der Maler" and "La clemenza di Tito". Since then, he has returned to the Theater an der Wien as Mads in Werner Egk’s "Peer Gynt", as Snout in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", as the Fourth Jew in "Salome", and most recently in 2021 as Jacob Glock in "Der feurige Engel", and he has performed in the title role of "Don Carlos" at the Kammeroper Wien. More recently, he has appeared as Arturo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Opera Philadelphia, as Don Ramiro in "La Cenerentola" at the Irish National Opera, in Schumann’s "Scenes from Goethe’s Faust" with the Cleveland Orchestra, as Lukas in Haydn’s "The Seasons", as well as in a concert performance of "Le Rossignol" at the Salzburg Festival and as Aménophis in "Moïse et Pharaon" at the Rossini Opera Festival. Since 2021 Andrew Owens has been a member of the ensemble of the Zurich Opera House, where he has sung the Fourth Jew, Telémachos ("Die Odyssee"), Peppe ("Pagliacci"), Van Ruijven ("Girl with a Pearl Earring"), Lord Arturo Bucklaw ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Gualtiero ("Il pirata"), Xaïloum ("Barkouf"), Lord Cecil ("Roberto Devereux"), as well as Guglielmo Antolstoinoloff ("Viva La Mamma!") and Pylade ("Iphigénie en Tauride").

Brent Michael Smith is from the USA. He studied voice at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and the University of Northern Iowa, as well as piano at Hope College in Michigan. He won second prize at the 2018 Giargiari Bel Canto Competition, third prize at the 2021 Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino and was a finalist at the 2020 Queen Sonja International Music Competition. In the USA, his roles have included Friedrich Bhaer (Mark Adamo’s "Little Women"), Colline ("La bohème") and Ashby ("La fanciulla del West") at Detroit Opera, Ariodante ("Xerxes") at the Glimmerglass Festival, as well as Celio (Prokofiev’s "The Love for Three Oranges") and Peter Quince ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream") at Opera Philadelphia. He has also appeared at Santa Fe Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels and the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, among others. In 2025, he sang Frère Laurent ("Roméo et Juliette") at the Semperoper Dresden. He was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House in the 2020/21 season and has since been a member of the ensemble, where his roles have included Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Prince Gremin ("Eugene Onegin"), Frère Laurent ("Roméo et Juliette"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold") and Angelotti ("Tosca").

Stanislav Vorobyov is from Russia and studied at the Moscow Conservatory. He was a member of the International Opera Studio and has been a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House since the 2018/19 season. Here, he has appeared in roles including Colline ("La bohème"), Alidoro ("La Cenerentola"), the High Priest ("Nabucco"), Reinmar von Zweter ("Tannhäuser"), Zaretsky ("Eugene Onegin"), Angelotti ("Tosca"), the Fifth Jew and First Nazarene ("Salome"), Lord Rochefort ("Anna Bolena"), Dottor Grenvil ("La traviata"), Crébillon ("La rondine"), Zuniga ("Carmen"), Roberto ("I vespri siciliani"), Roucher ("Andrea Chénier"), Marchese Calatrava ("La forza del destino"), Tom ("Un ballo in maschera"), as well as Faust ("Der feurige Engel") and Méphistophélès ("La Damnation de Faust"). Guest engagements have taken him to the Bregenz Festival as Don Basilio in "Il barbiere di Siviglia", Uncle Bonzo in "Madama Butterfly", and Il capitano/L’ispettore in Giordano’s "Siberia", to Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and Luxembourg as Nourabad in "Les Pêcheurs de perles", to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as Ombra di Nino in "Semiramide", and in 2024 as Colline in "La bohème" at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and the ROHM Theatre Kyōto.

Martin Zysset was born and raised in Solothurn. He trained as a clarinetist while simultaneously completing vocal studies, which he rounded off with masterclasses with Ernst Haefliger and Edith Mathis. In 1990/91, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House and at the same time a scholarship holder of the Migros Culture Percentage as well as a prizewinner of the Pro Arte Lyrica Competition in Lausanne. Since 1992, he has been a regular guest at the Selzach Summer Festival. He has been a permanent member of the Zurich Opera House since 1991, where he has developed a wide-ranging repertoire of both buffo and dramatic roles, including Pedrillo, Monostatos, Spoletta, Incredibile ("Andrea Chénier"), Jaquino, Kudrjasch ("Káťa Kabanová"), Alfred ("Die Fledermaus"), Tamino, Tybalt, Dancaïro, Arturo, Knusperhexe, Brighella, as well as the male lead in Udo Zimmermann’s "The White Rose". He portrayed Simplicius in the operetta of the same name by Johann Strauss, which was also released on CD and DVD. Guest appearances have taken him throughout Europe, to Shanghai, and with "The Magic Flute", "Le nozze di Figaro", "Fidelio", and "Tannhäuser" to San Diego. For Bavarian Radio, he recorded Lehár’s operetta "Paganini". In Zurich, he has recently sung roles including Don Basilio ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Tschekalinsky ("Pique Dame"), Triquet ("Eugene Onegin"), the Chief Eunuch ("Das Land des Lächelns"), Goro ("Madama Butterfly"), Spoletta ("Tosca"), Dormont ("La scala di seta"), the White Minister ("Le Grand Macabre"), the Devil/Narrator ("Die Geschichte vom Soldaten"), the Third Jew ("Salome"), Schmidt ("Werther"), Feri ("Die Csárdásfürstin"), and Don Curzio ("Le nozze di Figaro").

Lobel Barun, bass, is from Croatia. He studied with Alexei Tanovitski in Zagreb. In 2023, he won the special prize "Željko Lučić" at the International Singing Competition "Lazar Jovanović" in Belgrade. In the same year, he made his debut at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as Bacchus in Boris Papandopulo’s Amphitryon. He has also performed with the Zagreb Philharmonic and portrayed Salieri in Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Mozart and Salieri" at the Opera Studio of the Zagreb Academy of Music. His repertoire includes, among others, Sarastro ("The Magic Flute"), Commendatore and Masetto ("Don Giovanni"), Don Basilio ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Banco ("Macbeth"), Padre Guardiano ("La forza del destino"), Colline ("La bohème"), Gremin ("Eugene Onegin"), and Zuniga ("Carmen"). He made his debut at the Bregenz Festival as Alidoro ("La Cenerentola") and has also performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Orquesta Reino de Aragón in Zaragoza. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio.

Maximilian Bell, bass, studied with Michail Lanskoi and Manfred Equiluz at the Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna. He furthered his training through masterclasses with Angelika Kirchschlager, Adrian Eröd, and Gerhard Kahry. The Austrian-born singer has already performed roles such as Spinelloccio ("Gianni Schicchi") and Norton ("La cambiale di matrimonio") at the Bregenz Festival, Osmin ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail") as part of the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Academy in Vienna and Graz, Snug ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream") at Theater Akzent in Vienna, the bass part in Bernstein’s "Mass" at the Wiener Musikverein, Rocco ("Fidelio") in a children’s production in Baden, Austria, Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Vienna MuTh, and Bartolo ("Le nozze di Figaro") in a traveling theater production. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

Tomislav Jukić, tenor, is from Croatia. He is a prizewinner of international singing competitions, including the Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský International Vocal Competition and the International Antonín Dvořák Singing Competition (2023). He studied with Martina Zadro at the Music Academy in Zagreb and attended masterclasses with Renata Pokupić, Nikola Kitanovski, Alexei Tanovitski, and Mikhail Sinkevich. He sang Goro ("Madama Butterfly") at the Ljubljana Opera House, gave a solo recital at the Allegretto Festival in Žilina (Slovakia), and has performed as a soloist with ensembles including the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. At the 2025 Salzburg Festival, he sang Portos ("Musketiere!") and Un incredibile ("Andrea Chénier"). At the Zürich Opera House, he appeared in a benefit concert with Cecilia Bartoli. Tomislav Jukić has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House since the 2024/25 season and will perform this season as Rinuccio ("Gianni Schicchi") at Theater Winterthur.

Marie Lombard, soprano, studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and in Rennes with Stéphanie d’Oustrac. She furthered her training through masterclasses with Lisette Oropesa, Anne Sofie von Otter, Stéphane Degout, Inva Mula, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Mariella Devia. She is an alumna of the Opera Academy of Bordeaux and the Monte-Carlo Opera Academy and has won awards at the International Competition for Young Singers of the Grand Opéra d’Avignon, the Sumi Jo International Singing Competition, and the International Opera Competition of Marmande. Her roles to date include Inès ("La favorite"), the Princess ("L’Enfant et les sortilèges"), Belinda ("Dido and Aeneas"), Eurydice ("Orfeo ed Euridice"), Adèle ("Die Fledermaus"), Coraline (Adolphe Adam’s "Le toréador"), and the First Lady ("Die Zauberflöte"). Since the 2024/25 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House. There, she has performed as Barbarina ("Le nozze di Figaro") and Contessa di Folleville ("Il viaggio a Reims") and sang in a benefit concert with Cecilia Bartoli. In the summer of 2026, she will perform Marzelline ("Fidelio") at the festival in Saint-Céré, France.

Baritone Steffan Lloyd Owen is from Wales and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He received numerous singing awards, including the W. Towyn Roberts Scholarship Prize, the Blue Riband Osborne Roberts Memorial Prize at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Prize. In 2025, he won the Josep Palet Singing Competition and was a finalist at the Paris Opera Competition. He sang Sciarrone and the Jailer in a semi-staged "Tosca" alongside Sir Bryn Terfel and Kristine Opolais at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Escamillo ("La tragédie de Carmen") at the Buxton International Festival, and Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte") at the Welsh National Opera. Concert highlights included Beethoven’s Mass in C major and "Choral Fantasy" with the BBC National Orchestra, Chorus of Wales, and the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio, where he has sung, among other roles, the title role in "Gianni Schicchi".

Pablo Salido Pulido was born in Madrid. He studied piano in his hometown and continued his training as a répétiteur through an exchange program in Trieste. In Italy and Spain, he has performed as a soloist and with various chamber music ensembles. As a répétiteur, he has worked at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto and at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste. In 2023, he participated in the Georg Solti Accademia in Venice, where he worked with Jonathan Papp, Rodrigo de Vera, Richard Bonynge, and Anthony Legge. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a répétiteur and a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House.

Sylwia Salamońska-Bączyk, soprano, studied with Wojciech Maciejowski in Poznań. She also attended masterclasses with, among others, Olga Pasiecznik, Izabela Kłosińska, Mariusz Kwiecień, Hedwig Fassbender, and Edith Wiens, as well as with vocal coaches and pianists Sofia Muñoz, Maciej Pikulski, Katelan Tran Terrell, and Michał Biel. During her studies, she sang roles such as Lauretta ("Gianni Schicchi") and Zosia (Stanisław Moniuszko’s "Die Geister"). In the 2023/24 season, she was part of the Opera Academy Young Talent Development Programme at the National Opera in Warsaw, where she made her debut as the First Attendant of Dirce in Cherubini’s "Medea" and sang Papagena in Mozart’s "The Magic Flute." Since the 2024/25 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House, where she has performed roles including Nick in Penderbeyne’s "Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig," in Dove’s "Around the World in 80 Days," Najade ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), and the Boy in Mendelssohn’s "Elijah." This season, she will perform roles including the Dew Fairy ("Hänsel und Gretel") and Shepherd ("Tannhäuser").

Thalia Cook-Hansen comes from the United States. After vocal studies in the USA and Canada, she completed her master’s degree at the Dutch National Opera Academy. In addition, she attended masterclasses with, among others, Elliot Madore, Floris Visser, and Lynne Dawson. In Amsterdam, she appeared 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 also 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 further 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 the Zurich Opera House.

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 at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and in 2023 participated in the Georg Solti Accademia. In Guildhall School productions, she performed roles such as Prince Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus") and Dido ("Dido and Aeneas"). In a 2023 production by Opera Kipling, she sang the title role in "La Cenerentola" at the Upstairs at the Gatehouse theatre in London. In 2025, she took part 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 the Zürich 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 comes from Georgia. He completed his vocal studies in 2024 at the State Conservatory in Tbilisi. From 2019 to 2023, he was a member of the Tbilisi Opera Studio, where he performed roles such as the Priest and Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte", Valentin in Gounod’s "Faust", as well as the title roles in "Don Giovanni" and "Eugene Onegin". He also sang Belcore in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore". Guram Margvelashvili has received several scholarships and was a finalist in the International Singing Competitions Giuseppe Di Stefano in Sicily and Tamar Iveri in Georgia. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

Cashlin Oostindië is a Dutch mezzo-soprano. She received her training at the Amsterdam Conservatory 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"), participated in the chorus of Poulenc’s "Dialogues des Carmélites," and performed as a soloist at the Lefkas Music Week Festival in Greece. In concert, she has sung the alto parts in Bruckner’s "Requiem" and Rossini’s "Petite Messe solennelle." She regularly gives song recitals in the Netherlands with pianist Florence van der Does. Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House.

Flavia Stricker, soprano, is from Brazil and studied at the Lübeck University of Music. She performed Fiordiligi ("Così fan tutte") at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre and Galathée (Franz von Suppé’s "Die schöne Galathée") at the Lübeck University of Music. In 2023 she won, in addition to the second prize at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino, a sponsorship award from the Kulturstiftung Insel Mainau. Since the 2023/24 season she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House, where she has appeared, among others, as Madama Cortese ("Il viaggio a Reims"), Kate Pinkerton ("Madama Butterfly"), Contessa di Ceprano ("Rigoletto"), the Widow in Mendelssohn’s "Elias", and in Stravinsky’s "Les Noces". At the Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels she sang in Rossini’s "Petite Messe solennelle", and with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 2025 she performed as Rosalinde ("Die Fledermaus").

Natália Tuznik, soprano, 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 the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw and the following year took part in the "Exzellenz Labor Oper," founded by Hedwig Fassbender. She attended numerous masterclasses and worked with artists such as 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 ("The Magic Flute") on a tour of Japan. At the Hungarian State Opera, she has also performed the title role in Gluck’s "Iphigenie auf Tauris", Donna Anna ("Don Giovanni"), Alice Ford ("Falstaff"), and most recently Countess Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro"). Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House.

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.

Samuel Wallace is from Brazil, where he studied singing with Lício Bruno. In 2024, he received a scholarship from the Mozarteum Brasileiro and subsequently participated in Rolf Beck’s International Choir Academy in Lübeck. During this time, he gave concerts in Germany as well as at the Philharmonie de Paris under Raphaël Pichon. His operatic repertoire includes roles such as Tamino ("The Magic Flute") and the title role in Guilherme Bernstein’s opera "Serafim und der Ort, an dem man nicht stirbt." In 2024, he performed Dorvil in Rossini’s "La scala di seta" and participated in the Gala Lírica of the 13th Tenor Meeting of Brazil at the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus. He was a semifinalist at the Paris Opera Competition, a finalist at the Maria Callas Competition, and a prizewinner in the Joaquina Lapinha and Natércia Lopes singing competitions. Since 2025/26, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

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.

Ismaele Gatti was born in 1998 in Como, Italy. He completed his studies at the Conservatory of Como with a Master’s degree in piano and a Master’s degree in organ. He continued his studies at the Conservatory of Lugano, where he studied in the class of Stefano Molardi and obtained a Master’s degree in Performance and a Master’s degree in Specialized Music Performance (Solo) in organ. In 2024, he began further training in harpsichord with Francesco Corti in Basel at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since September 2025, he has been a member of the Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, where he works as a répétiteur. Numerous performances have taken him across Europe as a sought-after accompanist on piano as well as organ and harpsichord, including collaborations with various chamber ensembles, choirs, and orchestras such as Philharmonia Zurich, “I Barocchisti,” and RSI. In addition, he has worked with renowned artists such as Albrecht Meyer, Joana Mallwitz, Lorenzo Viotti, Diego Fasolis, and Fabien Touhand.

Maria Stella Maurizi began her studies at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. She won first prize at both the 2020 International Competition “Young Musicians – Città di Treviso” and the 75th Competition for Young Opera Singers “European Community” at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto. In 2021, she performed as Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) in Spoleto and Perugia; in 2022, she appeared in the European premiere of Philip Glass’s The Passion of Ramakrishna with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, sang Micaëla (Marius Constant’s Tragédie de Carmen) in Spoleto, and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) in Spoleto and Perugia. That same year, she received the “Premio Nazionale delle Arti” from the Italian government. In 2023, she won prizes at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale “Anita Cerquetti” and the Concorso Lirico Internazionale Riccardo Zandonai. Since the 2023/24 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House, where she has performed, among other roles, as Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

The Canadian conductor Yves Abel has been the music director of the San Diego Opera since the 2020/21 season. Previously, he led the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie Herford from 2015 to 2020 and was principal guest conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 2005 to 2011. He is a regular guest at the world’s most renowned orchestras and opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He has a particular affinity for the French repertoire and has been highly praised by critics for his work as founder and music director of the Opéra Français de New York, where he rediscovered rare French operas. In 2009, he was awarded the title “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government, and in 2017 he received the Rubies Award from the Opera Canada for his outstanding contributions to opera in Canada. His recordings include “Thaïs” with Renée Fleming, “Werther” with Andrea Bocelli, “Madama Butterfly” with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and “Romantique,” a collection of great romantic arias with Elīna Garanča as the performer. Highlights of the 2025/26 season include conducting “Carmen” at the Vienna State Opera, “La fille du régiment” at the Royal Opera in London, “Dialogues des Carmélites” at the Teatro Regio di Torino, “Il barbiere di Siviglia” and “Pagliacci” in San Diego, “Roméo et Juliette” in Toronto, “Turandot” at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and “La Damnation de Faust” at the Zürich Opera House.

Marco Armiliato studied piano at the Paganini Conservatory in his hometown of Genoa and began his conducting career in 1989 with "L’elisir d’amore" in Lima, Peru. In 1995, he made his debut with "Il barbiere di Siviglia" at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, followed a year later by his debut at the Vienna State Opera with "Andrea Chénier" and at the San Francisco Opera with "La bohème". Since then, his career has taken him to the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Royal Opera in London, the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, La Scala in Milan, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. At the Salzburg Festival, he conducted productions including "Tosca" and "Andrea Chénier", as well as concert performances of "Manon Lescaut", "Lucrezia Borgia", and "I Capuleti e i Montecchi". In 2022, he was Music Director of the Arena di Verona Festival. He has maintained a close collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where since his debut in 1998 he has conducted almost 500 performances, including "Il trovatore", "La bohème", "Aida", "Turandot", "Rigoletto", "I puritani", "Madama Butterfly", and "La traviata". His recording "Verismo" (2009) with Renée Fleming received a Grammy Award, and the recording "Romantic Arias" (2008) with Jonas Kaufmann was honoured with a Diapason d’or. At the Vienna State Opera, where he has been an honorary member since 2019, he has conducted a wide range of works from the Italian and French repertoire, as well as gala performances and festive concerts. At the Zurich Opera House, he has recently conducted "La traviata", "Otello", "La bohème", "Manon", "Simon Boccanegra", "La rondine", "Messa da Requiem", and "Tosca".

Gianluca Capuano studied organ, composition, and orchestral conducting at the conservatory in his hometown of Milan, as well as historical performance practice at the Civica Scuola di Musica. In 2015, he made his debut at the Semperoper Dresden with Handel’s "Orlando", and in 2016 at the Opernhaus Zürich with Haydn’s "Orlando paladino". In the same year, he conducted "Norma" with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role at the opening of the Edinburgh Festival, followed by a European tour of "La Cenerentola" with Cecilia Bartoli. He has conducted, among others, "Ariodante" and "Alcina" at the Salzburg Festival, the "Christmas Oratorio" and "L’elisir d’amore" at the Hamburg State Opera, "Orfeo ed Euridice" in Rome, "Il matrimonio segreto" in Amsterdam, "L’elisir d’amore" at the Teatro Real in Madrid, "La finta giardiniera", "La Cenerentola", "Iphigénie en Tauride", and "L’italiana in Algeri" in Zurich, "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, as well as "Il turco in Italia", "Semele", "Norma", and "La Cenerentola" at the Bavarian State Opera. Recent engagements include a "Ring" cycle at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, "Hotel Metamorphosis" at the Salzburg Festival, "La Cenerentola" at Teatro alla Scala, "Il barbiere di Siviglia" at the Vienna State Opera, and "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" at the Teatro Regio di Parma. In 2022, he received the Premio Abbiati as "Conductor of the Year" and in 2026 was awarded "Best Conductor" at the Oper!Awards. With his ensemble Il canto di Orfeo, founded in 2005, he primarily focuses on works of the late Renaissance and Baroque periods. Since 2019, he has been chief conductor of the ensemble Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco, with which the CD recording "Rhapsody" was recently released.

The Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan studied at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and at the University of Michigan. In 2014, she became the first woman to win the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition. During the 2016/17 season, she participated in the Dudamel Fellowship Program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Elim Chan has conducted a wide range of prestigious international orchestras and is one of the most sought-after artists of her generation. She made her debuts at the Salzburg Festival, Orchestre de Paris, Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. From 2018 to 2023, she was a permanent guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and served as Chief Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra from 2019 to 2024. After leading the First Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2024, Elim Chan will return to the Proms in 2025 to conduct the renowned Last Night of the Proms. The 2025/26 season will take her to the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Luxembourg Philharmonic, with debuts with the Munich Philharmonic, Zurich Opera Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. She has also performed with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Francesco Ivan Ciampa, born in Avellino, Campania, studied conducting at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and was an assistant to Antonio Pappano and Daniel Oren. In 2010/11, he won the National Arts Award and first prize at the Conducting Competition of the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research. He has conducted, among others, the Munich Philharmonic, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, the Orchestra of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, the Italian Youth Orchestra, the Orchestre de l’Opéra Bastille in Paris, the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra "I Solisti di Napoli", the Valencia Symphony Orchestra, and i Pomeriggi Musicali. At the Opéra Bastille, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Regio in Turin, and the Zurich Opera House he conducted "La traviata"; at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, "Nabucco", "Maria Stuarda", and "Madama Butterfly"; at the Vienna State Opera, "L’elisir d’amore"; at the Hamburg State Opera, "Manon Lescaut", "Don Pasquale", and "Turandot"; and at the Bavarian State Opera, among others, "Il trovatore", "Otello", and "Aida". Guest engagements have also taken him to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as well as to Bilbao and Tel Aviv. At the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, he conducted "Turandot" and "Madama Butterfly", and at the Verdi Festival in Parma, "Il Corsaro", "I Masnadieri", and "Nabucco". He has a close artistic collaboration with baritone Leo Nucci in Piacenza and with soprano Diana Damrau in Paris, Barcelona, Genoa, and Monaco. From 2020 to 2022, Francesco Ivan Ciampa was the principal conductor of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento.

Ustina Dubitsky began her musical career as a member of the children’s choir of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and as concertmaster in various youth orchestras, where she performed under renowned conductors such as Mariss Jansons. She began her conducting studies in Weimar and completed them with Johannes Schlaefli in Zurich. She attended masterclasses with, among others, Peter Eötvös, David Zinman, and Paavo Järvi. In 2022, she assisted François-Xavier Roth in "Lohengrin" at the Bavarian State Opera as well as in "The Magic Flute" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. In 2022, she won the orchestra prize of the La Maestra Academy in Paris and received a two-year scholarship. She was assistant conductor with the Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche-Comté and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. In 2024, she made her debut at the Bavarian State Opera with the double bill "Lucrezia / Der Mond". In recent seasons, Ustina Dubitsky has conducted, among others, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, the Orchestre de Paris, the Ensemble Modern, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre national de Metz, Les Siècles, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. In the 2025/26 season, she will conduct, among others, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, as well as Les Siècles and the Orquestra Sinfónica of Porto once again.

Equally in demand as a conductor and violinist, Roberto González-Monjas has made a name for himself internationally. Since 2021 he has been chief conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur, since 2023 music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and since 2024 chief conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. From 2022 to 2025 he held the position of principal guest conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra. He is designated principal guest conductor of the Orchestre de Paris from the 2027/28 season. He was named honorary conductor by the Swedish Dalasinfoniettan, which he led for four years, and is artistic director and founder of the Iberacademy in Colombia. He appears regularly at festivals in Salzburg, Grafenegg, Lucerne and Verbier and has worked with Kit Armstrong, Lisa Batiashvili, Ian Bostridge, Joyce DiDonato, Hilary Hahn, Fazıl Say, András Schiff and Yeol Eum Son. As a soloist of the Berliner Barock Solisten he recorded Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos" under Reinhard Goebel. With the Mozarteum Orchestra a recording of all Mozart violin concertos was released in 2026, which received the German Record Critics’ Award. Recent highlights include conducting Strauss’ "Alpine Symphony" in London, Salzburg and Galicia, the European premiere of Hannah Kendall’s "He stretches out the north" with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the world premiere of Edmund Finnis’ cello concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as tours with the Mozarteum Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia. He teaches violin at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and has conducted both its chamber and symphony orchestras in the Barbican Hall in London.

Pierre Dumoussaud, bassoonist and conductor, studied at the Paris Conservatory. In 2014, he won the ADAMI Talents Conductors competition and in 2017 the International Competition for Opera Conductors of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. In 2022, he was the first to receive the Victoire de la Musique award in the category "Révélation Chef d’Orchestre"; in the same year, the French Minister of Culture awarded him the title "Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres." He has conducted opera and dance productions at leading houses, including "Manon" and a tribute to Roland Petit at the Opéra National de Paris, "Madama Butterfly" in Rouen, "Iphigénie en Tauride" in Montpellier, "Mignon" at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Ambroise Thomas’ "Hamlet" at the Komische Oper Berlin, "La belle Hélène" at the Opéra de Lausanne, "Pelléas et Mélisande" in Liège, as well as "Faust" and "Pénélope" in Athens. He has conducted French orchestras such as the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the orchestras of Toulouse and Metz, and the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, as well as the Real Filharmonía de Galicia and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. His discography includes French music of the 19th and 20th centuries: "Pelléas et Mélisande" at the Opera in Bordeaux for Alpha Classics, the first complete recording of Offenbach’s "Le voyage dans la lune," which received the 2022 Opera Award for "Best Recording," as well as Messager’s operetta "Les p’tites Michu" and an award-winning album dedicated to the composer Olivier Greif. Starting with the 2026/27 season, Pierre Dumoussaud will become Music Director of the Opéra Orchestre Normandie Rouen.

Titus Engel, born in Zurich, initially studied musicology in his hometown and in Berlin, and subsequently studied conducting with Christian Kluttig at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. Engagements took him, among others, to the Stuttgart State Opera, the Frankfurt Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, all three opera houses in Berlin, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Theater Basel, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has conducted orchestras such as the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Titus Engel has conducted numerous world premieres by composers such as Rebecca Saunders, Chaya Czernowin, Charles Wuorinen, and Olga Neuwirth. He has conducted, among others, at the Salzburg Festival, the Berlin Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Ruhrtriennale, and at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Since 2023, he has been Principal Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta. In 2020, he was named Conductor of the Year by the professional journal Opernwelt, and in 2025 he received the Swiss Music Prize for outstanding musical achievement. In the fall of 2025, Titus Engel was introduced as the designated member of the new musical leadership trio of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which will take over the management of the house starting with the 2026/27 season.

The French harpsichordist and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm is a specialist in Baroque repertoire. For 25 years, she has led her own Baroque ensemble, Le Concert d’Astrée. She is currently also engaged in an artistic collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Recently, Emmanuelle Haïm made her debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and returned to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Opera House for a new production of Rameau’s "Platée." She regularly conducts the Berlin Philharmonic. She has made her debut with the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and the Vienna Philharmonic, performing in Vienna and at the Lucerne Festival. In 2000, she founded Le Concert d’Astrée, which quickly gained an international reputation. In the 2024/25 season, she led a new production of Handel’s "Semele" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, a revival of Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas" at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and a concert tour in Spain. In the summer of 2025, she conducted a new production of Handel’s "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" at the Salzburg Festival. This season includes, among others, Handel’s "Semele" in Amsterdam and Leclair’s "Scylla et Glaucus" at the Zurich Opera House, alongside performances of Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater" in France and Spain. Her extensive discography has been honored with numerous awards, including the Victoires de la Musique Classique and the Echo Deutscher Musikpreis. Her most recent releases include a CD of Handel’s Italian cantatas and a DVD recording of Rameau’s "Les Boréades." Emmanuelle Haïm is a Chevalier of the Ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur, an Officier des Arts et des Lettres, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.

Florian Helgath has quickly established himself as one of the leading choral conductors of the younger generation. Since 2011, he has been the artistic director of ChorWerk Ruhr and, since 2017, of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie. With these top ensembles, he works at the highest level on choral music of all eras, both in a cappella music and in the choral-symphonic repertoire. Florian Helgath is regularly invited to work with leading vocal ensembles and conducts choral-symphonic programs with renowned orchestras. His appearances have taken him to numerous concert halls, the Berliner Festspiele, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Audi Summer Concerts, Eclat Festival for New Music Stuttgart, Thüringer Bachwochen, and notably the Ruhrtriennale, where he has shaped various contemporary music theater productions and other projects. His discography includes numerous recordings, which have been awarded prizes such as the ICMA Award and ECHO Klassik, and have been nominated for a Grammy. He gained his first musical experiences in his hometown with the Regensburger Domspatzen and later at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Among his most important teachers are Michael Gläser, Stefan Parkman, and Dan Olof Stenlund. He achieved international success as a prizewinner of the Eric Ericson Award in 2006 in Sweden and at the Competition for Young Choral Conductors in 2007 in Budapest. From 2009 to 2015, Florian Helgath led the Danish Radio Choir and from 2008 to 2016 was conductor of the Via Nova Chor Munich. With this ensemble, he conducted numerous world premieres and received national and international awards. In October 2020, Florian Helgath accepted a professorship in choral conducting at the University of Music and Dance Cologne, and since spring 2024, he holds a professorship at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.

As a sought-after guest conductor, Pablo Heras-Casado regularly appears on the podium with ensembles such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw and the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, as well as the orchestras of San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. He maintains a close collaboration with the Freiburger Barockorchester, with whom he tours regularly and undertakes recording projects. In 2022, he also began a partnership with Anima Eterna Brugge, focusing on performances and recordings of Bruckner’s symphonies on period instruments. Heras-Casado has been regarded – especially since his «Parsifal» performances at the Bayreuth Festival – as one of the most important Wagner conductors of his generation. In 2028, he will conduct a new production of Wagner’s «Ring» cycle in Bayreuth. Beginning in 2025, he will lead a «Ring» cycle at the Opéra National de Paris; he was recently seen at the Staatsoper Berlin with «Der fliegende Holländer»; and as Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Real Madrid, he has recently completed a «Ring» cycle and conducted Wagner’s «Meistersinger». As an opera conductor, Heras-Casado has also worked at La Scala in Milan, the Met in New York, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and regularly at the Vienna State Opera, where he conducted, for example, the Monteverdi trilogy. With great passion, he is also committed to supporting young musical talent through youth orchestras and academies.

Domingo Hindoyan hails from Caracas, Venezuela. He is Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and former Principal Guest Conductor of the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra. Starting with the 2026/27 season, he will become Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera. He began his musical training as a violinist in the Venezuelan music program “El Sistema” and subsequently studied conducting at the Geneva Conservatory. Masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, Jesús López Cobos, and David Zinman rounded out his training. In 2013, Domingo Hindoyan was appointed First Assistant to Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. There he conducted performances of, among others, “La traviata”, “The Rake’s Progress”, “The Rite of Spring”, and “Tosca”. Guest conducting engagements have since taken him, among others, to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra de Paris, the Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Opéra national du Rhin, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, and the Royal Opera House Muscat. In the symphonic field, in recent years he has toured Japan with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, given concerts in the USA with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra, as well as in Europe with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. With the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, he has released six albums, including recordings of works by the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra and most recently by Tchaikovsky. At Zurich Opera House, he has already conducted the ballet double bill “Petrushka/Sacre”.

Philippe Jaroussky, French countertenor and conductor, began his vocal studies in Paris after studying violin, piano, and composition at the music academies of Versailles and Boulogne. In the field of Baroque music, he has built an extensive repertoire ranging from Monteverdi and Luigi Rossi to Handel and Vivaldi. Additionally, he participated in the world premiere of Saariaho’s “Only the Sound Remains” in Amsterdam and at the Opéra de Paris, a work specifically written for his voice, and in 2024 he sang in Dalbavie’s most recent opera “Melancholie des Widerstands” at the Berlin State Opera. He collaborates with leading early music ensembles, including the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Il pomo d’oro, Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert d’Astrée, L’Arpeggiata, Concerto Köln, and Ensemble Matheus. In 2009, he made his Salzburg Whitsun Festival debut with a Farinelli program and later appeared there in “Giulio Cesare.” His discography includes the album “Heroes” with Vivaldi operatic arias, which was awarded a Disque d’Or, a Diapason d’Or, a Choc du Monde de la Musique, and a Gramophone Award, as well as the Vivaldi albums “Pieta” and “Virtuoso Cantatas” recorded with Ensemble Artaserse. At the Victoires de la Musique, he was named “Newcomer” in 2004 and “Singer of the Year” in 2007 and 2010; in 2008 he received an Echo Klassik for “Singer of the Year.” Since 2021, Philippe Jaroussky has also been active as a conductor, mainly with his Ensemble Artaserse, founded in 2002. In 2019, he was named “Officier des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government.

Adrian Kelly wurde nach seinem Studium an der Universität Cambridge Mitglied des Young Artists Programme am ROH Covent Garden. Danach war er Solorepetitor an der Staatsoper Hamburg. Er arbeitet regelmässig für die Salzburger Festspiele, wo er u.a. Ingo Metzmacher bei Luigi Nonos Al gran sole carico d’amore und Wolfgang Rihms Dionysos assistierte. Darüber hinaus arbeitete er mit Dirigent:innen wie Antonio Pappano, Mark Elder, Peter Schneider, Nicola Luisotti, Philippe Jordan und Simone Young. Seit Sommer 2015 ist er Musikalischer Leiter des Young Singers Project der Salzburger Festspiele. Gastengagements führten ihn ans Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires und in die Vereinigten Staaten, wo er das Barock-Pasticcio The Infernal Comedy mit dem Schauspieler John Malkovich auf Tournee dirigierte. Von 2010 bis 2017 war Adrian Kelly Erster Kapellmeister am Salzburger Landestheater. Er arbeitete dort regelmässig mit dem Mozarteumorchester Salzburg und übernahm die musikalische Leitung u.a. von Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Le nozze di Figaro, Ernst Kreneks Jonny spielt auf, Hänsel und Gretel in der Felsenreitschule, La bohème im Haus für Mozart sowie der österreichischen Erstaufführung von Charles Wuorinens Brokeback Mountain. In der Spielzeit 2018/19 leitete er am Landestheater Manon sowie einen Zyklus der Mozart-Da Ponte-Opern und kehrte in der Saison 2019/20 als erster ständiger Gastdirigent dorthin zurück. Seit Juni 2018 ist er Künstlerischer Leiter des Buxton Festivals, wo er die Neuproduktionen von Eugen Onegin und von La donna del lago dirigierte. Seit der Spielzeit 2020/21 ist er Leiter des Internationalen Opernstudios Zürich und dirigierte hier u.a. Viva la mamma am Theater Winterthur und Jakob Lenz im ZKO-Haus.

The German conductor Axel Kober completed his studies at the University of Music Würzburg. His first engagements took him to Schwerin, Dortmund, Mannheim and finally to the Leipzig Opera, where he was Musical Director and also conducted concerts of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. From 2009 to 2024 he was General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. There he conducted, among others, the productions "Wozzeck", "Der Kaiser von Atlantis", "Peter Grimes" and "Káťa Kabanová" as well as the world premiere of Jörg Widmann's "Gesicht im Spiegel", a new production of "Tristan and Isolde" and the live CD production of the "Ring des Nibelungen". From 2017 he was also Chief Conductor of the Duisburg Philharmonic, and from 2019 to 2025 General Music Director of the orchestra. As a guest he has a close relationship with the Vienna State Opera, where he made his debut in 2016. In addition to his enthusiastically received "Ring" cycles (2019 and 2022), he conducted "Hansel and Gretel", "Der Rosenkavalier", "Arabella", "Fidelio", Mahler's 4th Symphony, "Tosca", "Turandot", "Macbeth" and "Parsifal" in Vienna. In the 2025/26 season he will return to the house with "Tannhäuser" and "Parsifal". Regular guest conducting engagements have taken him, among others, to the Bayreuth Festival, the Berlin State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden and the Zurich Opera House. In Tokyo he conducted Keith Warner's "Tannhäuser", at La Scala in Milan "Salome", at the Opéra national du Rhin "Tristan and Isolde" and at the Royal Danish Opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg". On the concert podium he has conducted, among others, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

Fabio Luisi comes from Genoa. The former General Music Director of the Zurich Opera House (2012–2021) is Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and Chief Conductor of the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. He is also Music Director of the Valle d'Itria Festival in Apulia and Honorary Conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin. Previously, he held important positions at orchestras and opera houses, including the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with, among others, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic, and leads productions at the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Salzburg Festival, and the Vienna State Opera, among others. At the Zurich Opera House, he conducted, among others, the new productions of three Bellini operas as well as "Rigoletto," "Fidelio," "Wozzeck," "The Land of Smiles," and Verdi's "Requiem Mass." An extensive discography complements his artistic work. At the Zurich Opera House, he founded the label "Philharmonia Records" of the Philharmonia Zurich (Orchestra of the Zurich Opera). Fabio Luisi, who comes from Genoa, studied at the Conservatorio Niccolò Paganini in his hometown and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria. His awards include the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, the Italian Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana, the Commendatore della Stella d’Italia, the Grifo d’Oro of Genoa, the Danish Order of the Dannebrog, and an honorary doctorate from St. Bonaventure University in New York. Off the podium, he is also a composer and perfumer, producing his creations for his own company.

Joana Mallwitz has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin since the beginning of the 2023/24 season, making her the first woman to lead one of the major Berlin orchestras. In 2020, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival with Mozart’s "Così fan tutte". Joana Mallwitz has also celebrated major successes at the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Oper Frankfurt, and the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. She is a guest conductor with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Bamberg Symphony. When she took up her position at Theater Erfurt in the 2014/15 season, she became the youngest General Music Director in Europe. In 2018, she moved to the Staatstheater Nürnberg in the same position and was named "Conductor of the Year" one year later. In 2024, the documentary film "Joana Mallwitz – Momentum" by Günter Atteln was released about her. Born in Hildesheim, Joana Mallwitz studied at the University of Music, Theatre and Media Hanover. She is a recipient of the Bavarian Constitutional Order. For her many years of work in music education and the promotion of young talent, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2023. At the Zurich Opera House, she conducted "Der Rosenkavalier" in 2025.

Riccardo Minasi is Principal Guest Conductor of Ensemble Resonanz, which is based at the Elbphilharmonie, as well as Artistic Director of the orchestra La Scintilla at the Opernhaus Zürich, positions he has held since 2022. Previously, from 2011 to 2016, he was co-founder and conductor of Il Pomo d’Oro, from 2017 to 2022 Chief Conductor of the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and from 2022 to 2025 Music Director of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. As a conductor, he has led numerous renowned orchestras worldwide, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Münchner Philharmoniker and the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart. Engagements as musical director of various opera productions have taken him, among others, to the Salzburger Festspiele, the Opernhaus Zürich, the Staatsoper Hamburg and the Dutch National Opera. In addition, he served as musicological advisor to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and, together with Maurizio Biondi, published the critical edition of Vincenzo Bellini’s "Norma" with Bärenreiter. As a soloist, Riccardo Minasi has performed with some of the most important ensembles of the early music scene, including Il Giardino Armonico and Le Concert des Nations. Minasi’s extensive discography includes recordings with artists such as Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez and Philippe Jaroussky. Four of his albums have won the prestigious ECHO Klassik Award. His recordings include Joseph Haydn’s "The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross" and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Cello Concertos with Jean-Guihen Queyras under the label Harmonia Mundi.

Marc Minkowski studied bassoon before turning to conducting. At the age of 19, he founded the ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre, of which he remains Artistic Director to this day. He also directs the Festival Ré-Majeure, served as General Director of the Opéra National de Bordeaux from 2016 to 2021, as Artistic Director of the Mozart Week in Salzburg from 2013 to 2017, and as Artistic Advisor to the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan from 2018 to 2022, with which he continues to collaborate. In 2018, he was awarded the French Legion of Honour. As a guest conductor, he has received invitations to internationally renowned stages, including the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera in London, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra National de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, and the Salzburg Festival. He has conducted orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the NRD Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Dresden Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, as well as period-instrument ensembles such as the Chamber Orchestra of Basel, Musique of the Baroque in Chicago, and the English Baroque Soloists. Recent projects include Offenbach’s "Robinson Crusoé" at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, "Così fan tutte" at the Berlin State Opera, "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, as well as concert performances of Handel’s "Orlando" with Les Musiciens du Louvre in Paris and Spain.

Stefano Montanari studierte Geige und Klavier bei Pier Narciso Masi in Florenz und bei Carlo Chiarappa in Lugano und ist als Barockgeiger und Dirigent tätig. Von 1995 bis 2012 war er Erster Konzertmeister des Ensembles für Alte Musik Accademia Bizantina di Ravenna. Montanari unterrichtet Barock-Violine an der Accademia internazionale della musica „Claudio Abbado“ in Mailand und veröffentlichte ein Buch mit dem Titel Metodo di violino barocco. Zudem ist er Musikalischer Leiter des Jungen Musikpodiums Dresden-Venedig. Er ist regelmässig als Dirigent am Teatro La Fenice in Venedig tätig, wo er Don Giovanni, Die lustige Witwe und Il barbiere di Siviglia dirigierte. Gastengagements führten ihn an die Opernhäuser in London (Così fan tutte), Lyon (Alceste, La Cenerentola), Rom (Il viaggio a Reims, Le nozze di Figaro, La Cenerentola), Napoli (Mosè in Egitto), Toronto, Amsterdam, Verona und Moskau. Häufig begleitet er als Dirigent auch am Cembalo und Hammerflügel. Eine regelmässige Zusammenarbeit verbindet ihn mit dem Jazz-Saxophonisten, Klarinettisten und Komponisten Gianluigi Trovesi. Jüngst gastierte Stefano Montanari u.a. an der Staatsoper Stuttgart (Juditha Triumphans, Platée), am Grand-Théâtre de Genève (La Cenerentola), an der Opéra de Lyon (Le nozze di Figaro) sowie am Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die lustige Witwe), am ROH in London (Rigoletto), an der Wiener Staatsoper (Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’elisir d’amore) und an der Bayerischen Staatsoper (Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Agrippina, La Cenerentola). Am Opernhaus Zürich dirigierte er zuletzt in der Spielzeit 2020/21 Orphée et Euridice.

Gianandrea Noseda has been General Music Director of the Zurich Opera House since the 2021/22 season. In addition, he is Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, he became Music Director of the newly founded Tsinandali Festival and the Georgian Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra. From 2007 to 2018, Noseda served as General Music Director of the Teatro Regio di Torino, where he artistically reshaped the opera house during his tenure. Noseda has conducted the world’s leading orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic) as well as at the most prestigious opera houses (La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House) and festivals (BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Verbier). He has also held leading positions with the BBC Philharmonic (Chief Conductor), the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor), the Mariinsky Theatre (Principal Guest Conductor), and the Stresa Festival (Artistic Director). His discography comprises more than 80 CDs, with a special focus on the "Musica Italiana" project, which features neglected 20th-century Italian repertoire. Born in Milan, Noseda is a Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana and received the Order of Merit of the City of Milan in 2024. In 2015, he was named "Musical America’s Conductor of the Year," was awarded "Conductor of the Year" at the 2016 International Opera Awards, and received the Puccini Prize in 2023. In the same year, the Oper! Awards honored Noseda as "Best Conductor," particularly recognizing his interpretations of the first two "Ring" operas at the Zurich Opera House.

Enrico Onofri was principal conductor of the Filarmonica Toscanini in Parma and currently holds the positions of associate conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, artistic partner of the Haydn Philharmonic, and associate conductor of the Orchestre National d'Auvergne. He is also the founder and leader of the Imaginarium Ensemble and music director of the Real Câmara in Lisbon. Growing up in Ravenna, Italy, Enrico Onofri developed a passion for historical performance practice at an early age. During his violin studies, he was appointed by Jordi Savall as concertmaster of La Capella Reial. He soon collaborated with ensembles such as Concentus Musicus Wien, Ensemble Mosaique, and Il Giardino Armonico, where he was concertmaster and soloist from 1987 to 2010. His conducting career began in 2002, and he received numerous invitations to conduct orchestras, opera houses, and festivals in Europe, Japan, and Canada. He has conducted the Haydn Philharmonic, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the Camerata Bern, the Festival Strings Lucerne, the Bremer Philharmoniker, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, and the Bochumer Symphoniker. As an opera conductor, he has worked on productions at the Opéra de Lyon, the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Zurich Opera House, and the Staatstheater Halle. In early 2025, he conducted Alessandro Scarlatti's "Il trionfo dell’onore" at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 2019, he won the Abbiati Prize as the best soloist of the year and received numerous prestigious awards for his extensive repertoire of recordings as both a soloist and conductor. In January 2025, he began a collaboration with the Harmonia Mundi label for a symphonic cycle dedicated to Classical composers.

Raphaël Pichon began his musical training with studies in voice, violin, and piano at the Paris conservatories. As a young countertenor, he sang under conductors such as Jordi Savall, Ton Koopman, and Geoffroy Jourdain. In 2006, he founded the ensemble Pygmalion, with which he has since performed at venues including the Philharmonie de Paris, the Château de Versailles, the BBC Proms, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, the French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong, and the Beijing Music Festival. He has directed opera productions at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Amsterdam Opera, and the Opéra national de Bordeaux, collaborating with directors such as Katie Mitchell, Romeo Castellucci, Simon McBurney, Pierre Audi, Jeanne Candel, Satoshi Miyagi, and Jetske Mijnssen. In 2020, he founded the Festival Pulsations in Bordeaux. Highlights include his debut at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence with the Bach production "Trauernacht," the rediscovery of Luigi Rossi’s "Orfeo" at the Opéra national de Lorraine and the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Monteverdi’s "Vespro della Beata Vergine" at the Holland Festival, Brahms’ "A German Requiem" at the submarine base in Bordeaux, Castellucci’s Mozart "Requiem" in Aix-en-Provence, and "L’autre voyage," a new creation with music by Schubert at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. In 2023, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Salzburg Festival. His numerous recordings include the albums "Enfers" (2018) and "Libertà!" (2019), as well as Bach’s Mass in B minor (2025). Raphaël Pichon is an Officer of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Since receiving the German Conductors’ Award, Markus Poschner has been a guest conductor at the most prestigious orchestras and opera houses, including the Deutsche Symphonieorchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NHK Tokyo, as well as at the Staatsoper Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, and at the Opernhaus Zürich. In 2022, he opened the Bayreuth Festival with a new production of "Tristan und Isolde" and conducted it again in 2023. In 2026/27, the Munich-born conductor, who is also a passionate jazz pianist, will become the new Chief Conductor of the historic ORF Radio-Symphony Orchestra Vienna. Since 2025/26, he has been Chief Conductor of the Sinfonieorchester Basel and will additionally assume the position of Music Director at the Utah Symphony Orchestra starting in 2027/28. From 2015 to 2025, he was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, with which he won the International Classical Music Award in 2018 for the complete recording of Brahms’ symphonies and again in 2025 for his Hindemith and Schnittke recordings. His recording of Offenbach’s "Maître Péronilla" with the Orchestre National de France received the 2021 Annual Award from the German Record Critics. For the complete recording of all Bruckner symphonies with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, of which Poschner has been Chief Conductor since 2017, and the ORF Radio-Symphony Orchestra Vienna, he received the 2024 Special Achievement Award from the International Classical Music Awards jury. In 2020, Poschner and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz were awarded the Austrian Music Prize.

Sesto Quatrini wurde in Rom geboren. Von 2016 bis Juni 2023 war er Chefdirigent und Künstlerischer Leiter der Litauischen Nationaloper in Vilnius, wo er u.a. Anna Bolena, La bohème, Il barbiere di Siviglia, I Capuleti e i Montecchi und Madama Butterfly dirigierte. 2015-2016 war er Assistent von Fabio Luisi an der Metropolitan Opera New York und beim Festival della Valle d’Itria, wo er 2017 mit Un giorno di regno sein Italiendebüt gab. Höhepunkte seiner bisherigen Engagements waren Der Rosenkavalier, La Juive, Don Carlo, Rigoletto und La traviata an der Litauischen Nationaloper in Vilnius, Norma in Piacenza, Parma und Modena sowie am Théâtre La Monnaie, Anna Bolena am Teatro Carlo Felice in Genua, Madama Butterfly am La Fenice in Venedig, Chiara e Serafina an der Donizetti-Oper in Bergamo, La traviata an der Royal Danish Opera, Le nozze di Figaro am Royal Opera House Muscat und Die Zauberflöte am Teatro Regio in Turin. Geplant sind in dieser Spielzeit seine Debüts am Royal Opera House in London sowie an der Deutschen Oper Berlin.

Evan Rogister is regarded as one of the most versatile conductors on the international scene, with projects ranging from the "Ring" cycle for the Gothenburg Opera (2018–2022) and his 2023 conducting of "Don Giovanni" with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Glyndebourne to interpretations of contemporary works such as the opera "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2021. From 2018 to 2025 he served as music director of the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. He has conducted ensembles such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Essen Philharmonic. In the 2017/18 season he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte". He has also conducted operas such as "Tannhäuser" and "Rienzi" at Deutsche Oper Berlin, "Lohengrin" at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and at the Royal Swedish Opera, "Elektra" at the Kennedy Center, Bartók’s "Duke Bluebeard’s Castle" and Schoenberg’s "Erwartung" in a double bill at the opera houses in Gothenburg and Seattle, "Otello" in Berlin and Luxembourg, as well as "Le nozze di Figaro" at Malmö Opera. In 2024 he made his debut with a concert programme at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and returned there in the summer of 2025. He is also committed to fostering the next generation of artists and regularly gives masterclasses, including through his collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. His debut recording on Deutsche Grammophon, "Follow, Poet", with the American ensemble LPR, was released in 2015.

Daniele Rustioni studied organ, composition and piano in Milan, as well as conducting with Gilberto Serembe. Since the beginning of the 2025/26 season, he has been Principal Guest Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he made his debut in 2017 with "Aida". Prior to that, he held the position of Principal Conductor at the Opéra National de Lyon for eight seasons until 2025. Daniele Rustioni began his career as a Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, where he assisted Antonio Pappano. This was followed by principal positions at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the Orchestra della Toscana and, until 2024, the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. From 2021 to 2023, he was Principal Guest Conductor at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. In 2013, he was named “Young Artist of the Year” at the International Opera Awards, followed by the award in the category “Best Conductor” in 2022. Daniele Rustioni has already made guest appearances at the most internationally renowned opera houses, including La Scala in Milan, the Teatro La Fenice, the Opéra Bastille and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Engagements in the symphonic repertoire have taken him to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, where he will be Principal Guest Conductor for the 2025/26 season. His discography includes an album with Aigul Akhmetshina and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as a recording of Bellini's first opera, "Adelson e Salvini". At Zurich Opera House, he has conducted "Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci" and "Madama Butterfly", among other works.

The Italian conductor Leonardo Sini studied at the Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Canepa di Sassari and continued his education at the Royal Academy of Music in London, at the conservatories in The Hague and Amsterdam, and in Siena. In 2017, he won the prestigious International Conducting Competition “Sir Georg Solti.” Since then, he has made highly successful debuts at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, with Opera Lombardia in Como, Cremona, Pavia, and Bergamo, at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and in 2021 in Japan with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Also in 2021, he conducted “L’elisir d’amore” at the Opéra National de Paris and returned to the Hungarian State Opera for Puccini’s rarely performed “Edgar” as well as productions of “Simon Boccanegra” and “Don Carlo.” Further highlights include his debuts at the Hamburg State Opera and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin with “Lucia di Lammermoor,” “Aida” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, “Turandot” and “Adriana Lecouvreur” at the Sydney Opera House, “Il barbiere di Siviglia” at Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia and in Modena, “La traviata” and “Aida” at the Semperoper Dresden, and “Carmen” and Verdi’s “Alzira” at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège. Recent engagements include “Il trovatore” at the Korean National Opera in Seoul, “Don Carlo” in Tokyo, “Aida” at the Staatsoper Hannover, “Nabucco” with Plácido Domingo in Paris, “Carmen” at the Arena di Verona, and his 2025 American debut with “Tosca” at the Seattle Opera. At the Zurich Opera House, Leonardo Sini has conducted “Rigoletto,” “Lucia di Lammermoor,” “Tosca,” and “La scala di seta.”

Born in Vilnius, Giedrė Šlekytė studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig, and the Zurich University of the Arts. As an internationally sought-after guest conductor, she has worked with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Saxon State Orchestra Dresden, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, where she served as Principal Guest Conductor from 2022 to 2025. After her engagement as First Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt from 2016 to 2018, she conducted at opera houses in Munich, Dresden, Zurich, Frankfurt, Antwerp, Leipzig, and at the Salzburg Festival. In the 2024/25 season, she made her debuts at the Vienna State Opera (“La Bohème”) and at the Royal Opera House London (“Hänsel und Gretel”), conducted “Das Paradies und die Peri” at the MusikTheater an der Wien, and appeared as a guest at the Staatsoper Berlin, among others. In the symphonic field, she has performed with the Dallas Symphony (U.S. debut), Philharmonia London, NHK Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic, and RSB Berlin. In the 2025/26 season, she will make her debuts with the L.A. Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Antwerp Symphony. Šlekytė is a strong advocate for Lithuanian music and has recorded works by Raminta Šerkšnytė (Deutsche Grammophon) and Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (Ondine). She is a prizewinner of the 2015 International Malko Conducting Competition and was nominated for the 2015 Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award as well as “Newcomer of the Year” at the 2018 International Opera Awards. With “Hänsel und Gretel,” she conducts a premiere at the Zurich Opera House for the first time.

Tugan Sokhiev dirigiert regelmässig renommierte Orchester wie die Wiener, Berliner und Münchner Philharmoniker, die Dresdner und Berliner Staatskapelle, das Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, das Gewandhausorchester sowie das Philharmonia Orchestra. Zudem wird er von führenden US-amerikanischen Orchestern eingeladen, darunter das New York Philharmonic und das Philadelphia Orchestra, und verbringt in jeder Saison mehrere Wochen mit dem NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokio. Von 2008 bis 2022 war er Musikdirektor des Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse und leitete zahlreiche gefeierte Konzerte, mehrere Uraufführungen sowie eine Vielzahl von Auslandstourneen, die das Orchester zu internationaler Bekanntheit führten. Zwischen 2014 und 2022 bekleidete er zudem die Position des Musikdirektors und Chefdirigenten des Bolschoi-Theaters in Moskau, wo er zahlreiche Neuproduktionen und Uraufführungen dirigierte. Er gastierte ausserdem an der Metropolitan Opera in New York, beim Festival von Aix-en-Provence sowie am Teatro Real in Madrid. 2024/25 gab er unter anderem sein Debüt mit dem L'Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris und dirigiert Gastkonzerte in Europa mit der Staatskapelle Dresden, Konzerte mit den Münchner Philharmonikern sowie das Sommernachtskonzert mit den Wiener Philharmonikern. Mit «Tannhäuser» leitet Tugan Sokhiev erstmals eine Neuproduktion am Opernhaus Zürich.

Simon Steen-Andersen, geboren 1976 in Dänemark, ist ein in Berlin lebender Komponist und Regisseur mit einem transdisziplinären Ansatz in Bezug auf Musik und Theater. Seine Werke bewegen sich zwischen Musik, Performance, Theater, Installation, Choreografie und Film. Simon Steen-Andersen wurde mit zahlreichen Preisen ausgezeichnet, darunter der Reumert Award («Oper des Jahres» in Dänemark, 2024), der Carl Preis (2024, 2020, 2015), der SWR-Orchesterpreis (2019, 2014), der Mauricio-Kagel-Musikpreis und der Ernst von Siemens-Komponistenpreis (2017), der Musikpreis des Nordischen Rates (2014) und der Carl-Nielsen-Ehrenpreis (2013). Simon Steen-Andersen studierte Komposition bei Rasmussen, Spahlinger, Valverde und Sørensen in Aarhus, Freiburg, Buenos Aires und Kopenhagen (1998–2006). Seit 2016 ist Steen-Andersen Mitglied der Akademie der Künste Berlin und seit 2018 unterrichtet er Komposition und Musiktheater an der Hochschule der Künste Bern.

Ann-Katrin Stöcker studied piano, vocal coaching, and conducting in Frankfurt am Main and furthered her education with studies in vocal coaching, song accompaniment, and chamber music at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Alongside an active concert career as a soloist and chamber music partner, she was already engaged during her studies as a vocal coach at the Augsburg Theatre, the Staatstheater Braunschweig, and the Frankfurt Opera. From 2012 to 2014, she worked at the Staatstheater Braunschweig as assistant to General Music Director Alexander Joel. She made her conducting debut in 2013 with Mozart’s "The Magic Flute" at the Staatstheater Braunschweig. Since 2014, she has been affiliated with the Zurich Opera House as a vocal coach and deputy head of music studies. There, she has conducted in recent seasons, among others, "Gold!", "Konrad", "Coraline", "Odyssey", "Jim Knopf", "Das Land des Lächelns", and "The Merry Widow". Ann-Katrin Stöcker has been engaged at the Bayreuth Festival, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Festival, and the Gstaad Festival. In the upcoming 2025/2026 season, she will conduct "Hansel and Gretel" at the Zurich Opera House and "Ariadne auf Naxos" in San Francisco.

Lorenzo Viotti, geboren in Lausanne, studierte Klavier, Gesang und Schlagzeug in Lyon sowie Dirigieren in Wien und Weimar. Von 2018 bis 2021 war er Generalmusikdirektor des Gulbekian-Orchesters in Lissabon und seit der Spielzeit 2021/22 ist er Chefdirigent des Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Internationale Aufmerksamkeit erlangte er als Gewinner des Internationalen Dirigierwettbewerbs in Cadaqués 2013 sowie des Young Conductors Award der Salzburger Festspiele 2015. 2017 wurde er beim International Opera Award zum Newcomer des Jahres gekürt. Lorenzo Viotti hat bereits zahlreiche bedeutende Orchester dirigiert, darunter das BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester, das Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, das Tokyo Symphony Orchestra , das Concertgebouw-Orchester Amsterdam, die Wiener Symphoniker, das Gewandhaus-Orchester Leipzig, das ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, das Mahler Chamber Orchestra, das Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, das Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, die Camerata Salzburg, die Staatskapelle Dresden und die Münchner Philharmoniker. Als Operndirigent leitete er «Carmen» an der Staatsoper Hamburg und an der Opéra Bastille in Paris, Rossinis «La cambiale di matrimonio» am Teatro La Fenice in Venedig, «Werther» und «Die Csárdásfürstin» am Opernhaus Zürich, «Rigoletto» an der Oper Stuttgart und der Semperoper Dresden, Tosca in Frankfurt und am New National Theater Tokyo, «Cavalleria rusticana», «Pagliacci» und «Turandot» an De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, «Roméo et Juliette» an der Mailänder Scala sowie «La bohème» am Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. Am Opernhaus Zürich dirigierte er zuletzt Erich Wolfgang Korngolds «Die tote Stadt».

Ralf Weikert, born in St. Florian, received his first musical training at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz. He completed his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 1965, he was awarded first prize at the Nikolai Malko Competition in Copenhagen. One year later, the Austrian Minister of Education presented him with the Mozart Interpretation Prize. In 1975, the Dr. Karl Böhm Prize was personally awarded to him by the conductor himself. Until 1977, Ralf Weikert served as chief conductor at the Theater of the City of Bonn. He then worked as deputy general music director at the Frankfurt Opera and, in 1981, came to Salzburg as chief conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra and general music director of the State Theatre. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1974 and at the Hamburg State Opera in 1975, followed by debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1987 and at the San Francisco Opera in 1997. In addition, he was a regular conductor at the festivals in Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, and Bregenz. From 1983 to 1992, he held the position of chief conductor at the Zurich Opera House. Since then, he has worked as a freelance conductor and has appeared as a guest with leading orchestras such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and many others. Award-winning recordings of operatic and concert repertoire, as well as radio and television productions in Europe and America, were made under his direction. In 2017, his book “Beruf Dirigent” was published by Böhlau Verlag Vienna, followed in 2020 by his autobiography “Der Strom der Töne zog mich fort …”, published by the Swiss Literary Society.

Born in Basel, Willi Zimmermann began violin lessons at the age of six. In 1978, he was admitted to the class of Sándor Zöldy and graduated with distinction in both his teaching and concert diplomas. A scholarship enabled him to continue his studies with Sándor Végh and Günter Pichler. From 1985 to 2007, Willi Zimmermann was the first violinist of the internationally active and highly acclaimed Amati Quartet. As concertmaster of the Musikkollegium Winterthur Orchestra from 1992 to 2010, and concertmaster of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra since 2008, he has led numerous performances from the podium. This has led to collaborations with renowned artists such as Krystian Zimerman, Fazıl Say, András Schiff, Rudolf Buchbinder, Heinrich Schiff, Thomas Zehetmair, Sir James Galway, and Pinchas Zukerman. As a co-soloist, he has also performed with Daniel Hope, Giuliano Carmignola, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, among many others. Willi Zimmermann is a regular guest conductor of the Berlin Baroque Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson wurde 1978 in Reykjavik geboren. Nach dem Schauspielstudium an der Kunstakademie in Island arbeitete er als Regisseur an verschiedenen Häusern in Island, Finnland und Australien. Von 2005 bis 2009 studierte er an der Hochschule für Schauspielkunst «Ernst Busch» in Berlin. In der Spielzeit 2010/2011 war er Chefregisseur am Konstanzer Stadttheater. Er inszenierte am Staatstheater Mainz, war leitender Regisseur am Staatstheater Wiesbaden und eröffnete 2016 die Ibsen-Festspiele in Oslo. Am Theater Augsburg inszenierte er die Opern «Die Fledermaus», «La bohème» und «Lohengrin». 2016/17 inszenierte er erstmals am Schauspiel Hannover («Hamlet»), gefolgt von einer Neuerzählung der «Edda», für die er 2018 mit dem Faust-Preis in der Kategorie Regie ausgezeichnet wurde, «Macbeth» und «Die verlorene Oper. Ruhr-Epos» (gemeinsam mit Albert Ostermeier und in Zusammenarbeit mit den Ruhrfestspielen). Weitere Arbeiten entstanden für das Norwegische Nationaltheater in Oslo («Faust»), das Theater Basel («Die Räuber») und das Theater Dortmund. Von 2019 bis 21 war Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson Schauspieldirektor an der Volksbühne Berlin. In den vergangenen Jahren arbeitete er unter anderem am Wiener Burgtheater und am Thalia Theater in Hamburg statt. Am Staatstheater Kassel realisierte er im Sommer 2022 das genreübergreifende Musiktheater-Projekt «Temple of Alternative Histories». In der Spielzeit 2023/24 inszenierte Arnarsson «Parsifal» an der Staatsoper Hannover, «Peer Gynt» am Burgtheater in Wien und «Tristan und Isolde» bei den Festspielen in Bayreuth. «Tannhäuser» ist Arnarssons erste Inszenierung am Opernhaus Zürich.

Valentina Carrasco was born in Buenos Aires. From 2000 to 2020, she worked with La Fura dels Baus on major shows in Barcelona, Madrid, Beirut, Shanghai, Istanbul, among others, as well as on numerous opera productions. Together with Àlex Ollé, she directed Ligeti’s "Le Grand Macabre," Francesconi’s "Quartett," "Tristan und Isolde," "Il trovatore," Enescu’s "Œdipe," and "Manon Lescaut." Outside of La Fura dels Baus, she staged Wagner’s "Ring" in a seven-hour version at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 2013, which was also released on DVD. Her own directing projects include "The Turn of the Screw" in Lyon, "Don Giovanni" in Perm, Respighi’s "Dornröschen" in Strasbourg, Rihm’s "Proserpina" in Rome, "Die Zauberflöte" in Trieste, Rachmaninoff’s "Aleko" and "Francesco da Rimini," as well as Auber’s "La muette de Portici" in Kiel, "Les Vêpres siciliennes" and "Carmen" in Rome, "Gianni Schicchi" at the Puccini Festival, "Aida" and "Tosca" at the Macerata Festival, "Simon Boccanegra" at the Verdi Festival, and "La Favorite" in Bergamo and Bordeaux. In 2023, she directed John Adams’ "Nixon in China" at the Opéra de Paris, in 2024 "La fanciulla del West" in Turin and "La battaglia di Legnano" at the Verdi Festival, and in 2025 "Lucrezia Borgia" in Rome and "Fidelio" at the Opéra de Bordeaux. She made her debut at Opernhaus Zürich with "La forza del destino." In 2026, she will direct "Un ballo in maschera" at the Maggio Musicale in Florence.

Lilli Fischer stammt aus Österreich und studierte Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft sowie Musikwissenschaft an der Universität Wien. Seit 2011 ist sie im Bereich Oper und Musiktheater tätig. Nach ersten Engagements als Regieassistentin und Spielleiterin bei freien Produktionen – u.a. bei der Oper Klosterneuburg sowie am New National Theatre in Tokio – war sie von 2015 bis 2023 an der Wiener Staatsoper engagiert und begleitete dort zahlreiche Neuinszenierungen und Wiederaufnahmen. Die Zusammenarbeit mit Regisseur:innen wie Irina Brook, David McVicar, Laurent Pelly, Vera Nemirova, Simon Stone und Dmitri Tcherniakov prägte ihre künstlerische Entwicklung wesentlich. Dabei war es insbesondere die Vielfalt unterschiedlicher Regiezugänge – von traditionellen bis zu radikal zeitgenössischen Lesarten – die ihre eigene Regiehaltung nachhaltig beeinflusste. Mit Dmitri Tcherniakov verbindet sie bis heute eine kontinuierliche Zusammenarbeit. Parallel zu ihrer Tätigkeit an der Staatsoper verwirklichte sie eigene Regiearbeiten, insbesondere im Bereich der Kinder- und Jugendoper, unter anderem in Kooperation mit dem Mozart Knabenchor Wien. Seit 2023 wirkt sie als freischaffende Regisseurin mit Fokus auf Musiktheaterregie. Im selben Jahr inszenierte sie gemeinsam mit Rafael Fingerlos eine für die Oper Lungau konzipierte Fassung von Così fan tutte. 2024 führte sie ein Projekt der Musikbrücke Graz–China nach Peking. 2025 inszeniert sie beim Spring Festival in Tokio eine halbszenische Fassung der Fledermaus.

Claus Guth, born in Frankfurt am Main, studied philosophy, German studies, and theater studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as well as theater and opera directing at the University of Music in Munich. Since 1990, he has worked as a freelance director with a focus on music theater. He gained international attention with his Mozart productions at the Salzburg Festival, in particular the "Da Ponte Cycle." He has directed at leading opera houses worldwide, including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Zurich Opera House, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Bavarian State Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Teatro Real Madrid, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro San Carlo, Bolshoi Theatre, and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. For "Pelléas et Mélisande" (Debussy) and "Daphne" (Strauss) at the Frankfurt Opera, he received the FAUST Prize. In 2022, "Jenůfa" at the Royal Opera House was awarded the Olivier Award, and Georg Friedrich Haas’ "Bluthaus" at the Bavarian State Opera was named Best International Production in Austria. In 2023, he received the Oper! Award for Best Director, and in 2025, the International Opera Award as Director of the Year. Particularly formative are his Wagner productions such as "Lohengrin" (Milan), "Tannhäuser" (Vienna), "Tristan und Isolde" (Zurich), and "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (Hamburg). In addition, he has realized numerous world premieres, including Jarrell’s "Bérénice," Furrer’s "Violetter Schnee," Czernowin’s "Heart Chamber," Ruzicka’s "Celan," and Dusapin’s "Il Viaggio, Dante." Original creations, including his collaborations with composer Helmut Oehring, "Samson" with Raphaël Pichon, or "Doppelgänger" at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, complement his work.

Tobias Kratzer was born in Landshut. He studied art history and philosophy in Munich and Bern, as well as acting and opera directing at the August Everding Theatre Academy. Since the 2025/26 season, Tobias Kratzer has been General Director of the Hamburg State Opera, where he has since staged Schumann’s "Das Paradies und die Peri." He has directed, among others, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin ("Der Zwerg," "Arabella," "Intermezzo," "Die Frau ohne Schatten"), at the Komische Oper Berlin ("Das Floss der Medusa"), at the Bavarian State Opera Munich (Weinberg’s "Die Passagierin," “Production of the Year” in Opernwelt), at the Oper Frankfurt ("L’Africaine," "La forza del destino," Nielsen’s "Maskerade," and Stephan’s "Die ersten Menschen"), at the Opéra de Paris (Gounod’s "Faust"), at the Royal Opera House London (Beethoven’s "Fidelio"), at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (Mozart’s "Lucio Silla" and Puccini’s "Il trittico"), at the Oper Amsterdam (Offenbach’s "Les Contes d’Hoffmann"), at the Bühnen Bern (Georg Friedrich Haas’s "Liebesgesang"), as well as at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (Rossini’s "Moïse et Pharaon") and at the Theater an der Wien ("La gazza ladra" and "Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer"). He is a recipient of the Ring Award 2008 and the German Theater Prize DER FAUST for his "Götterdämmerung" at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. In 2018, he was voted “Opera Director of the Year” in the critics’ survey of the professional journal Die Deutsche Bühne, and in 2019/2020, for "Tannhäuser" at the Bayreuth Festival and Rossini’s "Guillaume Tell" at the Opéra de Lyon, he was named “Director of the Year” in the Opernwelt critics’ survey. At the Bavarian State Opera Munich, he is currently directing the "Ring des Nibelung," which began with "Das Rheingold" in the 2024/25 season.

Davide Livermore has been working for over 20 years as a director, set and costume designer, lighting designer, singer, dancer, actor, and playwright. He has collaborated with artists such as Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Mirella Freni, Luca Ronconi, Zubin Mehta, and Zhang Yimou. In his home country of Italy, he has staged productions at venues such as the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. A long-standing collaboration links him with La Scala in Milan, where from 2018 to 2022 he opened the season four consecutive times with Verdi’s "Attila", "Tosca", the gala concert "A riveder le stelle", and "Macbeth". In addition, he has worked at the opera houses of Philadelphia, Montpellier, and Avignon, at the Palacio de la Ópera in A Coruña, the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, as well as at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo and at the Arts Center in Seoul. From 2015 to 2017, he was Artistic Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, where he also led the training program Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo. In 2016, he was appointed Ufficiale dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia. Since 2020, he has been Director of the Teatro Nazionale in Genoa. Recent and current directing projects include Handel’s "Giulio Cesare" and a new "Ring" cycle at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the double bill "La lupa/Il berretto a sonagli" by Marco Tutino at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, "Don Carlo" at the Royal Danish Opera, "Turandot" at La Scala in Milan, and "The Turn of the Screw" in Genoa.

Thom Luz, born in Zürich, studied at the Zurich University of the Arts and Theatre and directs both in the independent scene as well as at municipal and state theaters and opera houses in Switzerland, Germany, France, and Belgium, including the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Schauspielhaus Hamburg, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Festival Weeks, and NT Gent. His productions tour internationally and have received multiple awards, including three invitations to the Berliner Theatertreffen. In 2019, Luz received the Swiss Theatre Prize. From 2015 to 2020, he was resident director at Theater Basel and since the 2019/20 season has been resident director at the Munich Residenztheater. Luz’s shimmering, highly musical stage works have been described as a theater of sounds, fleeting phenomena, and unusual shifts in perspective: Whether he tells Goethe’s "Werther" backward in Basel, loosely assembles sentences from Franz Kafka’s notebooks into a surprising soundscape under a hovering piano in Hamburg ("Die acht Oktavhefte"), or lets a group of lonely singing piano tuners wander through the empty opera house in Berlin ("Werckmeister Harmonien") — his atmospheric theater evenings always defy conventional patterns of perception. They invite us to rediscover seemingly familiar stories, speak of the cosmos of decline, failure, decay, and the exhaustion of the world — yet are never bleak, but, on the contrary, full of subtle humor and magically beautiful theatrical images. At the Zurich Opera House, he made his debut as an opera director in the 2025/26 season with "Hänsel und Gretel".

Damiano Michieletto studied opera and theatre directing in Milan and literature at the University of his hometown Venice. In 2003, he won the ESB Theatre Award of the Irish Times at the Wexford Festival for his production of Jaromír Weinberger’s opera "Schwanda". This was followed by work for the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, as well as for opera houses in Bologna, Verona, Venice, Naples, Turin, Graz, Geneva, and Leipzig. For the New National Theatre in Tokyo, he staged "Così fan tutte" and for the Theater an der Wien, among others, "Il trittico" and "Idomeneo". In 2012, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with "La bohème" and subsequently staged "Falstaff" and "La Cenerentola" there. Further engagements took him, among others, to opera houses in Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, London, and Moscow, as well as to the Glyndebourne Festival. In 2022, he created the immersive installation "Archèus. Labirinto Mozart" for the Biennale in Venice and in 2025 was responsible for the program of the Caracalla Festival at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. More recent works include "Messiah" at the Komische Oper Berlin, "La Fille du régiment" at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, as well as the world premieres of Alexander Raskatov’s "Animal Farm" in Amsterdam and Francesco Filidei’s "Il nome della rosa" at La Scala in Milan. Alongside his work as an opera director, Damiano Michieletto is also active in spoken theatre, particularly at the Teatro Stabile del Veneto and the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. In 2025, he released his first film "Primavera". At the Zurich Opera House, he has staged, among others, "La scala di seta", "Il Corsaro", "Lucia di Lammermoor", and "Luisa Miller".

Kornél Mundruczó, born in Hungary, studied at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest and is a renowned European film, theatre and opera director whose productions are presented at international festivals and stages. Since 2003, his films have premiered regularly at the Cannes Film Festival. "Johanna", his cinematic opera adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc, was shown in 2005 in the "Un Certain Regard" section. "Underdog" was also presented there in 2014 and received the main prize of this section. His first English-language film, "Pieces of a Woman" (2020), starring Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf and Ellen Burstyn, became a hit on Netflix. Since 2003, Kornél Mundruczó has also worked for the stage. In Hungary, he founded the independent theatre company Proton Theatre in 2009 together with theatre producer Dóra Büki. Their productions have been presented at more than 100 festivals worldwide, including "Frankenstein-Project", "Hard to Be a God", "Dementia" and "Imitation of Life". In 2017, "Imitation of Life" was nominated for the German theatre award DER FAUST. At the Vlaamse Opera, he staged "Duke Bluebeard’s Castle"/"Winterreise" in 2014 and "The Makropulos Affair" in 2016; the latter was nominated in the New Production category for the International Opera Awards in 2017. In 2019, his production of "Liliom" by Ferenc Molnár, a co-production with the Salzburger Festspiele, premiered at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. His recent opera work includes "Lohengrin" and "Tosca" at the Bayerische Staatsoper, "Tannhäuser" at the Hamburgische Staatsoper and "Salome" at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. The opera "Sleepless" by Péter Eötvös, which he staged, was voted World Premiere of the Year 2022 in the critics’ poll of the trade magazine Opernwelt.

Lydia Steier was born in Hartford, Connecticut. After studying voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, she received a Fulbright scholarship that brought her to Germany. Her career as a director began with productions in, among other places, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Bremen, and Weimar. International guest engagements have taken her to Hong Kong, Dublin, and New York.
She has presented productions at the Opéra National de Paris ("Salome", "La vestale"), the Frankfurt Opera ("Aida", "Oedipus Rex / Iolanta"), Theater an der Wien ("Candide"), the Semperoper Dresden ("Les Troyens"), the Salzburg Festival ("Die Zauberflöte"), the Komische Oper Berlin ("Giulio Cesare"), as well as in Geneva, Basel, Tokyo, and Cologne.
Her production of Stockhausen’s "Donnerstag aus Licht" was named "Production of the Year 2015/16" by Opernwelt magazine, and several of her productions have been nominated for the FAUST Theater Prize. From 2020 to 2023, she served as Director of Opera at the Lucerne Theater. In 2024, she was named "Director of the Year" by Opernwelt. Most recently, she made her directorial debut at the Vienna State Opera with "Tannhäuser" and continued her long-standing collaboration with the Staatsoper Hannover with the world premiere of "Israel in München". Beginning in November 2026, Lydia Steier will assume the artistic directorship of the Ruhrtriennale for the years 2027 to 2029.

Simon Steen-Andersen, geboren 1976 in Dänemark, ist ein in Berlin lebender Komponist und Regisseur mit einem transdisziplinären Ansatz in Bezug auf Musik und Theater. Seine Werke bewegen sich zwischen Musik, Performance, Theater, Installation, Choreografie und Film. Simon Steen-Andersen wurde mit zahlreichen Preisen ausgezeichnet, darunter der Reumert Award («Oper des Jahres» in Dänemark, 2024), der Carl Preis (2024, 2020, 2015), der SWR-Orchesterpreis (2019, 2014), der Mauricio-Kagel-Musikpreis und der Ernst von Siemens-Komponistenpreis (2017), der Musikpreis des Nordischen Rates (2014) und der Carl-Nielsen-Ehrenpreis (2013). Simon Steen-Andersen studierte Komposition bei Rasmussen, Spahlinger, Valverde und Sørensen in Aarhus, Freiburg, Buenos Aires und Kopenhagen (1998–2006). Seit 2016 ist Steen-Andersen Mitglied der Akademie der Künste Berlin und seit 2018 unterrichtet er Komposition und Musiktheater an der Hochschule der Künste Bern.

Anna Bernreitner studierte Musiktheaterregie an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien und gehört heute zu den prägenden Stimmen einer jungen, experimentierfreudigen Opernszene. 2011 gründete sie die Künstler:innen-Gruppe OPER RUND UM, mit der sie neue Wege im Musiktheater öffnete und Oper an ungewöhnliche Orte brachte – dafür erhielt sie den Anerkennungspreis Kultur des Landes Niederösterreich und den Österreichischen Musiktheaterpreis 2019. Ihre Arbeit führte sie u. a. ans Theater an der Wien, wo sie mehrere Produktions für junges Publikum realisierte, sowie an das Theater für Niedersachsen mit Tschaikowskis «Die Pantöffelchen». Sie entwickelte Formate für das Wir sind Wien-Festival, die Jeunesse Wien oder die Philharmonie Luxembourg. Für die Salzburger Festspiele leitete sie Operncamps, für die Wiener Staatsoper gestaltete sie 2021 die szenische Umsetzung des Opern-Tourbuses in Kooperation mit dem Donauinselfest. An der Bayerischen Staatsoper inszenierte sie Pop-Up-Oper im öffentlichen Raum beim Eröffnungsfest der Saison 2021/22 sowie die Kinderoper «Max und die Superheld:innen». International machte sie u. a. mit ihrer «Zauberflöte» an der Opéra national de Lorraine und der Opéra national Montpellier auf sich aufmerksam. Es folgten «Die Entführung aus dem Serail» am Theater Bielefeld, «Der Goldene Hahn» am Theater Magdeburg sowie Puccinis «Tosca» beim Burgplatz Open Air Braunschweig 2023. Ihre Inszenierung von Rihms «Proserpina» mit der Neuen Oper Wien wurde 2021 mit dem Götz-Friedrich-Preis ausgezeichnet. Mit ihrer Neuinszenierung von Johann Strauss’ «Die Fledermaus» arbeitet Anna Bernreitner erstmals am Opernhaus Zürich.

Rosie Aldridge completed her training at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School in London and was a Jerwood Young Artist at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2010. From 2016 to 2018, she was a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble. Guest engagements have taken her, among others, to the Berlin State Opera, Stuttgart State Opera, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein as the Sacristan Buryja (“Jenůfa”), to the Hamburg State Opera and Opéra national de Paris as Mrs. Sedley (“Peter Grimes”), to the Komische Oper Berlin as Mrs. Lovett (“Sweeney Todd”), to the Royal Opera House London as the Gingerbread Witch (“Hänsel und Gretel”), and to the Glyndebourne Festival as Baba the Turk (“The Rake’s Progress”). Recently, she achieved acclaim as Kostelnička (“Jenůfa”) at the Berlin State Opera and in new productions as Kabanicha (“Kátia Kabanová”), Brangäne (“Tristan und Isolde”), Mrs. Grose (“The Turn of the Screw”), and Marcellina (“Le nozze di Figaro”). Concert engagements have taken her to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Rosie Aldridge is renowned for her expressive character portrayals and her stylistic versatility in the lyric-dramatic mezzo repertoire.

The French-Cypriot soprano Sarah Aristidou is the first singer ever to be awarded the Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music (2022). She also received the Luitpold Prize for outstanding achievements at the Kissinger Sommer festival (2021) and was twice nominated as "Best Newcomer" for the Opernwelt Award. She had her breakthrough in 2018 as Shoko in the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Das Jagdgewehr, a co-production with the Bregenz Festival and the Aldeburgh Festival. Other highlights include her debut at the Bavarian State Opera (Toshio Hosokawa’s Hanjo), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Frankfurt Opera, and Semperoper Dresden, as well as Ismene (Mozart’s Mitridate) in Copenhagen, Malmö, and Berlin. The singer has initiated several contemporary compositions, including Aribert Reimann’s Cinq fragments lyriques and Robin Ticciati’s and Jörg Widmann’s Labyrinth IV with the Boulez Ensemble and Daniel Barenboim. She appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Morton Feldman’s Neither and with the Berlin Philharmonic in Edgard Varèse’s Offrandes under François-Xavier Roth. In concert, she has sung Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Masaaki Suzuki), Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (Gürzenich Orchestra / Roth), Orff’s Carmina Burana (WDR Symphony Orchestra / Cristian Măcelaru), and Bach’s St John Passion (Gürzenich Orchestra / Roth). In 2021, she released her debut album ÆTHER on Alpha Classics, which was nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award. Her second album, Enigma, released in November 2023, was recently awarded the German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik).

Cecilia Bartoli has established herself as one of the world’s leading classical musicians with her magnificent stage career spanning more than 40 years. Born in Rome and trained by her mother, the voice teacher Silvana Bazzoni, she was discovered by Daniel Barenboim, Herbert von Karajan and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Milestones included, among others, the very first staging of Rossini’s “Cenerentola” at the New York Met in 1997; the legendary “Vivaldi Album,” which since 1999 has sold millions of copies; the 2008 Paris concert marathon marking Maria Malibran’s 200th birthday; her radically new approach to Bellini’s “Norma” in 2013, which also resulted in a scholarly edition of the reconstructed original score; and a triumphant Rossini Week at the Vienna State Opera in 2022. Since 2012, Cecilia Bartoli has been Artistic Director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, where she has appeared in works by Handel, Gluck, Rossini, Bellini and Bernstein. Since 2023, she has also been the Director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the first woman in the history of the house to hold this position. Also in Monte-Carlo, the ensemble Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco was founded in 2016, with which Cecilia Bartoli performs both at its home base and on major tours throughout Europe. Bartoli’s CDs and DVDs have sold more than twelve million copies; she has received the Grammy Award five times. Among the many honours she has received are the Léonie Sonning Music Prize, the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize and the Polar Music Prize. Since 2022 she has been President of Europa Nostra, was appointed Austrian Kammersängerin in 2023, and also runs the Cecilia Bartoli Music Foundation.

The French soprano Elsa Benoit studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and completed her master’s degree with distinction at the Dutch National Opera Academy. Early on, she was awarded prizes at international competitions. In the 2025/26 season, she will take on the title roles in Handel’s "Semele" at the Dutch National Opera and in Leclair’s "Scylla et Glaucus" at the Zurich Opera House (directed by Claus Guth, musical direction by Emmanuelle Haïm). In addition, she will perform Mahler’s 2nd Symphony under Paavo Järvi at the Enescu Festival, Mahler’s 4th Symphony in Lyon as well as with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Haydn’s "The Seasons." At the Vienna Konzerthaus, she will interpret Poulenc’s "Stabat Mater" under the direction of Marie Jacquot. Highlights of recent years include Leïla ("Les Pêcheurs de Perles"), Pamina ("Die Zauberflöte"), and Sophie ("Der Rosenkavalier") at leading houses such as the Opéra Comique, Palais Garnier, Semperoper Dresden, and Bavarian State Opera, as well as at the festivals in Glyndebourne, Salzburg, and Aix-en-Provence. Her discography includes, among others, "Agrippina" (Grammy nomination), "Les Indes galantes," "Hippolyte et Aricie," and Poulenc’s "Gloria." As a concert singer, she has worked with orchestras such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, and Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich under conductors like Robin Ticciati, Andris Nelsons, and Klaus Mäkelä. After stations in the opera studio and ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera, she began her career at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, where she was awarded the Austrian Music Theatre Prize for roles such as Tytania, Giulietta, and Micaëla.

Gwendoline Blondeel studied at the Institut Royal Supérieur de Musique et de Pédagogie in Namur (Belgium) and at the Académie du Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels. She was a member of the young artists’ ensemble of the Grand Théâtre de Genève. In 2019, she won 1st prize at the Froville competition. As a specialist in the repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries, she performs key roles in French Baroque opera such as Sangaride ("Atys"), Jonathas ("David et Jonathas"), and Alphise ("Les Boréades"). She is equally convincing in Italian Baroque, for example as La Musica ("L’Orfeo"), Almirena ("Rinaldo"), Dalinda ("Ariodante"), and Morgana ("Alcina"). In addition, she maintains a broad repertoire: Blonde ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail"), Frasquita ("Carmen"), Marie ("La Fille du Régiment"), Clorinde ("La Cenerentola"), as well as a soloist in Mendelssohn’s 2nd Symphony. She performs at major houses such as the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Festival de Beaune, Teatro Real Madrid, Zurich Opera House, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and Vienna Konzerthaus. Her musical partners include Leonardo García Alarcón, Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe, Emmanuelle Haïm, and Kazushi Ono.

Mezzo-soprano Angela Brower studied at Arizona State University and Indiana University. She was a member of the opera studio at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as well as an ensemble member there from 2010 to 2016. For her Dorabella in "Così fan tutte," she received the Munich Festival Prize in 2009. Her core repertoire includes roles by Mozart and Strauss such as Octavian ("Der Rosenkavalier"), the Composer ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Annio ("La clemenza di Tito"), Nicklausse ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann"), and Cherubino ("Le nozze di Figaro"). Appearances have taken her, among others, to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Vienna State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Salzburg Festival, Opéra de Paris, Hamburg State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and the festivals in Glyndebourne and Aix-en-Provence. She also made her debut as Sifare ("Mitridate, re di Ponto") at the Berlin State Opera, Susanna ("Le nozze di Figaro") in Barcelona, Prince Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus") at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Idamante ("Idomeneo") in Chicago, as well as Charlotte ("Werther") and Adalgisa ("Norma"), both at the Bavarian State Opera. Her most recent engagements include Sesto ("La clemenza di Tito") and Nicklausse at the Hamburg State Opera, Hänsel and the title role in "Das schlaue Füchslein" at the Bavarian State Opera, Dorabella at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, her debut at Wigmore Hall together with pianist James Baillieu, as well as concert performances as Prince Orlofsky with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Eleonora Buratto, Sopran, studierte in ihrer Heimatstadt Mantua. Sie wurde über drei Jahre von Luciano Pavarotti und anschliessend von Mirella Freni unterrichtet; derzeit arbeitet sie mit Paola Leolini. Eine enge künstlerische Partnerschaft verbindet Eleonora Buratto mit Riccardo Muti: Unter seiner Leitung gab sie zu Pfingsten 2009 ihr Salzburger Festspieldebüt als Creusa in Jommellis Demofoonte. Ebenfalls unter Muti sang sie die Susanna in Mercadantes I due Figaro bei den Salzburger Pfingstfestspielen 2011 sowie am Teatro Real in Madrid und am Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. 2012/13 war sie unter Muti als Amelia (Simon Boccanegra) zur Saisoneröffnung des Teatro dell’Opera in Rom zu hören. Zu weiteren Engagements der letzten Jahre zählen Nannetta (Falstaff) unter Zubin Mehta bei den Salzburger Festspielen, Adina (L’elisir d’amore) an der Scala, in Zürich sowie in Madrid, Musetta in Neapel, Montpellier und unter Gianandrea Noseda in Turin sowie auf Tournee in Shanghai. Sie sang Despina (Così fan tutte) in Valencia, Cleopatra (Händels Giulio Cesare) unter Ottavio Dantone in Modena, Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos) unter DanielHarding bei den Salzburger Festspielen sowie Euridice (Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice) in Montpellier. 2016 debütierte sie als Norina (Don Pasquale) an der Metropolitan Opera. Ausserdem war sie als Mimì in Barcelona und als Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) in Amsterdam, an der Wiener Staatsoper sowie an der Scala zu erleben. Im Konzert war sie u.a. mit Bachs h-Moll-Messe sowie mit Mozarts c-Moll-Messe mit dem Chicago Symphony Orchestra unter Riccardo Muti zu hören. Zu ihren künftigen Engagements zählen Mimì und Contessa in Amsterdam, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence und in Lyon, Micaëla (Carmen) am Teatro Real, Madrid und am Royal Opera House London, Luisa Miller in Barcelona, Idomeneo in Madrid, Simon Boccanegra an der Wiener Staatsoper sowie Rossinis Stabat Mater in Rom.

Anna Clementi, born in Lugano, studied flute, acting, and singing in Rome. In 1986, she moved to the Berlin University of the Arts, where she studied experimental vocal music and music theatre. Her work is characterized by the search for a fusion of voice, gesture, language, dance, and theatre. Anna Clementi’s repertoire spans a wide range, from contemporary acoustic works to music theatre, electroacoustic, and club music. A central focus of her work is the music of John Cage; she has interpreted several versions of his "Song Books" and staged his works "Variations" and "Theatre Pieces." She worked closely with Dieter Schnebel and his ensemble Die Maulwerker. In addition, she has collaborated with composers such as Michael Hirsch, Rupert Huber, Iris ter Schiphorst, Laurie Schwartz, Fast Forward, and Elliott Sharp. In 2019, she performed the role of Narrator in Olga Neuwirth’s "Orlando" at the Vienna State Opera and in 2022 the role of Bartleby in Neuwirth’s "The Outcast" at the Philharmonie de Paris.

Diana Damrau is a regular guest on the stages of the world’s leading opera and concert houses. Her extensive repertoire lies in the lyric and coloratura fach and includes, among others, the title roles in "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "Manon" as well as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte". She regularly appears at the most important houses such as the Bavarian State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Teatro alla Scala. Roles in Iain Bell’s "A Harlot’s Progress" and Lorin Maazel’s "1984" were composed especially for her. Diana Damrau has released numerous award-winning CD and DVD recordings. As a lieder interpreter, she regularly performs in renowned concert halls such as Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Berlin Philharmonie. She maintains a close artistic partnership with Helmut Deutsch and Jonas Kaufmann, with whom she presented a successful lieder recital tour for the third time in spring and summer of 2025, including at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Salzburg Festival. Most recently, she sang the Marschallin in "Der Rosenkavalier" on stage at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and at the Zurich Opera House. She is a Bavarian Kammersängerin, recipient of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art, as well as the Federal Cross of Merit. Since autumn 2024, she has been teaching as a principal voice instructor at the Zurich University of the Arts.

The Trinidad-born soprano Jeanine De Bique studied voice and piano at the renowned Manhattan School of Music in New York. Her wide-ranging repertoire includes roles such as Télaïre ("Castor et Pollux"), Ilia ("Idomeneo"), Violetta ("La traviata"), the title roles in "Alcina" and "L’incoronazione di Poppea", Donna Anna ("Don Giovanni"), Susanna ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Annio ("La clemenza di Tito"), Micaëla ("Carmen"), Agathe ("Der Freischütz"), Helena ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream"), and La Folie ("Platée"). Guest engagements have taken her to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the Konzerthaus Berlin, Theater an der Wien, the Opéra National de Paris, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the San Francisco Opera, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Houston Grand Opera, as well as to the BBC Proms and the Salzburg Festival. At the Zurich Opera House, she sang Isabel in George Benjamin’s "Lessons in Love and Violence" in 2023. She has worked with ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Vienna and Rotterdam Philharmonics, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the London Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with conductors including Gustavo Dudamel, Herbert Blomstedt, Lorin Maazel, Iván Fischer, Simon Rattle, Manfred Honeck, William Christie, Raphaël Pichon, and Marin Alsop. Her first solo album "Mirrors" with Ensemble Concerto Köln received the Opus Klassik, the Diapason d’or, and the Edison Award in the classical category in 2022, was Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice, and was praised by Fono Forum. Jeanine De Bique was appointed Youth Ambassador for Peace by the National UNESCO Commission of Trinidad and Tobago.

Lea Desandre, the mezzo-soprano, studied in Venice, participated in William Christie’s Le Jardin des Voix in 2015, and was admitted the following year to the academy of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. She is the recipient of several awards, including the 2021 Victoires de la Musique, the 2022 Opus Klassik, and the 2024 Prix de la Critique. In 2017, she made her debut in the title role of "Alcione" at the Opéra-Comique and appeared for the first time at the Salzburg Festival in 2018, where she has returned every year since, including performances as Cherubino, Despina, Annio ("La clemenza di Tito"), Vénus ("Orphée aux Enfers"), Abel (Caldara’s "La Morte d’Abel"), and Myrrah/Echo in the Vivaldi pasticcio "Hotel Metamorphosis", as well as in numerous concerts. She has worked with conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Dunford, and Raphaël Pichon, and with stage directors including Sir David McVicar, Barrie Kosky, Robert Carsen, Christof Loy, and Jetske Mijnssen. Her repertoire also includes Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Idamante ("Idomeneo"), the title roles in "Ariodante" and Charpentier’s "Médée", and Dido ("Dido and Aeneas"). Concerts and recitals have taken her to venues including Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, and the Shanghai Symphony Hall. In the 2025/26 season, she was heard as Handel’s Theodora under Thomas Dunford and as Mélisande ("Pelléas et Mélisande") at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. At this year’s Salzburg Festival, she will again appear as Despina. Her discography includes the solo album "Amazone", which received a Gramophone Editor’s Choice Award, as well as the 2025 release "Songs of Passion" with lutenist Thomas Dunford. At the Zurich Opera House, she most recently sang Poppea ("Agrippina").

The American mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong regularly appears on major opera and concert stages across the United States and Europe, including the Metropolitan Opera New York, San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, English National Opera, the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas, as well as the festivals in Glyndebourne and Aix-en-Provence. Her repertoire includes roles such as Angelina ("La Cenerentola"), Calbo ("Maometto II"), Arsace ("Semiramide"), Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Hermia ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream"), Hänsel ("Hänsel und Gretel"), Maffio Orsini ("Lucrezia Borgia"), Fenena ("Nabucco"), Suzuki ("Madama Butterfly"), Fricka ("Das Rheingold"), Dorabella ("Così fan tutte"), as well as the dresser, the schoolboy and the page in Alban Berg’s "Lulu". In 2010 she was honored with the Artist of the Year Award by the Washington National Opera for her portrayal of the Composer in Strauss’s "Ariadne auf Naxos". In the concert field she has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Houston Symphony and The English Concert, among others. Her recording of Handel’s "Messiah" with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra was released on Chandos and was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2018. Most recently, she has sung Azucena ("Il trovatore") at the Stuttgart State Opera, Medoro ("Orlando") at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Octavia in John Adams’s "Antony and Cleopatra" at the Metropolitan Opera, a concert performance of Beethoven’s "Missa solemnis" at La Scala in Milan, and Ulrica ("Un ballo in maschera") at Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

The Russian-Lebanese soprano Anna El-Khashem was born in St. Petersburg. She studied at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and has received numerous awards, including in 2019 first prize at the International Singing Competition "Neue Stimmen" of the Bertelsmann Foundation, in 2018 first prize at the International Mozart Competition Salzburg, as well as being named Young Singer of the Year 2018 by “Opernwelt”. From 2016 to 2019 she was a member of the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and subsequently until 2022 an ensemble member at the Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden. There she appeared, among others, as Pamina in "The Magic Flute", Gretel in "Hansel and Gretel", Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro", Woglinde in "Das Rheingold" and "Götterdämmerung", as well as Sophie in "Werther". In 2021/22 she made her debut at the Opéra national de Paris as Servilia in "La clemenza di Tito" and later also sang Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro" as well as Zerlina in "Don Giovanni". At the Zurich Opera House she was first heard in a concert with La Scintilla under Riccardo Minasi and then took on Flavia Gemmira in "Eliogabalo", Clarine/Thalie in "Platée" as well as Romilda in "Serse". In the 2025/26 season she returns as Marzelline in "Fidelio". Further engagements take her as Silvia in "Ascanio in Alba" to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Theater an der Wien and the Opéra de Lausanne.

Anett Fritsch, born in Saxony, studied at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music in Leipzig. In 2001 she won first prize at the Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig as well as the international competition of the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg in 2006 and 2007. From 2009 to 2015 she was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg. She celebrated her international breakthrough in 2011 with her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Almirena in Handel’s "Rinaldo", as well as Merione in Gluck’s "Telemaco" at the Theater an der Wien. Important later engagements included Fiordiligi ("Così fan tutte") at the Teatro Real Madrid—a production also presented at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and at the Wiener Festwochen—a European tour of "Le nozze di Figaro" as Cherubino with René Jacobs and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2014 as Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni", where she returned in 2015 and 2016 as the Contessa. She debuted at the Bavarian State Opera Munich as Susanna. In 2024/25 she made her house and role debut at the Stuttgart State Opera as Idamante in Bastian Kraft’s new production of "Idomeneo", as well as her role debut as Gutrune at La Monnaie in Brussels in Pierre Audi’s new production of Wagner’s "Götterdämmerung", where she had already appeared in the previous season as Freia in Romeo Castellucci’s new production of "Das Rheingold". She also returned to the Volksoper Wien as Hannah Glawari ("Die lustige Witwe") and Frau Fluth ("Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor"). Additionally, she performed with Giovanni Antonini and the Ensemble Il Giardino Armonico in Handel’s "Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno" at the Wratislavia Cantans Festival and as Contessa in Mozart’s "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Casino Basel, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, before appearing at the Rheingau Festival with the hr-Sinfonieorchester under Alain Altinoglu in Gounod’s "Cäcilienmesse". At the Zurich Opera House, she already sang the daughter in "Cardillac" this season.

Christina Gansch, an Austrian soprano, was awarded the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2014 and completed her studies at the Mozarteum Salzburg as well as at the Royal Academy of Music in London with distinction. During her studies, she made her international opera debut in 2013 in Montpellier as Amore in “Orfeo et Euridice” and appeared in 2014 as Barbarina in “Le nozze di Figaro” at the Theater an der Wien under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. From 2014 to 2016, she was part of the International Opera Studio at the Hamburg State Opera and a member of the ensemble in the 2016/17 season. There, she performed roles such as Pamina (“Die Zauberflöte”), Marzelline (“Fidelio”), and Gretchen (“Scenes from Goethe’s Faust”). In the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021 competition, she represented Austria in the final. Guest engagements took her to La Scala in Milan (Najade in “Ariadne auf Naxos”), the Bavarian State Opera (Gretel in “Hänsel und Gretel”), the Glyndebourne Festival (Mélisande in “Pelléas et Mélisande”), the Opéra National de Paris (Papagena in “Die Zauberflöte”), the Berlin State Opera (Forest Bird in “Siegfried”), and the Salzburg Festival (Servilia in “La clemenza di Tito,” Fifth Maid in “Elektra”). She regularly appears at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Her recordings include Zerlina (“Don Giovanni”) with Teodor Currentzis for Sony, as well as Brahms’ “Ein deutsches Requiem” with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. Most recently, Christina Gansch successfully made her role debut as Susanna (“Le nozze di Figaro”) at the Welsh National Opera and debuted as Gretel (“Hänsel und Gretel”) at the Semperoper Dresden. She will also appear in this role for the first time at the Zurich Opera House.

Elīna Garanča was born in Riga and studied at the Latvian Academy of Music. She won the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in 1999 and was a finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2001. After engagements in Meiningen and Frankfurt, she quickly established herself with appearances at renowned opera and concert houses as one of the leading mezzo-sopranos internationally. She has appeared, among others, at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Bavarian State Opera and the Berlin State Opera, as well as at the Opéra national de Paris. In 2003 she became an ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera, where she was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersängerin in 2013. Her numerous awards include, among others, several Echo prizes and multiple honors as Singer of the Year. A highlight of her career was her debut at the Royal Opera House in London in 2009 as Carmen and performances in the same role in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera, which was broadcast worldwide in over 1000 cinemas. As Carmen she has also appeared at La Scala in Milan, at the Vienna State Opera and at the Zurich Opera House. Recently she sang the Principessa di Bouillon in "Adriana Lecouvreur" at the Teatro Real, Santuzza ("Cavalleria rusticana") and Eboli ("Don Carlo") at the Vienna State Opera, Amneris ("Aida") at the New York Met and the Bavarian State Opera, Kundry ("Parsifal") at the Bayreuth Festival, as well as gala concerts and recitals (among others at the Zurich Opera House). Highlights of the 2025/26 season include, among others, a tour under Daniele Gatti and the Staatskapelle Dresden with the "Verdi Requiem", "Adriana Lecouvreur" in Naples, as well as at the Zurich Opera House the title role in "Carmen" and Marguerite in "La Damnation de Faust".

The French-Guatemalan soprano Adriana González completed her studies in 2012 at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. In 2019 she was awarded the first prize as well as the Zarzuela Prize at the Operalia competition. She was a member of the Atelier Lyrique of the Opéra National de Paris and received the Prix Lyrique des Cercle Carpeaux in 2017 for her outstanding artistic development. She also won first prize at the Otto Edelmann Competition in Vienna, second prize and the Audience Prize at the Tenor Viñas Singing Competition in Barcelona, and the Teatro Real Prize in Madrid. In the 2017/18 season she was a member of the IOS at the Zurich Opera House. She sang Micaëla ("Carmen") in Geneva, at the Frankfurt Opera, at Dutch National Opera, at the Opéra National de Paris as well as in Toulon, Barcelona, Madrid, and Lausanne; Liù ("Turandot") at the Houston Grand Opera, the Opéra de Toulon, the Opéra National du Rhin as well as in Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, and Dijon; Mimì ("La bohème") in Barcelona and Toulon; the Countess Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro") at the Opéra National de Lorraine, at the Salzburg Festival as well as in Luxembourg, Frankfurt, and Vienna; and the title role in "Suor Angelica" in Copenhagen. Most recently she was heard, among others, as Pamina ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Hamburg State Opera and Antonia ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann") at the Zurich Opera House. She has given song recitals with Iñaki Encina Oyón in Frankfurt, Barcelona, and Bolzano, and recently sang Beethoven’s "Missa solemnis" in Tokyo under Marek Janowski. Adriana González has released award-winning recordings with Iñaki Encina Oyón at the piano (2020), with songs by Isaac Albéniz (2021), as well as in duet with Marina Viotti (2023).

Anna Goryachova studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Her first engagements took her to the St. Petersburg Chamber Opera and to Rome with Philip Glass’s "Witches of Venice", among others. In 2008, she was a prizewinner at the Galina Vishnevskaya International Singing Competition in Moscow. From 2012 to 2017, she was a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House, where she sang roles including Eustazio ("Rinaldo"), Masha (Eötvös’s "Three Sisters"), Zerlina ("Don Giovanni"), Polina ("Pique Dame"), Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Melibea ("Il viaggio a Reims"), Alcina (Haydn’s "Orlando Paladino"), and Adalgisa ("Norma"). Guest appearances have taken her to the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Opéra national in Paris, the Dutch National Opera, the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Royal Opera in London, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Vienna State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, opera houses in Italy, and the Bregenz Festival, among others. In 2022, she made her debut as Angelina ("La Cenerentola") at the Mariinsky Theatre, having previously been awarded "Best Mezzo-Soprano" in Valencia for the role. As a concert singer, she has appeared in Stravinsky’s "Les Noces" in Rome, Rossini’s "Stabat mater" in Pesaro, Verdi’s "Requiem" at the Opéra de Marseille, and Honegger’s "Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher" in Prague, among others. In Zurich, she was most recently seen as Dorabella ("Così fan tutte") and Sara ("Roberto Devereux").

Asmik Grigorian was born in Vilnius and studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She began her international career as Cio-Cio-San in „Madama Butterfly“ at the Royal Opera Stockholm. She quickly developed into one of the most prominent sopranos of her generation and has since appeared at the most important opera houses in the world. At the International Opera Awards, she was named „Best Young Singer“ in 2016 and „Singer of the Year“ in 2019. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2017 as Marie in „Wozzeck“. A year later, under the musical direction of Franz Welser-Möst, she gave her internationally acclaimed role debut as Salome there, which earned her the Austrian Music Theatre Award in 2019 as „Best Female Lead Role“. In 2021, she made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Senta in „Der fliegende Holländer“. In the 2021/22 season, she debuted in the title role of „Jenůfa“ at the Royal Opera House London and appeared as Tatjana in „Eugen Onegin“ as well as in the title role of „Manon Lescaut“ at the Vienna State Opera. Further engagements took her as Lisa in „Pique Dame“ to La Scala in Milan and Baden-Baden, as Jenůfa to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, as Salome to the Metropolitan Opera New York, and as Rusalka to the Royal Opera House London. In the 2024/25 season, Asmik Grigorian made her debut in the title role of „Rusalka“ at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and the Bavarian State Opera Munich. She also debuted as Elisabetta („Don Carlo“) at the Vienna State Opera and as Norma at the Theater an der Wien. In the summer, she returned as Salome with the London Symphony Orchestra under Antonio Pappano and sang Lady Macbeth („Macbeth“) at the Salzburg Festival. In the 2025/26 season, she will appear, among other roles, as Desdemona in „Otello“, Senta, and Tatjana. In March 2022, her debut album „Dissonance“ featuring songs by Sergei Rachmaninoff was released.

The soprano Elena Guseva, born in Kurgan, Russia, initially studied choral conducting at the Shostakovich Conservatory in her hometown before taking up vocal studies at the Moscow State Conservatory with Galina Pisarenko. She is a regular guest at the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow, where she has been heard in major roles of her repertoire. These include, among others, Leonora ("La forza del destino"), Mimì ("La bohème"), the title role in "Tosca", Tatyana ("Eugene Onegin") and Lisa ("Pique Dame"). One of her signature roles is Cio-Cio-San ("Madama Butterfly"), which she has sung, among other places, at the Hamburg State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and at the Bregenz Festival. Further guest engagements have taken her to La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, Theater Basel, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Opéra national de Lyon and the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Most recently she has sung, among others, Marietta ("Die tote Stadt") in Munich, Elisabetta di Valois ("Don Carlo") in Dresden, Lisa in Lyon and Hamburg, Aida and the Foreign Princess ("Rusalka") in Munich, Giordano’s "Fedora" in Geneva, Maddalena ("Andrea Chénier") in Moscow, as well as Verdi’s Requiem under Riccardo Muti in Chicago.

The French-American soprano Sandra Hamaoui studied at the Conservatory in San Francisco and at the Juilliard School in New York. She is a prizewinner of numerous competitions; among others, she was a semifinalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and won first prize at the New England Regional Finals, the West Bay Opera League Competition, and the Mary Trueman Vocal Competition. Whilst still a student, she sang the title role in Gounod’s "Roméo et Juliette" with the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute as well as Adina in "L’elisir d’amore" with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music at the Kennedy Center. In the 2017/18 season, she was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she sang, among others, Ninetta in "Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen" and Pamina in "Die Zauberflöte". As a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House, she appeared, among others, as Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro", Gilda in "Rigoletto", Nanetta in "Falstaff", Gretel in "Hänsel und Gretel", and Lisette in "La rondine". Her recent engagements include the title role in "Roméo et Juliette" with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Leïla in "Les pêcheurs de perles" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, as well as the opening of the 2024/25 season at the Hamburg State Opera with the leading role in "Trionfi" under Kent Nagano.

Stephanie Houtzeel was born in Kassel and grew up in Boston. She studied at the Juilliard School in New York and is the recipient of several awards. Engagements have taken her to the Opéra de Paris, the Semperoper Dresden, the Washington Kennedy Center, the New York City Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Opéra de Lyon, the Opéra National du Rhin, the Royal Danish Opera, the Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, the Israeli Opera, the Opera Graz, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, as well as Bayreuth and the Salzburg Festival. Since 2010, she has been a member of the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera, where she has appeared as Composer ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Octavian ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Dorabella ("Così fan tutte"), Siébel ("Faust"), Varvara ("Kátja Kabanová"), Nicklausse ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann"), Kreusa ("Medea"), Miranda ("The Tempest"), Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus"), and Jenny Hill ("Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"). In addition to the major Strauss and Mozart roles of her vocal fach, her repertoire includes Charlotte in "Werther," Gluck’s Orfeo, Handel’s Ariodante, Ottavia, and Marguerite in "La Damnation de Faust." She has worked with conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, Christoph Eschenbach, Adam Fischer, Dennis Russell Davies, Philippe Jordan, Philippe Herreweghe, and Teodor Currentzis. As a concert singer, she has performed at Lincoln Center New York, the Wiener Musikverein, in Rome, Brussels, Washington, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leipzig, Novosibirsk, and Santiago de Compostela. In 2016, her CD "Nostalgia" featuring works by Mahler, Ives, and Piazzolla was released.

The Albanian-German soprano Elbenita Kajtazi was born in Kosovo, where she completed her vocal studies in Mitrovica and Pristina. Since 2018 she has been a member of the ensemble at the Hamburg State Opera. Her repertoire includes roles such as Violetta ("La traviata"), Mimì and Musetta ("La bohème"), Tatjana ("Eugene Onegin"), the title role in Massenet's "Manon", Micaëla ("Carmen"), Liù ("Turandot"), Nannetta ("Falstaff") as well as the Countess Almaviva and Susanna ("Le nozze di Figaro"). She has also appeared as a guest at numerous leading opera houses, festivals and concert venues, including the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera Munich, the Opéra-Comique in Paris, the Opéra National de Bordeaux and Lyon, the Salzburg Festival, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, the Aalto Theatre Essen as well as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Philharmonie Essen. Recent debuts and highlights include Tosca in Marina Abramović’s "7 Deaths of Maria Callas" at the English National Opera, Countess Almaviva at the Zurich Opera House as well as Liù and Mimì at the Semperoper Dresden. In 2022 Elbenita Kajtazi was appointed honorary ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo and launched a project in 2024 to support Albanian artists in Germany. In the 2025/26 season she made her debut in Hamburg in the title role of "Luisa Miller" and sang Alice Ford ("Falstaff") and Violetta. In the 2026/27 season she will sing Donna Anna ("Don Giovanni"), Mimì ("La bohème") and Nedda ("Pagliacci") there.

Soprano Christiane Kohl was born in Frankfurt am Main and received her training at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. In 2001, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as the First Priestess in "Iphigénie en Tauride." While still a student, she became an ensemble member at the Zurich Opera House in 2002, where she remained until 2009. There, she sang roles such as Gretel ("Hansel and Gretel") and received praise from both audiences and critics for her interpretation of Christine ("Intermezzo"). She made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 2009 as Woglinde ("Das Rheingold") and Forest Bird ("Siegfried") under Christian Thielemann and has been a regular guest there ever since. From 2011 to 2015, the soprano was an ensemble member at the Dortmund Theatre. With roles such as Senta ("The Flying Dutchman"), Elisabeth ("Tannhäuser"), Elisabetta ("Don Carlos"), and the Marschallin ("Der Rosenkavalier"), she transitioned into the youthful-dramatic repertoire and was nominated multiple times as "Singer of the Year" by the magazine Opernwelt. Since then, she has appeared at the Frankfurt Opera, opera houses in Berlin, the Vienna Volksoper, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. She debuted as Marie in Strauss’s "Friedenstag" at the Palace of Arts in Budapest, as Woglinde at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and in 2017 at the Bavarian State Opera Munich as Leitmetzerin ("Der Rosenkavalier"). Wagnerian roles such as Helmwige and Sieglinde ("Die Walküre") as well as the Third Norn ("Götterdämmerung") have taken her to Amsterdam, Chemnitz, Berlin, and Stuttgart. In concerts, she has performed in venues such as the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the Berlin Philharmonie.

Dorottya Láng was born in Budapest and studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She was an ensemble member at the Wiener Volksoper from 2012 to 2014, joined the Nationaltheater Mannheim for the 2014/15 season, and was part of the Hamburgische Staatsoper ensemble from 2015 to 2018. Since then, she has worked with conductors such as Ádám Fischer, Marc Albrecht, Sakari Oramo, Ivan Fischer, Cornelius Meister, Kent Nagano, and Teodor Currentzis, as well as with orchestras including the RSO Berlin, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, and the Wiener Symphoniker. Her operatic repertoire includes roles such as the Composer ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Octavian ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Venus ("Tannhäuser"), Brangäne ("Tristan und Isolde"), Hänsel ("Hänsel und Gretel"), Marguerite ("La Damnation de Faust"), Waltraute ("Die Walküre") and Adriano ("Rienzi"). She has appeared at the Norwegian National Opera, the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Ruhrtriennale, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Kirill Petrenko. Concerts have taken her to the BBC Proms, the Palace of Arts, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus Wien, and the International Song Festival in Oxford. Her recent engagements include the alto part in Mahler’s "Das Lied von der Erde" with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Composer with the Nederlandse Reisopera, and Venus in Budapest.

Federica Lombardi studied at the Liceo Musicale Angelo Massini in Forlì. In the 2015/16 season, she was a member of the Accademia di Perfezionamento per Cantanti Lirici at La Scala in Milan and participated in the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival in 2015. She is, among others, a two-time winner of the international AsLiCo Singing Competition in Como. She is a regular guest at the world’s leading opera houses, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the State Operas in Munich, Berlin, and Vienna, La Scala in Milan, and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. In the USA, she regularly performs at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Lyric Opera Chicago. Her repertoire of major Mozart roles is continuously expanding to include parts such as Amelia ("Simon Boccanegra"), Desdemona ("Otello"), Mimì ("La bohème") as well as the title roles in Verdi’s "Luisa Miller" and Donizetti’s "Anna Bolena". More recently, she made her role debut as Norma at the Vienna State Opera, returned to the Met in New York as Countess Almaviva and Fiordiligi ("Così fan tutte"), and made a highly successful debut as Elisabetta ("Don Carlo") at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In concert, she has sung, among others, Mozart’s "Requiem" in Rome and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Naples and Venice. Performances of Christian Spuck’s "Verdi Requiem" took her to Amsterdam, Zurich, and the Verdi Festival in Parma. Her discography includes a recording as Desdemona under Antonio Pappano, alongside Jonas Kaufmann, for Sony Classical. In 2022 she sang Mimì in the filmed production of Puccini’s "La bohème", produced by Rai Cultura in collaboration with the Rome Opera. In 2019, she was awarded the Franco Abbiati Prize.

The German mezzo-soprano Ulrike Malotta studied at the Conservatory in Munich and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main. As an opera singer she has appeared in Darmstadt and Wiesbaden as well as at the Bavarian State Opera, where she made her debut in Penderecki’s "The Devils of Loudun" in 2022. Her main focus, however, lies in concert repertoire, which regularly takes her to international stages: from the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam to the Tonhalle Zurich, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, Bozar Brussels, the Rudolfinum Prague, the Palau de la Música Barcelona and the Maison Symphonique Montréal, as well as the Lucerne Festival and the Dresden Music Festival. She collaborates with ensembles such as the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Concerto Köln, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Dresden Festival Orchestra and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors including Václav Luks, Thomas Hengelbrock, Ulf Schirmer, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Philippe Herreweghe, Jos van Veldhoven, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Justin Doyle and Peter Dijkstra. Highlights of last season included a European tour as Waltraute in "Die Walküre" under Kent Nagano and performances of Mendelssohn’s "Elijah" and "St Paul" at the Festival de Lanaudière in Canada. In the 2025/26 season she expands her repertoire with her debut in the Verdi Requiem. Her artistic work is also documented on numerous recordings, most recently Carl Loewe’s oratorio "Hiob" and the "Mass in A-flat major" with the Dresden Philharmonic.

Russian mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina received her training at the Glazunov Conservatory in Petrozavodsk. From 2009 to 2015, she was a member of the Opera Academy of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. She subsequently became a permanent ensemble member there and won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Guest engagements have taken her to venues including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera in London, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Opéra national de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Los Angeles Opera, as well as the festivals in Edinburgh, Verbier, Baden-Baden, and Salzburg. Her repertoire includes roles such as Amneris ("Aida"), Eboli ("Don Carlo"), Brangäne ("Tristan und Isolde"), Venus ("Tannhäuser"), Dalila ("Samson et Dalila"), Didon ("Les Troyens"), Azucena ("Il trovatore"), Olga ("Eugene Onegin"), Santuzza ("Cavalleria rusticana"), Marfa ("Khovanshchina"), and the title role in "Carmen". Her recent engagements include Venus, Azucena, Ulrica ("Un ballo in maschera"), Eboli, and Santuzza at the Bavarian State Opera, Federica ("Luisa Miller") and Ortrud ("Lohengrin") in Moscow and at the Hamburg State Opera, Amneris at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as Azucena at the Royal Opera in London.

Nina Minasyan, soprano, was born in Armenia. She received her vocal training at the State Conservatory in Yerevan. In 2010 she became a soloist at the opera studio there. From 2011 to 2013 she took part in the Young Artist Program of the Bolshoi Theatre, where she made her debut in the role of Xenia ("Boris Godunov"). Her repertoire includes, among others, the Queen of the Night ("Die Zauberflöte"), Gilda ("Rigoletto"), Violetta Valéry ("La traviata"), Adina ("L’elisir d’amore"), Norina ("Don Pasquale"), Sophie ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Princess Eudoxie ("La Juive"), the Queen of Shemakha (Rimsky-Korsakov’s "The Golden Cockerel") as well as the title role in "Lucia di Lammermoor". She has appeared, among others, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and the Opéra national de Paris, as well as at the festivals of Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne. In 2021 she sang the Queen of Shemakha in the opera "The Golden Cockerel" at the Opéra de Lyon, which was recorded on video. More recent engagements have taken her, among others, as Violetta Valéry to the Arena di Verona as well as to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Semperoper Dresden, as Lucia to the Bavarian State Opera, as Lauretta ("Gianni Schicchi") to the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, as Adina to the Teatro Regio di Parma, as Mélisande ("Pelléas et Mélisande") to the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège and as Olympia ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann") to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. In concert she has appeared, among other places, in Moscow and at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Regula Mühlemann was born in Lucerne. She studied singing with Barbara Locher. In 2018, the soprano was awarded the Opus Klassik as Young Artist of the Year. Highlights of her past seasons include her role and house debut as Susanna (“Le nozze di Figaro”), Adina (“L’elisir d’amore”), and Blonde (“Die Entführung aus dem Serail”) at the Vienna State Opera, Susanna (“Le nozze di Figaro”) during the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin Festival Days under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, as well as her role debut as Ilia (“Idomeneo”) in concert performances at the Baden-Baden Festival Theatre under the musical direction of Thomas Hengelbrock, Gilda in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at Theater Basel, Adele in Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus” at the Vienna State Opera and at Teatro Maggio Musicale in Florence under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta, Juliette (“Roméo et Juliette”) at the Lucerne Theatre, Echo (“Ariadne auf Naxos”) at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, and as Pamina in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” in summer 2022, as well as Marie (“La fille du régiment”) at the Opera de Monte Carlo. Regula Mühlemann’s debut album “Mozart Arias” won the German Record Critics’ Award in 2017. Further albums include “Fairy Tales” and “Lieder der Heimat.” She has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Nello Santi, Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Pablo Heras-Casado, Ivor Bolton, Christian Thielemann, and Gianandrea Noseda, and has performed in the most prestigious concert halls in Europe. At Zurich Opera House, she most recently appeared as Susanna (“Le nozze di Figaro”) as well as in a lieder recital.

Anna Netrebko has developed over the course of her illustrious career into one of the most important prima donnas of the 21st century. With season openings at La Scala in Milan or the Metropolitan Opera in New York, or as a soloist at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, she has made a name for herself both within and beyond the opera world. Her interpretations range from Mozart to bel canto (including Bellini's "La sonnambula" and Donizetti's "Anna Bolena") to French operas (Massenet's "Manon" and Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette"), Verdi (from "La traviata" to "Aida" and "Macbeth" to "Nabucco"), Puccini (from "La bohème" to "Turandot"), Ponchielli's "La Gioconda", verismo ("Andrea Chénier" and "Adriana Lecouvreur"), Tchaikovsky (from "Iolanta" to "Eugene Onegin") and Wagner's "Lohengrin". Her most recent role debuts include Lisa in Tchaikovsky's "Pique Dame" and Amelia in Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera". Anna Netrebko can be seen not only at the world's leading opera houses but has also performed numerous concerts and recitals on five continents. Since 2003, she has been an exclusive artist for Deutsche Grammophon, and her extensive discography includes complete operas, concert repertoire, and numerous solo albums. Her awards and honors include three Grammy nominations, the German Bambi, as well as the British Classical BRIT Awards for "Singer of the Year" and "Artist of the Year". Anna Netrebko is a global ambassador for Chopard jewelry. Netrebko was born in 1971 in Krasnodar, Russia, studied singing at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and completed the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. As a dedicated mother, she has passionately supported the concerns of disadvantaged children for many years and supports various organizations.

The Canadian-Macedonian mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska studied voice with Helga Tucker in Toronto and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. From 2019 to 2022, she was a BBC New Generation Artist. During this time, she won the International Vocal Competition in ’s-Hertogenbosch and the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, as well as prizes at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and the Young Classical Artists Trust. From 2020 to 2022, she was part of the International Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and returned there as Octavian ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Stéphano ("Roméo et Juliette"), and La Muse/Nicklausse ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann"). At the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House, she made her role debut as Frau in George Benjamin’s "Picture a Day Like This" and later sang the role at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg. In concert, she has performed in Mozart’s "Coronation Mass" at the Salzburg Festival, "Céphale et Procris" on tour with Ensemble A Nocte Temporis, Mendelssohn’s "Elijah" with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Stravinsky’s "Pulcinella" with the Musikcollegium Winterthur under Barbara Hannigan, and Ravel’s "Chansons Madécasses" with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under George Benjamin. In the art song repertoire, she has worked with Martha Argerich, András Schiff, and guitarist Sean Shibe. In 2025/26, she will perform Boulez’ "Le Marteau sans maître" with the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Gulbenkian Fundação and give a recital at Wigmore Hall with Hikaru Kanki. At the Zurich Opera House, she will make her debut as Cherubino ("Le nozze di Figaro") and at the Komische Oper Berlin in the title role of Olga Neuwirth’s "Orlando."

Christina Nilsson completed her vocal studies at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. The award-winning soprano — including recipient of the Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition (2017) and the Operalia (2019) — was appointed Hovsångerska by Carl XVI Gustaf in 2025. The Swedish-born singer achieved her international breakthrough in the 2017/18 season as Aida at the Royal Swedish Opera, where she subsequently performed numerous major roles such as Tosca, Ariadne, and Countess Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro"). She has appeared at leading international opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Bavarian State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Oper Frankfurt. Recent highlights include her debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Freia ("Das Rheingold"), as well as her role debut as Eva in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" under Daniele Gatti, her house debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Aida, her role debut as Chrysothemis in "Elektra" at the Royal Swedish Opera, as well as Elisabeth in "Tannhäuser" and Aida at Oper Frankfurt. Other important engagements include Rosalinde ("Die Fledermaus") at the Bavarian State Opera, as well as Aida at the Royal Opera House and the Semperoper Dresden. On the concert stage, she most recently performed Schönberg’s "Gurre-Lieder" under Alan Gilbert with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Verdi’s Requiem under Andrés Orozco-Estrada with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, as well as Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven under Alan Gilbert with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. With "Tannhäuser" under the musical direction of Tugan Sokhiev, she makes her house debut at the Zurich Opera House.

Born in Vaasa, Finland, Camilla Nylund is one of the most internationally sought-after lyric-dramatic sopranos. She studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg, was a member of the ensemble at the Hanover State Opera from 1995 to 1999, and from 1999 to 2001 a member of the ensemble of the Saxon State Opera Dresden. Guest engagements have taken her, among others, to the Teatro alla Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the State Operas in Vienna, Hamburg, Munich and Berlin, the New National Theatre Tokyo, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, the Royal Opera House London, the Opéra Bastille, to Bayreuth, and to the Salzburg Festival. Her most important roles include Elisabeth in "Tannhäuser", Elsa in "Lohengrin", Eva in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", Senta in "Der fliegende Holländer", as well as the Marschallin in "Der Rosenkavalier", Arabella, Salome, the Countess in "Capriccio", Ariadne, and Chrysothemis in "Elektra". At the Vienna State Opera, she sang Marietta/Marie in "Die tote Stadt", at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Marie in "Wozzeck", and at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Jenůfa. In addition to her opera work, she is a regular guest in major concert halls. She has received multiple awards, including as Saxon and Austrian Kammersängerin, the European Cultural Prize, the Lotte Lehmann Memorial Ring, and the Austrian Music Theatre Prize. At the Zurich Opera House, she made her role debuts as Isolde and Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre", "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung".

Lisette Oropesa was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and studied voice at Louisiana State University. After winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she was accepted into the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her debut there at the age of 22 as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. She was soon invited to perform regularly at the world’s leading opera houses. Her repertoire includes Violetta (La traviata, performed at the Met, Teatro Real, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and Arena di Verona), Lucia di Lammermoor, Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Manon, Rodelinda, and Marguerite (Les Huguenots). At the Met, she appeared as Manon, Nannetta (Falstaff), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro); at the Bavarian State Opera and in Paris as Konstanze; and as Gilda (Rigoletto) at the Dutch National Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Los Angeles Opera, the Met, Opéra National de Paris, and Teatro Real. At the Glyndebourne Festival, she sang Norina (Don Pasquale), and at the Royal Opera House in London, she appeared in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor. In concert, she has performed with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, and William Christie. In the 2021/22 season, she performed Handel’s Theodora on a European tour, Gilda at the Royal Opera House in London, Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) at La Scala, and Konstanze and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Vienna State Opera.

Olga Peretyatko, born in St Petersburg, studied singing at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and subsequently was a member of the Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera. In 2007 she achieved her international breakthrough as a prizewinner at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition. Since then she has appeared, among others, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, the state operas in Vienna and Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, as well as at the Opéra Bastille and at the festivals in Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Aix-en-Provence and Pesaro. Her repertoire includes, among others, Violetta ("La traviata"), Gilda ("Rigoletto"), Leonora ("Il trovatore"), Donna Anna ("Don Giovanni"), Norina ("Don Pasquale"), Anna Bolena, Norma, as well as Marguerite ("Faust"), Liù ("Turandot") and Leïla in Bizet’s "Les pêcheurs de perles". At Zurich Opera House she has appeared, among others, as Fiorilla in "Il turco in Italia" and in the current season as Giulia in "La scala di seta". Most recently she sang Magda de Civry in a new production of "La rondine" at the Teatro Regio in Turin and Donna Anna in a new production of "Don Giovanni" in Bologna. In 2018 she gave her first solo recital at La Scala in Milan. For her six albums on Sony Classical she has received multiple awards, and in 2025 she was honoured with the European Cultural Award for her outstanding artistic achievements.

Soprano Emily Pogorelc studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She has been honored with awards such as Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, the first Glyndebourne Opera Cup, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and Opera Index, and has emerged as a prizewinner in the Hal Leonard and Dominick Argento singing competitions. From 2020 to 2024, she was an ensemble member at the Bavarian State Opera, where she sang, among others, Ilia ("Idomeneo"), Pamina ("The Magic Flute"), Xenia ("Boris Godunov"), Musetta ("La bohème"), Gretel ("Hansel and Gretel"), as well as the title role in "Lucia di Lammermoor." In 2024, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Lisette ("La rondine") and returned there as Musetta and Pamina. At the Washington National Opera, she sang Cunegonde ("Candide") and Violetta Valéry ("La traviata"). The latter role also took her to the Semperoper Dresden, where she additionally portrayed Amina ("La sonnambula") and Juliette ("Roméo et Juliette"). Other highlights on the opera stage include debuts as Servilia ("La clemenza di Tito") at the Royal Danish Opera and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Norma ("7 Deaths of Maria Callas") in Amsterdam, the title role in Massenet’s "Manon" in Vancouver, and Cherubino ("Le nozze di Figaro") at the Glyndebourne Festival. On the concert stage, she has worked with, among others, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Danish Orchestra. In Salzburg, she debuted at the Mozart Matinees, performed Mendelssohn’s "Elijah" at the Easter Festival, and sang the soprano part in Mozart’s "Requiem" with the Mozarteum Orchestra.

Marina Rebeka begann ihre musikalische Ausbildung in ihrer Heimatstadt Riga und schloss ihr Studium am Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rom ab. 2007 gewann sie den Wettbewerb «Neue Stimmen» in Gütersloh. Seit ihrem internationalen Durchbruch – 2009 bei den Salzburger Festspielen unter Riccardo Muti – ist sie regelmässig an den führenden Opernhäusern und Festivals zu Gast, u. a. an der Mailänder Scala, der Metropolitan Opera und Carnegie Hall New York, dem Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, dem Concertgebouw Amsterdam, der Bayerischen Staatsoper, der Wiener Staatsoper, dem Opernhaus Zürich oder der Lyric Opera Chicago. Sie arbeitet mit Dirigenten wie Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin und Daniele Gatti zusammen. Ihr Repertoire reicht vom Barock über Belcanto und Verdi bis hin zu Tschaikow­sky und Britten. Auf ihrem eigenen Plattenlabel Prima Classic hat sie das Album Spirito (Szenen und Arien des dramatischen Belcanto), Verdis Oper La traviata und ihre Soloalben Elle (französische Opernarien) und Credo (eine Auswahl geistlicher und spiritueller Lieder) veröffentlicht. In jüngster Zeit sang sie u. a. Aida an der Staatsoper Berlin, Norma am Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Mimì (La bohème), Cherubinis Medea sowie Elena (I vespri siciliani) an der Mailänder Scala, Leonora (Il trovatore) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper München, Violetta Valéry (La traviata) am Teatro di San Carlo in Neapel, Lida (La battaglia di Legnano) beim Verdi Festival Parma sowie Elena (I vespri sici­liani) beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence und zuletzt Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) an der Wiener Staatsoper.

Agnieszka Rehlis stammt aus Polen. Sie studierte Gesang an der Karol-Lipiński-Musikakademie in Breslau. Von 1996 bis 2007 gehörte sie zum Ensemble der Oper Breslau und sang dort u. a. Fenena (Nabucco), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Siébel (Faust), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) und Dorabella (Così fan tutte). 2003 debütierte sie am Teatr Wielki in Warschau als Fenena, später verkörperte sie dort auch Azucena (Il trovatore), den Komponisten in Ariadne auf Naxos, Orsini (Lucrezia Borgia), Adalgisa (Norma) und Lisa in Die Passagierin von Weinberg. 2014 übernahm die Sängerin bei der Neuproduktion von Die Passagierin bei den Bregenzer Festspielen die Partie der Hannah, eine Rolle, die sie in Folge auch am Lincoln Center New York, in Houston und Chicago interpretierte. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit widmet Agnieszka Rehlis dem Schaffen Krzysztof Pendereckis, unter dessen Leitung sie in vielen seiner Kompositionen mitwirkte, so etwa im Te Deum, Credo, Polnischen Requiem sowie in seiner Siebten und Achten Sinfonie. In jüngster Zeit sang sie Amneris (Aida) u. a. in London, Warschau, Dresden, Neapel, Frankfurt und in der Arena di Verona, Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) in Sevilla und La Cieca (La Gioconda) bei den Opernfestspielen Salzburg. Am Opernhaus Zürich war sie u. a. als Azucena (Il trovatore) und in Verdis Messa da Requiem zu erleben. In der Spielzeit 2024/25 wird sie u. a. Azucena am Royal Opera House London und an der Staatsoper Berlin sowie Amneris in Florenz und Verona singen. In Florenz singt sie 2025 in Verdis Requiem unter Leitung von Zubin Mehta.

The Swiss soprano Gabriela Scherer was born in Zurich, studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg and was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House as well as the ensembles in Leipzig and Munich. She regularly appears on renowned stages such as the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, the Staatsoper Hamburg, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Opéra national de Paris or at the Bayreuth Festival. In the 2024/25 season she performed Liszt’s "Legend of Saint Elisabeth" with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra in Budapest, Amsterdam and Brussels. At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden she sang Pamina ("The Magic Flute") for the first time, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein she appeared as Senta in "The Flying Dutchman". She returned to Bayreuth for open-air concerts and as Gutrune in "Götterdämmerung". She also made her debut at the Teatro Real Madrid in a gala with excerpts from Wagner and Strauss as well as at the NCPA Beijing as Sieglinde in Act 1 of "Die Walküre". In the 2025/26 season she sings Irene in "Rienzi" at the Bayreuth Festival, Alice Ford in "Falstaff" and Pamina at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Leonore in "Fidelio" at the Zurich Opera House as well as Senta at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Among her most recent role debuts are Chrysothemis in "Elektra", the title roles in "Arabella" and "Tosca", Elsa in "Lohengrin", Elisabetta in "Don Carlo" and Agathe in "Der Freischütz". Other important roles are Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni" and the Countess in "Le nozze di Figaro".

Golda Schultz is from South Africa. Trained at the Juilliard School in New York and in the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera, she soon achieved international success, including as Sophie (“Der Rosenkavalier”) at the Salzburg Festival, Contessa (“Le nozze di Figaro”) at the Glyndebourne Festival, and Pamina (“Die Zauberflöte”) at the Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna State Opera. Highlights include Micaëla (“Carmen”) at the Opéra national de Paris, Contessa and Liù (“Turandot”) at the Vienna State Opera, Agathe at the Bavarian State Opera, Vitellia (“La clemenza di Tito”) at the Salzburg Festival, Clara in Jake Heggie’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” at the San Francisco Opera, and Madame Lidoine in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of “Dialogues des Carmélites.” At the Metropolitan Opera, she has sung Clara (“Porgy and Bess”), Nanetta (“Falstaff”), Sophie, Anne Trulove, and Adina (“L'elisir d'amore”). Recently, she made role debuts as Juliette (“Roméo et Juliette”) at Dallas Opera and Donna Anna (“Don Giovanni”) at Zurich Opera House, as well as house debuts at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Fiordiligi (“Così fan tutte”) under the direction of Alexander Soddy and as Sophie at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden under Joana Mallwitz. On the concert stage, she has performed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig under Andris Nelsons, the New York Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda, the Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Harding, and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under Paavo Järvi. In 2022, she released her first solo album, “This Be Her Verse,” which features works by female composers from the Romantic period to the present.

The mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk was born in Minsk. She studied singing at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg and made her debut at the Mariinsky Theatre while still a student. Her repertoire includes Verdi roles such as Azucena ("Il trovatore"), Princess Eboli ("Don Carlo"), Abigaille ("Nabucco"), Amneris ("Aida"), Preziosilla ("La forza del destino"), and Lady Macbeth ("Macbeth"), as well as roles such as Dalila ("Samson et Dalila"), Marina ("Boris Godunov"), and the title roles in "Carmen" and "Turandot." She has appeared at major international venues including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the New National Theatre in Tokyo, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and at the Salzburg and Baden-Baden Festivals. On the concert stage, she has collaborated with conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Chailly, and Sir Antonio Pappano, and has given recitals with pianist Semion Skigin. Most recently, she has been heard in the title role of "Turandot" and as Amneris in the Arena di Verona, and she is currently appearing at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo as Erda ("Das Rheingold") and Fricka ("Die Walküre") as part of Davide Livermore’s new "Ring" cycle.

The Swiss Chiara Skerath studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She was celebrated for successful debuts as Eurydice in Gluck’s "Orphée et Eurydice" at the Zurich Opera House, as Ilione in Campra’s "Idoménée" at the Berlin State Opera, as well as Micaëla ("Carmen") in Bordeaux. She sang Mélisande in Debussy’s "Pelléas et Mélisande" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024, Armida in Handel’s "Rinaldo" in Beaune, and Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni" at the Opéra de Lille under Emmanuelle Haïm. Further engagements took her through Europe with Handel’s "Messiah," with Schubert’s Mass in A-flat major, Mendelssohn’s "Vom Himmel hoch," and Mozart’s Mass in C minor on major concert stages. Her opera roles include Antigone in Enescu’s "Œdipe" at the Salzburg Festival, Ännchen in Weber’s "Der Freischütz," Scylla in Leclair’s "Scylla et Glaucus," as well as Mélisande in Bordeaux. In the 2025/26 season, she will take on, among others, Circe in "Scylla et Glaucus" at the Zurich Opera House and will perform Mozart’s Mass in C minor as well as Berlioz’ "Messe solennelle." A focus of her repertoire lies in Mozart roles such as Zerlina, Despina, Susanna, Ilia, Pamina, and Servilia. In addition, she sang, among others, Poppea, Rosalinde, Megacle, and Clothilde in Francesconi’s "Trompe-la-Mort." She has performed with renowned conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Marc Minkowski, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Her discography includes recordings of, among others, "Pelléas et Mélisande," "La clemenza di Tito," and "Der Freischütz."

Kristina Stanek was born in Krefeld and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since the 2020/21 season, she has been a member of the Hamburg State Opera ensemble; previously, she was part of the ensembles at Theater Basel, the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and the Theater Trier. Guest engagements have taken her, among others, to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Semperoper Dresden, the Stuttgart State Opera, the Ruhrtriennale, and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. In recent seasons, she made her debut as Kundry ("Parsifal") at the Glyndebourne Festival and as Brangäne ("Tristan und Isolde") at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She previously made her house debut as Carmen at the Stuttgart State Opera. In the 2025/26 season, she will make her role and house debut as Charlotte ("Werther") at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Her repertoire also includes roles such as Princess Eboli ("Don Carlos"), Azucena ("Il trovatore"), Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus"), Soprano 4 in Luigi Nono’s "Al gran sole carico d’amore," and Mary Shelley in Michael Werthmüller’s "Diodati."

Soprano Serafina Starke made her operatic debut at the age of 13 as Flora in Britten’s "The Turn of the Screw." She began her vocal training at the University Mozarteum Salzburg and continued her studies at the Munich University of Music, where she completed her master’s degree in 2024. She has won several awards, including the Dostal Operetta Competition in 2022 and the International ARD Music Competition and the Federal Singing Competition in 2024. In the summer of 2022, she participated in the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival, performing the Princess in "Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren." The following year, she returned to the festival as Barbarina in "Le nozze di Figaro." She has appeared in productions at, among others, the Bavarian State Opera, the Bregenz Festival, the Easter Festival Baden-Baden, and the International Handel Festival at the Opera Halle. In spring 2025, she made her debut at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival in Wagner’s "Parsifal." Since the 2024/25 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Berlin State Opera, where she has performed roles such as Frasquita in "Carmen" and Echo in "Ariadne auf Naxos." On the concert stage, Serafina Starke has sung the soprano solo in Verdi’s "Te Deum" at the Salzburg Festival. In the 2025/26 season, she will make her debut as Blonde in a new production of "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" and debut with the "St. John Passion" at the Zurich Opera House.

Russian soprano Elena Stikhina studied at the Moscow Conservatory and at the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Singing Centre. She made her debut as Salome at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, where she later became a member of the ensemble. In 2016, she won, among other distinctions, the Culturarte Prize at the Operalia Competition. She is regularly invited to perform at renowned venues including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra national de Paris, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Salzburg Festival, and the Royal Opera House in London. Her recent engagements include the title role in "Tosca" at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Vienna State Opera, and the Opéra de Paris. In addition, she sang the title role in Tchaikovsky’s "The Maid of Orleans" in Amsterdam, Salome at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, in Geneva, and at La Scala in Milan, Cio-Cio-San ("Madama Butterfly") at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Senta ("Der fliegende Holländer") and Elisabetta ("Don Carlo") at the Vienna State Opera, as well as Aida at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Bavarian State Opera, and the Salzburg Festival, where she had made her debut in 2019 in the title role of Cherubini’s "Médée". At the Zurich Opera House, she appeared among others as Salome and Manon Lescaut.

Svetlina Stoyanova, a Bulgarian mezzo-soprano, was born in Sofia and began her musical career as a soloist in the children’s choir of the Bulgarian National Radio. After studying psychology at the University of Glasgow, she completed a bachelor’s degree with distinction and two master’s degrees in voice and opera at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under Clare Shearer. In 2017, she won 1st prize at the International Singing Competition “Neue Stimmen” and 3rd prize at the Le Grand Prix de l’Opéra. Following these successes, she was invited by the Opéra de Nice Côte d’Azur and the Anthéa Théâtre to perform as Cherubino (“Le nozze di Figaro”) and in the title role of Rosina (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”) at the Bregenz Festival. From 2018 to 2020, she was a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble, performing roles such as Rosina (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”), Cherubino (“Le nozze di Figaro”), Dryad (“Ariadne auf Naxos”), and Rossweisse (“Die Walküre”). Since then, she has appeared at La Scala in Milan, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Hamburg State Opera, the Zurich Opera House, and the Glyndebourne Festival. Recent highlights include “La Cenerentola” in Düsseldorf, Athens, and Riga, Stéphano in “Roméo et Juliette” at Theater an der Wien and the Zurich Opera House, and Sesto (“Giulio Cesare”) and Ruggiero (“Alcina”) at the Glyndebourne Festival. She is also in demand as a concert singer, performing at venues such as the Musikverein in Vienna, London’s Wigmore Hall, and in Tokyo.

Annalisa Stroppa is an internationally sought-after Italian mezzo-soprano. In 2011, she made her debut at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival as Cherubino in Mercadante's "I due Figaro" under the direction of Riccardo Muti. Guest engagements have taken her, among others, to La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Opéra de Paris, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the Teatro Real in Madrid. She has worked with conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Marco Armiliato, Riccardo Frizza, Pinchas Steinberg, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Oren, Myung-Whun Chung, Christian Thielemann, and Teodor Currentzis. Most recently, she has performed in Saint-Saëns' Requiem at the Ljubljana Winter Festival as well as in Verdi's Requiem in the Philharmonie Berlin, in Udine, and Venice, and has sung Léonor ("La Favorite") in Bergamo and Bordeaux, Carmen in São Paulo, Suzuki ("Madama Butterfly") at the Liceu Barcelona, Romeo ("I Capuleti e i Montecchi") in Brescia, Sara ("Roberto Devereux") and Giovanna Seymour ("Anna Bolena") in Naples, Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") in Cagliari, and Charlotte ("Werther") in Dortmund, Bologna, and Buenos Aires. Upcoming engagements include Charlotte at the Bilbao Opera and Carmen at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

The mezzo-soprano Zinaida Tsarenko was born in Khabarovsk, Russia. She completed her studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 2020 and became a member of the Atkins Young Artists Program at the Mariinsky Theatre the following year. In 2022, she made her debut there as Olga in a chamber version of "Eugene Onegin" and joined the ensemble as a soloist in 2024. She has sung roles there such as Marina Mnishek ("Boris Godunov"), the title role in Mussorgsky’s "Salammbô", Marfa ("Khovanshchina"), Joan of Arc (Tchaikovsky’s "The Maid of Orleans"), Polina ("The Queen of Spades") and Princess Clarisse ("The Love for Three Oranges"), as well as Italian repertoire roles including Fenena ("Nabucco"), Emilia ("Otello"), Princess Eboli ("Don Carlo") and Amneris ("Aida"). In 2024 she made her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow as Kontchakovna (Borodin’s "Prince Igor") and recently returned there as Princess Eboli. Additionally, she has performed roles such as the Princess of Bouillon ("Adriana Lecouvreur"), Brangäne ("Tristan und Isolde"), Dalia ("Samson et Dalila") and in concert with Mahler’s 2nd and 3rd Symphonies, the cantatas "Alexander Nevsky" (Prokofiev) and "Arianna a Naxos" (Haydn), as well as Wagner’s "Wesendonck" songs. Zinaida Tsarenko has won several international singing competitions, including the Elena Obraztsova International Competition of Young Opera Singers in 2021 and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2023.

Marina Viotti was born in Switzerland and grew up in France. She initially studied flute, experimented with jazz, gospel, and heavy metal, and earned a master’s degree in philosophy and literature before pursuing vocal studies in Vienna and Lausanne. In April 2019, she was awarded the Mazars Young Singer Award as “Best Young Singer” at the prestigious International Opera Awards in London. Her first engagements after completing her studies led her to the Opéra de Lausanne, the Lucerne Theatre, and as part of the young ensemble at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She now performs at the most renowned opera stages. She has appeared as Maddalena (“Rigoletto”) at the Bavarian State Opera and as Stéphano in “Romeo and Juliet” at La Scala in Milan. She has sung roles such as Rosina (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”) at the opera houses in Dresden, Barcelona, and Moscow, Melibea (“Il viaggio a Reims”) in Valencia, Nicklausse and Muse (“The Tales of Hoffmann”) at the Liceu in Barcelona and La Scala in Milan, and the title role in Gluck’s “Alceste” at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. Under Daniel Barenboim, she made her debut at the Berlin State Opera as Dorabella in “Così fan tutte” and performed the title role in “La Périchole” at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. In the 2023/24 season, she gave her acclaimed stage debut as “Carmen” in a new production by Andreas Homoki at the Zurich Opera House. She made her U.S. debut in the same season with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Nathalie Stutzmann, performing Bruckner’s Te Deum in concert.

Rachael Wilson, born in Las Vegas, completed her vocal training at Juilliard School in New York. From 2013 to 2015, she was a member of the opera studio of the Bavarian State Opera, and subsequently a member of the company until 2019, where she performed roles including Dorabella ("Così fan tutte"), Hänsel ("Hänsel und Gretel"), Cherubino ("Le nozze di Figaro"), as well as Fatime in Weber’s "Oberon", for which she received the Bavarian Festival Prize. From 2019 to 2023, she was a member of the ensemble at the Stuttgart State Opera, where she made her role debut as Fricka ("Das Rheingold") and performed, among others, the title roles in "Carmen" and Vivaldi’s "Juditha triumphans", as well as Charlotte ("Werther"). As a freelance artist, she has since appeared at venues including the Teatro Real, Theater Basel, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, as Lola ("Cavalleria rusticana") at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, and as Varvara ("Káťa Kabanová") at the Glyndebourne Festival. In 2023/24, she made her role debut as Donna Elvira ("Don Giovanni") at the Santa Fe Opera. Other recent role debuts include Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Stuttgart State Opera, as well as Armida in Handel’s "Rinaldo". She is a recipient of the Bavarian Art Prize. At the Zurich Opera House, she has previously appeared as Balkis ("Barkouf") and Olga ("Eugene Onegin"); this season she is making her role debut here as Venus in Wagner's "Tannhäuser".

The soprano Sonya Yoncheva comes from Bulgaria. She studied piano and singing in her hometown Plovdiv as well as in Geneva and is a graduate of the academy Le Jardin des Voix. In 2010 she won the first prize of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition, in 2015 the ECHO Klassik as “Young Artist of the Year” and in 2021 the Opus Klassik as “Singer of the Year”. Her wide-ranging repertoire includes works from the Baroque period as well as roles such as Gilda (“Rigoletto”), Mimì (“La bohème”), Violetta (“La traviata”), Desdemona (“Otello”), Marguerite (“Faust”), Imogene (“Il pirata”) and the title roles in “Norma”, “Tosca” and “Luisa Miller”. She appears regularly on the world’s most important stages, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the State Operas in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, as well as the Opéra National de Paris and the Teatro Real in Madrid. At the Salzburg Festival she appeared as Poppea (“L’incoronazione di Poppea”) and in 2020 gave a concert evening at La Scala in Milan. Recent engagements include Lisa (“The Queen of Spades”) at the Metropolitan Opera, her Japan debut as Floria Tosca in Yokohama and Tokyo, as well as recitals and concert evenings in São Paulo, at the State Operas of Berlin and Vienna, at the Salzburg Mozart Week, in the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and in the Philharmonie de Paris. Since 2020 she has also been active as a producer. Under her label SY11 Productions, her solo album “The Courtesan” (2023) and her book “Fifteen Reflections” have been released, as well as a concert series in Sofia. Sonya Yoncheva is an ambassador for UNICEF Bulgaria.

Yajie Zhang, mezzo-soprano, was born in China’s Anhui province and began her vocal studies in Shanghai, where she was simultaneously a member of the Zhou Xiao Yan Opera Center. In 2013 she made her operatic debut as Maddalena ("Rigoletto") with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. In 2020 she completed her studies with a master’s degree in Hanover. She subsequently joined the International Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and was a member of the ensemble of Oper Leipzig from 2022 to 2024, where she appeared among others as Angelina in "La Cenerentola", as Hänsel in "Hänsel und Gretel" and as Suzuki in Puccini’s "Madama Butterfly". Guest engagements have taken her, among others, to the Hanover State Opera, the NCPA in Beijing, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center and the Opéra National de Paris. In 2017, as the youngest participant in the International Vocal Competition ’s-Hertogenbosch, she received the Grand Prix as well as the Opera Prize and the Junior Jury Prize. In 2019 she won the "Das Lied" competition at the Heidelberger Frühling. She has already appeared in recital, often with Hartmut Höll at the piano, at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the St. Petersburg Philharmonia and the NCPA. She has sung Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler’s "Rückert-Lieder" under Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony at the Vienna Musikverein. At the Shanghai Baroque Festival she appeared with the Shanghai Camerata under David Stern. The 2025/26 season will take her, among other places, to the Zurich Opera House, the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Vienna Musikverein.

Chelsea Zurflüh studied voice in Lucerne and at the Bern University of the Arts. In 2024, she won the prestigious Concours de Genève as well as the International Haydn Competition, and in 2025 she won first prize at the SWR Young Opera Stars Competition as well as the Emmerich Smola Orchestra Prize of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. From 2021 to 2023, she was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, where she appeared as Barbarina ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Zaida ("Il turco in Italia"), and Atalanta ("Serse"), among other roles. Guest engagements include Gerhilde ("Die Walküre") at the Prague State Opera, at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Kulturpalast Dresden, and the Cologne Philharmonie under the direction of Kent Nagano, her debut at the Handel Festival in the title role of "Clori, Tirsi e Fileno", as well as Zerlina and the soprano part in "Don Giovanni/Requiem" at the Komische Oper Berlin. Most recently, she made her debut at the Royal Opera in London as Pamina ("Die Zauberflöte"), a role she had previously sung at Cologne Opera, as well as at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Marie ("La fille du régiment"). As a concert singer, she has already performed at the Vienna and Berlin Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Liederhalle Stuttgart, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Tonhalle Zurich, among others. Most recently, she sang Handel’s "Messiah" on tour with Ivor Bolton, Mozart’s "Requiem" with Andreas Ottensamer, gave gala concerts alongside Joyce DiDonato and Jonathan Tetelman, and performed the solo parts in the "St John Passion" with Il Pomo d’Oro and in Brahms’s "A German Requiem" with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano. She returns to the Zurich Opera House in the 2025/26 season as Sophie ("Werther").

Amin Ahangaran, bass, was born in Iran. He completed his artistic training at the Tehran Conservatory of Music as well as in Graz. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the Young Artist Program at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where he appeared in the productions "Rigoletto", "Siberia", and "Ariadne auf Naxos". He also performed in Florence and in various concert halls in Italy as a bass soloist. In the summer of 2022, he participated in the competitions “Voci Verdiane in Busseto” (finalist), “Riccardo Zandonai” in Riva del Garda, and the “CLIP” competition in Portofino. From 2022 to 2024, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, where he was heard in productions including "La traviata", "Eugene Onegin", and "Viva la mamma". He then joined the ensemble of the Opéra de Paris, where he has been a member ever since. In the 2025/26 season, he will appear there, among other roles, as Dottor Grenvil in "La traviata" and in a new production of Philip Glass’s "Satyagraha". He returns to the Zurich Opera House as Brander in the concert version of "La Damnation de Faust".

The tenor Liparit Avetisyan, born in Yerevan, Armenia, studied at the conservatory there as well as at the Moscow Conservatory. In 2016 he made his debut at the Cologne Opera as Fenton in "Falstaff". Engagements followed at the Semperoper Dresden, the Hamburg State Opera, the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Den Norske Opera in Oslo, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Seattle Opera and Opera Australia. He attracted particular attention as Des Grieux (Massenet’s "Manon"), for which he received the "Golden Mask" theatre award in 2017. His further repertoire includes roles such as Alfredo Germont ("La traviata"), Rodolfo ("La bohème"), Nemorino ("L’elisir d’amore"), Count Almaviva ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Duke of Mantua ("Rigoletto"), Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") and the title role in "Faust". In 2022 he made his debut as Vaudémont ("Iolanta") with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko. Together with the Armenian State Philharmonic, he has appeared as the Duke of Mantua, Rodolfo and Count Almaviva, and has sung the tenor parts in the Verdi and Mozart Requiems as well as in Mahler’s "Das Lied von der Erde". Further concert engagements have taken him to Russia, Estonia, France, Germany and the USA. In 2020 Liparit Avetisyan appeared as Cassio alongside Jonas Kaufmann in the Sony Classical recording of "Otello", which received an Opus Klassik award. In 2025 he released his first solo album, "Beloved Arias".

The tenor Iván Ayón Rivas was born in Piura (Peru). He first studied at the National University of Music of Peru and later with Juan Diego Flórez and Roberto Sèrvile. Several competition prizes led in 2016 to his first engagements on various international stages, including at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the Teatro Regio in Turin, where he sang Rodolfo ("La bohème") at the 2016/17 season opening. In 2021 he made his debut at La Scala in Milan, in 2023 at the Vienna State Opera. His repertoire also includes, among others, Alfredo in "La traviata", Fenton in "Falstaff", the title roles in "Faust" and "Les Contes d’Hoffmann", Nemorino in "L’elisir d’amore" as well as Tebaldo in "I Capuleti e i Montecchi". He received invitations to houses such as the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Teatro Real in Madrid, as well as to the Festival di Macerata, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and to Stuttgart, Brussels, Paris and Valencia. In 2021 he won the first prize as well as several special prizes at the Operalia Awards. More recently he sang the Duke in "Rigoletto" at La Fenice and in concert at the Tyrolean Festival Erl, the title role in Gounod’s "Faust" at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo and at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, a Ravel and Puccini double evening in Valencia, Alfredo in Madrid and Fenton at the Vienna State Opera.

Wolfgang Bankl has been a member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera since 1993, where he has performed roles such as Leporello ("Don Giovanni"), Papageno ("The Magic Flute"), Don Alfonso ("Così fan tutte"), Count Waldner ("Arabella"), Klingsor ("Parsifal"), La Roche ("Capriccio"), Doctor ("Wozzeck"), Baron Ochs ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Figaro ("The Marriage of Figaro"), in Alban Berg’s "Lulu" as well as Doctor Bartolo. In the world premiere of the opera "Animal Farm" by Alexander Raskatov, he took on the lead role of Napoleon in 2024. Guest engagements took him to the Opéra National du Rhin, the Semperoper Dresden, the Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opera Graz, Munich, Budapest, New York, and Leipzig, as well as to the Vienna and Berlin Festivals and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. In 2015, the concert version of "Parsifal" in Birmingham, in which he portrayed Klingsor, was chosen as the British cultural event of the year. In 2019, he made his debut as Oberlin in "Jakob Lenz" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. He regularly works with conductors such as Bertrand de Billy, Michael Boder, Franz Welser-Möst, Zubin Mehta, Philippe Jordan, Adam Fischer, Christian Thielemann, Simone Young, Ingo Metzmacher, Martin Haselböck, and Marco Armiliato. As a concert singer and lieder interpreter, he has performed at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Gasteig in Munich, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Schoenberg Hall in Los Angeles. Since 2007 he has been a lecturer at the Allegro Vivo Festival, and since 2014 he has been an Austrian Kammersänger. Together with conductor Norbert Pfafflmeyer, he is one of the founding members of the traveling chamber music festival Giro d’Arte.

Piotr Beczała is one of the most sought-after tenors of our time. Since his debut at the Met in 2006 as the Duke ("Rigoletto"), he has also sung there the roles of Lenski ("Eugene Onegin"), the Prince ("Rusalka"), Edgardo, Rodolfo, Vaudémont ("Iolanta"), Riccardo, Gounod’s Roméo, Faust, Maurizio ("Adriana Lecouvreur"), Werther, and Des Grieux ("Manon"). His interpretation of the Duke earned him the Echo Klassik Award for Singer of the Year in 2014. At La Scala in Milan, he has sung the Duke, Rodolfo, and Alfredo ("La traviata"). At the Salzburg Festival, where he made his debut in 1997 as Tamino, he has celebrated major successes as Roméo, the Prince, Rodolfo, Faust, and in concert performances of "Iolanta" and "Werther". He is also in demand worldwide as a concert and recital singer. Piotr Beczała, who comes from Poland and has been a Swiss citizen since 2012, studied at the Academy of Music in Katowice. He was a long-standing ensemble member at the Zurich Opera House. In addition to a number of DVDs, including from the Zurich Opera House, his discography includes solo albums such as "Heart’s Delight: The Songs of Richard Tauber", "The French Collection", "Salut", "Verdi", and "Slavic Opera Arias". At the International Opera Awards 2018, he was named Singer of the Year. In 2016, he made his debut as Lohengrin alongside Anna Netrebko at the Semperoper Dresden and has since sung the role again in Zurich (2017), at the Bayreuth Festival (2018), at the Vienna State Opera (2020), and in Baden-Baden (2026). In Zurich, he was most recently seen as Prince Sou-Chong in "Das Land des Lächelns", as Werther, as Chevalier des Grieux in "Manon", in a song recital, in an operetta gala, and as Calàf in "Turandot". In the current season, he has appeared as Andrea Chénier at the Met, as Radamès in "Aida" in Paris, as the Prince in "Rusalka", and as Don José in "Carmen" at the Vienna State Opera. At the Bavarian State Opera, he has sung Manrico in "Il trovatore" and Faust this season.

Benjamin Bernheim studied with Gary Magby in Lausanne and was a member of the International Opera Studio as well as of the ensemble at the Zürich Opera House. The French tenor has meanwhile established himself as a regular guest at the most renowned stages, including at the Opéra national de Paris, at the Vienna State Opera, at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where he sings leading tenor roles of the romantic repertoire. He performed at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris as well as at the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris in December 2024. He has been honored, among others, at the Victoires de la Musique as Opera Singer of the Year, by the Syndicat professionnel de la critique as Musical Personality of the Year, and most recently at Opus Klassik 2025 as Singer of the Year. His discography includes several albums, including his debut album, which was awarded a Diapason d’Or and a Choc de Classica, "Douce France: Mélodies & Chansons" as well as the 2022 release "Boulevard des Italiens". Highlights of his career include the title roles in "Les contes d’Hoffmann" and "Faust", Rodolfo in "La bohème", Des Grieux in "Manon" and Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor".

The Slovak tenor Pavol Breslik was a member of the ensemble of the Berlin State Opera from 2003 to 2006 and was named Young Singer of the Year by the magazine "Opernwelt" in 2005. Since 2006, he has been a regular guest at the major European opera houses. At the Vienna State Opera, he sang Lenski in "Eugen Onegin", Nemorino in "L’elisir d’amore", Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni", and Alfredo in "La traviata". At the Bavarian State Opera, he made his debut as Gennaro in "Lucrezia Borgia" alongside Edita Gruberová, as well as Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Diana Damrau. At the Royal Opera House, he appeared as Lenski, Ferrando in "Così fan tutte", Don Ottavio, and Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte". At the National Theatre Prague, he made his debut as the Prince in "Rusalka". Further guest engagements have taken him to the Opéra national de Paris, the Liceu Barcelona, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Berlin State Opera, to the Salzburg Festival, to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, to the Theater an der Wien, the Semperoper Dresden, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. From 2012 to 2018, Pavol Breslik was a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House, where he sang, among others, Števa in "Jenůfa", Don Ottavio, Nadir in "Les pêcheurs de perles", Peter Quint in "The Turn of the Screw", and Leicester in "Maria Stuarda". In 2021, he was awarded the honorary title of Bavarian Kammersänger.

Since graduating from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, bass-baritone Gábor Bretz has performed regularly at the Hungarian State Opera, where he sings the major roles of his repertoire. His highlights also include Don Quichotte (Paris Opéra, Bregenz Festival), Heinrich der Vogler in "Lohengrin" (Staatsoper Unter den Linden, La Monnaie/De Munt, London’s Covent Garden), Grigoris in Martinů’s "Greek Passion" (Salzburg Festival), Jochanaan (Salzburg Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence), Don Pizarro (Theater an der Wien, Opéra Comique in Paris), Scarpia (Theater an der Wien, Teatro Comunale di Bologna), Escamillo (Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bavarian State Opera, among others), Sarastro (La Monnaie/De Munt), Ferrando in "Il trovatore" (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Philip II in "Don Carlos" (Hamburg State Opera), and the four villains in "Les Contes d’Hoffmann" (La Monnaie). He has appeared as Bluebeard with the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 2024–2025, he returned to Brussels as the Wanderer in Pierre Audi’s new production of "Siegfried" conducted by A. Altınoglu, after portraying Wotan there in Castellucci’s new productions of "Das Rheingold" and "Die Walküre". Other projects this season include the Water Spirit in Tcherniakov’s new production of "Rusalka" at Teatro San Carlo, Mundruczó’s new production of "Salome" in Geneva, as well as Gurnemanz, Philip II, Méphistophélès, and the title role in "Bluebeard’s Castle" at the Hungarian State Opera. Gábor Bretz is a professor of singing at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.

The French bass Nicolas Brooymans is among the most sought-after interpreters of 17th- and 18th-century repertoire. He maintains a close collaboration with the Ensemble Correspondances and Sébastien Daucé, with whom he has recorded works ranging from Étienne Moulinié to Marc-Antoine Charpentier. He also works regularly with ensembles such as Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon, Collegium 1704, Les Arts Florissants, Ensemble Jupiter, and Le Banquet Céleste. In 2019, he released the album "Come Sorrow," featuring music from the Elizabethan era with the ensemble Près de votre oreille. Nicolas Brooymans has performed bass parts in works such as Mozart’s "Requiem," Bach’s Passions, Haydn’s "The Creation," Puccini’s "Messa di Gloria," Verdi’s "Requiem," and Rossini’s "Stabat Mater." On the opera stage, he has appeared in the revival of "Combattimento, la théorie du cygne noir" from Aix-en-Provence at the Théâtre de Caen, in "The Magic Flute" at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, in Rossini’s "La Cenerentola" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Opéra de Bordeaux, and the Opéra de Rouen, as Zuniga in Bizet’s "Carmen" at the Opéra de Toulon, and in Monteverdi’s "L’incoronazione di Poppea" in Metz, Geneva, and Paris. With the ensemble I Gemelli, he toured extensively across Europe with Monteverdi’s "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria" and Francesca Caccini’s "La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina." His recent and upcoming engagements include a tour as Melisso ("Alcina") under Philippe Jaroussky in Paris, Barcelona, and Montpellier, Il Re di Scozia ("Ariodante") at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Polifemo ("Aci, Galatea e Polifemo") at the Zurich Opera House, and Lesbo ("Agrippina") in Rouen.

Baritone Roman Burdenko was born in Russia and studied at the conservatories in Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg. He was a prizewinner at international singing competitions in Moscow and Paris, as well as at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia in Beijing (2012) and the Belvedere Singing Competition in Amsterdam (2013). From 2006 to 2011 he was a soloist at the Mikhailovsky Theatre and, from 2017, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. He performs on the world’s leading opera stages, including La Scala in Milan, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Arena di Verona, the Opéra de Paris, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Opera Amsterdam, and the Salzburg Festival. His repertoire includes Scarpia ("Tosca"), Iago ("Otello"), Tonio ("Pagliacci"), Alfio ("Cavalleria rusticana"), Don Carlo di Vargas ("La forza del destino"), Rodrigo ("Don Carlo"), Alberich ("Der Ring des Nibelungen"), Giorgio Germont ("La traviata"), Jack Rance ("La fanciulla del West"), Amonasro ("Aida"), Tomski ("Pique Dame"), Enrico Ashton ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Barnaba ("La Gioconda"), as well as the title roles in "Rigoletto," "Nabucco," and "Macbeth." Most recently, he appeared as Macbeth at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Amonasro at the Opéra de Paris and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and as Michele ("Il tabarro") at the Opéra de Paris. He made his debut at the Zurich Opera House in 2015 as Ford and has since returned as Count Tomski, Alfio, Tonio, Lord Enrico Ashton, and most recently as Macbeth.

Joseph Calleja wurde auf Malta geboren, wo er auch seine Gesangsausbildung absolvierte. Sein Debüt gab er 1997 am dortigen Astra Theatre als Macduff (Macbeth) und sang im selben Jahr Leicester (Maria Stuarda) an der Nationalen Reisopera in Holland. Ebenfalls 1997 war er Preisträger des Belvedere-Gesangswettbewerbs, ein Jahr später gewann er den Caruso-Wettbewerb und danach Placido Domingos Operalia. Mittlerweile gilt er als einer der wichtigsten Tenöre seiner Generation. Gastengagements führten ihn u.a. ans Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, an die Staatsopern in Wien, München, Hamburg und Dresden, an die Lyric Opera Chicago, zu den Salzburger Festspielen und an die Festivals in Spoleto und Pesaro. An der Met, wo er regelmässig gastiert, war er zuletzt in der Titelpartie von Faust, als Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca) und Rodolfo (La bohème) sowie in einem Konzert zusammen mit Diana Damrau zu erleben. Jüngst sang er ausserdem an der Staatsoper Hamburg Rodolfo (Luisa Miller), an der Deutschen Oper Berlin Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood (Lucia di Lammermoor), an der Bayerischen Staatsoper Don José (Carmen), an der Wiener Staatsoper den Herzog von Mantua (Rigoletto) und Cavaradossi, eine Partie mit der er zudem beim Festival d’Aix en Provence und in Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona gastierte. Liederabende und Konzerte führten ihn 2020/21 an die Opera Australia in Sydney, ans Opera Naples Festival in Florida und an die Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Max Emanuel Cencic began his musical training with the Vienna Boys’ Choir. He performs at major opera and concert venues as well as at leading festivals, and collaborates regularly with conductors such as William Christie, René Jacobs, Ottavio Dantone, George Petrou, Emmanuelle Haïm and Riccardo Muti. His repertoire spans all eras from Monteverdi to Aribert Reimann. He has sung at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the state operas of Berlin and Munich, as well as at the Musikverein Vienna, Carnegie Hall New York, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Barbican Centre London and Suntory Hall Tokyo. As Artistic Director of Parnassus Arts Productions, he revives forgotten works of the Italian Baroque. The recordings of these operas have received numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik, the German Record Critics’ Award and the Diapason d’Or. Since his production of Hasse’s Siroe in Versailles in 2014, Max Emanuel Cencic has also appeared as a stage director. Since 2020 he has additionally served as Artistic Director of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, which was honoured in Amsterdam in 2024 with an Oper! Award as “Best Festival.” His Bayreuth productions of “Carlo il Calvo” and “Alessandro nell’Indie” were named “Best Opera Production of the Year” in 2020 and 2022 respectively by Forum Opéra. Max Emanuel Cencic is a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 2021 received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the German Record Critics in the “Classical Music” category.

Eric Cutler, born in Iowa, completed his studies at Luther College and the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera. In 2005, he won the Richard Tucker Award. He has appeared at major international opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera, La Fenice, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Canadian Opera Company, the Santa Fe Opera, as well as at the festivals in Salzburg, Glyndebourne, and Bayreuth. After beginning his career in the Mozart and bel canto repertoire, as well as lyrical roles by Bellini, Donizetti, Bizet, and Gounod at venues including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera, and the festivals in Salzburg and Glyndebourne, he now primarily performs roles from the youthful heroic tenor repertoire. Recent highlights include the title role in "Lohengrin" (Hamburg State Opera, Salzburg Easter Festival, and Berlin State Opera), Siegmund in "Die Walküre" (Berlin State Opera), Florestan in "Fidelio" (Royal Opera House, Dutch National Opera & Ballet, and Zurich Opera House), Peter Grimes (Theater an der Wien), as well as the Emperor in Richard Strauss’s "Die Frau ohne Schatten" (Semperoper Dresden). Earlier highlights included the title role in Offenbach’s "Les Contes d’Hoffmann" (Brussels and Dresden), Bacchus in "Ariadne auf Naxos" (Festival d'Aix-en-Provence), Max in Weber’s "Der Freischütz", and Erik in "Der fliegende Holländer" (Bavarian State Opera and Bayreuth Festival). He made his debut at the Zurich Opera House in 2022/23 as Siegmund in "Die Walküre", returned in 2025 as Paul in Korngold’s "Die tote Stadt", is making his role debut as Tannhäuser in the current season.

Tenor Stephen Costello is from Philadelphia and studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts. In 2007, at the age of 26, he made his debut at the opening of the Metropolitan Opera season in New York. In 2009, he won the Richard Tucker Award. Since then, he has performed at the world’s leading opera houses and festivals, including the Royal Opera in London, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Semperoper Dresden, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Hamburg State Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Washington National Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Arena di Verona, as well as the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals and the Glyndebourne Festival. His recent engagements include Pinkerton ("Madama Butterfly") at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Rodolfo ("La bohème"), the Duke of Mantua ("Rigoletto"), and Greenhorn ("Moby Dick") at the Metropolitan Opera, the title role in "Don Carlo" at the Bavarian State Opera and Dallas Opera, as well as his role debut as Edward Fairfax Vere ("Billy Budd") at the Teatro Colón. In concert, he has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the Houston Symphony Orchestra, gave a gala concert with Kristine Opolais in Mexico, and appeared in recitals with pianist Anthony Manoli. At the Zurich Opera House, he appeared as Roméo ("Roméo et Juliette") and in the title roles of "Roberto Devereux" and "Don Carlo".

Ildebrando D’Arcangelo studied singing in Bologna and made his debut as Masetto ("Don Giovanni") in Treviso and Trieste. He subsequently won the "Toti dal Monte" competition twice and has since been a regular guest at major international opera houses, including in Milan, New York, Rome, Barcelona, Florence, at the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, the Opéra Bastille Paris, as well as at the Salzburg and Baden-Baden Festivals. His extensive repertoire includes works by Bellini, Berlioz, Boito, Donizetti, Handel, Stravinsky, Verdi, Mozart, and Rossini. In 2016, he sang Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival. His recent engagements include Oroveso in "Norma" at the Vienna State Opera, Figaro-Count at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Attila at the Opéra de Marseille, and Ernani in a concert with the Munich Radio Orchestra. In addition to "Carmen" at the Zurich Opera House, in the 2025/26 season he will appear, among others, as Procida in "Les Vêpres siciliennes" and as Sir Giorgio in "I puritani" at the Royal Opera House London, as well as Mozart's Figaro in a concert performance with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, Sir Antonio Pappano, and Sir Georg Solti. Since 2009, he has been under contract with Deutsche Grammophon, where, among others, a recording of "Don Giovanni" conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin has been released. In 2014, he was awarded the title "Austrian Kammersänger."

Aksel Daveyan comes from Armenia, where he studied at the State Conservatory in Yerevan. He has been awarded prizes at several competitions, including the Elena Obraztsova Competition in St. Petersburg, the Queen Sonja Competition in Oslo, the Stanisław Moniuszko Singing Competition in Warsaw, and the Gohar Gasparyan Competition in Armenia. From 2022 to 2024, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, where he appeared as Maestro in Donizetti's "Viva la mamma", Moralès ("Carmen"), Dumas ("Andrea Chénier"), soloist in "Timekeepers", Sciarrone ("Tosca"), Page ("Roberto Devereux"), and as the Consul ("Eliogabalo"). Since 2024, he has been a company member at the Oldenburg State Theatre. His repertoire there includes Giorgio Germont ("La traviata"), Ottokar ("Der Freischütz"), the Forester ("Das schlaue Füchslein"), Moralès, the Captain (Manfred Gurlitt's "Wozzeck"), Figaro ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), and the Police Chief ("Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk"). As a guest, he has appeared as Marcello ("La bohème") at the Glyndebourne Festival, Figaro ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") at Theater Bonn, and as Prince Yamadori ("Madama Butterfly") with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, as well as in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie. In concert, he has sung Mansurian's "Requiem" at the National Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan, Haladjian's "Missa de Lumine" at the Frankfurt St. Thomas Church, Fauré's "Requiem" as well as "Seven Prayers" at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, and Mansurian's "Hymnus Navapet" at the Mendel Festival in Brno. He returns to the Zurich Opera House as Albert ("Werther") and Sonora ("La fanciulla del West").

Baritone Renato Dolcini, born in Milan, received his vocal training with Vincenzo Manno while simultaneously studying musicology at the University of Pavia. At the Gstaad Vocal Academy, he worked with Cecilia Bartoli in 2009 and 2010. In 2015, he was admitted to William Christie’s academy “Le Jardin des Voix.” The subsequent tour with Les Arts Florissants took him through Europe, the USA, Russia, Australia, Korea, China, and Japan. Since then, he has maintained a close collaboration with Christie. Under his direction, Dolcini made his Salzburg Festival debut in 2018 as Seneca (“L’incoronazione di Poppea”) and performed in Bach’s “St John Passion” on a European tour. Renato Dolcini is especially renowned for his interpretation of 17th- and 18th-century repertoire. He has sung Vivaldi’s “Bajazet” and Caldara’s “Dafne” at La Fenice in Venice, Cavalieri’s “La Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo” at the Theater an der Wien, the title role in “L’Orfeo” in Monte-Carlo and Salzburg, Cavalli’s “Hipermestra” at Glyndebourne, and Landi’s “La Morte di Orfeo” in Amsterdam. His Handel roles include Farasmane (“Radamisto”) on a European tour with Il pomo d’oro, Curio (“Giulio Cesare”) at La Scala in Milan, and Pallante (“Agrippina”) in Hamburg. In the French repertoire, he has sung in “Platée” at the Zurich Opera, “Les Indes galantes” at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and Lully’s “Armide” at the Drottningholm Opera in Sweden. His discography includes the recordings “Stravaganza d’amore” (2022) with Raphaël Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion, as well as “Dido and Aeneas” (2022) and “Dixit Dominus” (2024) with Les Argonautes.

French tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac studied at the Conservatory in Bordeaux. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix du Cercle Carpeaux, Prix Lyriques de l’AROP, and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. In 2008, he became a member of the Atelier Lyrique at the Opéra de Paris, from where he launched his career at theaters in Nice, Tours, Toulon, Strasbourg, Metz, Marseille, and Avignon. In 2014, he achieved his international breakthrough as Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. He has since performed this role again at Opera Amsterdam, the Chorégies d’Orange, the Opéra de Paris, the Zurich Opera House, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Teatro Real Madrid, and in Budapest. He regularly appears at major opera houses in London, Vienna, New York, Munich, and San Francisco, as well as at the Salzburg Festival. Highlights include Piquillo in Offenbach’s "La Périchole" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Arbace ("Idomeneo") at the Royal Opera House, and Chevalier de la Force in Poulenc’s "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, in Munich, Brussels, Bologna, and Amsterdam. He has sung Siegmund ("Die Walküre") in London and Paris, Erik ("Der fliegende Holländer") at the Staatsoper Berlin and in Valencia, and Don José ("Carmen") in Berlin, Amsterdam, Bordeaux, at the Opéra de Rouen Normandie, and at the Zurich Opera House. In the 2025/26 season, he will perform Lenski at the Metropolitan Opera New York and Max ("Der Freischütz") at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich. In concert, he has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Philharmonia Orchestra under Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and the Oslo Philharmonic under Klaus Mäkelä.

The French baritone Stéphane Degout completed his studies at the Conservatory of Lyon, where he was also a member of the opera studio. Following his debut as Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, he received invitations to the Opéra National, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Opéra Comique in Paris, to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, La Monnaie in Brussels, Theater an der Wien, Teatro alla Scala, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Dutch National Opera, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Zurich Opera House, as well as to the festivals in Salzburg, Glyndebourne, Edinburgh, and Aix-en-Provence. His opera repertoire includes roles such as Oreste ("Iphigénie en Tauride"), Wolfram ("Tannhäuser"), Rodrigue ("Don Carlos"), Valentin ("Faust"), Golaud ("Pelléas et Mélisande"), Comte ("Le nozze di Figaro"), as well as the title roles in Ambroise Thomas’ "Hamlet", Monteverdi’s "Orfeo", "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria", Tchaikovsky’s "Eugene Onegin", and Alban Berg’s "Wozzeck". In addition, he has performed in numerous song recitals and concerts with pianists such as Alain Planès, Simon Lepper, Cédric Tiberghien, and Martha Argerich, as well as with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de Montpellier. In 2012, he was named "Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", received awards at the Victoires de la Musique Classique, and in 2022, the Opera Award. His recordings include songs by Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré for Harmonia Mundi, as well as the award-winning CD "Enfers" with Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon.

The bass Nahuel Di Pierro was born in Buenos Aires, where he studied voice at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatro Colón and appeared there as Masetto (“Don Giovanni”), Figaro, Colline (“La bohème”), and Guglielmo (“Così fan tutte”). After joining the Paris Opera Studio and the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival, he went on to perform at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera, in Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, and regularly at the Paris Opera, as well as at the festivals in Salzburg, Glyndebourne, and Beaune. His roles include Leporello (“Don Giovanni”) in Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, and Tel Aviv; Colline and Masetto at the Royal Opera House in London; Osmin (“Die Entführung aus dem Serail”) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Guglielmo at the Edinburgh Festival; the title role in “Le nozze di Figaro” at the Houston Grand Opera; Seneca (“L’incoronazione di Poppea”) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Osmin at the Zurich Opera House and in Geneva; and Claudio (“Agrippina”) also in Zurich. Recent concert highlights include Handel’s “Messiah” and Paisiello’s “Missa Defunctorum” in Salzburg, Bach’s “St John Passion” and Rossini’s “Stabat Mater” in Paris, Mozart’s “Requiem” in Versailles, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro San Carlo, Teatro Regio di Torino, in Valencia, and at the Wiener Festwochen, as well as Schubert’s Mass in E-flat major with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His discography includes recordings of the baroque operas “Les Paladins” and “Ercole Amante,” as well as Mozart’s “Betulia liberata” and “Requiem.” He also released the album “Anclao en Paris,” dedicated to the tango music of his hometown Buenos Aires.

Yusif Eyvazov is a native of Azerbaijan and studied in his hometown of Baku and in Italy. He regularly appears at the world’s most prestigious opera houses and festivals, including the Royal Opera House in London, the state operas of Munich, Berlin, and Vienna, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Arena di Verona, and the Salzburg Festival. His repertoire includes roles such as Alfredo (“La traviata”), Manrico (“Il trovatore”), Riccardo (“Un ballo in maschera”), Duca di Mantova (“Rigoletto”), Don Alvaro (“La forza del destino”), Radamès (“Aida”), Don Carlo, Des Grieux (“Manon Lescaut”), Rodolfo (“La bohème”), Cavaradossi (“Tosca”), Dick Johnson (“La fanciulla del West”), Calaf (“Turandot”), Hermann (“The Queen of Spades”), Maurice (“Adriana Lecouvreur”), and the title role in “Andrea Chénier.” His discography includes a live recording of Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” from the Salzburg Festival and the album “Romanza” with Anna Netrebko. In 2017, he was awarded the title of People’s Artist of Azerbaijan. Most recently, he has appeared as Otello at Teatro Massimo in Palermo, as Cavaradossi at Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, as Alfredo at the Royal Opera House Muscat, as Manrico at the Berlin State Opera, as Hermann at the Vienna State Opera, as Don José and Radamès at the Arena di Verona, and in numerous concerts with Anna Netrebko in cities such as Sofia, Budapest, Paris, Vienna, and Istanbul.

Franco Fagioli, originally from Argentina, is considered one of the leading virtuoso countertenors of our time. His recent stage highlights include Nerone ("Agrippina") and Idamante ("Idomeneo") at the Royal Opera House in London and at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the title role in Rossini’s "Sigismondo" in Kraków, Arsace ("Semiramide") in Nancy, Andronico ("Tamerlano") at La Scala in Milan, Ruggiero ("Alcina") at the Hamburg State Opera and in Lausanne, as well as the title roles in "Serse" in Karlsruhe and in "Giulio Cesare" at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and at Zurich Opera House. In the 2024/25 season, he also appeared on tour as Arsace in Rossini’s "Aureliano in Palmira", as Acis ("Polifemo") in Versailles, as Farnace ("Mitridate, re di Ponto") at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and once again as "Semiramide" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. As an internationally sought-after concert singer, he has appeared at festivals in Halle, Ludwigsburg, Innsbruck, and Salzburg, among others. He collaborates regularly with conductors such as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alan Curtis, Gabriel Garrido, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, José Manuel Quintana, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Muti, and Christophe Rousset. As an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon, he released, among others, the solo debut album "Rossini" with Armonia Atenea under George Petrou, as well as albums featuring arias by Handel and Leonardo Vinci with the ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro. In 2023, the recording "Anime Immortali" with the Basel Chamber Orchestra was released by Pentatone. His latest album, "The Last Castrato: Arias for Velluti", dedicated to the repertoire of the legendary castrato Giambattista Velluti, was released in 2025.

The bass Christof Fischesser, born in Wiesbaden, studied singing with Martin Gründler at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main. In 2000 he won first prize at the Federal Singing Competition in Berlin, which was followed by an engagement at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. In 2004 he moved to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin; from 2012 to 2015 he was a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House, with which he has maintained a close collaboration ever since. Guest engagements have taken him, among others, to the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Bavarian State Opera Munich, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, the Opéra de Lyon, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Houston Grand Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as to the opera houses of Antwerp, Copenhagen and Gothenburg. His wide-ranging repertoire includes roles such as King Marke in "Tristan und Isolde", Landgrave in "Tannhäuser", King Henry in "Lohengrin", Gurnemanz in "Parsifal", Sarastro in "The Magic Flute", Figaro in "Le nozze di Figaro", Rocco in "Fidelio", Banquo in "Macbeth", Méphistophélès in "Faust" and Baron Ochs of Lerchenau in "Der Rosenkavalier". Numerous CD and DVD recordings document his artistic work. At the Zurich Opera House he has appeared, among others, as King Henry, Orest in "Elektra", Kaspar, Daland, Gremin, Gurnemanz, Marchese di Calatrava and Padre Guardiano in "La forza del destino", Hunding in "Die Walküre" as well as Jacopo Fiesco in "Simon Boccanegra".

Juan Diego Flórez is considered one of the leading tenors of our time. Born in Lima in 1973, he devoted himself early on to singing as well as to Peruvian folk and pop music. At the age of 17, he began his studies at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Peru and three years later received a scholarship to study singing at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1996, he made his debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro as Corradino in "Matilde di Shabran", followed by his debut at Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Chevalier Danois in Gluck’s "Armide" under Riccardo Muti. Since then, he has been a regular guest at international opera houses and renowned festivals such as the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Opéra Garnier in Paris, the Royal Opera in London, the Vienna State Opera, the Sydney Opera House, the Los Angeles Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the Salzburg Festival. He has released numerous solo albums and opera recordings on CD and DVD, including the recording "Rossini Arias", which was awarded an ECHO Klassik prize. Among his many honours are the "Gran Cruz de la Orden del Sol", the highest distinction of the Peruvian state, his appointment as an Austrian Kammersänger, and in 2018 the Opus Klassik award as "Singer of the Year". He is also the founder of the project "Sinfonía por el Perú". In recognition of his social commitment, he was appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 2012 and received the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in 2014. At the Zurich Opera House, Juan Diego Flórez has already appeared in song recitals and concerts as well as, among other roles, Werther.

Roberto Frontali is a native of Rome. He won the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale “A. Belli” competition in Spoleto in 1986 and made his debut there in 1987 as Lord Enrico Ashton in “Lucia di Lammermoor.” After initially focusing on the bel canto roles of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, he later turned to the Verdi repertoire and, more recently, to the Puccini and verismo roles within his vocal range. In the early 1990s, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with “L’elisir d’amore” and at La Scala in Milan with “Beatrice di Tenda.” Highlights of his career include collaborations with Claudio Abbado for “Il barbiere di Siviglia,” with Riccardo Muti, with whom he worked at La Scala for a decade on productions including “La traviata,” “Falstaff,” and “Don Pasquale,” with Zubin Mehta for “La forza del destino,” “Lucia di Lammermoor,” and “Falstaff,” with Myung Whun-Chung for “Don Carlo” and “Rigoletto,” as well as with Semyon Bychkov for “La bohème,” “Eugene Onegin,” and “Don Carlo.” In 2021, he played the title role in the film “Gianni Schicchi,” directed by Damiano Michieletto. His recent and upcoming engagements include “The Name of the Rose” at La Scala in Milan, “Don Pasquale” at the Hamburg State Opera, “Don Giovanni” at the Caracalla Festival in Rome, “Tosca” at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and at Teatro Regio in Turin, as well as “La traviata” at the New National Theatre Tokyo and in Venice.

Christian Gerhaher studied medicine and voice in Munich and completed his training in masterclasses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and Inge Borkh. During his studies, he already formed a partnership with the pianist Gerold Huber, which has set standards in song interpretation for more than three decades. Collaborations with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Andris Nelsons, Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, and Christian Thielemann have taken him to the world’s leading orchestras and concert halls. He is a regular guest at the festivals in Edinburgh, Lucerne, and Salzburg, as well as at the Rheingau Musik Festival and the BBC Proms. His principal opera roles include Wolfram ("Tannhäuser"), Posa ("Don Carlo"), Germont ("La traviata"), Il Conte di Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Orfeo, Don Giovanni, Simon Boccanegra, Amfortas ("Parsifal"), Pelléas, the Prince of Homburg, as well as Lenau in Holliger’s "Lunea". His portrayal of Wozzeck at the Zurich Opera House is considered a milestone. Together with Gerold Huber, he released song cycles by Schubert, Schumann, and Mahler, as well as most recently a Brahms album (2025); their recording "Robert Schumann: Alle Lieder" received the OPUS Klassik in 2022, and the duo was awarded the Hugo-Wolf-Medaille in 2024. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Zurich awarded him an honorary doctorate. Gerhaher is the author of "Lyrisches Tagebuch" (C. H. Beck, 2022) and Professor of Song Interpretation at the University of Music and Theatre Munich as well as at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Briton Anthony Gregory studied at the Royal College of Music. He was a member of the Verbier Festival Academy of the National Opera Studio as well as a Young Artist at the Glyndebourne Festival. In 2015, he received the WhatsOnStage Opera Award as "Breakthrough Artist." He performed, among others, at the Glyndebourne Festival, the Royal Ballet and Opera, the English National Opera, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Teatro Real Madrid, the Zurich Opera House, Scottish Opera, and the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. As a concert singer, he appeared, among others, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and at the BBC Proms. In 2024/25, he made his debut as Achilles ("Iphigénie en Aulide") in Athens, as Oronte ("Alcina") in Rome, and in the title role of Mozart’s "Mitridate" in Hamburg. Other highlights included Ferrando ("Così fan tutte") at the Royal Opera House, Almaviva ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Acis ("Acis and Galatea"), as well as his debut as Lepreux in Messiaen’s "Saint François d’Assise" at the Elbphilharmonie. In the 2025/26 season, he will return to the Zurich Opera House and make his role debut in the title part of "Scylla et Glaucus" under Emmanuelle Haïm. In addition, he will debut at the Santa Fe Opera as Grimoaldo in Handel’s "Rodelinda." Furthermore, he can be heard, among others, in Bach’s Mass in B minor, Handel’s "Messiah," as well as with The English Concert at the Wigmore Hall.

The Austrian bass Günther Groissböck has established himself as one of the most sought-after singers in his fach. After studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, he was first an ensemble member at the Vienna State Opera and later at the Zurich Opera House, from where he began his international career. In 2002, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival, where in 2014 he gave his highly acclaimed role debut as Ochs in "Der Rosenkavalier," directed by Harry Kupfer. He is regularly invited to the most important opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Opéra National de Paris, La Scala in Milan, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Bavarian State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Deutsche Oper and the Berlin State Opera, the Arena di Verona, and the Bayreuth Festival. He has worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann, Kirill Petrenko, Andris Nelsons, Antonio Pappano, and Philippe Jordan. Recent engagements include Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Andris Nelsons in Leipzig, Baron Ochs ("Der Rosenkavalier") at the Vienna State Opera, and Marke ("Tristan und Isolde") at the Bayreuth Festival. In addition to his opera stage and orchestral concert engagements, another focus of his artistic work lies in lieder singing. He presents his lieder programs, often accompanied by Julius Drake or Malcolm Martineau, in cities such as Munich, Vienna, and Milan. Numerous CD and DVD recordings document his artistic work, including a recent recording with Malcolm Martineau.

The Swiss tenor Felix Gygli completed his training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He is the winner of the 2023 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and the 2024 Lieder Prize of the Queen Sonja Competition, and among other distinctions, a scholarship recipient of the Hildegard Zadek Foundation. He is a Samling Artist and was a "Young Artist" at the National Opera Studio in London in 2022/23, as well as a member of the Académie Lyrique of the Verbier Festival in 2023, where he was awarded the Prix Thierry Mermod as "Most Promising Singer." From 2023 to 2025, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House. In 2024, he participated in the Carnegie Hall SongStudio under the patronage of Renée Fleming. In 2022, he made his debut as Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte" with Ouverture Opéra Sion and performed at the Verbier Festival 2023 as the Second Craftsman ("Wozzeck"). He gave an opera gala concert with the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier and appeared as a soloist in Brahms’ Requiem with the Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn. As a lied singer, he gave recitals in the UK, France, and Switzerland. He made his US debut with a performance of Schubert’s "Winterreise" at the Boston Text and Tone Festival. His oratorio repertoire includes, among others, Fauré’s "Requiem" and Bach’s "St. Matthew Passion." At the Zurich Opera House, he sang roles including Starveling in Britten’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and stepped in for the title role of "Elijah" in 2025. In the 2025/26 season, he made his debut as Schaunard ("La bohème") at the Concert and Theater St. Gallen.

Baritone Dalibor Jenis studied voice at the Conservatory in Bratislava and at the Accademia Lirica Osimo. In 1990, he won three prizes at the Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna and became a member of the ensemble at the Slovak National Theatre the following year. His repertoire includes the major baritone roles in the operas of Bellini, Rossini, Mozart, and Verdi. He has sung Nabucco at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Arena di Verona, in Bratislava, and at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Rigoletto at the Sydney Opera House, Leipzig Opera, Stuttgart State Opera, and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and the title role in "Macbeth" at the Zurich Opera House, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Edinburgh Festival, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. At La Scala in Milan, he portrayed Paolo Albiani ("Simon Boccanegra"), at the Vienna State Opera Iago ("Otello"), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin Alfio and Tonio ("Cavalleria rusticana" and "Pagliacci"), at the Opera in Bratislava Giorgio Germont ("La traviata"), at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow Lescaut ("Manon Lescaut"), and at the Bavarian State Opera Marcello ("La bohème"), Enrico ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Eugene Onegin, and most recently Rigoletto. He also sang the title role in the Japanese premiere of Busoni’s "Doktor Faust" in Tokyo and took part in the premiere of Offenbach’s "Die Rheinnixen" at the Festival de Radio France. Numerous recordings featuring Dalibor Jenis are available, including "Gianni Schicchi", "Christoph Columbus", "Edgar", "Marion Delmore", as well as the DVD recording of "Il barbiere di Siviglia" from the Paris Bastille Opera.

Eric Jurenas, born in Fairfax, Virginia, USA, studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. International engagements have taken him, among others, to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Opéra de Versailles, Oper Frankfurt, Komische Oper Berlin, Theater an der Wien, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera Munich, the Irish National Opera, as well as to the Handel Festivals in Karlsruhe, Göttingen, and Halle, and the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. His repertoire includes numerous baroque roles, including the title roles in Handel’s "Giulio Cesare," "Serse," "Tolomeo," "Tamerlano," and "Rinaldo." Other roles include Natascha (Eötvös’ "Drei Schwestern"), Prince Go-Go (Ligetis’ "Le Grand Macabre"), Prince Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus"), Peter Pan (Richard Ayres’ "Peter Pan"), and Guildenstern (Brett Dean’s "Hamlet"). Eric Jurenas has also participated in numerous world premieres, including Avner Dorman’s "Wahnfried," Donnacha Dennehy’s "The First Child," Olga Neuwirth’s "Orlando," Kevin Puts’ "The Hours," Suzanne Farrin’s "Dolce la Morte," Claire van Kampen’s play "Farinelli and the King," and Aribert Reimann’s "Sinnig zwischen beyden Welten" with Daniel Barenboim at the piano.

The tenor Jonas Kaufmann studied voice at the Academy of Music in his hometown of Munich. After engagements in Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Milan, he joined the Zurich Opera House in 2001. From there, his international career took off with appearances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala in Milan, the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, as well as at the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2006. He has sung the title roles in Verdi’s "Otello" in London, Munich, and Naples, Massenet’s "Werther" in Paris, Vienna, and New York, and Wagner’s "Lohengrin" in Bayreuth, Milan, Paris, and Melbourne. In the field of lieder, he enjoys a close artistic partnership with Helmut Deutsch, with whom he gave the first solo recital at the Met in New York in 2011 since Luciano Pavarotti. Jonas Kaufmann is an exclusive artist with Sony Music, and many of his recordings have received awards such as the Gramophone Award. He has been named "Singer of the Year" multiple times, including by Opernwelt magazine, Diapason, Musical America, and the juries of the International Opera Awards and the Opus Klassik. In 2013, he was named Bavarian Kammersänger and in 2022 Austrian Kammersänger. He received the Bambi Award in 2014, the Premio Puccini in 2015, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2016, was appointed "Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" in 2018, received the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art, and in 2024 was awarded the "Ordre de la Légion d’honneur". Since 2024, Jonas Kaufmann has also served as Artistic Director of the Tyrolean Festival Erl.

Kangmin Justin Kim, countertenor, was born in South Korea and raised in Evanston, Illinois. He studied at the local university and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His first engagements included Orlofsky (“Die Fledermaus”) at the Opéra Comique and Oreste (“La belle Hélène”) at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Since then, he has appeared on major opera stages, singing Nerone (“L’incoronazione di Poppea”) at the Berlin State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Teatro La Fenice, and in New York, Paris, Berlin, Chicago, Edinburgh and Lucerne; Annio (“La clemenza di Tito”) at the Theater an der Wien; Orlofsky at the Cologne Opera; Orfeo in Handel’s “Parnasso in festa,” Epitide in Giacomelli’s “La Merope” and Amanzio in Vivaldi’s “Il Giustino” at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam; as well as Ottone in Vivaldi’s “La Griselda,” Gilade in Vivaldi’s “Farnace,” and Hyacinthus in Mozart’s “Apollo et Hyacinthus” at Teatro La Fenice in Venice. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in Henze’s “Das verratene Meer,” at the Glyndebourne Festival in “Giulio Cesare,” and at Teatro San Carlo in Naples in Britten’s “Canticles.” In 2019, he attracted significant attention as the first male performer of Cherubino (“Le nozze di Figaro”) in the history of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. Recently he appeared as Natascha (Eötvös’ “Drei Schwestern”) at the Salzburg Festival and made debuts at the opera houses in Boston, Dallas and at the Opéra du Rhin. At the Hamburg State Opera he sang Annio, Despina (“Così fan tutte”), as well as in the world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s “Die dunkle Seite des Mondes.” He has sung Sesto (“Giulio Cesare”) in Vienna, Monte-Carlo, Luxembourg, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne.

Matthias Klink was a member of the ensemble of the Städtische Bühnen Köln from 1996 to 1998 and of the Staatsoper Stuttgart from 2006 to 2010. Guest engagements have taken him to Hamburg, Dresden, Frankfurt, the three major opera houses in Berlin, and La Scala in Milan. Since his Salzburg debut in 1999 in the world premiere of Berio's "Cronaca del luogo", Matthias Klink has been a regular guest there and sang Ein Gast/Apollon in the 2010 world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's "Dionysos". As Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") he appeared at the Vienna State Opera, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Salzburg Festival, in Aix-en-Provence, at the Ruhrtriennale, and at the Metropolitan Opera. His repertoire also includes roles such as Don José, Alfredo ("La traviata"), Tom Rakewell ("The Rake’s Progress"), and Hoffmann. In the 2014/15 season Matthias Klink rejoined the ensemble of the Staatsoper Stuttgart. For his acting and singing performance as Gustav von Aschenbach in "Der Tod in Venedig" he was named Singer of the Year by the magazine "Opernwelt" in 2017 and received the German Theatre Prize DER FAUST in 2018. At Zurich Opera House he was recently heard as Loge in "Das Rheingold". Alongside his operatic work, Matthias Klink is also regularly heard as a concert and recital singer. Performances have taken him to Avery Fisher Hall in New York, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Musikverein in Vienna, and the Liederhalle Stuttgart. In 2018 he was awarded the title of Kammersänger in Stuttgart.

The tenor Omer Kobiljak is originally from Bosnia and was born in Switzerland. He studied singing with David Thorner, first at the Winterthur Conservatory and then at the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences in Aarau. He attended masterclasses with Jane Thorner-Mengedoht, David Thorner, and Jens Fuhr and won first prize with distinction at the Thurgau Music Competition in 2012. The following year, he sang a apprentice (“Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”) under Daniele Gatti at the Salzburg Festival and made his debut in the same role at La Scala in Milan in 2017. From the 2017/18 season, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, where he appeared in productions such as “La fanciulla del West,” “Parsifal,” “The Flying Dutchman,” and “La traviata.” He also performed as Lord Arturo Buklaw (“Lucia di Lammermoor”) and as the notary in the concert performance of “La sonnambula.” Since the 2019/20 season, Omer Kobiljak has been part of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House, where he has sung roles including Abdallo (“Nabucco”), Macduff (“Macbeth”), Froh (“Das Rheingold”), Alfredo (“La traviata”), Tybalt (“Roméo et Juliette”), the Mad Hatter (“Alice in Wonderland”), and a singer (“Der Rosenkavalier”). His further engagements include Prince Alexis (Umberto Giordano’s “Siberia”), Yamadori (“Madama Butterfly”), and Don Riccardo (“Ernani”) at the Bregenz Festival, as well as the title role in “The Count of Luxembourg” at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. In 2023, Omer Kobiljak was a finalist in the Operalia Competition in Cape Town. Most recently, he made his house debuts as Lord Arturo Buklaw at the Semperoper Dresden, as Froh at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and as Narraboth (“Salome”) at the Baltic Opera Festival in Poland.

Sebastian Kohlhepp was born in Limburg an der Lahn and studied with Hedwig Fassbender in Frankfurt. He subsequently held ensemble positions at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Wiener Staatsoper, and the Oper Stuttgart. Since the 2017/18 season, he has been a freelance artist. Key engagements in recent years include his debut at the Teatro alla Scala Milan in the role of Narraboth in "Salome", Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") and Belmonte ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail") at the Wiener Staatsoper, Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Opernhaus Zürich, Ferrando ("Così fan tutte") in Munich and Amsterdam, role debuts as Flamand (Richard Strauss’ "Capriccio") at the Salzburger Festspiele, Idomeneo at the Oper Köln, and David in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" at the Teatro Real Madrid, at the Osterfestspiele Salzburg, and the Semperoper Dresden. As a concert singer, he has collaborated with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the SWR Symphonieorchester, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, working with conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Ivor Bolton, Sylvain Cambreling, Teodor Currentzis, Ádám Fischer, Pablo Heras-Casado, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, François-Xavier Roth, Lorenzo Viotti and Franz Welser-Möst. In the 2025/26 season, he will make his role and house debut as Loge in "Das Rheingold" at the Staatsoper Berlin under the direction of Christian Thielemann and will return as Belmonte to the Wiener Staatsoper.

Born in Halle, Michael Laurenz began his career as a trumpeter, most recently serving as principal trumpet of the Berliner Symphoniker. His vocal training took him to the International Opera Studio of the Opernhaus Zürich, whose ensemble he subsequently joined for nearly a decade. From 2018 to 2020, he was a permanent ensemble member of the Wiener Staatsoper and remains associated with the house as a guest artist. A central focus of his artistic work lies in the character tenor repertoire, with particular emphasis on roles in works by Wagner, Strauss, Mozart and contemporary composers. Numerous new productions and role debuts have taken him to Amsterdam, Geneva, Lyon, Antwerp, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Paris, as well as to the Bregenzer Festspiele, the Glyndebourne Festival and repeatedly to the Salzburger Festspiele. As Mime, Michael Laurenz has appeared with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi in concert performances of "Das Rheingold" and "Siegfried". Collaborations with conductors such as Philippe Jordan, Christian Thielemann, Thomas Guggeis, Cornelius Meister, Franz Welser-Möst and Marc Minkowski shape his artistic work, as does his close collaboration with directors who regularly cast him in complex scenic roles. These include roles such as Josef K. in Gottfried von Einem’s "Der Prozess", Cauchon in Walter Braunfels’ "Jeanne d’Arc", Orsino in Berthold Goldschmidt’s "Beatrice Cenci" and Erich in HK Gruber’s "Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald". In the 2025/26 season, he appears at the Wiener Staatsoper as Wenzel ("The Bartered Bride") and the Witch ("Hänsel und Gretel"), and at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden as the Dancing Master ("Ariadne auf Naxos") and Pedrillo ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail").

David Leigh stammt aus den USA. Er studierte an der Yale Universität Komposition und Gesang und war anschliessend Mitglied des Lindemann Young Artist Development Program der Metropolitan Opera New York. Der Bass ist Preisträger der New York Arts Foundation und des New York Wagner Circle. Mit der Partie des Komturs (Don Giovanni) machte er beim Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, beim Festival de Beaune, an der Opéra national de Lorraine, in Luxemburg und an der Michigan Opera auf sich aufmerksam. 2018 gab er sein Debüt am Bolschoi-Theater als Colline in La bohème und sang in Massenets Cendrillon an der Metropolitan Opera in New York. An der Queen City Opera in Cincinnati sang er Fafner (Siegfried). 2018/2019 debütierte er an der San Francisco Opera als Zuniga (Carmen) und sang in der Uraufführung der Oper Hadrian von Rufus Wainwright in Toronto. 2020 gab er sein Debüt an der Seattle Opera als Gremin (Eugen Onegin) und sang an der Kentucky Opera Sparafucile (Rigoletto). An der Opéra du Rhin war er als Schneekönigin/Rentier/Uhr in Hans Abrahamsens Die Scheekönigin zu sehen, an der Opéra national de Lorraine und in Toronto als Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) und in Santa Fe als König Marke in Tristan und Isolde. Zuletzt sang er an der Bayerischen Staatsoper Colline in La bohème und am Opernhaus Zürich Fafner in Siegfried.

The Italian baritone Davide Luciano comes from Benevento and studied with Gioacchino Zarrelli, with whom he continues to work. He has appeared at renowned houses such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and has performed at leading festivals, including the Rossini Festival in Pesaro and the Salzburg Festival, where he made his debut as Don Giovanni in 2021 under the direction of Teodor Currentzis. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the role of Belcore ("L’elisir d’amore") and returned there as Marcello ("La bohème") and Sharpless ("Madama Butterfly"). More recent engagements include Belcore at La Scala in Milan, Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte") and Count Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro") at Dutch National Opera, his role debut as Lescaut ("Manon Lescaut") at the Vienna State Opera, Zurga ("Les pêcheurs de perles") at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, as well as Marcello at the Teatre Principal de Maó (Menorca). He is a regular guest at Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he has sung, among others, the title roles in "Don Giovanni" and "Le nozze di Figaro" as well as Marcello, Belcore and Lord Guglielmo Cecil ("Maria Stuarda"). As a member of the Accademia Rossiana, Davide Luciano has appeared several times at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, including as Don Profondo ("Il viaggio a Reims"), Haly ("L’italiana in Algeri") and Figaro.

The Georgian bass Giorgi Manoshvili studied at the State Conservatory in Tbilisi and began his international career with performances at the Maison de l’Unesco in Paris, the Berlin Philharmonie, London’s Barbican Centre, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan, and the Port River Festival in Dublin. He made his successful Italian debut in 2021 as Lord Sidney ("Il viaggio a Reims") at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. Since then, guest engagements have regularly brought him back there, as well as to the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and the Arena di Verona. He has sung Angelotti ("Tosca") at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Prince Gremin ("Eugene Onegin") in Palermo, Un frate ("Don Carlo") in Naples, Mussorgsky’s "A Night on Bald Mountain" at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Colline in a televised production of "La bohème" in Rome. At the Wexford Opera Festival, he portrayed Caliban in Halévy’s "La tempesta" and Kouragine in Camille Erlanger’s opera "L’Aube rouge", as well as performing in concert Verdi’s "Messa da Requiem" under Daniel Harding in Rome and on tour in Granada and Seville. Recent engagements include "Tosca" in Rome, Mustafà ("L’italiana in Algeri") at the Rossini Opera Festival, Sir Giorgio ("I puritani") at the Tyrolean Festival Erl, Lord Sidney at the Leipzig Opera, the Four Villains in "Les Contes d’Hoffmann" at the Lithuanian National Theatre in Vilnius, Assur ("Semiramide") at the Opéra de Rouen and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Escamillo ("Carmen") and Il Re ("Aida") at the Arena di Verona, as well as his debut alongside Cecilia Bartoli in Salzburg.

Riccardo Massi studied voice in Rome and at the Accademia della Scala in Milan. He made his debut in 2009 as Radamès (“Aida”) in Salerno. This was followed by engagements at the Landestheater Salzburg, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Zurich Opera House, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio di Torino, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and opera houses in Dresden, Brussels, Sydney, Moscow, and Los Angeles. He has also appeared at the Bregenz Festival and the Arena di Verona Opera. His repertoire includes roles such as Verdi’s Manrico (“Il trovatore”), Rodolfo (“Luisa Miller”), and Don Carlo, Puccini’s Calaf (“Turandot”), Pinkerton (“Madama Butterfly”), and Des Grieux (“Manon Lescaut”), as well as Pollione (Bellini’s “Norma”), Maurizio in Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur,” and the title role in Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier.” On the concert stage, he has performed alongside soprano Sonya Yoncheva at the Hamburg State Opera and with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Before his operatic career, he worked as a specialist in medieval weaponry and as a stuntman, appearing in films and TV series such as Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, “Empire,” and “Rome.” Most recently, Riccardo Massi has been heard as Don Alvaro (“La forza del destino”) at the Opéra de Lyon, as Radamès and Manrico at the Royal Opera House in London, as Pinkerton and Canio (“Pagliacci”) at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, as Calaf at the Athens Opera, and as Cavaradossi (“Tosca”) at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

Georg Nigl was born in Vienna. He was a soprano soloist with the Vienna Boys’ Choir and subsequently studied singing with Hilde Zadek. Guest engagements have taken him, among others, to the Berlin State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera Munich, the Vienna State Opera, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris, the Oper Amsterdam, Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels, and the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, as well as to the Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, the Ruhrtriennale, and the Vienna Festival Weeks. His repertoire includes roles such as Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte"), Don Alfonso ("Così fan tutte"), Nekrotzar ("Le Grand Macabre"), and the title roles in "Le nozze di Figaro," "L’Orfeo," "Wozzeck," "Jakob Lenz," "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria," and Manfred Trojahn’s "Orest." Georg Nigl has earned particular recognition as a soloist and driving force behind numerous world premieres by composers including Friedrich Cerha, Pascal Dusapin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Olga Neuwirth, and Wolfgang Rihm. In 2015, he was named Singer of the Year by Opernwelt magazine. Highlights of recent seasons include the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s "Violetter Schnee" at the Berlin State Opera, Wolfgang Rihm’s "Jakob Lenz" at the Salzburg Festival, and the role of Clov in György Kurtág’s "Fin de partie" at the Vienna State Opera. In the 2025/26 season, he will sing Alberich ("Der Ring des Nibelungen") for the first time at the Vienna State Opera.

English tenor Daniel Norman began his musical career as a boy soprano at Lichfield Cathedral and as a chorister at New College, Oxford. He initially studied engineering before continuing his vocal training, among other places, at Tanglewood and studying art song at the Britten-Pears School. Subsequently, he was a member of the opera studio at the Royal Academy of Music London. His special dedication to art song has led him to perform in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Kings Place in London, and the Oxford Lieder Festival. In opera, Daniel Norman has appeared at opera houses including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Nederlandse Reisopera, Opera Boston, Opéra National de Paris, Bavarian State Opera Munich, New Israeli Opera, Scottish Opera Glasgow, Arena di Verona, and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. His repertoire ranges from early Baroque to contemporary works, with a particular focus on the music of Benjamin Britten. A solo CD featuring Britten’s "Winter Words" and "Who Are These Children" has been released. Recently, he made his debut with "Nixon in China" at the Hannover State Opera and appeared at the Zurich Opera House in "Barkouf," Sondheim’s "Sweeney Todd," as well as in "Der Rosenkavalier" and Massenet’s "Manon."

Pene Pati was born in Samoa and grew up in New Zealand. He studied at the University of Auckland and at the Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff. He has been a prizewinner in competitions including Bel Canto, Neue Stimmen, and Operalia, and in 2017 was admitted to the Adler Fellowship program of the San Francisco Opera. His debut album with Italian and French arias earned him the Opus Klassik Newcomer of the Year Award, the title "Best Male Singer" at the Opera Critics’ Awards, and the Opera Magazine Readers’ Award. In 2025, he received the New Zealand Arts Foundation Award and was awarded an Opus Klassik in the category Solo Recording of the Year for his second album "Nessun Dorma". In the same year, his third album "Serenata a Napoli" was released. He has appeared on leading international stages, including the Opéra national de Paris, the Royal Opera in London, the Hamburg State Opera, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Salzburg Festival, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His repertoire includes roles from Mozart to Massenet, Donizetti, Gounod, Puccini, and Verdi. Current engagements include role debuts as Hoffmann ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann") at the Berlin State Opera and as Werther at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, as well as his house debut as Edgardo ("Lucia di Lammermoor") at La Scala in Milan.

Michele Pertusi is a native of Parma. He is an internationally sought-after bass and has appeared at leading opera houses including La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra, the state operas of Vienna, Munich, and Berlin, as well as in Rome, Zurich, Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, and Salzburg. His roles have included the title characters in “Maometto II,” “Guillaume Tell,” “Don Pasquale,” “Attila,” “Oberto,” and “Falstaff,” as well as Don Alfonso (“Così fan tutte”), Basilio (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”), Mustafà (“L’italiana in Algeri”), Lord Sidney (“Il viaggio a Reims”), Pharaoh (“Mosè in Egitto”), Le Gouverneur (“Le Comte Ory”), Count Rodolfo (“La sonnambula”), Dulcamara (“L’elisir d’amore”), Don Alfonso (“Lucrezia Borgia”), Walter (“Luisa Miller”), Pagano (“I Lombardi alla prima crociata”), Fiesco (“Simon Boccanegra”), and Méphistophélès (“Faust”). A renowned Rossini interpreter, he made his debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 1997 as Moïse in “Moïse et Pharaon,” and has since been regularly invited back, receiving the “Rossini d’oro” award. Michele Pertusi has made numerous recordings: “Il turco in Italia” under Riccardo Chailly received a Gramophone Award, and “Falstaff” under Sir Colin Davis won a Grammy. In 1995, Pertusi was awarded the prestigious Premio Abbiati, and in 2003 he received the Gold Medal for Cultural Merit from the Republic of Italy. Most recently, he has appeared as Padre Guardiano (“La forza del destino”) at the Opéra de Lyon, as Attila at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, as Oroveso (“Norma”) at La Scala in Milan, and as Timur (“Turandot”) at the Puccini Festival in Viareggio.

George Petean was born in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and studied piano, trombone, and voice. He made his stage debut in 1997 at the Cluj-Napoca Opera as Don Giovanni. In 1999, he won the Grand Prize at the international singing competition Hariclea Darclée. In 2000, he made his debut as Marcello (“La bohème”) at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and from 2002 to 2010 he was a member of the Hamburg State Opera ensemble. Since then, he has worked as a freelance artist. Engagements have taken him to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, Opéra de Paris, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the New York Met, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Berlin opera houses, Semperoper Dresden, Opera Amsterdam, and the Bregenz Festival. His repertoire includes roles such as Figaro (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”), Silvio (“Pagliacci”), Conte di Luna (“Il trovatore”), Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa (“Don Carlo”), Lord Enrico Ashton (“Lucia di Lammermoor”), Giorgio Germont (“La traviata”), Amonasro (“Aida”), Simon Boccanegra, and Rigoletto. At the Zurich Opera House, he has recently appeared as Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, and Renato (“Un ballo in maschera”). More recently, he has performed Simon Boccanegra at the Berlin State Opera, Conte di Luna at the Hamburg State Opera and Berlin State Opera, Carlo Gérard (“Andrea Chénier”) at the Vienna State Opera, and Marquis of Posa at the Bavarian State Opera.

The Polish tenor Jan Petryka studied cello in Linz and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. In parallel, he took voice lessons with Gertrud Schulz and later studied song and oratorio in Vienna. On the opera stage, he performed at the Opéra National de Lyon as Tamino and the First Armed Man ("The Magic Flute") as well as Pietro and the Youth ("Die Gezeichneten"). Further engagements took him to the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara for Ferdinando Bertoni’s "Orfeo ed Euridice," to the Theater an der Wien for Schubert’s "Lazarus," to the Vienna State Opera for Wilfried Hiller’s children’s opera "Das Traumfresserchen," and to the Warsaw Chamber Opera for Handel’s "Ariodante." He made his debut at the Prague National Theatre as Novice ("Billy Budd"), performed Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Jaquino ("Fidelio") at the Styriarte Festival under the direction of Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and debuted as Jacob in Leonard Evers’ children’s opera "Gold!" at the Salzburg Festival. Jan Petryka regularly collaborates in the concert field with Baroque ensembles such as the Back Consort Vienna and Collegium Vocale Lucerne. His work in song has taken him, among others, with Schubert programs to the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Schubertiades in Schwarzenberg and Hohenems, and the Wiener Konzerthaus. With the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, he has performed as the Evangelist in Bach’s "St. Matthew Passion" at the KKL Lucerne. Current projects include Haydn’s "Missa in tempore belli" at the Wiener Musikverein, Salieri’s "La Grotta di Trofonio" at the Days of Early Music in Herne, and Franz Schmidt’s "Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln" at the Bratislava Music Festival.

Tenor Saimir Pirgu was born in Albania and studied at the Claudio Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano. He is a regular guest on stages such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera London, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, and the Bavarian State Opera Munich, and has worked with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, and Sir Antonio Pappano. In 2009 he was awarded the Franco Corelli Prize and in 2013 he received the prestigious Pavarotti d’Oro. In concert he has sung, among others, Beethoven’s "Missa Solemnis" with Gianandrea Noseda and the Washington National Symphony Orchestra, the solo part in Beethoven’s "Symphony No. 9" in Bucharest, as well as a concert performance of "Carmen" with the Copenhagen Philharmonic and Verdi’s "Requiem" with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding and with the Bergen Philharmonic. Recent engagements include his role debut as Mario Cavaradossi ("Tosca") at the Roma Caracalla Festival, Don José ("Carmen") at the Edinburgh International Festival, the title role in Verdi’s "Ernani" at the Bregenz Festival, Pinkerton ("Madama Butterfly") at the Teatro di San Carlo and at the Vienna State Opera, the Duke of Mantua ("Rigoletto") and Rodolfo ("La bohème") at the Royal Opera London, Lensky ("Eugene Onegin") in Rome, as well as Rodolfo at the Vienna and Berlin State Operas. With Opus Arte he released the solo album "Il Mio Canto" in 2016 and the aria collection "Saimir" in 2024. At the Zurich Opera House he most recently performed the title role in "Les Contes d’Hoffmann" as well as Chevalier des Grieux in "Manon Lescaut" and returns there in a concert performance as Faust ("La Damnation de Faust").

The bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni comes from Busseto, Italy, and studied at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Since his debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic and Nikolaus Harnoncourt he has appeared on numerous major opera and concert stages as well as at renowned festivals worldwide, including the opera houses of Vienna, San Francisco, New York, Madrid, Berlin, Milan and Paris, the festivals in Salzburg, Glyndebourne and Aix-en-Provence as well as the Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall in London. His repertoire includes roles such as Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Giorgio ("I puritani"), Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte"), Golaud ("Pelléas et Mélisande"), Méphistophélès ("La damnation de Faust") and Conte Rodolfo ("La sonnambula"). In addition he has sung roles in the world premieres of Marc-André Dalbavie’s "Le soulier de satin" in Paris and Tarik O’Regan’s "The Phoenix" at Houston Grand Opera. In concert he has appeared alongside conductors such as Ivan Fischer, Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel and Riccardo Muti. Recent highlights include Dulcamara ("L’elisir d’amore") at Seattle Opera, Henry VIII ("Anna Bolena") at the Zurich Opera House, the four villains ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann") at La Scala, Don Alfonso ("Così fan tutte") at the Vienna State Opera, the title role in "Don Giovanni" at Houston Grand Opera as well as Basilio ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") at the Opéra national de Paris.

The tenor Stefan Pop was born in Romania in 1987. He received his vocal training, among other places, at the Gheorghe Dima Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca. He is the winner of numerous singing competitions, including the Hariclea Darclée Competition and the Sabin Drăgoi Competition. At the International Music Competition in Seoul he won first prize, and in 2010 he received both first prize and the audience award at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition. In addition to appearances at the Cluj-Napoca Opera, he portrayed Nemorino ("L’elisir d’amore") at the National Opera in Timișoara. He made his debut as Alfredo ("La traviata") at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, in Athens and at the Vienna State Opera, and appeared as Nemorino at the Teatro Lirico in Trieste. Since then, his engagements have taken him, among other places, to the Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, as well as to Trieste, Bucharest and Tel Aviv. Stefan Pop also maintains an active international concert career. Conductors with whom he has worked include Zubin Mehta, Fabio Luisi, Daniele Gatti, Michele Mariotti and Nello Santi. A concert tour with Angela Gheorghiu took him to Seoul, Shanghai and Muscat, Oman. Among future plans is his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London in the summer of 2026 as Rodolfo ("La bohème").

The tenor Julian Prégardien, born in Frankfurt, received his first musical training in the choirs of the Limburg Cathedral Music. After studying in Freiburg and at the academy of the Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival, he was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble from 2009 to 2013. In parallel, his international concert career developed. In 2023, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Schubert’s "Die schöne Müllerin", he performed the cycle at ten venues in Vienna. He subsequently founded the festival Liedstadt, which took place for the first time in Hamburg in 2024 and will continue in Weimar, Berlin, Leipzig and Salzburg. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2018 as Narraboth ("Salome") with the Vienna Philharmonic under Franz Welser-Möst. Further highlights include Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Mozart Week and the Salzburg Festival, the Mozart "Requiem" in Naples, as well as Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") in Cleveland and at the state operas in Berlin and Vienna. His recent concert engagements include Bach’s "St Matthew Passion" with the Vienna Philharmonic, his Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra St. Luke’s, as well as appearances with the Oslo Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Klaus Mäkelä, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Riccardo Muti, and with Ensemble Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon. Since 2017, he has been Professor of Voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich; he will be Artist in Residence at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 2025/26. His recordings include songs by Schubert and Schumann; in 2024, his first collaboration with harmonia mundi, Schubert’s "Die schöne Müllerin" with Kristian Bezuidenhout on the fortepiano, was released.

Baritone Luca Salsi was born in San Secondo Parmense and completed his vocal studies at the Conservatory in Parma as well as with Carlo Meliciani. He has been invited to perform at venues such as the Metropolitan Opera New York, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Real in Madrid, as well as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Salzburg Festival. His extensive repertoire includes roles such as Scarpia ("Tosca"), Giorgio Germont ("La traviata"), Conte di Luna ("Il trovatore"), Rodrigo ("Don Carlo"), Amonasro ("Aida"), Miller ("Luisa Miller"), as well as the title roles in "Rigoletto", "Nabucco" and "Macbeth". In 2024 he sang Barnaba ("La Gioconda") at the Salzburg Easter Festival under Antonio Pappano. His artistic partners include conductors Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Daniele Gatti, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Nicola Luisotti, Donato Renzetti, Michele Mariotti and Alberto Zedda, as well as directors Robert Carsen, Hugo De Ana, Antony Minghella, Werner Herzog, Franco Zeffirelli, David McVicar and Damiano Michieletto. Most recently, he has sung Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera and at La Fenice in Venice, Scarpia at La Scala in Milan, Giordano ("Andrea Chénier") in Vienna and Parma, the Count di Luna ("Il trovatore") also in Vienna, and Giorgio Germont at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, in Madrid, Verona, in concert at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, and at the Bavarian State Opera.

Jochen Schmeckenbecher, born in Hockenheim, studied with Kurt Moll at the Cologne University of Music. After permanent engagements at the Theater Hagen and the Komische Oper Berlin, he performs the major roles of his fach on international opera and concert stages. His repertoire focuses on German-language works, including Amfortas and Klingsor (“Parsifal”), Kurwenal (“Tristan und Isolde”), Music Teacher (“Ariadne auf Naxos”), Faninal (“Der Rosenkavalier”), Orest (“Elektra”), Peter (“Hänsel und Gretel”), Don Pizarro (“Fidelio”), the title role in “Wozzeck,” Dr. Schön (“Lulu”), and Kaspar (“Der Freischütz”). He has repeatedly achieved great success as Alberich (“Der Ring des Nibelungen”), performing at the Staatsoper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, Vienna State Opera, the opera houses of Frankfurt and Leipzig, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Tanglewood Festival, Philharmonie Berlin, Kulturpalast Dresden, Müpa Budapest, Opéra national de Paris, and on several CD/DVD recordings. Further engagements have taken him to the Staatsoper Dresden, Munich, Stuttgart, Royal Opera House London, Metropolitan Opera New York, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Teatro Real Madrid, Theater an der Wien, Volksoper Vienna, Salzburg Festival, and the opera houses in Basel, Essen, Lyon, Turin, as well as San Francisco, Dallas, and Philadelphia.

The Brazilian-born sopranist Bruno de Sá is regarded as one of the most exciting young artists of our time. He made his operatic debut in 2015 as Sesto (“La clemenza di Tito”) at the Teatro São Pedro in São Paulo, later returning there as Gherardino (“Gianni Schicchi”), Cherubino (“Le nozze di Figaro”), and First Lady (“Die Zauberflöte”), among others. At the Festival Amazonas de Ópera, he appeared as the Shepherd (“Tannhäuser”) and performed in a concert honoring the singer Farinelli. He made his European debut in 2019 as Aci in Bononcini’s “Polifemo” in Potsdam and Bayreuth. From 2019 to 2020, he was a member of the Opera Studio at Theater Basel, where he sang roles such as the Little Mermaid (“Andersens Erzählungen”) and Barbarina (“Le nozze di Figaro”). Further appearances include Sesto (“Giulio Cesare”) at Oper Halle, Isacio in Hasse’s “Irene” with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Abel in Scarlatti’s “Il primo omicidio” in Metz, Versailles, Montpellier, and Salzburg, as well as Nerone (“Agrippina”) at Drottningholm Palace Theatre. He made his role debut as Orfeo at the Gluck Festival, performed the baroque pasticcio “Sehnsucht” at Oper Dortmund, sang Aminta at the Göttingen Handel Festival, Pergolesi’s Stabat mater at the Verbier Festival, Stéphano (“Roméo et Juliette”) at the Opéra de Rouen, and Don Elviro (“Don Giovanni”) at the Komische Oper Berlin. He has toured across Europe with ensembles such as Il pomo d’oro, Les Accents, nuovo barocco, and 1700. In 2020 he received the OPER! Award, in 2022 the ForumOpéra Trophy, and in 2024 the Austrian Music Theatre Prize for his portrayal of Aminta in Vivaldi’s “L’Olimpiade.” As an exclusive artist with Erato/Warner Classics, he released his second solo album, Mille Affetti, in 2024.

The Budapest-born bass-baritone Miklós Sebestyén studied with László Polgár in Zurich and Josef Loibl in Munich. In 2010, he emerged as a prizewinner at the Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna and has since performed at opera houses such as the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Leipzig Opera, the Staatstheater Nürnberg, La Scala in Milan, the Royal Operas in Oslo and Copenhagen, Theater an der Wien, and the Bavarian State Opera. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2012 as the King in Sonja Frisell’s production of "Aida," which was broadcast worldwide in cinemas. At the New York Met, he also sang Un Frate in "Don Carlo." Further engagements include Berlioz’ "Béatrice et Bénédict" directed by Kasper Holten in Vienna, his debut at the Wagner Festival in Budapest as Kothner in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" under Ádám Fischer, and Tigellino in Arrigo Boito’s "Nerone" at the Bregenz Festival. His repertoire also includes Mozart roles such as Figaro, Leporello, Sarastro, and Don Alfonso, as well as roles like Enrico ("Anna Bolena"), Mustafa ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Ercole (Handel’s "Admeto"), Prince Gremin ("Eugene Onegin"), Colline ("La bohème"), Ferrando ("Il trovatore"), Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), and Celio ("Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen"). He has worked with conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Carlo Rizzi, Ádám Fischer, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, and Julia Jones, and has also established himself as a concert singer in oratorios by Haydn, Bach, Mozart, and Bartók. Upcoming engagements include Bartók’s "Duke Bluebeard’s Castle" with Jukka-Pekka Saraste in Copenhagen and a concert performance of Verdi’s "Simon Boccanegra" at Müpa in Budapest.

Samson Setu, Bariton, begann seine Ausbildung in Neuseeland, wo er Mitglied des Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Programme for Young Singers war, und studierte am Royal College of Music in London. Ab 2020 war er Mitglied im Lindeman Young Artist Program der Metropolitan Opera New York, wo er in Don Carlo einen der Flämischen Deputierten sang. Er war Finalist bei der Dame Malvina Major Aria Competition und der IFAC Handa Australia Singing Competition. An der New Zealand Opera war er in Gilbert and Sullivans Trial By Jury als Usher zu hören. Seit der Spielzeit 2023/24 ist er Mitglied des Internationalen Opernstudios am Opernhaus Zürich.

Roberto Tagliavini wurde in Parma geboren, wo er 2005 am Teatro Regio in Glucks Alceste debütierte. Sein Repertoire reicht von Mozart, Rossini über Bellini und Donizetti bis Verdi. Er sang u.a. Mustafà (L’italiana in Algeri) in Triest, Lord Sydney (Il viaggio a Reims) und Ramfis (Aida) an der Scala in Mailand, den Grafen Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) in Toulon, Escamillo (Carmen) an der Pariser Opéra, Lord Valton (I puritani) am Teatro Real in Madrid, Leporello (Don Giovanni) am ROH in London, Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia) in Palermo und in Zürich, Zaccaria (Nabucco) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper, König (Aida) am Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, die Titelrolle von Le nozze di Figaro am Teatro Maestranza in Sevilla, Frère Laurent (Roméo et Juliette) am ABAO in Bilbao und am Teatro Real in Madrid sowie den Grafen Walter (Luisa Miller) bei den Salzburger Festspielen. In der Titelrolle von Attila war er in Verona, St. Petersburg, an der Deutschen Oper Berlin und in Shanghai zu sehen. Für seine Interpretation von Selim (Il turco in Italia) wurde er 2009 zum besten Singschauspieler der Saison am Teatro Verdi in Triest gewählt. Für Loredano (I due Foscari) und sein Mitwirken in Verdis Messa da Requiem unter Lorin Maazel gewann er den Preis «bester junger Sänger» beim Verdi-Festival in Parma. Jüngst sang er Banco (Macbeth) an der Wiener und der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Moïse (Moïse et Pharaon) am Rossini Opera Festival, Alidoro (La Cenerentola) am Teatro Real in Madrid, Zaccaria (Nabucco), Raimondo Bidebent (Lucia di Lammermoor) und Sir Giorgio (I puritani) an der Wiener Staatsoper sowie Jean de Procida (Les Vêpres Siciliennes) an der Deutschen Oper Berlin. Im Sommer 2022 war er bei den Salzburger Festspielen als Raimondo Bidebent und als König (Aida) zu erleben.

French bass-baritone Nicolas Testé studied at the Opéra National de Paris and at the Centre de Formation Lyrique in Paris. In 1998, he won second prize at the “Voix Nouvelles” competition. He performs regularly on international stages, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Los Angeles Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Theater an der Wien, as well as at the Glyndebourne Festival and the Chorégies d’Orange.

In concert, he has appeared at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Semperoper Dresden, Philharmonie Munich, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Shanghai Symphony Hall, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

In the 2017/18 season, he sang Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Bavarian State Opera, Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, Giorgio Talbot (Maria Stuarda) in Zurich, Méphistophélès (Faust) and Alvise Badoero (La Gioconda by Ponchielli) at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The 2018/19 season took him to the Opéra Bastille as Marcel in Les Huguenots, to the Met in New York as Nourabad in Les Pêcheurs de perles, to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris as Hérode in L’enfance du Christ, and to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as Claudius in Thomas’ Hamlet. Most recently, in February 2020, he appeared as Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette at La Scala in Milan.

Jonathan Tetelman completed his vocal studies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He has received numerous awards, including the Opus Klassik Newcomer Award in 2023. Since his debut in 2018 as Rodolfo ("La bohème") at the Tanglewood Festival, he has been a regular guest at major opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera and English National Opera in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Arena di Verona, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Among his many artistic collaborators are Plácido Domingo, Elīna Garanča, Jonas Kaufmann, Asmik Grigorian, Kirill Petrenko, and Andris Nelsons, as well as renowned orchestras such as the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. As an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon, he recorded the award-winning solo albums "Arias" (2022) and "The Great Puccini" (2023). More recently, he made his debut in the concert series "Christmas in Vienna" with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and gave concerts in Munich, Essen, Frankfurt, Prague, Venice, and at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, as well as in South America and with Fort Worth Opera. In opera, his recent roles include Mario Cavaradossi ("Tosca") at the Vienna State Opera, Loris Ipanov ("Fedora") at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the title role in "Faust" at the Bavarian State Opera, and the Duke of Mantua ("Rigoletto") at Palm Beach Opera. In summer 2026, he will appear as Don José ("Carmen") at the Salzburg Festival. He makes his debut at the Zurich Opera House in the 2025/26 season in the title role of "Werther".

Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone from Wales, won the Song Prize in Cardiff in 1989. Since then, he has appeared at the world’s leading opera houses. His roles include, among others, the title role and Leporello in "Don Giovanni", Jochanaan in "Salome", Nick Shadow in "The Rake’s Progress", Wolfram in "Tannhäuser", and Balstrode in "Peter Grimes". He sang Hans Sachs in the acclaimed production of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" at the Welsh National Opera, Wotan in the "Ring" cycle at the Royal Opera House London and the Metropolitan Opera New York, as well as Sweeney Todd at the English National Opera. His recent appearances include Scarpia ("Tosca") at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, the Royal Opera House, and the Met, Dulcamara ("L’elisir d’amore") and Don Basilio ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") at the Vienna State Opera, and Gianni Schicchi at the Verbier Festival. He has given recitals at venues including the Hamburg State Opera and in Budapest, and has performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. In Faenol, North Wales, he directed his own festival for nine years. His discography includes operas by Mozart, Wagner, and Strauss, as well as over fifteen solo albums, for which he has received the Grammy, the Classical Brit, and the Gramophone Award. In 2003, Bryn Terfel was appointed Commander of the British Empire, received the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2006, was knighted in 2017, honoured with the title "Austrian Kammersänger" for his contributions to the Vienna State Opera, and received the European Culture Prize in 2022 at the Tonhalle Zurich. He was also a recipient of the Shakespeare Prize from the Alfred Toepfer Foundation and was awarded the "Freedom of the City of London" in 2015.

The countertenor Carlo Vistoli studied at the Frescobaldi Conservatory in Ferrara and at the University of Bologna, and made his stage debut in 2012 as the Sorceress ("Dido und Aeneas"). In 2015, he was admitted to the Baroque academy Le Jardin des Voix under the direction of William Christie, with whom he has collaborated ever since, and he took part in John Eliot Gardiner’s "Monteverdi 450" project. He has appeared, among others, in "Orlando furioso" at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, as Idraspe in Cavalli’s "Erismena" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, in "L’incoronazione di Poppea" at the Salzburg Festival, in "Orfeo ed Euridice" in Robert Carsen’s production in Rome, and in "Semele" in Paris, London, and Milan. He sang Goffredo in "Rinaldo" at the Opéra de Lausanne as well as Tolomeo in "Giulio Cesare" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. In 2023, he was awarded the prestigious Premio "Franco Abbiati". At the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he made his debut in 2022 as Ruggiero in "Alcina" with Cecilia Bartoli under Gianluca Capuano, and sang the role again in 2025 at the Opera in Rome. Again together with Bartoli and Capuano, he performed Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater" on tour and sang the title role in "Giulio Cesare" at the Vienna State Opera. In 2024, he made his American debut as Arsace ("Partenope") at the San Francisco Opera, where he was also recognized as an emerging artist. At La Scala in Milan, he sang in 2025 in the much-acclaimed world premiere "Il nome della rosa" by Francesco Filidei. Carlo Vistoli has recorded several CDs, including for the labels Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Brilliant, Ricercar, and Arcana.

Klaus Florian Vogt is one of the outstanding Wagner tenors of our time. His repertoire primarily includes dramatic roles such as Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, Parsifal, Stolzing, and Siegmund, but also Florestan ("Fidelio") and Hoffmann ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann"). In addition, he performs lyric-dramatic roles such as Andrej ("Khovanshchina"), the Prince ("Rusalka"), and Faust ("La Damnation de Faust"). Originally from northern Germany, Klaus Florian Vogt studied at the University of Music and Theatre in Lübeck. In 1997/98, he was engaged at the Landestheater Flensburg and was a member of the Semperoper Dresden ensemble from 1998 to 2003. Since then, he has been a regular guest at all the major opera houses around the world, as well as at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals. In 2005, he made his Japan debut as Hoffmann in Tokyo, followed by his American debut as Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2006. In 2007, he sang for the first time at La Scala in Milan (as Lohengrin) and later returned there as Florestan. That same year, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Walther von Stolzing ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), and from 2011 to 2015 he appeared there as Lohengrin in Hans Neuenfels’ production, in 2016 as Parsifal, and from 2017 to 2021 as Stolzing in Barrie Kosky’s new production of "Die Meistersinger". In 2022, he returned to the festival as Siegmund in the new "Ring" and as Lohengrin. He also participated in concerts at the Festspielhaus conducted by Andris Nelsons. In Zurich, he was most recently heard as Siegfried and Lohengrin, as well as in a lieder recital. In 2012, he received the ECHO Klassik award as Artist of the Year. In 2019, the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg awarded him the title of "Hamburger Kammersänger."

The tenor Bogdan Volkov studied at the Glier Kyiv Institute of Music and graduated from the National Tchaikovsky Music Academy of Ukraine. From 2013 to 2016 he was a member of the young artists programme of the Bolshoi Theatre and subsequently joined the ensemble, where he remained until 2018. 2022 and 2023 he was a member of the ensemble of the Berlin State Opera, where he made his debut in 2019 as Don Antonio in Prokofiev’s "Betrothal in a Monastery". In 2015 he won first prize and the audience prize at the Paris Opera Competition and in 2016 second prize at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition. He is one of the most sought-after lyric tenors of his generation and has sung Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") and Ferrando ("Così fan tutte") at the Vienna State Opera, Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") and Alfredo ("La traviata") at the Berlin State Opera as well as Lensky ("Eugene Onegin") at the Teatro Real in Madrid and at the Hamburg State Opera. At La Monnaie in Brussels he also sang Prince Guidon in Rimsky-Korsakov’s "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" in a production by Dmitri Tcherniakov, which was invited to the Opéra national du Rhin and to the Teatro Real in Madrid. At the Salzburg Festival he sang Ferrando ("Così fan tutte") as well as Prince Myshkin in Weinberg’s "Idiot", for which he was nominated for the Austrian Music Theatre Prize, named discovery of the year, awarded best singer by the German magazine Der Opernfreund and in 2025 named "Singer of the Year" by Opernwelt. Most recently he debuted as Lensky at the Opéra national de Paris and sang Fenton ("Falstaff") in Brussels.

Michael Volle, after engagements at the opera houses in Mannheim, Bonn, Düsseldorf and Cologne, was a member of the ensemble of the Zurich Opera House and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. In 2008 and 2023, the magazine Opernwelt named him "Singer of the Year"; in 2009 he was awarded the German Theatre Prize "Der Faust", and in 2023 he received an Oper!Award in recognition of his achievements. As a guest artist, he received invitations to the state operas in Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna, to the Semperoper Dresden, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Opéra de Paris, the Royal Opera London, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Liceu in Barcelona, La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as to the Salzburg, Bregenz and Bayreuth Festivals. Michael Volle has made a name for himself particularly as a Wagner singer, as well as with the roles of Richard Strauss and the interpretation of the great Italian baritone roles, including the operas of Verdi. More recently, he appeared in David McVicar’s "Ring" at La Scala in Milan, and returned in the title role of "Falstaff" at the Berlin State Opera, where he also performed Wotan/The Wanderer. As part of the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival, he will sing two "Ring" cycles there in 2026 as well as Amfortas ("Parsifal"). At the Zurich Opera House, he has been heard, among others, as Eugene Onegin, Yeletsky ("The Queen of Spades"), Roland ("Fierrabras"), Sixtus Beckmesser, Hans Sachs ("The Mastersingers of Nuremberg"), Golaud ("Pelléas et Mélisande"), Wolfram ("Tannhäuser"), the Dutchman, Nabucco and Boris Godunov, and in the 2026/27 season he will sing Wotan/The Wanderer in "The Ring of the Nibelung" in Zurich as well as on tour in Paris and New York.

Andrew Watts was born in Middlesex, United Kingdom, and trained at the Royal Academy of Music. Engagements have taken the countertenor to, among others, the Royal Opera House London, the Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala Milan, Teatro La Fenice Venice, the Berlin State Opera, the Opéra de Lyon, as well as the Salzburg, Bregenz, Lucerne, Aldeburgh, and Edinburgh Festivals and the Ruhrtriennale. As Edgar in Reiman’s "Lear," he has performed at the Hamburg State Opera, the Opéra de Paris, the Bavarian State Opera Munich, and the Teatro Real Madrid. His repertoire includes roles such as Ottone ("Agrippina"), Athamas ("Semele"), Arsamene ("Xerxes"), Oberon ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream"), Prince Go-Go ("Le Grand Macabre"), Baba the Turk ("The Rake’s Progress"), and Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus"). Andrew Watts has also participated in world premieres by composers including Olga Neuwirth, Harrison Birtwistle, Jörg Widmann, and Unsuk Chin. Most recently, he has appeared in Olga Neuwirth’s "Keyframes for a Hippogriff" with the New York Philharmonic, as Orlofsky at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, and in Unsuk Chin’s "Alice in Wonderland" at the Theater an der Wien.

The Australian bass-baritone Derek Welton is a regular guest at leading opera houses and festivals worldwide, including the Royal Opera in London, the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals, the Vienna and Bavarian State Operas, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, the Hamburg State Opera, the Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. His repertoire includes roles such as Wotan ("Der Ring des Nibelungen"), Amfortas ("Parsifal"), the Dutchman ("Der fliegende Holländer"), King Marke ("Tristan und Isolde"), Pizarro ("Fidelio"), the Forester ("Das schlaue Füchslein"), the Father ("Hänsel und Gretel"), Bluebeard ("Herzog Blaubarts Burg"), and Saint-Bris ("Les Huguenots"). In the concert field, he performs with ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Academy of Ancient Music. Recent engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Czech Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra, "Messiah" at the Musikverein Vienna, Bach’s "Magnificat" with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, Martinů’s "Epic of Gilgamesh" at the Dvořák Prague Festival, as well as "Ein deutsches Requiem" at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. In opera, during the 2025/26 season he will appear as Wotan ("Die Walküre") and the Wanderer ("Siegfried") at La Scala in Milan, as the Wanderer at the Opéra national de Paris, as Orest ("Elektra") at the Vienna State Opera, and as Claggart ("Billy Budd") at the Opéra de Lyon. He will also sing the Wanderer at Müpa Budapest, make his house and role debut as King Heinrich ("Lohengrin") at the Hungarian State Opera, and debut at the Zurich Opera House as Pizarro.

Christopher Willoughby, Tenor, studierte an der Royal Holloway, University of London und an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. Er war Finalist bei der Marilyn Horne Song Competition 2022 und zählt zu den Gewinnern der Charles Wood International Song Competition 2021. Im Rahmen des Atelier Lyrique beim Verbier Festival sang er 2023 Tom Rakewell in Strawinskys The Rake's Progress sowie den Narren in Bergs Wozzeck. Seit der Spielzeit 2023/24 ist er Mitglied des Internationalen Opernstudios am Opernhaus Zürich.

Munich-born bass-baritone Matthias Winckhler studied at the University Mozarteum Salzburg. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including at the 2014 Mozart Competition in Salzburg and the 2012 Bach Competition in Leipzig. From 2015 to 2018, he was a member of the ensemble at the Lower Saxony State Opera in Hanover, where he performed roles such as Count Almaviva in "Le nozze di Figaro," Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte," Albert in "Werther," Belcore in "L’elisir d'amore," and Tom in Henze’s "Die englische Katze." In 2018, he sang Don Fernando in "Fidelio" with the Basel Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Giovanni Antonini, with performances at, among others, the Theater an der Wien and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. In November 2018, he appeared as Frank in Korngold’s "Die tote Stadt" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. Concert engagements have taken Matthias Winckhler to major festivals including the Salzburg Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Bachfest Leipzig, Rheingau Music Festival, and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. He has collaborated with ensembles and orchestras such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Peter Dijkstra, the Capella Reial de Catalunya, the Bavarian Radio Choir, the Bach Choir and Orchestra of Munich, Bach Collegium Japan, Camerata Salzburg, the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, and the Vienna Philharmonic. As a lieder singer, he has worked with pianists Marcelo Amaral, Bernadette Bartos, Verena Metzger, Akemi Murakami, and Jan-Philip Schulze.

Bo Skovhus is one of the leading baritones of his generation and will soon celebrate his 40th stage anniversary. He studied at the Aarhus Music Institute, at the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen as well as in New York. Central milestones of his career include the title role in Aribert Reimann's "Lear" at the Opéra national de Paris, Beckmesser in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", Titus in Michael Jarrell's "Bérénice" in Paris under Philippe Jordan, as well as Mandryka in "Arabella" at the Semperoper Dresden. He also sang, among others, the title role in "Wozzeck" at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Dr. Schön in "Lulu" at the Vienna State Opera, Šiškov in "Aus einem Totenhaus" at the Bavarian State Opera, as well as Jean-Charles in "Das Floss der Medusa" in Amsterdam. His recent successes include Faninal in "Der Rosenkavalier" in Geneva and Zurich, "Lear" in Madrid, Jaroslav Prus in "Die Sache Makropulos" in Berlin, concert performances of "Capriccio" at the Salzburg Festival and in Edinburgh, Clov in "Fin de partie" at the Berlin State Opera, Dante in "Viaggio Dante" at the Opéra national de Paris, as well as Meister Astaroth in the world premiere of "Die dunkle Seite des Mondes" in Hamburg. He has been honored as Austrian and Bavarian Kammersänger. At the Zurich Opera House, he was most recently seen as Ich in "Leben mit einem Idioten".

Johan Krogius began his musical training in the boys’ choir of the Domkantorei Cantores Minores in Helsinki. He later studied in Helsinki and Stockholm, won the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 2021, and in the same year was awarded first prize at the Helsinki Song Competition. In opera, he has sung roles such as Jaquino ("Fidelio") and Pong ("Turandot") in Helsinki, First Man and Juhana in "The Last Temptations" at the Opera in Jyväskylä, Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Finnish National Opera, Kuska ("Chowanschtschina") with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen in Helsinki and Stockholm, and Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Opera in Tampere and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he also performed as Don Ottavio and Ismaele ("Nabucco") in 2024 and as Macduff ("Macbeth") in 2025. From 2022 to 2024, he was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Berlin State Opera, where he performed roles including Leukippos (Strauss’ "Daphne"), Tamino, First Armored Man and First Priest ("Die Zauberflöte"), Innkeeper and Major-domo to Faninal ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Trojan ("Idomeneo"), Parpignol ("La bohème"), and Borsa ("Rigoletto"). As a guest, he returned to the Berlin State Opera as Tybalt ("Roméo et Juliette"), among others. On the concert stage, he has appeared with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and made his debut in 2024 with Mozart’s "Requiem" at the Berlin Philharmonie. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the ensemble at the Opera House Zurich, where he has performed in "Der Rosenkavalier," "Tosca," and "Carmen."