Opernhaus Zürich

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.

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, a bass-baritone, was born in Winterthur and studied at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2004, he joined the International Opera Studio and in 2005 the ensemble of Zurich Opera House, where he appeared, among other roles, as Lucio Cinna (J. C. Bach’s "Lucio Silla"), Haly ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Argante ("Rinaldo"), Wurm ("Luisa Miller") and as Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte", conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He also made his debut as Papageno at the Semperoper Dresden in 2015. Further projects with Harnoncourt included Kezal ("Die verkaufte Braut") and Haydn’s "Schöpfung" at Styriarte Graz, Beethoven’s "Christus am Ölberg" in Vienna and Lucerne, a tour of Japan (Mozart’s "Requiem" and Handel’s "Messiah") and Leporello ("Don Giovanni") at Theater an der Wien. In the Zurich cycle of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and Franz Welser-Möst, he appeared as Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro") and Leporello. Under Welser-Möst, he also performed the same roles with the Cleveland Orchestra. At the Salzburg Festival in 2012, he sang Achilla ("Giulio Cesare") and appeared there in 2013 in Haydn’s "Il ritorno di Tobia" and Walter Braunfels’ "Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna". In Zurich, he has sung, among others, 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"). Most recently, he also appeared in the ballet evening "Nachtträume". In the 2026/27 season, he will take on the role of Baron Mirko Zeta in Lehár’s "Die lustige Witwe" for the first time.

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 took part in the International Meistersinger Academy in Neumarkt. From 2015 to 2017, he was a member of the OperAvenir opera studio at Theater Basel, where he sang, among other roles, Tamino ("The Magic Flute"), Romeo ("Romeo and Juliet") and Oronte ("Alcina"). In 2016, he appeared as a guest, among other engagements, as Belmonte ("The Abduction from the Seraglio") at the Acco 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, the Vienna Volksoper, Malmö Opera and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. On the concert platform, he has appeared, among other places, at the New York Festival of Song at Carnegie Hall and in Handel’s "La Resurrezione" with William Christie. He made his debut at Zurich Opera House in 2018 in Schreker’s "Die Gezeichneten" and returned the following year as Albazar ("Il turco in Italia") and later in the title role of Mitterer’s "Das tapfere Schneiderlein". Since the 2021/22 season, Nathan Haller has been a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House. More recently, he has sung, among other roles, Mercure in Rameau’s "Platée", Gobin/Un giovane/Adolfo in Puccini’s "La rondine", Pong ("Turandot"), a Dancing Master ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), the role of 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"), Dr Blind ("Die Fledermaus") and a Young Servant ("Elektra"). He will also appear this season in the Swiss premiere of John Adams’ "Doctor Atomic".

Johan Krogius began his musical training in the boys’ choir of the Cantores Minores Cathedral Choir in Helsinki. He later studied in Helsinki and Stockholm, won the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 2021 and was awarded first prize at the Helsinki Lied Competition in the same year. In opera, he has sung roles including Jaquino ("Fidelio") and Pong ("Turandot") in Helsinki, First Man and Juhana in "The Last Temptations" at the Jyväskylä Opera, Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Finnish National Opera, Kuska ("Chowanschtschina") with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen in Helsinki and Stockholm, as well as Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Tampere Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he was also heard 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 at Staatsoper Berlin. There, he performed, among others, Leukippos (Strauss’ "Daphne"), Tamino, First Armoured Man and First Priest ("Die Zauberflöte"), Innkeeper and Faninal’s Major-Domo ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Trojan ("Idomeneo"), Parpignol ("La bohème") and Borsa ("Rigoletto"). On the concert platform, he has appeared with, among others, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2024 made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie with Mozart’s "Requiem". Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House, where he has appeared, among other roles, in "Der Rosenkavalier", "Tosca" and "Carmen", and in the 2026/27 season performs in "Tannhäuser", "Die Fledermaus", "Das Rheingold", "La fanciulla del west" and "Die Zauberflöte".

The Cuban-Colombian tenor Anthony León studied at La Sierra University in Riverside (California) as well as at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (Massachusetts). He has been honored with numerous prestigious awards. In 2024, he was a finalist of the Rising Star Award of the International Opera Awards and received the Richard Tucker Career Grant. In 2023, he won the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition; at Operalia 2022, he was awarded First Prize as well as the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Zarzuela Prize. In addition, he received a Career Development Grant from the Sullivan Foundation and was portrayed, among others, in "Opera News". In the 2025/26 season, he makes his house and role debut at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Belmonte in "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" and also sings this role for the first time at Glyndebourne. In addition, he makes his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Ferrando in "Così fan tutte" and returns to the LA Opera, where he sings Fenton in "Falstaff" for the first time. His repertoire also includes roles such as Count Almaviva in "Il barbiere di Siviglia", Remendado in "Carmen", Nemorino in "L’elisir d’amore", Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte", Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni" and Spoletta in "Tosca". From 2022 to 2023, he was a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program of the Los Angeles Opera. Guest engagements have taken him, among others, to the Cologne Opera, to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, to the Santa Fe Opera, to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as well as to the Salzburg Festival.

Siena Licht Miller, a German-American mezzo-soprano, studied voice at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She completed her training with courses at Opera Philadelphia, the Santa Fe Opera, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Aspen Music Festival. She is a recipient of a Bagby Foundation scholarship and a prizewinner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Marilyn Horne Rubin Foundation and the Gerda Lissner Foundation. Highlights of her career to date include her 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 Philip Venables’ "Denis and Katya" 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 song recitals. She sang in the "The Song Continues" series at Carnegie Hall in honour of her mentor Marilyn Horne and went on a tour of the USA with a recital alongside pianist Kevin Murphy. From the 2020/21 season, she was associated with the Zurich Opera House, first as a member of the International Opera Studio and, since 2022/23, as a member of the ensemble of Zurich Opera House, where she most recently appeared in "La scala di seta", "Hänsel und Gretel" and "La clemenza di Tito", among others. In 2026/27, she will appear as Prince Orlofsky in "Die Fledermaus", Flora Bervoix in "La traviata", Rossweisse in "Die Walküre" and Flosshilde in "Das Rheingold" and "Götterdämmerung".

Andrew Moore, an American bass-baritone from New Jersey, received his training at Rutgers University (Mason Gross School of the Arts) and 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 received the Susan Eastman Encouragement Award. Other important stages in his artistic career included the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco and the Santa Fe Opera, where he appeared as an Apprentice Singer in "La bohème", "Così fan tutte" and "Jenůfa", among others. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. He was subsequently invited to join the ensemble of the house, which he has been a member of since the 2022/23 season. Since then, he has appeared here, among other roles, 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 most recent international engagements include his debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and his Salzburg debut as Marchese d’Obigny ("La traviata"). In summer 2026, he appeared as Johann ("Werther") at the Salzburg Festival.

Valeriy Murga studied at the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv. He was a finalist both at the 41st International Singing Competition in Toulouse (1996) and at 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 National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, where he performed, among others, Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Escamillo ("Carmen"), Schaunard ("La bohème") and the title roles in "Jewgeni Onegin", "Don Giovanni" and "Prince Igor". His repertoire also includes roles such as the Marchese di Posa ("Don Carlo") and Shaklovity ("Chowanschtschina"). At Zurich Opera House, he was initially a member of the International Opera Studio and during this time appeared, among other roles, as Sciarrone and the Jailer ("Tosca") and as Monterone ("Rigoletto"). Since the beginning of the 2000/01 season, he has been a permanent member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House and has since appeared here, among other roles, as 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 including "Das Gespenst von Canterville", "Robin Hood", "Das verzauberte Schwein", "Jim Knopf" and "Wir pfeifen 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. In the 2026/27 season, he will appear at Zurich Opera House, among other roles, as the Old Servant in "Elektra" and as Alcindoro in Puccini’s "La bohème".

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!"

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 Giargiari Belcanto Competition in 2018, third prize at the Concorso Lirico da Portofino in 2021 and was a finalist in the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in 2020. In the USA, he has sung, among other roles, Friedrich Bhaer ("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 "Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen") and Peter Quince ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream") at Opera Philadelphia. He has also appeared at the 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. In 2020/21, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. Since then, he has been a member of the ensemble and has appeared here, among other roles, as Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Prince Gremin ("Eugen Onegin"), Frère Laurent ("Roméo et Juliette"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold") and Angelotti ("Tosca"), the Attendant to Orest ("Elektra") and Jake Wallace ("La fanciulla del West").

The mezzo-soprano Dominika Stefańska studied in Łódź and was a member of the Warsaw Opera Academy. She was a finalist at the Ada Sari International Vocal Artistry Competition 2021. At the Łódź Opera, she performed the roles of Volpino ("Lo speziale") and Mrs. Reich ("The Merry Wives of Windsor"), as well as a nymph ("Rusalka") at the Poznań Opera. As a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, she appeared, among others, as Hippolyta in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", as well as in "Jim Knopf" and "Sweeney Todd". Starting from the 2026/27 season, Dominika Stefańska will become a permanent ensemble member at the Zurich Opera House.

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.

After studying instrumental pedagogy with a focus on guitar, Kathrin Zukowski studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold and subsequently opera and music theatre at the Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich. From 2018 to 2020, she was a member of the Opera Studio at the Cologne Opera and has been part of its ensemble since the 2020/21 season. There, she appeared, among others, as Pamina in "Die Zauberflöte", Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro", Gretel in "Hänsel und Gretel", Micaëla in "Carmen", as well as Konstanze in the studio production of "Die Entführung aus dem Serail". In the 2022/23 season, she made her debut as the Infanta in "Der Zwerg" and as Cleopatra in "Giulio Cesare in Egitto"; in 2023/24, further role debuts followed as Adina in "L’elisir d’amore", Ilia in "Idomeneo", and Eurydice in the world premiere of Ondřej Adámek’s "Ines". Guest engagements have taken her to the opera houses in Bielefeld, Braunschweig, Hanover, and Karlsruhe, as well as to the reopening of the Margrave's Opera House in Bayreuth as Arbace in Johann Adolf Hasse’s "Artaserse". In addition, she performed with the Tonkünstler-Orchester under Alfred Eschwé at the Musikverein Vienna and in Grafenegg, as well as in the role of Grilletta in "Lo speziale" at the Haydn Festival in Brühl. In the 2024/25 season, she gave, among others, role debuts in the title role of "Lucia di Lammermoor", as Ighino in "Palestrina" at the Vienna State Opera, and as Beauty in a concert performance of Handel’s "The Triumph of Time and Truth" with the Bach Consort Vienna.

Martin Zysset was born and raised in Solothurn. He trained as a clarinettist while simultaneously studying voice, which he complemented with masterclasses with Ernst Haefliger and Edith Mathis. In 1990/91, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House and at the same time a scholarship holder of the Migros Cooperative Federation and a prizewinner at the Pro Arte Lyrica Competition in Lausanne. Since 1992, he has been a regular guest at the summer theatre in Selzach. He has been a permanent member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House since 1991. Here, he has developed a broad 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, the Gingerbread Witch, Brighella and the male lead in Udo Zimmermann’s "Weisse 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 "Die Zauberflöte", "Le nozze di Figaro", "Fidelio" and "Tannhäuser", to San Diego. Most recently in Zurich, he has sung Don Basilio ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Chekalinsky ("Pique Dame"), Triquet ("Jewgeni 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"), among others. In the 2026/27 season, he will also be heard for the first time as Giuseppe in Verdi’s "La traviata".

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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".

Der in Liverpool geborene Harry Bicket studierte am Royal College of Music und an der Universität Oxford, wo er Orgelstipendiat an der Christ Church war. Er ist Ehrenmitglied der Royal Academy of Music und wurde 2022 im Rahmen der Queen's Birthday Honours mit einem «Officer of the Order of the British Empire» (OBE) ausgezeichnet. Seit 2007 ist er Künstlerischer Leiter des Ensembles The English Concert, mit dem er jüngst das Projekt «Handel for All» startete. Seine Diskografie wurde bereits für einen Grammy Award sowie für den Gramophone Classical Music Award nominiert. Ab 2013 war er Chefdirigent an der Santa Fe Opera und wurde 2018 zum Musikdirektor ernannt. Er dirigierte dort u.a. L’Orfeo, Pélleas et Mélisande, Carmen, Fidelio, Roméo et Juliette, Alcina und Candide. 2024 kehrt er mit Don Giovanni dorthin zurück. Er ist regelmässiger Gast an der Metropolitan Opera, wo er in den letzten Jahren u.a. Rodelinda, Le nozze di Figaro, Giulio Cesare, Agrippina und Così fan tutte dirigierte. Weitere Arbeiten führten ihn u.a. zur Lyric Opera of Chicago (Carmen, Rinaldo), Canadian Opera Company (Maometto II, Hercules), Houston Grand Opera (Le nozze di Figaro, Rusalka) sowie zum Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic oder zum Boston Symphony Orchestra. In Europa debütierte er kürzlich an der Pariser Oper mit Ariodante und dirigierte u.a. an der Bayerischen Staatsoper München, dem Glyndebourne Festival, der English National Opera, dem Royal Opera House sowie zahlreiche renommierte Orchester. Am Liceu in Barcelona wurde er für das Dirigat von Giulio Cesare mit dem Preis des Opera Critic als «Bester Dirigent» ausgezeichnet.

Jonathan Bloxham studied conducting with Sian Edwards, Michael Seal, Nicolas Pasquet and Paavo Järvi, having previously studied cello at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. In 2016, he became Assistant Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Since 2023, he has been Music Director of Lucerne Theatre, where he has conducted productions including "La bohème", "Idomeneo", "Hänsel und Gretel" and "Peter Grimes". Since 2024, he has been Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie and, since the 2025/26 season, has held the position of Principal Conductor of the London Mozart Players, with whom he has been associated as a conductor and Artistic Adviser since 2022. In 2021, he made his debut with "Luisa Miller" at the Glyndebourne Festival with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and also conducted "Don Pasquale" with Glyndebourne Touring Opera. He has appeared as a guest with, among others, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria. In 2024, he released a recording of Bach’s piano concertos with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Tianqi Du, which reached number one on Apple Classical. He has also recorded works by Bruce Broughton with the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as forthcoming CDs with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. He is also Artistic Director of the Northern Chords Festival in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. At Zurich Opera House, he makes his debut in the 2026/27 season with the operetta "Die Fledermaus".

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.

Antonino Fogliani is regarded as one of the leading bel canto conductors. He completed his conducting studies at the Milan Conservatory and at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena after studying piano in Bologna. He made his widely acclaimed debut in 2001 at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro with "Il viaggio a Reims." Since 2012, he has been Music Director of the Festival Rossini in Wildbad and, since 2017, holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Further guest conducting engagements have taken him to some of the most prestigious opera houses and festivals, including La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, the Royal Opera London, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Arena di Verona, the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Opéra-Comique in Paris, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and La Monnaie in Brussels. He has conducted orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. Recent highlights include "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo as well as at the Bavarian State Opera, "Carmen" at the Bregenz Festival and the Semperoper Dresden, and "Tosca" in Verona and at the Opera Frankfurt. At the Zurich Opera House, he has most recently conducted "Il turco in Italia," "Il barbiere di Siviglia" at Theater Winterthur, concert performances of "La donna del lago," and "Les Contes d’Hoffmann." Antonino Fogliani is a professor of orchestral conducting at the Conservatorio Alessandro Scarlatti in Palermo. In 2018, he was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Christopher Franklin studied conducting at the University of Illinois and at the Peabody Conservatory and received scholarships from the Tanglewood Music Center and the Hochschule für Musik Saarbrücken. At the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, he was awarded the Franco Ferrara Prize and won first prize at the Gino Marinuzzi International Conducting Competition. In Treviso, he won the Bottega-Toti dal Monte Competition and was subsequently appointed assistant to Peter Maag at the Teatro Comunale di Treviso. He has received invitations to, among others, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Teatro Comunale di Modena, and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. Since 2024, he has been Chief Conductor of the Minnesota Opera, where he has recently conducted "Thaïs" and "Così fan tutte." He has led concerts, among others, at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Cologne Philharmonic, and the Konzerthaus Dortmund. He maintains a close collaboration with tenor Juan Diego Flórez, with whom he has performed on tour in numerous concert halls. Among his more recent highlights in opera are "Peter Grimes" and "The Turn of the Screw" in Valencia, Donizetti’s "Pia de Tolomei" in Pisa, Livorno, and Lucca, "I puritani" and Rossini’s "Otello" at the Liceu in Barcelona, "Tristan und Isolde" and "La bohème" in Trieste, "Il turco in Italia" in Bologna, "La sonnambula" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, "Die Fledermaus" in Tokyo, "Hänsel und Gretel" at the San Francisco Opera, as well as "Die Zauberflöte" and "Adriana Lecouvreur" at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie.

The Colombian-American conductor Lina González-Granados grew up in Cali, Colombia, and made her conducting debut in 2008 with the youth orchestra of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. She earned a master’s degree in conducting with Charles Peltz, a diploma in choral conducting from the New England Conservatory with Erica Washburn, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University. Her mentors also include Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bernard Haitink and Marin Alsop. She is dedicated to both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, with a particular commitment to works by Latin American composers. In 2022, she was named one of Bloomberg Línea’s "100 Influential Latinos". Further distinctions include the Sphinx Medal of Excellence (2021) and third prize at the Concours La Maestra. After winning the Solti Conducting Competition of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she assisted Riccardo Muti from 2020 to 2023. Since autumn 2022, she has been Resident Conductor of LA Opera; her contract was recently extended through 2028. In autumn 2025, she toured France, Germany and Austria with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist. This was followed by debuts including with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the National Orchestra of Spain. She opened the current season with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the world premiere of Carlos Simon’s "Afterparty"; at LA Opera, she is conducting Bernstein’s "Candide" this season.

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.

Paavo Järvi wurde als Sohn des Dirigenten Neeme Järvi in Tallinn geboren. Er studierte zunächst Dirigieren und Schlagzeug in Estland, danach am Curtis Institute of Music und bei Leonard Bernstein. Bedeutende Stationen seiner Dirigentenkarriere waren das Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, das hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt und das Orchestre de Paris. Aktuell leitet Paavo Järvi seit 2004 die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen und seit 2019 das Tonhalle Orchester Zürich. Von 2015 bis 2022 war er Chefdirigent des NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokio, heute ist er dort Ehrendirigent. Darüber hinaus ist er künstlerischer Berater des Estonian National Symphony Orchestra sowie des Järvi Sommer Festivals im estnischen Pärnu, das er gemeinsam mit seinem Vater gegründet hat. Ausserdem dirigiert Paavo Järvi weltweit eine Vielzahl namhafter Orchester, darunter die Berliner und die Wiener Philharmoniker, die New Yorker Philharmoniker, die Staatskapelle Dresden, das Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, das Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, die Münchner Philharmoniker und das Philharmonia Orchestra London. 2019 wurde Paavo Järvi beim Opus Klassik in der Kategorie «Dirigent des Jahres» ausgezeichnet und erhielt im selben Jahr zusammen mit der Deutschen Kammerphilharmonie Bremen den Rheingau Musik Preis. Weitere Preise und Ehrungen sind der Grammy Award für seine Aufnahme der Sibelius-Kantaten mit dem Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, die Auszeichnung «Artist of the Year 2015» sowohl vom Gramophone als auch vom Diaposon d’Or Magazin und die Ernennung zum «Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres» durch das französische Staatsministerium für Kultur.

The German conductor Oscar Jockel served as assistant conductor to Kirill Petrenko with the Berlin Philharmonic from 2022 to 2024 and was a conducting fellow at the Karajan Academy after being named one of the winners of the "Siemens Conductors Scholarship" at the conducting competition in the Philharmonie Berlin in 2021. In the same year, he held a two-year position as assistant conductor with the Ensemble intercontemporain at the Philharmonie de Paris. As a composer and conductor, he received the Herbert von Karajan Prize in 2023. In the same year, he appeared, among others, at the Salzburg Easter Festival in a production at the Felsenreitschule and at the Gewandhaus Leipzig. In 2024/25, he conducted, among others, the Sächsische Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic, Handel Festival Halle with the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum des Gewandhaus Orchesters, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and Ljubljana Radio Orchestra. He also performs with the Camerata Salzburg in Salzburg and Munich, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, and the Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna. In 2025/26, he will conduct, among others, at the Strom Festival of the Berlin Philharmonic, and lead the hr-Sinfonieorchester, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Warsaw Philharmonic, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra with the Regensburger Domspatzen, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he will conduct Alban Berg’s "Lulu" at the New National Theatre Tokyo with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

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.

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.

Lars Ulrik Mortensen stammt aus Dänemark und studierte an der Königlichen Musikakademie in Kopenhagen und in London Cembalo. Seine umfangreiche Konzerttätigkeit als Solist und als Kammermusiker führt ihn immer wieder durch ganz Europa, in die USA, nach Mexico, Südamerika und Japan. Von 1988 bis 1990 war er Cembalist beim Ensemble London Baroque, danach spielte er beim Collegium Musicum 90. Von 1996 bis 1999 war er Professor für Cembalo und Aufführungspraxis an der Hochschule für Musik in München und unterrichtet mittlerweile regelmässig Meisterklassen. Seit Ende der 1990er Jahre tritt Lars Ulrik Mortensen zunehmend als Dirigent in Erscheinung. Er ist einer der ständigen Leiter des European Union Baroque Orchestra, dessen künstlerische Leitung er 2004 übernommen hat, und arbeitet als Gast mit mehreren Orchestern in Dänemark und Schweden. Seit 1999 ist er künstlerischer Leiter von Concerto Copenhagen, dem einzigen auf Originalinstrumenten spielenden Orchester Dänemarks. Lars Ulrik Mortensen hat zahlreiche Schallplatten eingespielt, u.a. die Konzerte für drei und vier Cembali von J. S. Bach, das Cembalowerk von Buxtehude und Froberger und das gesamte Kammermusikwerk von Corelli. Seine Aufnahme von Bachs Goldberg-Variationen wurde mit dem französischen Diapason d'Or ausgezeichnet, die erste Gesamtaufnahme der Kammermusik von Dietrich Buxtehude, die er mit John Holloway und Jaap ter Linden vorlegte, erhielt einen dänischen Grammy, und 2001 wurde er in Cannes mit dem Classical Award als bester Solist für das Repertoire von 1600 bis 1800 ausgezeichnet.

Katharina Müllner studied conducting, music education, as well as psychology and philosophy in Vienna. She began her career as a répétiteur with conducting duties at the Landestheater Linz. Since the 2024/25 season, she has been Kapellmeisterin at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she has conducted, among others, several ballet productions, "Hänsel und Gretel," "La Cenerentola," "Anatevka," "Carmen," "Die Fledermaus," and "Nabucco." She is a regular guest at the Semperoper Dresden, where she recently conducted "The Magic Flute" as well as a ballet evening featuring choreographies by George Balanchine, Justin Peck, and Twyla Tharp. At the Semperoper Dresden, she conducted the world premiere of "Der 35. Mai oder Konrad reitet in die Südsee" by Raphaël Coumes-Marquet, "The Magic Flute" at Konzert und Theater St. Gallen and at Theater Chemnitz, "Carmen" at Theater Essen and the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, "Così fan tutte" at the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as Suppé’s "Der Teufel auf Erden" and Britten’s "Death in Venice" at the Volksoper Vienna. Concert engagements have also taken her to the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Brandenburger Symphoniker, the Essener Philharmoniker, and the hr-Sinfonieorchester. Recent highlights include debuts at the Cologne Opera ("The Magic Flute"), the Opéra de Dijon ("Don Giovanni"), and the Hamburg State Opera (with the ballet evening "No Return"), as well as performances with the Basque National Orchestra, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, and the Staatsorchester Darmstadt.

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.

Andrés Orozco-Estrada was born in Colombia and completed his conducting studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Since the 2023/24 season, he has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Turin, with which he toured Spain in the fall of 2025. Previously, he held chief positions with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, and the Vienna Symphony. Since the fall of 2025, Andrés Orozco-Estrada has also been General Music Director of the city of Cologne and Gürzenich Kapellmeister, where in his inaugural season he conducted works by Brahms, Mahler, and Strauss, as well as "Manon Lescaut" and "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Cologne Opera. Starting in the 2026/27 season, he will assume the position of Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared at renowned opera houses such as the Vienna State Opera, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, and La Scala in Milan, and has worked with orchestras including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as in Asia with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He recently made his debut at the Tanglewood Festival and was a featured artist at the Rheingau Music Festival. Current engagements include guest conducting appearances with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Orchestre de Paris, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2022, Andrés Orozco-Estrada has been a professor of orchestral conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

The Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski studied piano and conducting at the Sibelius Academy and was taught by Hannu Lintu, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2022, he became the first Principal Guest Conductor in the history of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. He also holds the same position with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and serves as Music and Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. Since 2025, he has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and from the 2026/27 season additionally of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2025, he began a three-year residency as exclusive artist at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. He has conducted ensembles such as the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra at the Baden-Baden Whitsun Festival, the Bavarian State Orchestra and the Filarmonica della Scala. In 2024, he made his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms. At the age of 22, he conducted his first "Ring" cycle at the Eurajoki Bel Canto Festival. Most recently, he conducted "Tristan und Isolde" at the Dutch National Opera and "Parsifal" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2022, he received the Lotto Prize at the Rheingau Music Festival and in 2023 the OPUS Klassik together with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Since 2023, he has been an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon. In 2026, the recording "The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure" with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra was released there.

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.

Petr Popelka began his conducting career after a tenure as principal double bassist from 2010 to 2019 with the Sächsische Staatskapelle. From 2020 to 2023, he was Chief Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony and, until the end of the 2025/26 season, Artistic Director of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Debuts have taken him, among others, to the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bamberg Symphony, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted, among others, "Káťa Kabanová" at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, "Tristan und Isolde" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, "The Nose" at the Semperoper Dresden, and Jaromír Weinberger’s "Schwanda" at the Theater an der Wien. At the Berlin State Opera, he conducted "Tosca" and will return for the 2026 Opera Festival and "Rusalka" to the Bavarian State Opera. Significant festival concerts under his direction have been recorded for television, including the Czech Philharmonic’s concert for the Velvet Revolution and the Nobel Prize Concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. As part of the 125th anniversary of the Vienna Symphony, he conducted a celebratory concert with a subsequent tour in the fall of 2025. Current highlights include debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, as well as returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. At the Zurich Opera House, he conducted "Don Giovanni."

Since receiving the German Conductors’ Prize, Markus Poschner has appeared as a guest with the world’s most renowned orchestras and opera houses, including the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. He has also conducted at the state opera houses in Berlin, Vienna, Munich and Hamburg, as well as at Zurich Opera House. From 2007 to 2017, he was General Music Director of the Bremen Philharmonic. In 2022, he opened the Bayreuth Festival with a new production of "Tristan und Isolde", which he also conducted in 2023. In the 2026/27 season, the Munich-born conductor, who is also a passionate jazz pianist, will become the new Chief Conductor of the prestigious ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been Chief Conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and, from the 2027/28 season, will also take up the position of Music Director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra. From 2015 to 2025, Poschner was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, with which he won the prestigious International Classical Music Award in 2018 for the complete recording of the Brahms symphonies and again in 2025 for his recordings of Hindemith and Schnittke. His recording of Offenbach’s "Maître Péronilla" with the Orchestre National de France was awarded the German Record Critics’ Annual Award in 2021. For the complete recording of all Bruckner symphonies with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, whose Chief Conductor Poschner has been since 2017, and the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, he received the Special Achievement Award from the jury of the International Classical Music Awards in 2024. In 2020, Poschner and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz received the Austrian Music Prize.

Michael Richter was born in Vienna and studied orchestral conducting with Leopold Hager as well as répétition with Konrad Leitner at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. From 2000 to 2003, he was engaged as a solo répétiteur with conducting duties at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, where he conducted, among others, performances of "Le nozze di Figaro," "Die Fledermaus," and Prokofiev’s "Romeo and Juliet." Since 2003, Michael Richter has been engaged at the Zurich Opera House, initially as a solo répétiteur and since 2012 as head of studies. He has worked with renowned conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Ingo Metzmacher, Gianandrea Noseda, and Fabio Luisi, as well as with singers including Diana Damrau, Piotr Beczała, and Jonas Kaufmann, and has performed concerts as a pianist and conductor in various European countries. He has also worked for the Salzburg Festival and the Lucerne Festival. At the Zurich Opera House, he has most recently conducted, among others, the family operas "In 80 Tagen um die Welt" and "Alice in Wonderland," the chamber opera "Der Traum von Dir," "Hänsel und Gretel," as well as the ballet "Anna Karenina."

Carlo Rizzi comes from Milan and began his international conducting career as the winner of the first Toscanini Competition. From 1992 to 2001 and again from 2005, he was Music Director of the Welsh National Opera and has held the title of Conductor Laureate there since 2015. Since 1996, Carlo Rizzi has been a regular guest at the Edinburgh Festival and since 2019 Music Director of Opera Rara, with which he is dedicated to neglected operatic repertoire. Long-standing collaborations also connect him, among others, with La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the New National Theatre in Tokyo and La Monnaie in Brussels. On the concert podium, he has appeared, among others, with the London Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan. More recent conducting engagements in the field of opera include "La fiamma" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, "Rigoletto" and "Turandot" at the Vienna State Opera, "La bohème" at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, "Il trittico" in Paris, "Il trovatore" in London as well as "Turandot" and "Madama Butterfly" at the Met. His discography includes the operas "Faust", "Káťa Kabanová", "Rigoletto" and "Un ballo in maschera" at the Welsh National Opera and "La traviata" at the Salzburg Festival as well as recordings with Joyce El-Khoury and Michael Spyres nominated for the Gramophone Award. In 2024, he released Donizetti’s "L’esule di Roma" with Opera Rara and was nominated as "Conductor of the Year" at the International Opera Awards. He is the holder of the Italian honorary title "Grande Ufficiale".

Christophe Rousset, founder of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and internationally renowned harpsichordist, is one of the leading figures in historical performance practice. As a musician and conductor, he is particularly dedicated to the opera repertoire and the rediscovery of European musical heritage. He studied harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum in Paris with Huguette Dreyfus and continued his training at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague with Bob van Asperen. At the age of 22, he won First Prize at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges. In 1991, he founded Les Talens Lyriques. With his ensemble, he regularly appears at leading opera houses and concert halls in Europe, including the Opéra national de Paris, the Opéra-Comique, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, the Theater an der Wien, the Vienna State Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Barbican Centre in London, and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. International tours have also taken him to Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. In addition to his work as a conductor, he is active as a harpsichordist and chamber musician. His recordings of works by, among others, François Couperin, Rameau, Scarlatti, and Johann Sebastian Bach are considered reference recordings. He is also a sought-after educator and teaches at renowned institutions and academies. As a guest conductor, Christophe Rousset collaborates with major opera houses and orchestras. Furthermore, he is active as a musicologist and author, having published monographs on Rameau and François Couperin. Christophe Rousset is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and Officier of the Ordre national du Mérite. In 2024, he was awarded the Handel Prize by the city of Halle.

Jordi Savall is one of the most versatile musical personalities of his generation. As a tireless researcher in the field of Early Music, he has been interpreting the repertoire for more than fifty years both as a viol player and as a conductor. Numerous rediscoveries are thanks to him – from Sephardic romances to operas by Vicente Martín y Soler. Together with Montserrat Figueras, he founded the ensemble Hespèrion XXI (1974), which is particularly dedicated to the Early Music of Spain. In 1987, they founded the vocal ensemble La Capella Reial de Catalunya, followed in 1989 by its orchestral counterpart Le Concert des Nations. In 2020, Jordi Savall founded the Capella Nacional de Catalunya as a training center for young singers, and in 2018 “Orpheus 21”, a project involving professional musicians, migrants, and refugees. His intensive concert activity takes him all over the world. In 1991, he recorded the music for the film Tous les Matins du Monde, which was awarded the César Award. More than 230 CDs featuring works from the Middle Ages to the Classical period document his artistic achievements and have received awards including the Midem Classical Award, the International Classical Music Award, and the Grammy Award. In 1998, he founded his own record label Alia Vox. In 2008, Jordi Savall was appointed Ambassador of the European Union for intercultural dialogue and, together with Montserrat Figueras, was named an “Artist for Peace” within the framework of the UNESCO program “Good Will Ambassadors”; he also holds multiple honorary doctorates. In 2026, he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.

Shunske Sato is a violinist, conductor, chamber musician, and teacher. With his own PastForward Ensemble, he is dedicated to nineteenth-century performance practice. He was artistic director of the Netherlands Bach Society and worked closely with Concerto Köln. Born in Tokyo, Shunske Sato grew up in the United States. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York, the Conservatoire National de Région in Paris, and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. He now lives in the Netherlands and has been a lecturer at the Amsterdam Conservatory since 2013. Passing on his knowledge to young musicians is very important to Shunske, which is why he has carried out projects with, among others, the European Union Baroque Orchestra, the Juilliard School of Music in New York, and the New World Symphony (Miami). In the 2026/27 season, he is conducting, among other engagements, the "St Matthew Passion" in Ljubljana and Stavanger, concerts with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, as well as numerous chamber music concerts.

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.

Michele Spotti is Music Director of the Opéra de Marseille and of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Marseille. From the 2026/27 season, he will also be Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He studied violin and conducting in Milan as well as in Geneva and made his debut at the age of only twenty with "Le nozze di Figaro" in Orvieto. In 2016, he was assistant to Alberto Zedda for Rossini’s "Ermione" at the Opéra de Lyon. His recent engagements include "Rigoletto" at the Arena Opera Festival and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, "Les Brigands" at the Opéra de Paris, as well as "L'heure espagnole" / "Gianni Schicchi" in Valencia. Debuts include, among others, "Norma" at the Maggio Fiorentino, "Simon Boccanegra" in Naples, "Die Zauberflöte" in Rome, "La fille du régiment" at the Vienna State Opera, "La bohème" at the Semperoper Dresden, "La traviata" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as a program with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In the 2025/26 season, he conducts, among others, Wagner’s "Das Rheingold" in Marseille, "Falstaff" at the Festival Verdi in Parma, "L’italiana in Algeri" in Geneva, as well as a concert with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Beatrice Rana. He has worked with directors such as Robert Wilson, Damiano Michieletto, Barrie Kosky, Laurent Pelly, and Pier Luigi Pizzi. As a concert conductor, he appears, among others, with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, and the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini. The French Ministry of Culture awarded him the title "Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres". With "L'elisir d'amore", Michele Spotti will be making his debut at the Zurich Opera House.

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».

The conductor Erina Yashima, born in Germany, was First Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin from 2022 to 2024 and has worked with renowned orchestras and opera houses worldwide. She began her training at the Institute for the Early Advancement of Musically Highly Gifted (IFF) at the University of Music, Theatre and Media in her hometown of Hanover and studied piano with Bernd Goetzke. After studies in Freiburg with Scott Sandmeier and in Vienna with Mark Stringer, she completed her conducting studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin with Christian Ehwald and Hans-Dieter Baum. From 2019 to 2022, she was Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As First Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin, she conducted, among others, "Rusalka", "Hamlet", "Così fan tutte", and "The Magic Flute", as well as the world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s "Nils Holgersson". In 2023/24, she made her debut at the English National Opera ("The Magic Flute") and at the Bregenz Festival ("Der Freischütz"). In the past season, she made her debut, among others, with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, as well as in Japan with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kobe City Chamber Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Opera Australia ("La bohème"), and the Irish National Opera ("L’elisir d’amore"). In 2025/26, she will make her debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mainz Philharmonic State Orchestra, and the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. She will conduct for the first time at the New York Metropolitan Opera ("The Magic Flute") and will return to the Opera Australia with "Madama Butterfly".

Sol Gabetta zählt zu den gefragtesten Cellistinnen ihrer Generation. Sie wurde in Argentinien geboren und studierte in Basel und Berlin. Nach ihren jüngsten Residenzen bei Radio France, der Sächsischen Staatskapelle Dresden und den Bamberger Symphonikern gastierte sie in der vergangenen Saison bei den BBC Proms Japan, mit der Staatskapelle Berlin und Edward Gardner, den Bamberger Symphonikern und Jakub Hrůša sowie mit dem Philharmonischen Orchester Oslo und Klaus Mäkelä. Als leidenschaftliche Verfechterin neuer Werke präsentierte Sol Gabetta 2022 bei Radio France die Uraufführung des für sie komponierten Cellokonzerts von Francisco Coll. Im selben Jahr wurde sie in der Tonhalle Zürich mit dem Europäischen Kulturpreis geehrt. Bei den Salzburger Osterfestspielen 2018 wurde sie mit dem Herbert-von-Karajan-Musikpreis ausgezeichnet, 2019 erhielt sie einen Opus Klassik. Im Mittelpunkt von Sol Gabettas Arbeit steht die Kammermusik. Zuletzt trat sie etwa mit Isabelle Faust und Alexander Melnikov im Trio, mit ihrem langjährigen Konzertpartner Bertrand Chamayou sowie mit Kristian Bezuidenhout und Francesco Piemontesi auf. Als künstlerische Leiterin zeichnet sie für das Solsberg Festival sowie für das Festival Presenza im LAC Lugano verantwortlich. Sol Gabetta spielt auf mehreren italienischen Meisterinstrumenten aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert, darunter ein Cello von Matteo Goffriller von 1730, Venedig, das ihr vom Atelier Cels Paris zur Verfügung gestellt wurde, und seit 2020 das berühmte «Bonamy Dobree-Suggia» von Antonio Stradivarius aus dem Jahr 1717, eine grosszügige Leihgabe der Stradivari-Stiftung Habisreutinger. Seit 2005 unterrichtet sie an der Musik-Akademie Basel.

Ilya Gringolts studierte Violine und Komposition in St. Petersburg und bei Itzhak Perlman an der Juilliard School. 1998 ging er als Gewinner des internationalen Violin-Wettbewerbs «Premio Paganini» hervor, als jüngster Teilnehmer im Finale der Wettbewerbsgeschichte. Der russische Geiger widmet sich als Solist neben dem grossen Konzertrepertoire auch selten gespielten und zeitgenössischen Werken. Kompositionen von Peter Maxwell Davies, Augusta Read Thomas, Christophe Bertrand und Michael Jarrell wurden von ihm uraufgeführt. Ilya Gringolts konzertierte mit Orchestern wie dem Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, dem BBC Symphony, dem Deutschen Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, dem Los Angeles Philharmonic, dem NHK Symphony Orchestra, dem Mahler Chamber Orchestra, dem Sao Paulo State Symphony oder dem City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Er ist ausserdem Primarius des 2008 gegründeten Gringolts Quartetts, das seither mit Auftritten u.a. bei den Salzburger Festspielen, beim Lucerne Festival, dem Menuhin Festival Gstaad oder am Teatro La Fenice in Venedig Erfolge feiert. Als Kammermusiker arbeitet er mit Künstlern wie Yuri Bashmet, David Kadouch, Nicolas Altstaedt, Andreas Ottensamer oder Jörg Widmann zusammen.

Anne-Sophie Mutter has been one of the great violin virtuosos of our time for five decades. Born in Rheinfelden in Baden, she received her first violin lessons at the age of five; she later studied with Aida Stucki at the Winterthur Conservatory. She began her extraordinary career in 1976 at the Lucerne Festival; a year later, she appeared as a soloist at the Salzburg Whitsun Concerts under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. Since then, she has performed worldwide in all the major musical centres and, alongside the classical repertoire, repeatedly presents new works: Anne-Sophie Mutter has given the world premieres of a total of 34 works, as well as numerous arrangements written especially for her, including compositions by Thomas Adès, Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann and John Williams. She deliberately uses her popularity for charitable projects and to support outstanding young musical talent: in 2008, the support association founded as early as 1997 was expanded to include the "Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation"; she regularly performs with her scholarship-holder ensemble "Mutter's Virtuosi" all over the world. In 2026, Anne-Sophie Mutter celebrates her 50th anniversary on stage – an occasion for residencies at institutions such as the Lucerne Festival and the Musikverein in Vienna, as well as for tours through Europe, North America and Asia. Among the numerous honours bestowed upon Anne-Sophie Mutter are the "Ernst von Siemens Music Prize" and the Leipzig Mendelssohn Prize, the "Praemium Imperiale" and the Polar Music Prize. She has received the coveted "Grammy" four times, the "ECHO Klassik" nine times and the "Opus Klassik" twice. She is a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Legion of Honour, the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria. In 2013, she was elected an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2015 appointed an Honorary Fellow of Keble College at the University of Oxford; most recently, in 2025, the state of Baden-Württemberg honoured her with the Grand Staufer Medal in Gold.

Shunske Sato is a violinist, conductor, chamber musician, and teacher. With his own PastForward Ensemble, he is dedicated to nineteenth-century performance practice. He was artistic director of the Netherlands Bach Society and worked closely with Concerto Köln. Born in Tokyo, Shunske Sato grew up in the United States. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York, the Conservatoire National de Région in Paris, and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. He now lives in the Netherlands and has been a lecturer at the Amsterdam Conservatory since 2013. Passing on his knowledge to young musicians is very important to Shunske, which is why he has carried out projects with, among others, the European Union Baroque Orchestra, the Juilliard School of Music in New York, and the New World Symphony (Miami). In the 2026/27 season, he is conducting, among other engagements, the "St Matthew Passion" in Ljubljana and Stavanger, concerts with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, as well as numerous chamber music concerts.

Matthias Schulz, born in 1977 in Bavaria, studied piano at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and economics at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He has a long-standing relationship with the Salzburg Festival, where he was appointed project manager, concert and media officer, and in 2009 head of concert planning. In this position, he was responsible for co-designing the programs as well as coordinating and interlinking all festival productions. A particular focus was on contemporary music theater. In 2012, Matthias Schulz became Artistic Director and Commercial Managing Director of the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg. In addition to programming the festival and concert series, his responsibilities as CFO and HR director included fundraising, marketing, press relations, and media productions. From 2017 to 2024, he was Artistic Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Alongside expanding the core repertoire, including numerous world premieres, Matthias Schulz established successful formats for early music and experimental music theater. He placed strong emphasis on fostering young talent and increased the accessibility of the house through innovative opera formats and by attracting new audiences. He oversaw the transition from Daniel Barenboim to the appointment of Christian Thielemann as General Music Director. Since August 2025, Matthias Schulz has been Artistic Director of the Zurich Opera House. As a pianist, chamber musician, and accompanist, he has collaborated closely with artists such as Elīna Garanča and Michael Volle. He is a board member of various festivals, a jury member of international competitions, and a member of the boards of trustees of the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Liz Mohn Foundation.

Daniil Trifonov hat eine beispiellose Karriere als Solist, Kammermusikpartner und Komponist gemacht. 1991 in Nischni Nowgorod geboren, erspielte er sich nach seinem Studium am Moskauer Gnessin-Institut und am Cleveland Institute of Music 1. Preise beim Arthur-Rubinstein-Wettbewerb in Tel Aviv und dem Tschaikowski-Wettbewerb in Moskau sowie den 3. Preis beim Chopin-Wettbewerb in Warschau. Daniil Trifonov war Artist in Residence des Wiener Musikvereins und der Carnegie Hall sowie des London Symphony Orchestra und der Berliner Philharmoniker. Zu den jüngsten Höhepunkten seiner Konzerttätigkeit zählen Tourneen mit dem London Symphony Orchestra unter Simon Rattle sowie Auftritte mit dem Concertgebouworkest, dem Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, dem Boston Symphony Orchestra und dem Cleveland Orchestra. Daniil Trifonov tritt in Solo-Rezitalen regelmässig in renommierten Konzertsälen auf, darunter das Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, die Philharmonie in Berlin, der Wiener Musikverein, die Tonhalle Zürich, das Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, das Barbican Centre und die Royal Festival Hall in London. Zu seinen Kammermusikpartnerinnen und -partnern zählen u. a. Sergei Babayan, Gautier und Renaud Capuçon sowie Vilde Frang, Clemens Hagen, Joshua Bell und Matthias Goerne. Für das Album Transcendental mit Werken von Liszt erhielt er 2018 seinen ersten Grammy Award. 2020 erschien das Doppel-Album Silver Age mit Werken von Skrjabin, Prokofjew und Strawinsky, eingespielt mit dem Mariinski-Orchester unter der Leitung von Valery Gergiev. Alben mit Werken von Rachmaninow hat er mit dem Philadelphia Orchestra unter Yannick Nézet-Séguin realisiert.

Performance artist Vanessa Beecroft is known for her monumental tableaux of human bodies between performance, conceptual art, and sculpture. She was born in Italy and lives in Los Angeles. Her work shapes performance art, the representation of the female body, as well as socio-political discussions about art. Beecroft’s performances are presented in numerous internationally significant museums and major venues for contemporary art, including the Guggenheim Museum New York, MoMA New York, Kunsthalle Wien, Neue Nationalgalerie, Venice Biennale. Her performances often focus on tensions between naked and clothed bodies, between rules and coercion, as well as between the universal and the particular. She also explores human endurance and forms of submission. Since the 1990s, Vanessa Beecroft is one of the first artists to collaborate with fashion labels, including a close collaboration with Ye West since 2008. The female body and the female persona are Beecroft’s central theme of her artistic engagement—a starting point to analyze the present and intervene in it by combining influences of the Renaissance with modern forms of representation. As an influential artist in the context of pop culture, a profound dialogue with art history, philosophy, and politics manifests in her work. Her art unfolds as a passionate field of experimentation—rooted in history, continued according to her own rules, and extending out into the world.

Claudia Blersch ist Spielleiterin am Opernhaus Zürich und hat hier u.a. die Barockoper Der geduldige Sokrates sowie die Familienopern Das verzauberte Schwein und Konrad oder Das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse inszeniert. Sie hat mehrere Produktionen aus Zürich an die Opernhäuser in Madrid, Barcelona, Turin und Shanghai übertragen und regelmässig eigene Opernprojekte und Uraufführungen in der Schweiz und in Deutschland realisiert. Zusammen mit dem Bühnenbildner Giulio Bernardi war sie 2003 Preisträgerin des Ring-Awards 2003 in Graz. 2007 erhielt die Operninstallation Slotmachine/Tosca eine Auszeichnung beim Festival der Künste in Zürich. 2017 erarbeitete sie eine halbszenische Fassung von Rossinis La Cenerentola und tourte mit Cecilia Bartoli und den Musiciens du Prince der Oper Monte-Carlo durch Frankreich, Deutschland und die Niederlande. Im selben Jahr inszenierte sie diese Oper noch einmal mit Absolvent:innen des South African College of Music im Baxter Theatre in Capetown. Im Januar 2018 realisierte sie Kurt Weills Die sieben Todsünden in Zusammenarbeit mit der Organisation Isla Victoria im Theater Rigiblick in Zürich, im August 2018 inszenierte sie für die Cape Town Opera im Baxter Theatre Donizettis Don Pasquale; im gleichen Jahr entstand die halbszenische Aufführung von La Cenerentola beim Lucerne Festival im KKL Luzern.

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.

In 2021, Angela Denoke made her debut as a director at the Theater Ulm with Janáček’s "Katja Kabanova". This was followed by productions of "Salome" (Innsbruck), "Macbeth" (Regensburg), "Don Giovanni" (Hagen), "Tosca" (Bremerhaven), "La bohème" (Lübeck), "Les Contes d’Hoffmann" and "Die tote Stadt" (Staatstheater Mainz). In 2026, she will stage the opening production of the season at the Semperoper Dresden with "Un ballo in maschera". After her studies at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg, Angela Denoke was a member of the ensemble at Theater Ulm and the Stuttgart State Opera. She subsequently appeared at the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Berlin State Opera, and at the Salzburg Festival, where she performed roles such as Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Shostakovich), Katja Kabanova and Jenůfa, Arabella and Salome, and also sang in "Pique Dame", "Die tote Stadt", "Parsifal", "Lohengrin", "Tannhäuser", "Der Rosenkavalier", "Fidelio", "Cardillac", "Wozzeck", "Die Sache Makropulos", as well as in Schoenberg’s "Erwartung". She has performed, among others, at the Royal Opera House in London, the Met, the Dutch National Opera, the Semperoper, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Zurich Opera House, the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, and La Scala in Milan. Her discography includes, among others, "Die Sache Makropulos" (DVD Salzburg 2011), "Salome" (DVD Baden-Baden), a Lehár Gala (Dresden New Year’s Concert, Christian Thielemann CD and DVD), "Die tote Stadt", "Die Walküre", "Katja Kabanova", "Cardillac" and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Mikhail Pletnev; Daniel Barenboim), "Wozzeck" (Ingo Metzmacher at EMI), and "Fidelio" (Simon Rattle at EMI). With various song, jazz, and chanson programs, she appeared as a guest at the Kurt Weill Festival Dessau as well as at various opera houses and philharmonic halls across Europe. She also presented her Weill song recital "Two Lives to Live" at the Salzburg Festival in 2011 and, among other venues, at the Vienna State Opera and the Gran Teatro Barcelona, Paris Garnier, and "Städtebewohner", a program of songs related to the Weimar Republic, at the Salzburg Festival in 2015 and the Vienna State Opera in 2016. At the invitation of Christian Gerhaher, she most recently presented an Eisler/Heymann/Weill evening at Schloss Elmau. In 1999, she was named Singer of the Year by Opernwelt and in 2007 received the prestigious theatre prize "Faust" for her portrayal of Salome. In February 2009, she was appointed Kammersängerin of the Vienna State Opera. In September 2023, the artist won the Austrian Music Theatre Prize in the category "Best Director" for her production of "Salome" at the Tiroler Landestheater.

Daniele Finzi Pasca works in theatre directing as well as in the performing arts and clowning. As the son of an art-loving family, he began his career as a gymnast and became a circus artist. Together with Maria Bonzanigo and his brother Marco, he founded the Compagnie Teatro Sunil, which combines clowning, dance, and acting. In 2009, he founded "Inlevitas" with his now deceased wife Julie Hamelin Finzi, and in 2011 he founded the Compagnia Finzi Pasca, based in Lugano, together with Antonio Vergamini, Hugo Gargiulo, Julie Hamelin Finzi, and Maria Bonzanigo, for which he conceived and directed more than 40 shows, including three Olympic ceremonies (Turin 2006 and Sochi 2014, the Olympic and Paralympic Games), two shows for Cirque du Soleil, and nine operas, including "Aida" at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, "Carmen" and "Pagliacci" at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, "L’Amour de loin" for the English National Opera in London, "Einstein on the Beach" at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, "Les Contes d’Hoffmann" for the Hamburg State Opera, and "María de Buenos Aires", also in Geneva. In addition, the group participated in the Fête des Vignerons in 2019. In addition to numerous awards (three Broadway nominations for "Rain", 2006), he received the Montréal English Critics Circle Award (MECCA) for "Icaro" in 2009, the Hans Reinhart Ring (2012), the highest award in Swiss theatre for lifetime achievement in the performing arts, the award for Best Director of a Circus Show in 2016 (Russia), the Swiss Society Fellowship Prize 2020 (New York, USA), and in 2021 the prize "Marco Borradori – In tutto ciò che genera bellezza" (Lugano).

Christof Loy studied music theatre directing in Essen as well as philosophy, art history, and Italian philology in Munich. He has worked as a freelance director since 1990. He regularly directs, among others, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Theater an der Wien, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Opera Amsterdam, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and at the festivals in Glyndebourne and Salzburg. In Amsterdam, he was also responsible for choreography for the first time in 2019 with "Tannhäuser". At the Zurich Opera House, he directed "La straniera", "Alcina", "I Capuleti e i Montecchi", "Don Pasquale", and "La rondine". In 2017 and 2024, he was named Director of the Year at the International Opera Awards, after already winning the award for Best New Production there in 2016 for Britten’s "Peter Grimes" at the Theater an der Wien. For three productions at the Bavarian State Opera, "Saul" (2003), "Roberto Devereux" (2004), and "Die Bassariden" (2008), he was named Director of the Year by the magazine "Opernwelt". In 2024/25, he made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan with "Werther". Since then, he has directed, among others, "Elektra" at the Royal Opera House London, "Eugene Onegin" at the Teatro Real Madrid, "Turandot" at Theater Basel, "Il trittico" at the Opéra de Paris, and Charpentier’s "Louise" at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. One of his most important artistic concerns today is the rediscovery of zarzuela. His most recent directing works include the zarzuelas "Benamor" at the Theater an der Wien, "El gato montés" at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, and "El barberillo de Lavapiés" at the Theater Basel.

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".

Julia Lwowski studied music theatre directing at the University of Music “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. Since 2009, she has staged performative music theatre, opera, drama, and dance, among others at the Stuttgart State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, Bühnen Bern, Theater Regensburg, the German National Theatre Weimar, the Kassel State Theatre, HAU Berlin, the Sophiensæle, the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris, and the Rote Fabrik Zurich. As a laboratory for contemporary, cross-genre music theatre, she founded the music theatre collective Hauen und Stechen in 2012 at the Berlin Galerina Steiner, which attracted attention with the performance series of the same name. The collective received basic funding from the city of Berlin for the years 2024 to 2027. As a production manager and interpreter, she worked from 2013 to 2026 at the Ruhrtriennale, the Salzburg Festival, and the Schwetzingen Festival, among others with the conductors Mariss Jansons, Teodor Currentzis, and René Jacobs, and curated the opera festival “Sound of the City” at Oper Wuppertal in the summer of 2022. She opened the 2020/21 season at Oper Halle with Verdi’s “La traviata”. In autumn 2021, she made her debut at the Stuttgart State Opera with Dessau’s “Die Verurteilung des Lukullus”, for which she was nominated for the theatre prize “Der Faust”. Other important stages of her work include “Nixon in China” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, “The Tempest” at the Kassel State Theatre, “Norma. Eine Séance” at the German National Theatre Weimar, “M’Orpheo” at Theater Regensburg, “Tristan und Isolde oder Luft! Luft! Mir erstickt das Herz” with Theater HORA at the Rote Fabrik Zurich and the Sophiensæle Berlin, “Die Jungfrau von Orléans” at the Saarland State Theatre, as well as the world premiere of “Don’t You NOMI?” at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden / Linden 21. She made her Swiss debut in spring 2026 with “La forza del destino” at Bühnen Bern. In the 2026/27 season, Julia Lwowski will stage Gaetano Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore” at the Zurich Opera House.

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.

Dmitri Tcherniakov was born in Moscow and studied at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts. He designs the stage sets for his productions entirely by himself and he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the "Golden Mask", Russia’s most important theatre prize. Mussorgsky’s "Boris Godunov" at the Berlin State Opera marked the beginning of a close artistic collaboration with conductor Daniel Barenboim, followed by further joint productions: Prokofiev’s "The Gambler" and "Betrothal in a Monastery", Rimsky-Korsakov’s "The Tsar’s Bride", Wagner’s "Parsifal" as well as "Tristan and Isolde". Tchaikovsky’s "Eugene Onegin" has been staged in numerous major cities, Berg’s "Wozzeck" and Glinka’s "Ruslan and Lyudmila" at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Glinka’s "A Life for the Tsar" at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Shostakovich’s "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" among others at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Verdi’s "Macbeth" at the Paris Opéra and "Simon Boccanegra" at the ENO, Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" in Aix-en-Provence, Madrid and at the Bolshoi Theatre. Mussorgsky’s "Khovanshchina", Poulenc’s "Dialogues des Carmélites" and Berg’s "Lulu" in Munich further strengthened his reputation in Germany, while Verdi’s "La traviata" in Milan and Borodin’s "Prince Igor" at the Metropolitan Opera New York brought him international recognition. Other highlights include Rimsky-Korsakov’s "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" in Amsterdam, Janáček’s "Jenufa" and Debussy’s "Pelléas et Mélisande" at the Zurich Opera House, the combination of Tchaikovsky’s "Iolanta" and "The Nutcracker" at the Paris Opéra, "Elektra" and "Ariadne auf Naxos" at the Hamburg State Opera, "The Flying Dutchman" at the Bayreuth Festival, Verdi’s "Il trovatore" and Berlioz’s "Les Troyens" in Brussels, and Wagner’s Ring cycle at the Berlin State Opera. Most recently, Dmitri Tcherniakov was seen with Korngold’s "Die tote Stadt" at the Zurich Opera House. In the 2026/27 season, he will return and combine the three one-act operas "Aleko", "Skupoj rýtsar" and "Francesca da Rimini" by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Evgeny Titov, born in Kazakhstan, completed his acting training at the Theatre Academy in St. Petersburg and worked for several years as an actor before studying directing at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. Productions he developed there included Copi’s "Das Schlangennest" — with a guest performance at the Vienna Burgtheater — and a production of Gogol’s "Die Heirat", which was invited to the Körber Studio Junge Regie at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg in 2016. Engagements then took him, among others, to the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Landestheater Linz, the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Münchner Residenztheater, and the Salzburg Festival, where he staged Gorky’s "Summerfolk" in 2019. Since opening the 2021/22 season at the Komische Oper Berlin with an acclaimed production of Enescu’s "Œdipe", Evgeny Titov has been a regular guest at internationally renowned opera houses. He made his debut at the Zurich Opera House with George Benjamin’s "Lessons in Love and Violence", followed by Monteverdi’s "L’Orfeo". At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, he introduced himself with Mozart’s "Le nozze di Figaro", and in Strasbourg he staged Monteverdi’s "L’incoronazione di Poppea". In the 2024/25 season, he directed "Tannhäuser" at the Oper Graz, "The Love for Three Oranges" at the Semperoper Dresden, Shakespeare’s "King Lear" at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, and Tchaikovsky’s "Iolanta" at the Vienna State Opera. At the Salzburg Festival, he made his operatic debut with Peter Eötvös’ "Three Sisters". His most recent works include "Salome" at the Komische Oper Berlin and "Wozzeck" at the Oper Graz.

The Italian soprano Maria Agresta graduated with distinction from the Conservatorio "Giuseppe Martucci" in Salerno and continued her training with Raina Kabaivanska at the Istituto Vecchi-Tonelli in Modena. She achieved her international breakthrough in 2011 as Elena in "I vespri siciliani" at the Teatro Regio di Torino under Gianandrea Noseda. Since then, she has been a regular guest at leading opera houses such as Teatro alla Scala, the San Francisco Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro La Fenice, the Royal Opera House, as well as the state operas in Berlin and Vienna. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2016 as Mimì in "La bohème"; there she has since also been seen as Micaëla in "Carmen" and Liù in "Turandot". At the Salzburg Festival, she sang Nedda in "Pagliacci" in 2015 and made her role debut as Marguerite in Gounod’s "Faust" in 2016. Her awards include the Premio della Critica Musicale Italiana "Franco Abbiati", the Luigi Illica Prize, and the honorary title "Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana". Other central roles in her repertoire include Desdemona in "Otello", Cio-Cio-San in "Madama Butterfly", Violetta in "La traviata", as well as the title roles in "Adriana Lecouvreur" and "Tosca". Most recently, she sang Desdemona at the Teatro Real Madrid as well as Nedda and Leonora in "Il trovatore" at the Vienna State Opera.

The Italian mezzo-soprano Martina Baroni studied at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Turin and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. In 2023, she was awarded First Prize at the Gaetano Zinetti Singing Competition and, the following year, won the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition in Berlin. She gained her first stage experience in the choirs of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Teatro Regio in Turin, where she also appeared as Frantik ("The Cunning Little Vixen") and in Valtinoni's "Il piccolo principe". Since the 2024/25 season, she has been a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. There she has so far performed, among others, the Vixen ("The Cunning Little Vixen"), Fenena ("Nabucco"), Lucilla in Respighi's "La fiamma", Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Mercédès ("Carmen"), Cherubino ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Suzuki ("Madama Butterfly"), and Sesto ("Giulio Cesare in Egitto"). Further engagements include Vivaldi's "Stabat Mater" with the Haydn Orchestra in Trento, Wagner's "Wesendonck Lieder" with the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin at the Choriner Musiksommer, Berg's "Seven Early Songs" at the opening of the MITO Festival with the Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, the soprano part in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the Schubert Filharmonia in Barcelona and Madrid, Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" under the direction of Christophe Prégardien, as well as performances at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Festival des Nuits Romantiques in Aix-les-Bains, and the Mozartfest Würzburg. She makes her debut at the Zurich Opera House in the 2026/27 season as Stéphano ("Roméo et Juliette").

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.

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner studierte zunächst Violine in Freiburg und danach Gesang in Karlsruhe, Wien und Sofia. Seit 2009/10 gehört sie zum Ensemble der Oper Frankfurt. Dort war sie in Partien wie Carmen, Cornelia (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Eboli (Don Carlo), Gora in der deutschen Erstaufführung von Reimanns Medea (auf CD bei OehmsClassics erschienen), Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Fremde Fürstin (Rusalka), Iocaste (Oedipe), Tigrana (Puccinis Edgar), Charlotte (Werther), Gaea (Daphne) und in der Titelpartie von Othmar Schoecks Penthesilea zu hören. Die Mezzosopranistin debütierte 2010 bei den Salzburger Festspielen als Gräfin Geschwitz in Lulu und kehrte 2012 als Charlotte in Zimmermanns Soldaten nach Salzburg zurück. 2013 gab sie ihr Debüt am Royal Opera House in London als Clairon in Strauss’ Capriccio und gastierte beim Festival in Edinburgh als Judith in Herzog Blaubarts Burg. In der Spielzeit 2016/17 gab sie in Santiago de Chile ihr Rollendebüt als Küsterin in Jenůfa. Bei den Bayreuther Festspielen 2017 war sie als Fricka (Rheingold / Walküre) zu hören und kurz darauf in der gleichen Rolle an der Lyric Opera in Chicago. In der Spielzeit 2017/18 sang sie zudem Kundry (Parsifal) an der Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen, Azucena (Il trovatore), Clairon (Capriccio) und Fricka in Frankfurt sowie Agave/Venus (Henzes The Bassarids) unter der Leitung von Kent Nagano bei den Salzburger Festspielen.

Noa Beinart wurde in Tel Aviv geboren und war von 2020 bis 2023 Ensemblemitglied an der Wiener Staatsoper. Dort war sie als Erda in sämtlichen Aufführungen des Ring-Zyklus, als Gaea in Daphne, als Maddalena in Rigoletto, als Dritte Dame in Die Zauber­flöte, als Annina in Der Ro­senkavalier, als Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer, als Auntie in Peter Grimes sowie als Suzuki in Ma­dama Butterfly zu erleben. Zuvor war sie Mitglied des Opernstudios an der Bayerischen Staatsoper München und ist Absolventin der Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Sie gab ihr Debüt an der Berliner Staatsoper Unter den Linden als Erste Norn in der Götterdämmerung. Weitere Wagnerpartien waren u.a. Grimgerde (Die Walküre) an der Opéra National de Paris und Schwertleite, ebenfalls in der Walküre, am Opernhaus Zürich. Im Sommer 2021 sang sie unter der Leitung von Franz Welser-Möst als Zweite Magd (Elektra) erstmals bei den Salzburger Festspielen und kehrte im Sommer darauf als Dritte Dame in einer Neuproduktion von Die Zauberflöte dorthin zurück. 2024 debütierte sie als Erste Magd in Christof Loys Neuproduktion von Elektra am Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, und als Erste Norn bei den Bayreuther Festspielen. Aussserdem trat sie mit dem Sydney Symphony Orchestra als Erda in einer konzertanten Aufführung von Das Rheingold unter der Leitung von Simone Young auf – eine Rolle, die sie in der Spielzeit 2024/25 zurück an die Wiener Staatsoper führt.

The Tunisian mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb was a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program, where she appeared as Zulma ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Laura ("Luisa Miller"), and Lola ("Cavalleria rusticana"). As a guest, she returned to the Met as Zerlina ("Don Giovanni") and Maddalena ("Rigoletto"). Her repertoire includes roles such as Dorabella ("Così fan tutte"), Charlotte ("Werther"), Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Fenena ("Nabucco"), Kasturbai (Philip Glass’ "Satyagraha"), and the title role in "Carmen." She also appeared in the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s "The Phoenix" at the Houston Grand Opera, performed Claire in the world premiere of "Melancholia" at the Kungliga Operan in Sweden, and sang "La Mère Meryem" in the world premiere of Christian Jost’s "Voyage vers l’Espoir" at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She has made guest appearances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, the Oper Amsterdam, the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, the Canadian Opera Company, the Glyndebourne Festival, and the BBC Proms. In the 2025/26 season, she will make her debut as Nefertiti ("Akhnaten") at the Liceu Barcelona, as Carmen at the Montreal Opera, and as Charlotte at the Teatro Cervantes de Málaga. At the Bayerische Staatsoper, she will sing Maddalena ("Rigoletto") and at the Atlanta Opera, Cherubino ("Le nozze di Figaro"). On the concert stage, she can be heard in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Ravel’s "L’Enfant et les Sortilèges" with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona, and Schumann’s "Das Paradies und die Peri" with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

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.

Die junge Norwegerin Lise Davidsen findet seit ihrem Doppelgewinn des Operalia-Gesangswettbewerbs in London und des norwegischen Königin-Sonja-Musikwettbewerbs 2015 internationale Beachtung. Ab 2010 studierte sie Gesang an der Grieg Academy of Music in Bergen und an der Opera Academy in Kopenhagen. Dort war sie seit 2012/13 am Königlichen Opernhaus u.a. als Dackel / Eule (Das schlaue Füchslein), Emilia (Otello) und Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) zu erleben. Die dramatische Sopranistin begann die Spielzeit 2015/16 mit einem konzertanten Engagement als Freia (Das Rheingold) mit dem Odense Symphony Orchestra unter Alexander Vedernikov und ihrem Debüt als Ortlinde (Die Walküre) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München. Konzerte führten Lise Davidsen u.a. für Verdis Requiem an die Berliner Philharmonie, mit dem Norwegischen Radio Orchester an die Kirsten Flagstad Hall sowie für Vier letzte Lieder an die Filarmonia George Enescu in Bukarest. Im Mai 2016 gab sie an der Seite von Helmut Deutsch einen Liederabend in Bergen und anschliessend ihr Hausdebüt an der Oper Frankfurt als Freia und Dritte Norn. Beim Glyndebourne Festival, in Aix-en-Provence und an der Wiener Staatsoper sang sie jüngst die Titelpartie in Ariadne auf Naxos. Am Royal Opera House in London war sie 2018 als Freia, Ortlinde, 3. Norn und als Solistin in Verdis Requiem zu hören und in Zürich war sie zuletzt als Agathe in Der Freischütz zu erleben.

Jasmin Delfs, born in Eutin, received her vocal training at the Lübeck University of Music. Her repertoire includes roles such as Blonde (including at La Scala in Milan), Queen of the Night (at the Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart State Operas), Marzelline ("Fidelio") and Susanna ("Le nozze di Figaro"). She is a four-time prizewinner of the Maritim Competition, was awarded the Under 25 Prize at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino in 2021 and won third prize as well as a special prize at the International Pietro Antonio Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera. In 2022, she took part in the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival. From 2021 to 2023, she was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, where she sang roles including Papagena, Najade ("Ariadne auf Naxos") and Vespina ("L’infedeltà delusa"). She has also appeared as a guest at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, Isarphilharmonie Munich, Berlin Philharmonie and Laeiszhalle Hamburg. In concert, she has performed under Kirill Petrenko at the Bavarian State Opera in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, among other works, as well as in Schoenberg’s "Jakobsleiter" at the Berlin Philharmonie, also under Petrenko. Since the 2024/25 season, she has been a member of the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden, where she has already appeared in "Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen", "Das Kind und die Zauberdinge", in "Saul", as Queen of the Night, Marzelline ("Fidelio") and Adele ("Die Fledermaus"). As part of the Semper Opera Ball 2025, she was awarded the Chorus Award "Newcomer". At the Salzburg Festival 2026, she sang Najade in "Ariadne auf Naxos". Future projects include her return to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and to Theater an der Wien.

Karine Deshayes wurde nach ihrer musikalischen Ausbildung bei Mireille Alcantara und Régine Crespin Mitglied der Opéra National de Lyon, wo sie u.a. als Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) und als Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) zu hören war. Regel­mässig gastiert sie an der Opéra national de Paris und sang dort bisher u. a. die Titel­partie in Monteverdis L’in­coronazione di Poppea, Sesto (Giulio Cesare), Romeo (I Capuleti e I Montecchi) Cherubino, Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Angelina (La Cenerentola) und Elena (La donna del Lago). Ausserdem gab sie an dem Haus ihre Rollendebüts als Carmen und als Charlotte in Werther. Sie gastierte an der San Francisco Opera als Angelina (La Cenerentola), an der New Yorker Met als Siebel in Faust, als Isolier in Le Comte Ory, als Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann und als Stephano in Roméo et Juliette, bei den Salzburger Festspielen als Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte, am Teatro Real de Madrid als Adalgisa (Norma) und als Angelina, in Marseille als Romeo, in Brüssel als Marie de l’Incarnation (Dialogues des Carmélites) und beim Festival de Radio France als Elvira (I Puritani). In der Spielzeit 2019/20 sang sie Adalgisa am Théâtre du Capitole in Toulou­se, Angelina in Liège, Marguerite in einer konzertanten Aufführung von La Damnation de Faust in der Cité de la Musique in Paris, gab einem Liederabend an der Opéra National de Bordeaux und sang die Titelrolle in Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra beim Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. Bereits zum dritten Mal wurde Karine Deshayes 2020 bei den Victoires de la Musique Awards als Lyric Artist of the Year ausgezeichnet.

Sabine Devieilhe arbeitete bereits während ihres Studiums am Consérvatoire National Supérieure in Paris mit dem Ensemble Pygmalion unter Raphaël Pichon sowie mit Les Cris de Paris unter Geoffroy Jourdain und konzertierte u.a. mit dem Orchestre de Paris, Les Arts Florissant und Les Musiciens du Louvre. Kurz nach ihrem Abschluss wurde sie bei den 20èmes Victoires de la Musique als «Révélation Artiste Lyrique» ausgezeichnet und 2015 als als «Artiste Lyrique de l’Année» bei den Victoires de la Musique. Seither gastiert Sabine Devieilhe an den renommiertesten Opern- und Konzerthäusern. Ihre Debüt-CD mit Rameau-Arien wurde mehrfach ausgezeichnet, u.a. mit einem Diapason d’Or. In der Saison 2020/21 präsentierte sie ihr neues Album Chanson d’Amour mit Liedern von Fauré, Debussy, Ravel und Poulenc auf einer Tournee mit Alexandre Tharaud u.a. an der Monnaie in Brüssel, am Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, am Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, an der Berliner Philharmonie, der Mailänder Scala und am Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. Auf der Opernbühne sang sie jüngst die Königin der Nacht an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München und an der Pariser Opéra, Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) an der Wiener Staatsoper, Morgana (Alcina) an der Opéra in Paris, Ophélie (Hamlet) an der Opéra-Comique in Paris, Lakmé am Teatro Real de Madrid, Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) am Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Ilia (Idomeneo) und Euridyce (Orphée et Eurydice)  am Festival d’Aix-en-Provence sowie Constance (Dialogues des carmélites) an der Met in New York

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.

Julie Fuchs, französische Sopranistin, studierte Violine und Schauspiel in Avignon sowie Gesang am CNSM in Paris. Von 2013 bis 2015 gehörte sie zum Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich und kehrt seither immer wieder nach Zürich zurück. Hier sang sie u.a. Morgana (Alcina), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Rosane (La verità in cimento), Contessa di Folleville (Il viaggio a Reims), Fiorilla (Il turco in Italia), Norina (Don Pasquale) sowie die Titelrolle in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Sie wurde dreimal bei den Victoires de la Musique ausgezeichnet und ist Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In jüngster Zeit war sie als Marie (La Fille du régiment) in Wien zu hören, als Fiorilla in Neapel, als Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) in Amsterdam, als Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles) am Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, als Giunia (Lucio Silla) und Gilda (Rigoletto) in Madrid, als Musetta (La bohème) in München, als La Folie (Platée), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) und Nannetta (Falstaff) an der Opéra de Paris, als Susanna beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, als Mélisande und Poppea in Barcelona, als Partenope in San Francisco, als Micaëla (Carmen) in Gstaad, als Adèle (Le comte Ory) an der Opéra Comique, in Versailles und in Pesaro sowie auf Tournee mit Marc Minkowski und Les Musiciens du Louvre als Aspasia (Mitridate). 2024/25 kehrt sie als Marie an die Opéra de Paris und als Susanna an die Bayerische Staatsoper zurück. Ausserdem singt sie La Stronatrilla (L’Opera Seria) an der Mailänder Scala und Cleopatra am Liceu in Barcelona. Ihr drittes Soloalbum, Amadè, ist 2022 bei Sony erschienen.

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 Armenian soprano Juliana Grigoryan completed her studies at the State Conservatory in Yerevan and is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She is the winner of both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2022 Operalia Competition, as well as First Prize at the International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition, where she also received the Marcella Sembrich Kochańska Award. In 2024, she was awarded the Hildegard Behrens Prize. She has appeared at major opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, and the Arena di Verona. In the 2023/24 season, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Liù in "Turandot" and sang Mimì in "La bohème" at the Arena di Verona as well as at the Caracalla Festival. Other highlights include appearances at the Ravenna Festival under Riccardo Muti, a gala concert at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Mozart’s "Requiem" at La Scala in Milan. Most recently, she appeared as a soloist alongside Andrea Bocelli on a European tour and made her debut as Violetta in "La traviata" at the Royal Opera House Muscat. In the 2025/26 season, she will be heard among others as Mimì at the Metropolitan Opera as well as in London and Munich.

Erika Grimaldi, geboren in Asti, studierte Gesang und Klavier am Konservatorium «Giuseppe Verdi» in Turin. Sie gab ihr Bühnendebüt als Serpina in Pergolesis La serva padrona und gewann in den folgenden Jahren mehrere renommierte Wettbewerbe, darunter der «Concorso Lirico Internazionale» in Orvieto. Sie trat an Opernhäusern wie der Mailänder Scala, dem Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, dem Teatro Regio in Turin, dem Teatro di San Carlo in Neapel, der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München, der Deutschen Oper in Berlin und der San Francisco Opera auf. Zu ihren jüngsten Erfolgen gehören Mimì (La bohème), Aida und Manon Lescaut in Turin, Leonora (La forza del destino) in Bologna, Tosca als Rollendebüt in Las Palmas und anschliessend in Parma sowie beim Puccini-Festival in Torre del Lago, Lady Macbeth in Seoul, Leonora (Il trovatore) in Auckland und Desdemona (Otello) in Washington. Im Konzertbereich sang sie Verdis Messa da Requiem mit dem Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prag, Rossinis Stabat Mater am Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Mozarts Requiem in Granada und Beethovens 9. Sinfonie auf einer Tournee in Alicante, Madrid, Barcelona und Zaragoza. Am Opernhaus Zürich debütierte sie als Maddalena in einer konzertanten Aufführung von Andrea Chénier. Zu ihre zukünftigen Engagements gehören Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro) an der Welsh National Opera, Alice Ford (Falstaff) in Genua, Abigaille (Nabucco) in Bonn sowie ihr Rollendebüt als Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) in Santiago de Chile. In Washington wird sie ausserdem unter Gianandrea Noseda in Beethovens Missa solemnis zu hören sein.

The French-American soprano Sandra Hamaoui studied at the San Francisco Conservatory and the Juilliard School in New York. She is a prizewinner of numerous competitions; among other things, she was a semifinalist in 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. While still a student, she sang the title role in Gounod’s "Roméo et Juliette" with the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute and 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 of Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she sang, among other roles, Ninetta in "Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen" and Pamina in "Die Zauberflöte". As a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House, she appeared, among other roles, as Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro", Gilda in "Rigoletto", Nanetta in "Falstaff", Gretel in "Hänsel und Gretel" and Lisette in "La rondine". Her most recent engagements include her role debuts as Sophie in Massenet’s "Werther" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and as Sœur Constance in Poulenc’s "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. In the 2025/26 season, she returned to Zurich Opera House as Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro" and sang Adina in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore" at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. In the 2026/27 season, she makes her debut as Sophie at the Opéra national de Paris and the Vienna State Opera.

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".

The Australian soprano Kiandra Howarth studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of the Griffith University and at the Mozarteum Salzburg, and was a member of the Young Artist Program of Opera Australia, the Salzburg Festival, and the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London. Since then, she has sung the major roles of her repertoire at numerous international opera houses and festivals. Highlights include Donna Anna (“Don Giovanni”) in Basel, Luxembourg, Guangzhou, and Nancy; Pamina and First Lady (“The Magic Flute”) at the Bavarian State Opera, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and the Royal Opera House; Dorotka (“Schwanda the Bagpiper”) at the Komische Oper Berlin; Freia (“Das Rheingold”) at the Zurich Opera House and the Royal Opera House; as well as appearances in “7 Deaths of Maria Callas” at the Bavarian State Opera. Since 2021, she has been a permanent ensemble member of the Staatsoper Hannover, where she has performed roles such as Fiordiligi (“Così fan tutte”), Desdemona (“Otello”), the Countess (“Le nozze di Figaro”), Alcina, Mimì (“La bohème”), Madame Lidoine (“Dialogues des Carmélites”), and Rusalka. In the 2023/24 season, she returned as Freia at both the Royal Opera House and in Zurich. She also made her house debuts as Desdemona at Oper Leipzig and as Magda (“La rondine”) with Victorian Opera. Most recently, she made her role debut as Arabella at Bühnen Bern and as the Marschallin in “Der Rosenkavalier” at the Staatsoper Hannover. In the 2025/26 season, further important debuts will follow: Manon Lescaut at Bühnen Bern, as well as Liù (“Turandot”) and Marietta (“Die tote Stadt”) at the Staatsoper Hannover.

Sophie Hunger (*1983 in Bern) is a Swiss musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, film composer, and author. She grew up in Switzerland, Germany, and England and lives in Berlin. Her international debut "Monday’s Ghost" (2008) reached number 1 on the Swiss album charts. This was followed by the albums "1983" (2010), "The Danger of Light" (2012), the live album "The Rules of Fire" (2013), "Supermoon" (2015), "Molecules" (2018), and "Halluzinationen" (2020), recorded at the Abbey Road Studios and characterized by a radically direct live recording approach. Sophie Hunger was the first Swiss artist to perform at the Glastonbury Festival and has played internationally on renowned stages and festivals. For her musical work, she received, among others, the Swiss Award and the Prix de la Création Musicale. As a film composer, she was nominated for a César Award for the soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated animated film "Ma Vie de Courgette". In 2025, she published her debut novel "Walzer für Niemand" with Kiepenheuer & Witsch, for which she was awarded the Rauris Literature Prize in 2026. With over 250,000 records sold and a multilingual, stylistically open body of work, Sophie Hunger is one of the defining artists of contemporary Europe.

Ermonela Jaho was born in Albania and studied voice at the Conservatory of Tirana and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Her repertoire includes Violetta, Cio-Cio-San, Suor Angelica, Adriana Lecouvreur, Anna Bolena, Thaïs and Luisa Miller, among others – roles in which she has appeared at houses including the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Opéra national de Paris, the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Arena di Verona. She recently won the International Classical Music Award for vocal music and was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. She was also named Artist of the Year at the 2023 International Classical Music Awards, Best Singer at the German Oper! Awards 2024 and Best Foreign Artist at the Spanish Opera XXI Awards 2024. She is an Artist Ambassador for Opera Rara and Opera for Peace and a member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania. Most recently, under the Opera Rara label, she released a recording of Puccini’s "La rondine" as well as two albums of French and Italian songs by Donizetti in 2024. In the 2025/26 season, she made her role debut as Iris in Mascagni’s opera of the same name at the Teatro Real Madrid and appeared as Violetta at the Royal Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and the Rome Opera. After more than 300 performances, she thus bid farewell to the role of Violetta. She returns to Zurich Opera House in the 2026/27 season in the role of Magda in Puccini’s "La rondine".

Sara Jakubiak studied voice at Yale University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2007, she received the Judith Raskin Memorial Award, presented by the Santa Fe Opera. From 2014 to 2018, she was a member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt. In 2018, she sang Heliane in Christof Loy’s production of Korngold’s "Das Wunder der Heliane" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Guest engagements have also taken her to the Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, Opera Graz, Vienna State Opera, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, Palau des Arts in Valencia, Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Opéra de Lyon, English National Opera, New York City Opera, and the Salzburg Festival. Her repertoire includes roles such as Elsa von Brabant ("Lohengrin"), Agathe ("Der Freischütz"), Polina ("The Gambler"), Alice Ford ("Falstaff"), Marie ("Wozzeck"), Tatiana ("Eugene Onegin"), the Empress ("The Woman Without a Shadow"), Marie/Marietta ("Die tote Stadt"), Rosalinde ("Die Fledermaus"), Ellen Orford ("Peter Grimes"), Marta ("Die Passagierin"), as well as the title roles in "Ariadne auf Naxos", "Daphne", and "Francesca da Rimini". In 2025/26, she made her debut at La Scala in Milan for the season opening as Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk under Riccardo Chailly. Other major engagements of that season include Elsa at Oper Frankfurt, her first performance of the "Wesendonck Lieder" with Fabio Luisi and the Danish Symphony Orchestra, and her debut as Isolde under Antonio Pappano with the London Symphony Orchestra.

The German soprano Anja Kampe is one of the leading singers in her field. With role portrayals such as Brünnhilde in "Der Ring des Nibelungen" at the Berlin State Opera and the Vienna State Opera, Kundry at the Vienna State Opera and the Opéra national de Paris, Sieglinde at the Bayreuth Festival, Isolde at the Berlin State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, as well as Marie in "Wozzeck" at the Vienna State Opera and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, she has set standards. In the 2025/26 season, she can be seen as Brünnhilde in "Der Ring of the Nibelungen", as Marie in "Wozzeck" and as Ortrud in "Lohengrin" at the Berlin State Opera. At the Hamburg State Opera, she takes on the title role in "Ariadne auf Naxos", and at the Vienna State Opera she can also be heard as Ariadne. At the Wagner Days in Budapest, she sings Kundry in "Parsifal". Concert engagements take her, among others, to the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and to Radio France Montpellier. Highlights of past seasons include Isolde at the San Francisco Opera, her role debut as Ariadne in Hamburg, Ortrud at the Semperoper Dresden and at the Munich Opera Festival, Brünnhilde in Sydney and Berlin, her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Senta in "Der fliegende Holländer", as well as new productions of "La fanciulla del West", "Tristan und Isolde" and "Parsifal". Her repertoire also includes roles such as Senta, Leonore, Lisa, Jenůfa, Carlotta and Tosca. She has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Philippe Jordan, Christian Thielemann, Sir Simon Rattle and Simone Young.

Alisa Kolosova, russische Mezzosopranistin, war Mitglied des Atelier Lyrique an der Opéra National de Paris und des Young Singers Program der Salzburger Festspiele. Von 2011 bis 2014 war sie Ensemblemitglied der Wiener Staatsoper, wo sie als Polina (Pique Dame), Olga (Eugen Onegin), Fenena (Nabucco), Annio (La clemenza di Tito) und Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) zu hören war. Ausserdem sang sie an weiteren renommierten Opern- und Konzerthäusern, wie der Opéra National de Paris, der Mailänder Scala, der Bayerischen Staatsoper, der Wiener Staatsoper, dem Concertgebouw Amsterdam, dem Kennedy Center Washington, der Carnegie Hall in New York sowie an den Salzburger Festspielen und dem Glyndebourne Festival. Sie arbeitete mit Dirigent:innen wie Riccardo Muti, Ivor Bolton, Vasily Petrenko, Andris Nelsons, Gianandrea Noseda, William Christie, Marin Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis und Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Zu ihrem Repertoire gehören u.a. Neris (Medea), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Samaritana (Zandonais Francesca da Rimini), Isoletta (La straniera), Federica (Luisa Miller), Dalila (Samson et Dalila) und die Titelrolle von Carmen. Zu ihren Höhepunkten im Konzertbereich gehören Schuberts Messe in Es-Dur unter Riccardo Muti bei den Salzburger Festspielen, Skrjabins 1. Sinfonie und Prokofiews Alexander Newski in der Carnegie Hall mit dem Chicago Symphony Orchestra unter Riccardo Muti sowie Beethovens 9. Sinfonie mit dem Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France unter Mikko Franck. Jüngst gab sie u.a. ihr Rollendebüt als Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) in Palma de Mallorca und sang Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper.

Katharina Konradi stammt aus Kirgistan. Ihre musikalische Ausbildung erhielt sie in Berlin und München. Nachdem sie zu Beginn ihrer Karriere drei Jahre am Hessischen Staatstheater in Wiesbaden unter Vertrag gestanden hatte, gab sie 2018 ihr Debut als Ännchen (Der Freischütz) an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper und ist dem Haus seit dieser Zeit als festes Ensemblemitglied verbunden. In jüngster Zeit war sie als Woglinde (Das Rheingold) am Royal Opera House London, als Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) an der Wiener Staatsoper, als Adele (Die Fledermaus) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper, sowie als Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) und als Adina (L’elisir d’amore) an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper zu erleben. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt ihrer Tätigkeit liegt auf diversen Konzertprojekten, die sie unter Dirigenten wie Thomas Hengelbrock, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Kent Nagano und Gustavo Dudamel gesungen hat. Sie gibt ausserdem regelmässig Liederabende, etwa bei der Schubertíada in Vilabertran, der Schubertiade in Hohenems/Schwarzenberg, der Wigmore Hall in London, dem Palau de la Musica in Barcelona oder beim Festival de Granada. Zuletzt erschienen u.a. ihre Alben Echoes (zusammen mit Catriona Morison), Solitude mit Werken von Hugo Wolf, Robert Schumann u.a. sowie Insomnia mit Liedern von Franz Schubert. Am Opernhaus Zürich war sie zuletzt als Valencienne (Die lustige Witwe) zu erleben. In der Saison 2024/25 ist sie als Adele in München zu erleben, gibt an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper ihr Debüt als Gilda (Rigoletto) und singt in Beethovens 9. Sinfonie mit den Berliner Philharmonikern unter Kirill Petrenko.

Claudia Mahnke studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden. From 1996 to 2006, she was a member of the ensemble at the Stuttgart State Opera, where she appeared, among others, in the title role of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s "Simplicius Simplicissimus". In 2013, she made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Fricka, Waltraute and Second Norn in a new "Ring" cycle under Kirill Petrenko. Since the 2006/07 season, she has been a member of the ensemble at the Frankfurt Opera. Her most recent roles there include, among others, Herodias in "Salome", the Foreign Princess in "Rusalka", Marie in "Wozzeck", Sélika in Meyerbeer’s "L’Africaine", Charlotte in "Werther", Lucretia in "The Rape of Lucretia", Dido in "Les Troyens", Concepción in "L’Heure espagnole", Judith in "Herzog Blaubarts Burg" and Marguerite in "La damnation de Faust". Recent highlights include her role debut as Countess Geschwitz in "Lulu" and as Giselle in Magnard’s "Guercœur" at the Frankfurt Opera, her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Magdalene in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" under Antonio Pappano, Herodias at the Vienna State Opera and the Hamburg State Opera, Fricka at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, as well as her acclaimed debuts as Amneris in "Aida" and Mère Marie in "Dialogues des Carmélites". She holds the honorary titles of Kammersängerin of the Stuttgart State Opera and the Frankfurt Opera.

The soprano Marie Maidowski, born in Berlin, studied voice and music theatre at the Berlin University of the Arts as well as concert singing at the University of Music and Theatre Munich. She gained Stage experience, among others, at the Staatstheater Cottbus, the Philharmonie Luxembourg as well as at the Kammeroper Munich. Her repertoire includes roles such as Barbarina ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Silvia (Haydn's "L’isola disabitata"), Papagena ("Die Zauberflöte"), Lovis (Leonard Evers’ "Der Baumgeist") as well as the nurse (Xavier Dayer’s "Alzheim"). In 2024 she made her debut at the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival in the title role of Carl Orff's "Die Kluge". From 2024 to 2026 she was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Hamburg State Opera. There she was seen, among others, as Echo ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Papagena ("Die Zauberflöte"), Gretel ("Hänsel und Gretel"), trainbearer ("Elektra") as well as in the world premiere "Die grosse Stille". She will also debut in summer 2026 at the Staatstheater Braunschweig as Ännchen ("Der Freischütz"). Marie Maidowski is a scholarship holder of the Cusanuswerk, the German Stage Association and prizewinner of the Dr.-Wilhelm-Oberdörffer Prize of the Hamburg Opera Foundation. In the 2026/27 season she will debut at the Zurich Opera House in the title role in "Alice im Wunderland".

The French soprano Alexandra Marcellier began her musical training at the age of six with the violin before turning to singing at 19. She studied at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux. In 2015, she won the Prix Jeune Espoir at the International Competition of the Amis du Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. Her victory at the Osaka Competition in 2017 led to a gala concert at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2023, she was awarded "Révélation: artiste lyrique" at the Victoires de la Musique Classique. She sang Vitellia in Mozart’s "La clemenza di Tito" on a European tour with Les Musiciens du Prince and Cecilia Bartoli and made her highly acclaimed debut as Vitellia at the Salzburg Festival in 2024. Shortly afterwards, she took on the role of Cio-Cio-San in the final performance of "Madama Butterfly" at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. For the same role at the Opéra de Marseille, she was celebrated by both press and audience. In 2025, she debuted as Blanche de la Force in "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia and as Nedda in "Pagliacci" at the Opéra de Saint-Étienne. Her repertoire also includes Micaëla in "Carmen", Alice Ford in "Falstaff", and Eurydice in "Orphée et Eurydice".

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.

The soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė studied voice at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre as well as in Leipzig. Between 2005 and 2007, she was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House and appeared at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as well as at Theater Basel. This was followed by ensemble memberships at the Staatsoper Hamburg from 2008 to 2010 and at the Staatstheater Mainz from 2011 to 2020, where she appeared, among others, as Elettra in "Idomeneo," Tatiana in "Eugen Onegin," Violetta Valéry in "La traviata," Eva in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg," Marguerite in "Faust," Mimì in "La bohème," and Elisabeth in "Don Carlo." She made her role debut as Elsa in "Lohengrin" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and made her debut at the Victorian Opera in Melbourne as Salome, for which she was awarded the Green Room Award for Best Leading Actress. Further guest engagements took her to the Vienna State Opera, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Oper Frankfurt, the Latvian National Opera, and the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. Most recently, she performed "Die tote Stadt" at the Dvořák Festival in Prague, at the Bavarian State Opera, and in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s new production at the Zurich Opera House. Other highlights included the title role in "Salome" at the Vienna State Opera, the Finnish National Opera, and the Staatsoper Hamburg, her debuts at the Bayreuth Festival and at the Santa Fe Opera as Sieglinde in "Die Walküre," as well as her role debut as the Countess in "Capriccio" at the Victorian Opera in Melbourne. In the concert field, she performed "Die Walküre" at the Sydney Opera House as well as Wolfgang Rihm’s "Das Gehege" with the Berlin Philharmonic, both under the direction of Simone Young.

Marina Monzó was born in Valencia, where she studied flute and singing. In 2016, she made her debut in the title role of "La sonnambula" at the Bilbao Opera and became a member of the Accademia Rossiniana. Since then, she has regularly appeared at the Rossini Opera Festival. She has sung roles including Gilda ("Rigoletto") and Oscar ("Un ballo in maschera") at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Queen of the Night ("The Magic Flute") at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, Gilda and Contessa Folleville ("Il viaggio a Reims") at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zerlina ("Don Giovanni"), Dircé ("Medea") and Ismene ("Mitridate") at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Norina ("Don Pasquale") and Giulietta ("I Capuleti e i Montecchi") at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Giulia ("La scala di seta") and Berenice ("L’occasione fa il ladro") at the Royal Opera House Muscat, Norina and Adina ("L’elisir d’amore") at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Despina ("Così fan tutte"), Musetta ("La bohème"), Oscar and Lauretta ("Gianni Schicchi") at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, Countess Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro") at the Santa Fe Opera, as well as at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in "Doña Francisquita" and "Marina". In the 2025/26 season, she will perform in the title role of "Benamor" at the Theater an der Wien, as Cleopatra ("Giulio Cesare") at the Palau de les Arts, as Norina at the Teatro Bellini in Catania, as Zerlina at the Teatro de la Maestranza, as Adina at the Liceu Barcelona and the Bavarian State Opera, as Musetta at the Royal Opera House London and at the San Carlo in Naples, as Gilda at the Semperoper Dresden, and as Nannetta ("Falstaff") at the Opera Rome. In 2022, she was awarded Best Young Singer at the Ópera XXI Award and Best Young Artist at the Ópera Actual Award.

The Swiss mezzo-soprano Lara Morger completed her vocal studies at the Bern University of the Arts with Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, graduating with distinction. She received further artistic inspiration from Christiane Iven and Brigitte Fassbaender. In 2024, she became the first Swiss singer to win both first prize and the audience prize at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig. Her wide-ranging repertoire, spanning from early Baroque to contemporary music, has already brought her to Europe’s major concert halls under the direction of renowned conductors such as Jordi Savall, Christoph Prégardien, and Kristian Sallinen, as well as to ensembles including lautten compagney Berlin and the Bern Symphony Orchestra. In opera, she sang, among other roles, the title role in Handel’s "Alessandro" at the E.T.A. Hoffmann Theater in Bamberg in 2022 under the direction of Gottfried von der Goltz. In 2025, she gave her critically acclaimed debut at the Salzburg Mozart Week.

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.

Christina Nilsson completed her vocal studies at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. The multiple award-winning soprano – including prizewinner at the Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition (2017) and the Operalia Competition (2019) – was appointed Hovsångerska by King 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 in Stockholm, where she subsequently performed numerous major roles such as Tosca, Ariadne and Countess Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro"). She has appeared as a guest at international opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Frankfurt. Recent highlights include her debuts at the Bayreuth Festival as Freia ("Das Rheingold") and 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 in Stockholm, as well as Elisabeth in "Tannhäuser" and Aida at Oper Frankfurt. Other important engagements include Rosalinde ("Die Fledermaus") at the Bavarian State Opera and Aida at the Royal Opera House and the Semperoper Dresden. On the concert platform, she recently sang Schoenberg’s "Gurrelieder" under Alan Gilbert with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Verdi’s Requiem under Andrés Orozco-Estrada with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Alan Gilbert with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. At Zurich Opera House, she will once again appear as Elisabeth in "Tannhäuser" in the 2026/27 season.

Born in Vaasa, Finland, Camilla Nylund is one of the most sought-after lyric-dramatic sopranos on the international stage. She studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg, was a member of the ensemble at the Staatsoper Hannover from 1995 to 1999 and a member of the ensemble of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden from 1999 to 2001. Guest engagements have taken her, among other places, to Teatro alla Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna, Hamburg, Munich and Berlin State Operas, the New National Theatre Tokyo, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, the Royal Opera House London, the Opéra Bastille, Bayreuth and 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 Deutsche Oper am Rhein Marie in "Wozzeck", and at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Jenůfa. Alongside her operatic work, she is a regular guest at the world’s major concert halls. She has received numerous awards, including the titles of Sächsische and Österreichische Kammersängerin, the European Culture Prize, the Lotte Lehmann Memorial Ring and the Austrian Music Theatre Award. At Zurich Opera House, she gave a song recital in December 2025 and returns in the 2026/27 season as Rosalinde in "Die Fledermaus" and as Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre".

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").

Nadezhda Pavlova stammt aus Russland und ist seit der Saison 2012/13 Ensemblemitglied am Opernhaus in Perm. Sie erhielt 2017 den russischen Theaterpreis die Goldene Maske für ihre Darstellung der Violetta in Robert Wilsons Inszenierung von La traviata unter der musikalischen Leitung von Teodor Currentzis. Ihr Repertoire umfasst u. a. die Titelrolle in Lucia di Lammermoor, Mozarts Donna Anna, Gräfin Almaviva, Fiordiligi und Konstanze, Marfa (Die Zarenbraut), Micaëla (Carmen), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Musetta (La bohème), Gilda (Rigoletto), Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Sœur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites), Cunegonde (Candide) und Marta in Weinbergs Die Passagierin. Engagements führten sie an bedeutende europäische Opern- und Konzerthäuser, u. a. an das Bolschoi-Theater in Moskau, die Elbphilharmonie und die Staatsoper Hamburg, die Kölner Philharmonie, das Konzerthaus Dortmund und das Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg. 2019 gab sie als Donna Anna und Fiordiligi in konzertanten Aufführungen unter Teodor Currentzis ihre Debüts beim Lucerne Festival und im Wiener Konzerthaus. 2020 gastierte sie als Wolchowa in Rimski-Korsakows Sadko am Moskauer Bolschoi-Theater und wurde mit dem russischen Casta-Diva-Preis ausgezeichnet. In der Spielzeit 2021/22 sang sie bei den Salzburger Festspielen Donna Anna in Romeo Castelluccis Inszenierung von Don Giovanni, Violetta am Bolshoi in Moskau und Gilda an der Staatsoper in Hamburg. 2022/23 ist sie als Solistin in Schostakowitschs Symphonie Nr. 14 und in einer konzertanten Aufführung von Dido und Aeneas bei den Salzburger Festspielen zu hören sowie in einem Konzert mit Werken von Ravel und Strawinsky im Wiener Konzerthaus und als Konstanze an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München.

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 ("Il turco in Italia") and as Giulia ("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.

Mélissa Petit wurde in Saint-Raphaël (Südfrankreich) geboren und studierte am Konservatorium in Saint-Raphaël. 2009 gewann sie den 2. Preis des «Concorso Musica Sacra di Roma», später den 1. Preis beim Nationalen Wettbewerb in Béziers. 2013 gewann sie den 3. Preis der «Queen Sonja Competition» in Oslo. 2010-2013 war sie Mitglied des Internationalen Opernstudios in Hamburg. 2014 sang sie die Edilia in Händels Almira in einer Koproduktion der Hamburgischen Staatsoper mit dem Festival für Alte Musik in Innsbruck. Während der Spielzeit 2014/15 war sie u.a. an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper als Schwester Constance in Dialo­gues des Carmélites von Poulenc zu erleben. Ausserdem sang sie dort Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, Papagena in der Zauberflöte, Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, Clorinda in La Cenerentola und die Titelrolle in Die unglückselige Cleopatra von Mattheson. Ab der Spielzeit 2015/16 gehörte Mélissa Petit zum Ensemble des Zürcher Opernhauses und war hier u.a. als Madame Silberklang (Der Schauspieldirektor), Philidel (King Arthur), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Sophie (Werther), Créuse (Médée), Eurilla (Haydns Orlando paladino), Marzelline (Fidelio), Johanna Barker (Sweeney Todd) und Aricie (Hippolyte et Aricie) zu erleben. In der Saison 2015/16 debütierte sie ausserdem an der Opéra Bastille in Paris als Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore), 2017 als Micaëla (Carmen) bei den Bregenzer Festspielen und 2018 als Juliette in Roméo et Juliette am National Center of Performing Arts in Peking. Im Sommer 2019 sang sie auf der Seebühne der Bregenzer Festspiele zudem Gilda in Rigoletto.

The soprano Anna Piroli is from Cremona, Italy. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in literature, she completed her vocal studies at the Conservatory of Milan and at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana in Lugano. She has received several awards, including the Michiko Hirayama Scholarship of the Fondazione Scelsi (2016), first prize at the San Colombano Competition for Sacred Music in Piacenza (2022), the Fatima Terzo Prize in Vicenza (2023), and a prize at the European Baroque Competition in Sacile (2023). Her recordings have been released by Erato, Arcana, Dynamic, Stradivarius, Tactus, and Alia Vox. Performances have brought Anna Piroli to some of Europe’s leading Baroque ensembles, including Collegium Vocale Gent, Il pomo d’oro, La Cetra Barockorchester, RossoPorpora, La fonte musica, La Compagnia del Madrigale, and Vox Luminis, as well as contemporary music ensembles such as Cantando Admont, Schallfeld Ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, and L’arsenale. Since 2021, she has maintained a close artistic collaboration with Jordi Savall, including concerts with the Capella Reial de Catalunya and the ensemble Hespèrion XXI. She has sung in numerous world premieres, including at the Biennale di Venezia, IRCAM in Paris, the National Opera of Kyiv, the Prague Opera, and the Opéra de Dijon. Recent highlights include Handel’s "Jephta" on a European tour with Il pomo d’oro alongside Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres, Salome in Bononcini’s "La Decollazione di San Giovanni Battista" at the Retz Festival, and Euridice in Monteverdi’s "Orfeo" at the Teatro Fraschini in Pavia, the Wiener Konzerthaus, deSingel in Antwerp, Concertgebouw Brugge, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival.

Marina Prudenskaya wurde in St. Petersburg geboren. Im Anschluss an ihr Gesangstudium hatte sie ihr erstes Engagement am Stanislawskij-Opernhaus in Moskau. 2005-2007 war sie Ensemblemitglied der Deutschen Oper Berlin und 2007 bis 2013 Ensemblemitglied der Oper Stuttgart, wo sie u.a. als Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Amneris (Aida), Adalgisa (Norma), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) sowie als Waltraute (Götterdämmerung) zu hören war. Schwerpunkte ihres heutigen Repertoires sind die Werke von Richard Wagner und Giuseppe Verdi. 2006 gab sie ihr Debüt bei den Bayreuther Festspielen als Flosshilde (Der Ring des Nibelungen) unter Christian Thielemann. 2010 debütierte sie in Das Rheingold unter Daniel Barenboim an der Mailänder Scala. Im gleichen Jahr gab sie ihr Debüt bei den Berliner Philharmonikern mit Verdis Messa da Requiem unter Mariss Jansons. Als Konzertsängerin arbeitet sie regelmässig mit dem Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, den Berliner Philharmonikern und dem Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks zusammen. Seit 2013 ist sie Ensemblemitglied der Staatsoper Unter den Linden und sang dort u.a. Azucena (Il trovatore), Venus (Tannhäuser), Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos), Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) und Ljubascha (Die Zarenbraut). Zu ihren jüngeren Projekten zählen neben ihren zahlreichen Auftritten an der Staatsoper Berlin u. a. Konzerte wie Beethovens Missa solemnis unter Sebastian Weigle, Beethovens 9. Sinfonie in Montpellier unter Christian Arming sowie das Verdi-Requiem mit dem Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin unter Marek Janowski. Zudem gastierte sie als Amneris (Aida) in Valencia, Madrid und Washington, gab ihr Debüt am Royal Opera House Covent Garden als Azucena (Il trovatore), und war in Zürich als Eboli in Don Carlos und im Sommer 2018 als Fricka in Die Walküre bei den Bayreuther Festspielen zu erleben.

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.

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.

Miina-Liisa Värelä, born in Finland, completed her training at the Sibelius Academy and has won prizes at competitions including the ones in Lappeenranta and Belvedere. The soprano has developed a distinctive profile in the German dramatic repertoire and is regarded as a sought-after interpreter of the Dyer’s Wife ("The Woman Without a Shadow"). She most recently sang this role in new productions at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Kirill Petrenko, as well as at the Semperoper Dresden under Christian Thielemann. In the Wagner repertoire, she has appeared as Isolde ("Tristan and Isolde") with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel, as well as at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the BBC Proms under Robin Ticciati. In 2025, she made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Ortrud ("Lohengrin"). Her engagements in recent seasons include Leonore ("Fidelio") at the Canadian Opera Company, Ariadne ("Ariadne auf Naxos") and Ortrud ("Lohengrin") at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Elektra at the Landestheater Linz, as well as the Dyer’s Wife at the Bavarian State Opera, Oper Frankfurt, and at the Verbier Festival. At the Finnish National Opera, she made her debut as Turandot and took on her first Tosca at the Savonlinna Festival. In 2025/26, she sang the role of Brünnhilde ("Die Walküre") in concert for the first time with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding in Rome, as well as Sieglinde ("Die Walküre") with the Orchestre de Paris, also under Daniel Harding. At the Oper Frankfurt, she sings Isolde, in Munich, she performs Brünnhilde in the "Ring" cycle in the production by Tobias Kratzer under Vladimir Jurowski, and at the Bayreuth Festival, she appears as Kundry ("Parsifal") under Pablo Heras-Casado.

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

The coloratura soprano Alina Wunderlin, born in Frankfurt am Main, gained international attention in 2024 as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s "The Magic Flute" at the Glyndebourne Festival. Her repertoire ranges from works of the Renaissance and Baroque to the French and Italian traditions, as well as contemporary music. In the past season, she made her debut as Ännchen ("Der Freischütz") at the Hamburg State Opera and as Morgana ("Alcina") at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz. She also performed as the Queen of the Night at the Komische Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and the Stuttgart State Opera. With Les Musiciens du Louvre, she sang Adele ("Die Fledermaus"), among others, at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Liceu Barcelona, and the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville. In 2025/26, she made her house debut at the Theater an der Wien as Adele in "Die Fledermaus" (director: Stefan Herheim), performed as the Queen of the Night at the Oslo Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, as well as Dorinda in Handel’s "Orlando" with Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski in Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées) and Barcelona (Liceu). In 2026, she will return to Glyndebourne as Zerbinetta in a new production. Her recordings include several CDs of Brahms songs with pianist Ulrich Eisenlohr as well as a CD recording of "Carmina Burana" under Paavo Järvi at the Tonhalle Zurich. She has worked with conductors such as Marc Minkowski, Philippe Herreweghe, Paavo Järvi, Petr Popelka, Rubén Dubrovsky, Konstantin Trinks, and Yoel Gamzou, as well as with directors such as Lydia Steier, Josef E. Köpplinger, Ben Baur, Andreas Kriegenburg, and Peter Konwitschny.

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.

The soprano Slávka Zámečniková initially completed vocal training at the Conservatory in Bratislava and received her master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin in the voice class of Anna Samuil. She attended masterclasses with Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Brigitte Fassbaender, Deborah Polaski, Patricia McCaffrey, Francisco Araiza, Neil Shicoff, Thomas Quasthoff, Gregory Lamar, Luciana D´Intino, Júlia Várady, and Wolfram Rieger. In the 2025/26 season, she can be seen at the Vienna State Opera as Marie in "Die verkaufte Braut", at the Berlin State Opera as Nanetta in "Falstaff", at the Opéra National de Bordeaux with her role debut as Violetta in "La traviata", and at La Scala in Milan as Micaëla in "Carmen". Concert engagements take her, among others, to the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig under Franz Welser-Möst. Highlights of the 2024/25 season included her role debut as Gilda at the Opéra de Paris, as well as performances as Pamina in "Die Zauberflöte" and Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Vienna State Opera. In addition, she sang Ilia in "Idomeneo" at the Theater an der Wien and at the Berlin State Opera. She made her debut at the Semperoper Dresden as Musetta in "La bohème". Important milestones of recent seasons were her role debut as Donna Anna under Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera and the title role in "Poppea" at the State Operas in Vienna and Berlin. At the Vienna State Opera, she has also been celebrated as Donna Anna, Micaëla, Sophie, Norina, Nannetta, and Servilia.

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke studierte an der Wiener Musikhochschule bei Kurt Equiluz und Gerhard Kahry. 1997 debütierte er an der Opéra national de Paris, wo er u.a. als Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte), Capito (Mathis der Maler) und Mime (Der Ring des Nibelungen) zu erleben war. Diese Partie sang er auch an der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Berliner Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Mailänder Scala, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Real, Théatre du Capitole de Toulouse, Canadian Opera Company und De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam. 1999 debütierte er beim Glyndebourne Festival, wo er seither mehr als 130 Vorstellungen gesungen hat (u.a. Hexe in Hänsel und Gretel, Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos, Podestà in La finta giardiniera). Er gastierte bei den Bregenzer Festspielen, beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence und bei den Salzburger Festspielen (Pirzel in Zimmermanns Die Soldaten). Weitere Stationen waren 2013 sein Debüt an der Met als Valzacchi (Der Rosenkavalier) und 2016 an der Royal Opera Covent Garden als Iwan in Schostakowitschs Die Nase. Jüngst sang er die Titelpartie in Offenbachs Blaubart und Pluto (Orpheus in der Unterwelt) an der Komischen Oper Berlin, Aegisth (Elektra) und Herodes (Salome) an der Wiener Staatsoper, Wenzel (Die verkaufte Braut), Franz I. (Kreneks Karl V.), Herodes und Pendereckis  Die Teufel von Loudun an der Bayerischen Staatsoper, den Schäbigen (Lady Macbeth von Mszenk) an der Opéra Bastille, den Hauptmann (Wozzeck), Rheingold-Mime und Herodes in Zürich, Monostatos und Valzacchi in München, Hauptmann in Toulouse, Herodes am Bolshoi-Theater sowie Dallapiccolas Il prigioniero in der Berliner Philharmonie. 2021 wurde er zum Bayerischen Kammersänger ernannt, 2022 zum Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres von Frankreich. Ausserdem erhielt er das österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst.

Ain Anger studied singing at the Music Academy in Tallinn, Estonia. As an ensemble member, he was engaged at the Leipzig Opera and the Vienna State Opera. In 2020, he was appointed Austrian Kammersänger. As a guest artist, he has performed at opera houses in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Barcelona, Dresden, Brussels, Zurich, Milan, Toronto, Houston, San Francisco and New York, as well as at the festivals in Savonlinna, Bayreuth, Salzburg and Lucerne. His repertoire includes roles such as Pogner ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), King Marke ("Tristan und Isolde"), Heinrich the Fowler ("Lohengrin"), Daland ("The Flying Dutchman"), Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia ("Tannhäuser") and Fafner ("Das Rheingold", "Siegfried"), Hunding ("Die Walküre"), Sarastro ("The Magic Flute"), Rocco ("Fidelio"), Philip II and the Grand Inquisitor ("Don Carlo"), Zaccaria ("Nabucco"), Fiesco ("Simon Boccanegra"), René ("Iolanta"), as well as the title role in "Boris Godunov".

Der georgische Bass Shavleg Armasi studierte Gesang in seiner Heimatstadt Tiflis, wo er bereits während seines Studiums als Solist an der Staatlichen Oper engagiert wurde. Anschliessend absolvierte er ein ergänzendes Studium im Opernstudio der Kunstuniversität Graz und wurde im darauffolgenden Jahr Ensemblemitglied der Oper Graz. Er war Finalist beim X. Internationalen Gesangswettbewerb «Ferruccio Tagliavini», Preisträger der internationalen Opernwerkstatt im Schloss Laubach sowie Stipendiat des American Institute of Musical Studies und der Richard Wagner-Stiftung. Seit der Spielzeit 2006/07 ist er Ensemblemitglied der Staatsoper Hannover, wo er u.a. die Partien Filippo II (Don Carlo), Banco (Macbeth), Méphistophélès (Faust), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino), Mefistofele (Boitos Mefistofele), Raimondo Bidebent (Lucia di Lammermoor), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Fasolt (Das Rheingold), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Gremien (Eugen Onegin) und Ramfis (Aida) sowie die Solostimme in Verdis Messa da Requiem sang. Gastengagements führten ihn als Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia) an die Sommerfestspiele Savonlinna, als Boris (Boris Godunow) und Hagen (Götterdämmerung) an das Staatstheater Wiesbaden sowie u.a. an die Opern in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Lissabon, Basel, Hamburg, Tokio und Berlin.

Benjamin Bernheim studied with Gary Magby at the Conservatory in Lausanne and was a member of the International Opera Studio and the ensemble at Zurich Opera House. Today, the French tenor appears at the most prestigious opera houses, including the Opéra national de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Vienna State Opera, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Teatro alla Scala and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. His principal roles include Rodolfo ("La bohème"), Des Grieux ("Manon"), Edgardo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Roméo ("Roméo et Juliette"), Lenski ("Eugen Onegin"), as well as the title roles in "Faust", "Werther" and "Les contes d’Hoffmann". In the 2025/26 season, he returned to Zurich as Des Grieux in "Manon" and appeared as Faust in "La Damnation de Faust" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and as Hoffmann in "Les contes d’Hoffmann" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. In 2024, he performed at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris and at the reopening of Notre-Dame. In 2025, he was named Singer of the Year at the Opus Klassik Awards. His current repertoire is also complemented by song recitals and concert performances. In 2026/27, Bernheim returns to Zurich Opera House as Ruggero in Puccini’s "La rondine".

The baritone Mauro Borgioni studied at the Scuola Civica in Milan, the Conservatory of Cesena, and at the Fondation Royaumont. Projects with conductors such as Jordi Savall, Giovanni Antonini, Ottavio Dantone, and Alessandro De Marchi have brought him to venues including the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Teatro Regio Torino, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, and the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. He has also performed at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Center, and in Beijing. He sang the title role in Monteverdi’s "L’Orfeo" at the Teatro Regio di Torino, at the Monteverdi Festival in Cremona, at the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, at the Opéra Grand Avignon, and again in 2025 with Michele Pasotti and La Fonte Musica on a European tour in Vienna, Antwerp, Bruges, and Utrecht. The title role in "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria" brought him to Rome, Cremona, and Ravenna. He has repeatedly interpreted the role of Testo ("Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda"), including on a recording with La Fonte Musica. Other highlights include Garibaldo ("Rodelinda") at Theater Kiel, Astolfo ("Orlando furioso") and Aquilio ("Farnace") in Ferrara, as well as Aeneas ("Dido and Aeneas") in Palermo and Ravenna. In 2023, he sang the role of Jacob in the world premiere of the opera “The Song of the Ladder” by John Barber at the Teatro Metastasio di Prato. In concert, he has performed masses, cantatas, and oratorios by composers including Monteverdi, Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, and Handel. His discography includes, among others, the album "Venere e Marte" with I musici del Gran Principe, released in 2026.

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.

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.

Der britische Tenor John Daszak gab sein Bühnendebüt an der English National Opera als Števa (Jenůfa) nach seinen Studien an der Londoner Guildhall School of Music and Drama, dem Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester und der Accademia d’Arte Lirica in Osimo. Neben seinem Bayreuther Festspieldebüt 2015 als Loge (Das Rheingold) unter Kirill Petrenko, gab er in vergangener Zeit einige wichtige Rollendebüts; er sang Captain Veres (Billy Budd) an der New Yorker Met, die Titelrolle in Zemlinskys Der Zwerg an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München, Herodes (Salome) am Royal Opera House Covent Garden unter Henrik Nanasi, den Hauptmann in Wozzeck am Theater an der Wien sowie den Tambourmajor (Wozzeck) an der Berliner Staatsoper unter Daniel Barenboim und bei seinem Salzburger Festspieldebüt unter Vladimir Jurowski. Höhepunkte der jüngeren Zeit waren Aron (Moses und Aron) an der Wiener Staatsoper und der Komischen Oper Berlin, Herodes bei den Salzburger Festspielen, Kaufmann in Jakob Lenz beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Tambourmajor am Opera House Sydney und an der Opéra National de Paris sowie Aegisth (Elektra) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper. Konzertant war er mit der NDR Elbphilharmonie unter Thomas Hengelbrock in Honeggers Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher zu erleben. Auf DVD ist John Daszak u.a. in Pfitzners Palestrina unter Simone Young (Bayerische Staatsoper) und in der Inszenierung von La Fura dels Baus von Das Rheingold unter Zubin Mehta (Palau de les Arts in Valencia) zu sehen. In Zürich sang er zuletzt 2018 Alviano Salvago in Die Gezeichneten und 2020 Schuiski in Boris Godunow.

The tenor Bekhzod Davronov comes from Samarkand (Uzbekistan) and studied at the State Conservatory there. He was a member of the opera studio and subsequently an ensemble member at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. In 2021, he won second prize at the Operalia Competition. Recent highlights include Cassio ("Otello") at the Vienna State Opera, Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Prunier ("La rondine") at the Metropolitan Opera New York, Alfredo ("La traviata") at the Santa Fe Opera, Rodolfo at the Prague State Opera and on tour with the Glyndebourne Festival, Anatol Kuragin in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s new production of Prokofiev’s "War and Peace" under Vladimir Jurowski at the Bavarian State Opera, and Aljeja ("From the House of the Dead") at the Ruhrtriennale. In 2024/25, he debuted as Alfredo and Rodolfo at Dallas Opera, sang Edgardo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Rodolfo and Alfredo at the Semperoper Dresden, Duca di Mantova ("Rigoletto") at the Irish National Opera, and made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Leicester ("Maria Stuarda"). In 2025/26, he will make his house debut at the Royal Opera House London as Alfredo and his role and house debut as Roméo ("Roméo et Juliette") at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. He will also return as Edgardo to the Vienna State Opera, as Duca di Mantova and Nemorino ("L’elisir d’amore") to the Bavarian State Opera, and as Rodolfo and Roméo to the Semperoper Dresden.

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.

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.

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").

Magnus Dietrich studied at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, was a member of the Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and is a prizewinner of the German National Singing Competition as well as winner of the Brixen Classics Young Artists Award 2022. Since the 2023/24 season, he has been an ensemble member of the Oper Frankfurt, where he has appeared, among others, as Count Hohenzollern ("The Prince of Homburg"), Emilio ("Partenope"), Leander ("Maskerade"), and in "Der Rosenkavalier". His repertoire ranges from Mozart’s Tamino ("The Magic Flute") and Belmonte ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail") to Wagner’s Steersman ("The Flying Dutchman") and Walther von der Vogelweide ("Tannhäuser") to Strauss’s Leukippos ("Daphne"). Highlights of his career so far include Tamino at Mozart Week Salzburg, at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and at the Semperoper Dresden, Alfred ("Die Fledermaus") under Marc Minkowski at the Musikfest Bremen, as well as Schubert’s "Winterreise" in the choreographed version by Christian Spuck. He made his international debut as Jacquino ("Fidelio") at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His concert engagements include the "St John Passion" with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the "St Matthew Passion" with the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s "Lobgesang", and Mozart’s Requiem with the Munich Symphony Orchestra. In 2025/26, he will sing at Oper Frankfurt, among others, Ferrando in the new production of "Così fan tutte", Pang in "Turandot", and will appear in the double bill "Der Zar lässt sich fotografieren/Die Kluge".

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.

Siberian tenor Alexey Dolgov studied at the State Conservatory of Novosibirsk as well as at the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory. Engagements have taken him to numerous opera houses and festivals worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lucerne Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Scottish Opera, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Opéra de Nice, New Israeli Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Baden-Baden Festival. In concerts, he has performed with Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester, the Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, and the Philharmonic Orchestra Luxembourg. His repertoire includes roles such as Cavaradossi ("Tosca"), Nemorino ("L’elisir d’amore"), Cassio ("Otello"), Nadir ("Les pêcheurs de perles"), Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Tamino ("The Magic Flute"), Bacchus ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Lenski ("Eugene Onegin"), Ferrando ("Così fan tutte"), the Duke ("Rigoletto"), Rodolfo ("La bohème"), and Alfredo ("La Traviata").

Christophe Dumaux is one of the leading countertenors of his generation. His international breakthrough came in 2001 as Eustazio ("Rinaldo") under René Jacobs in Montpellier. Since then, he has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Opéra de Paris, the Vienna State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Salzburg Festival, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, La Scala in Milan, and the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. He is one of the most sought-after interpreters of Handel. His signature roles include the title role in "Orlando", Polinesso ("Ariodante"), Tolomeo, the title role in "Giulio Cesare", and Nerone ("Agrippina"). His repertoire also includes Cavalli’s Eliogabalo and Giasone as well as Endimione in "La Calisto", Ottone in Monteverdi’s "L’incoronazione di Poppea", Farnace in Mozart’s "Mitridate", and Orfeo in Gluck’s "Orfeo ed Euridice". At the Zurich Opera House, he has appeared, among others, in Christoph Marthaler’s Handel pasticcio "Sale", as Melindo in Vivaldi’s "La verità in cimento", and most recently as Arsamene ("Serse") and Nerone ("Agrippina"). He regularly works with conductors such as William Christie, Emmanuelle Haïm, Gianluca Capuano, Giovanni Antonini, Andrea Marcon, Ivor Bolton, Philippe Jaroussky, Ottavio Dantone, Francesco Corti, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as well as with directors such as Claus Guth, David McVicar, Robert Carsen, Calixto Bieito, Barrie Kosky, David Alden, Christof Loy, Barbora Horáková, and Richard Jones. He can be seen as Tolomeo in DVD recordings from Glyndebourne, Theater an der Wien, and the Salzburg Festival. A solo album with Handel arias was released in 2020.

The American tenor Charles Castronovo studied classical singing at California State University. His career began as a member of the ensemble at the Los Angeles Opera before he was accepted into the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera, where he made his debut in 1999 as Beppe in "Pagliacci". Since then, he has appeared at the world’s leading opera houses, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, the Berlin State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Teatro Real Madrid. His repertoire ranges from major Mozart roles to Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor", Alfredo in "La traviata", Nemorino in "L’elisir d’amore", and Rodolfo in "La bohème", as well as Faust, Roméo, and Don José in "Carmen". He sang the title role in the world premiere of Daniel Catán’s "Il Postino" at the Los Angeles Opera alongside Plácido Domingo. His recent role debuts include Riccardo in "Un ballo in maschera" and Mario Cavaradossi in "Tosca". In the 2024/25 season, he appeared as Riccardo at the Bavarian State Opera and the Zurich Opera House, as Don Carlos at the Opéra national de Paris, and as Don José at the Royal Opera House. His discography includes, among others, "Noble Renegades: Verdi Scenes & Arias" and "Puccini / I canti" from 2024.

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".

Eric Cutler was born in Iowa and studied at Luther College and the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program at the Met. In 2005, he won the Richard Tucker Award. He is a guest at international opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Paris Opera, La Fenice in Venice, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Canadian Opera Company and the Santa Fe Opera, as well as at the Salzburg, Glyndebourne and Bayreuth festivals. After beginning with Mozart and bel canto repertoire as well as lyrical roles by Bellini, Donizetti, Bizet and Gounod, among others, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opera and the festivals in Salzburg and Glyndebourne, he now focuses in particular on roles in the young heroic tenor repertoire. Recent highlights include the title role in "Lohengrin" (Staatsoper Hamburg, Salzburg Easter Festival and Staatsoper Berlin), Siegmund in "Die Walküre" (Staatsoper Berlin), Florestan in "Fidelio" (Royal Opera House, Dutch National Opera & Ballet and Zurich Opera House), Peter Grimes (Theater an der Wien) and the Emperor in Richard Strauss’ "Die Frau ohne Schatten" (Semperoper Dresden). Earlier highlights include 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). At Zurich Opera House, he made his debut in the 2022/23 season as Siegmund in "Die Walküre", followed by his debut as Paul in Korngold’s "Die tote Stadt" in 2025, and in the 2026/27 season he returns here as Tannhäuser and Siegmund.

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.

Paul Figuier studied in Versailles and Paris. In 2019, he made his debut in Cavalli's "Erismena" in Luxembourg. In the following years, he sang, among other roles, Nireno ("Giulio Cesare") and Achille (Sartorio's "Orfeo") under the direction of Philippe Jaroussky in Montpellier, and was a regular guest at the Festival de Beaune. In Ted Huffman's production of "L'incoronazione di Poppea", he appeared as Arnalta and Nutrice in Rennes, as well as Ottone in Toulon. At the Tyrol Festival Erl, he sang in George Benjamin's "Picture a day like this". Under the direction of Alain Altinoglu, he was heard in the St John Passion; with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques in Bach cantatas; and under René Jacobs in Handel's "Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno". He also maintains an ongoing collaboration with Thibault Noally and Les Accents, including a recording of Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater". His most recent operatic roles include Medoro in Handel's "Orlando" in Lausanne under Christopher Moulds, Satirino and Furia in Cavalli's "La Calisto" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées under Sébastien Daucé, and Narciso in Handel's "Agrippina" at the Opéra de Rouen under David Bates.

Bass Christof Fischesser was born in Wiesbaden and studied voice with Martin Gründler at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. In 2000, he won First Prize at the Federal Singing Competition in Berlin, followed by an engagement at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. In 2004, he moved to Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. From 2012 to 2015, he was a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House, with which he has maintained a close working relationship ever since. Guest engagements have taken him to, among others, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Opéra national de Paris, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, the Opéra de Lyon, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the opera house in Antwerp. His wide-ranging repertoire includes roles such as King Marke in "Tristan und Isolde", Landgrave in "Tannhäuser", King Heinrich in "Lohengrin", Gurnemanz in "Parsifal", Sarastro in "Die Zauberflöte", Figaro in "Le nozze di Figaro", Banquo in "Macbeth", Méphistophélès in "Faust" and Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau in "Der Rosenkavalier". Numerous CD and DVD recordings document his artistic work. At Zurich Opera House, he has appeared, among other roles, as King Heinrich, Orest in "Elektra", Kaspar, Daland, Gremin, Gurnemanz, Marchese di Calatrava and Padre Guardiano in "La forza del destino", Hunding in "Die Walküre" and Jacopo Fiesco in "Simon Boccanegra". In the 2026/27 season, he will once again appear in Wagner operas at Zurich Opera House, including "Tannhäuser" and "Die Walküre".

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.

Juan Francisco Gatell was born in La Plata, Argentina, and began his musical training at the conservatory in his hometown before moving to Spain, where he completed his studies at the conservatory in Madrid. In 2004, he won the Caruso Award, in 2005 the first prize at the Concorso Città di Pistoia, and in 2006 the first prize at the ASLICO Competition for his Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni". Since then, invitations have taken him to the major opera and concert stages of Europe, North and South America. Highlights of his career to date include his debuts as Alessandro Magno in "Il re pastore" and as Tom Rakewell in "The Rake’s Progress" at La Fenice in Venice, as Demetrio in Rossini’s "Demetrio e Polibio" and as Almaviva ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, as Almaviva at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman, in Buenos Aires and in Vienna, as well as Fenton ("Falstaff") in Lyon and Aix-en-Provence. He has sung Don Ottavio at, among others, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, in Washington and Tokyo, as well as Ferrando ("Così fan tutte") in Madrid, Florence and Brussels. His most recent engagements include "L’elisir d’amore" in Bologna, "Die Zauberflöte" in Rome, "Don Pasquale" in Tokyo and the staged world premiere of Tomás Marco’s "Tenorio" in Madrid. In the 2026/27 season, he returns to Zurich Opera House as Prunier in Puccini’s "La rondine" and will also appear as Cassio in Verdi’s "Otello" at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and as Lord Percy in Donizetti’s "Anna Bolena".

Der Bassbariton Łukasz Goliński wurde 2013 beim Internationalen Stanisław-Moniusko-Gesangswettbewerb als «Bester polnischer Sänger» ausgezeichnet. Jüngst gab er als Escamillo (Carmen) sein Debüt an der Niederländischen Nationaloper in Amsterdam und kehrte als Marcello (La bohème) ans Royal Opera House Covent Garden, als Escamillo ans Prager Nationaltheater, als Jochanaan (Salome) an die Oper in Stockholm und in der Titelrolle von Szymanowskis Król Roger an die Polnische Nationaloper in Warschau zurück. Nach seinem Salzburger Festspieldebüt als Fotis (The Greek Passion) debütierte er auch beim Glyndebourne Festival. Er sang ausserdem den Oberpriester des Dagon (Samson et Dalila) und Marcello an Covent Garden, Graf Tomski (Pique Dame) am Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Escamillo beim Opernfestival Savonlinna, Escamillo und Giorgio Germont (La traviata) am Prager Nationaltheater, Sonora (La fanciulla del West) an der Berliner Staatsoper und Scarpia an der Schwedischen Oper. Als Escamillo wurde er an der Staatsoper Hamburg, der Oper Frankfurt und der Opera Australia gefeiert und singt die Rolle in dieser Spielzeit auch am Opernhaus Zürich. Sein Debüt in der Berliner Philharmonie gab er als Janusz in einer konzertanten Aufführung von Moniuszkos Halka. Weitere wichtige Engagements waren Gajolo in Antônio Carlos Gomes’ Fosca am Theatro Municipal de São Paulo sowie Mathias Wissmann und Schankwirt (Der feurige Engel) beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Die letzten beiden Rollen sang er auch in Mariusz Trelińskis Neuinszenierung von Prokofjews Oper unter Kazushi Ono an der Polnischen Nationaloper, wo Łukasz Goliński regelmässig auftritt.

The Mexican-American tenor Joshua Guerrero was born in Las Vegas and is a graduate of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program of the Los Angeles Opera. He also received the Eva and Marc Stern Artist Award. In 2014, he won second prize at the Operalia Competition and received a scholarship from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. He was also awarded a Grammy for the recording of Corigliano’s "The Ghosts of Versailles". His repertoire includes central tenor roles by Verdi and Puccini, including Don José in "Carmen", Radamès in "Aida", Pinkerton in "Madama Butterfly", Cavaradossi in "Tosca", Rodolfo in "La bohème", Luigi in "Il tabarro", and Gabriele Adorno in "Simon Boccanegra". His recent debuts and highlights include appearances at the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

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.

Mika Kares, geboren in Finnland, studierte Gesang an der Sibelius-Akademie in Helsinki. Von 2005 bis 2010 war er Ensemblemitglied am Badischen Staatstheater Karlsruhe. 2008 wurde er bei den Savonlinna-Opernfestspielen zum Künstler des Jahres gewählt für seine Interpretation der Titelrolle von Arrigo Boitos Mefistofele. Sein US-Debüt gab er 2012 als Attila in Verdis gleichnamiger Oper in Seattle. Seither arbeitete er mit Dirigenten wie Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, und Nikolaus Harnoncourt zusammen und gastiert regelmässig auf den internationalen Opern- und Konzertbühnen. Zu den Höhepunkten der letzten Zeit gehören Mika Kares’ Debüts bei der Ruhr Triennale 2015 als Wotan (Das Rheingold) und an der Wiener Staatsoper als Gremin (Eugen Onegin), wie auch seine Interpretationen des Commendatore (Don Giovanni) an De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, bei den Salzburger Festspielen sowie unter der Leitung von Teodor Currentzis in Perm. Letztere ist auf CD erschienen und wurde u.a. mit dem BBC Music Magazine Award 2017 in der Kategorie Oper ausgezeichnet. In jüngster Zeit sang er Balthazar (Donizettis La favorite) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Colline (La bohème) am Teatro Real in Madrid, Sarastro am Royal Opera House in London, Sparafucile beim Savonlinna Festival, Ramfis (Aida) am Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brüssel,  Jacopo (Simon Boccanegra) an der Opéra Bastille mit Fabio Luisi und Calixto Bieito und Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor) in München. In Zürich war er zuletzt als Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro und als Walter in Luisa Miller zu erleben.

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.

Tobias Kehrer was born in Dessau and completed his musical training at the Berlin University of the Arts. Early engagements took him to the Chemnitz Opera House, the Aalto-Theater Essen, and to Valencia. Since the 2012/13 season, he has been a permanent ensemble member at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he has sung the major roles of his fach, including Commendatore, Sarastro, Sparafucile, Colline, Orest, Rocco, Osmin, Fafner ("Das Rheingold"), Titurel, and Daland. In addition, he has performed at the Metropolitan Opera (Sarastro), the Salzburg Festival (Police Commissioner in "Der Rosenkavalier", Truffaldin in "Ariadne auf Naxos"), the Glyndebourne Festival (Osmin), the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Osmin), the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Fafner), the Opéra National de Paris (Sarastro), La Scala in Milan (Osmin), and the Bayreuth Festival (Titurel, Night Watchman, Hunding), and he is also a regular guest at the Staatsoper Dresden.

The Georgian baritone Misha Kiria studied at the Tbilisi State Conservatory and at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan. His repertoire includes roles such as Bartolo in "Il barbiere di Siviglia", Don Magnifico in "La cenerentola", Don Alfonso in "Così fan tutte", and the title role in "Falstaff". Engagements have taken him to major houses such as Teatro alla Scala, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, to the Bregenz Festival, and to the Teatro Real in Madrid. In the 2019/20 season, he sang Fra Melitone at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Frank Castorf’s new production of "La forza del destino" under the direction of Paolo Carignani. In 2018/19, he made his debut at the Teatro Real as Falstaff in a new production by Laurent Pelly under Daniele Rustioni. This was followed by a tour with the Glyndebourne Opera Festival as Dulcamara in "L’elisir d’amore". Highlights of recent seasons include his debut in the title role of "Falstaff" at the Verdi Festival in Parma, Bartolo in a new production of "Il barbiere di Siviglia" in Amsterdam, as well as Lord Sidney in "Il viaggio a Reims" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Further engagements have taken him, among others, with "La cenerentola" to Frankfurt and Vienna, with "Il turco in Italia" to Madrid and Munich, with "Don Pasquale" to Vienna, with "La fille du régiment" to Munich, with "Gianni Schicchi" to the Salzburg Festival, as well as with "Simon Boccanegra" to Tokyo and "Cavalleria rusticana" to Turin.

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.

Tomasz Konieczny, wurde in Polen geboren und studierte an der dortigen Filmakademie zunächst Schauspiel. Er wirkte als Schauspieler im Theater und war an verschiedenen Film- und Fernsehproduktionen beteiligt. Sein Gesangsstudium begann er an der Fryderyk-Chopin-Akademie in Warschau und setzte es an der Hochschule für Musik in Dresden fort. Tomasz Konieczny ist regelmässiger Gast an zahlreichen renommierten Häusern weltweit; er sang u. a. am Teatro Real Madrid, an der Semperoper Dresden, an der Opéra National de Paris, an der Met in New York, der Bayerischen Staatsoper, bei den Salzburger und den Bayreuther Festspielen und an der Scala in Mailand. Von 2006-2014 gehörte er zum Ensemble der Deutschen Oper am Rhein, wo er u. a. Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) Amfortas (Parsifal), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Holländer, Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Balstrode (Peter Grimes), Alberich (Der Ring der Nibelungen), Selim (Il turco in Italia), Falstaff und Escamillo gesungen hat. Seit 2009 ist die Wiener Staatsoper seine künstlerische Heimat. Dort war er bisher in Partien wie Alberich, Wotan, Telramund, Amfortas, Jochanaan und Holländer zu erleben. Seit 2019 ist er Kammersänger der Wiener Staatsoper. Tomasz Konieczny ist auch mit einem breiten Repertoire im Konzertfach aktiv. Zudem ist er seit 2023 Gründer und Künstlerischer Leiter des Baltic Opera Festival in der Dreistadt (Danzig-Sopot-Gdingen). 2025 wird er u. a. an der Metropolitan Opera als Pizarro (Fidelio), bei den Bayreuther Festspielen als Wotan/Wanderer (Der Ring der Nibelungen) und an der Oper Amsterdam als Boris Godunow auftreten.

Vitalij Kowaljow stammt aus der Ukraine und erhielt seine musikalische Ausbildung in Moskau, Bern und Biel. Gastengagements führten ihn u.a. an die Metropolitan Opera in New York, die San Francisco Opera, die Lyric Opera of Chicago, das Royal Opera House Covent Garden, die Opéra National de Paris, die Wiener Staatsoper, die Dresdner Semperoper, die Deutsche Oper Berlin, das Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg sowie in die Arena di Verona. Zu seinem Repertoire zählen Partien wie Filippo II. (Don Carlo), Zaccaria (Nabucco), Kaspar (Der Freischütz), Pimen (Boris Godunow), Ramfis (Aida) und Méphistophélès (Faust). 2008 war er in Robert Dornhelms Verfilmung von La bohème als Colline zu sehen. 2010 feierte er sein Debüt als Wotan und Wanderer in einer Neuproduktion des Ring des Nibelungen in Los Angeles, worauf er ein Jahr später von Daniel Barenboim für die Walküre an die Mailänder Scala eingeladen wurde. Jüngste Engagements führten ihn ausserdem als Holländer an die Staatsoper Hamburg, als Rui Gomez de Silva ans Teatro Maggio Musicale in Florenz, als Timur ans Royal Opera House in London, als Ramfis an die Bayerische Staatsoper sowie als Gremin (Jewgeni Onegin) und Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) ans Opernhaus Zürich.

Johannes Martin Kränzle wurde in Augsburg geboren. Er studierte zunächst Violine und Musiktheaterregie, danach Gesang in Frankfurt. Seine ersten Stationen im Festengagement waren die Opernhäuser Dortmund, Hannover und Frankfurt. Er ist seither regelmässig Gast an den grossen Bühnen, so an der New Yorker Met, Mailänder Scala, Londoner Covent Garden, Pariser Opéra, Teatro Real Madrid, Zürich, Berlin, München und Hamburg. Sein Opernrepertoire umfasst 120 Partien und reicht von Händel, Rossini, Verdi, Strauss und Lehar bis zu Henze und Rihm. Schwerpunkte bilden Mozart und Wagner sowie das slawische Repertoire. Regelmässig widmet er sich dem Lied- und Konzertgesang. 1997 wurde seine Kammeroper Der Wurm beim Kompositionswettbewerb in Berlin ausgezeichnet und uraufgeführt. 2016 komponierte er den Zyklus Lieder um Liebe nach Brechts Liebesgedichten. 2011 und 2018 wurde er «Sänger des Jahres» bei der Kritikerumfrage der OPERNWELT, 2019 gewann er den deutschen Theaterpreis «Der Faust». Seit 2014 ist er Mitglied der Deutschen Akademie der darstellenden Künste. 2015 wurde bei ihm eine aggressiv fortschreitende Form der Knochenmarkerkrankung MDS diagnostiziert und er musste sich einer Stammzell-Transplantation unterziehen. Mit grossem Erfolg kehrte er 2016 in London (Così fan tutte) zurück auf die Bühne. Es folgten Debüts u.a. an der Pariser Oper (Wozzeck), an der Elbphilharmonie und bei den Bayreuther Festspielen (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). In Zürich gab er in der Spielzeit 2019/20 sein Rollendebüt als Don Pasquale und sang 2020/21 Rangoni in Boris Godunow. In der Spielzeit 2022/23 singt er u.a. Alberich (Ring des Nibelungen) an der Staatsoper Berlin, Don Alfonso an der Bayerischen Staatsoper und Wozzeck an der Wiener Staatsoper.

The American baritone Thomas Lehman studied voice at the Eastman School of Music and is currently a member of the ensemble of Deutsche Oper Berlin. There, he has established himself with a broad repertoire. His important roles include the title roles in Verdi’s "Macbeth" and John Adams’ "Nixon in China", Amfortas in Wagner’s "Parsifal", Kurwenal in "Tristan und Isolde", Wolfram in "Tannhäuser" and Gunther in "Götterdämmerung". Further roles at Deutsche Oper Berlin include Germont ("La traviata"), Lescaut ("Manon Lescaut"), Ford ("Falstaff"), Marcello ("La bohème"), Renato ("Un ballo in maschera"), Figaro ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") and Count Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro"), among others. Guest engagements have taken him to the Salzburg Festival, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera House and Deutsche Oper Berlin. His most recent successes include the world premiere of the role of Dr Keiron in Unsuk Chin’s "Die dunkle Seite des Mondes" at the Hamburg State Opera under Kent Nagano, as well as appearances as Killian in "Der Freischütz" at the San Francisco Opera, the Herald in David Alden’s production of "Lohengrin", and Il Conte Almaviva in "Le nozze di Figaro" at Theater Basel. He also regularly performs on the concert stage, including as Donner in "Das Rheingold" with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and in Orff’s "Carmina Burana" with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic. He makes his house debut at Zurich Opera House as Dr Falke in "Die Fledermaus".

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.

Gary Martin, Bariton, stammt aus den USA und war von 1993 bis 1995 Mitglied des Young Artists Program der Chicago Lyric Opera. Später kehrte er als Gast an dieses Haus zurück, u.a. an der Seite von Placido Domingo in Fedora. Sein Debüt an der Metropolitan Opera in New York erfolgte in der Spielzeit 1998/99 in Lohengrin und Carmen. Im Jahr 2000 kam er aus den USA für ein Festengagement am Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in München nach Europa. Bis 2012 sang er dort Partien wie Don Giovanni, Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Il Conte (Le nozze di Figaro), Escamillo (Carmen), Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Ford (Falstaff), Tonio (Baiazzo), Jaroslav Prus (Die Sache Makropulos), Marcello (La bohème), The Traveller (Death in Venice), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Leander (Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen) sowie 2015 die Titelrolle in Detlev Glanerts Josef Süss. Im Juli 2013 gab er sein Debüt als Wotan, Wanderer und Gunther in Der Ring an einem Abend in Bayreuth. Im Oktober 2013 sang er Carmina Burana in Berlin mit den Berliner Symphonikern, 2014 die Titelrolle in Sweeney Todd am Gärtnerplatztheater. 2015 trat er in der Verdi-Trilogie an einem Abend (Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata) am Theater an der Rott auf; 2016 folgte am Theater Münster Ford in Verdis Falstaff. Zu seinem Repertoire im Konzertbereich gehören zudem Partien in Verdis Requiem, Händels Messias und Beethovens 9. Sinfonie. Am Opernhaus Zürich war er zuletzt in Alice im Wunderland und Jim Knopf zu hören.

Leigh Melrose grew up in London and studied at St. John’s College in Cambridge as well as at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The focus of his work is contemporary repertoire and dramatic works of the 20th century. He has sung, among others, Wozzeck at the English National Opera and the Zurich Opera House, Oedipus at the Komische Oper Berlin, Clov in the world premiere of György Kurtág’s "Fin de Partie" and Prospero in Thomas Adès’ "The Tempest" at La Scala in Milan, Šiškov ("From the House of the Dead") at the Ruhrtriennale, as well as The Traveller ("Death in Venice"), Friedrich ("Das Liebesverbot"), Ruprecht ("The Fiery Angel") and the title role of "Nixon in China" at the Teatro Real de Madrid. In addition, he has appeared as Alberich ("Das Rheingold") at the Vienna State Opera, the Ruhrtriennale, and the English National Opera. In the 2024/25 season, he made his debut as Balstrode ("Peter Grimes") at De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, sang the title role in Beat Furrer’s new opera "Das große Feuer" at the Zurich Opera House, and Eurymaque in Gabriel Fauré’s "Pénélope" at the Bavarian State Opera. As a concert singer, he has performed several world premieres, including Louis Andriessen’s "Theatre of the World" in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, Dai Fujikura’s "Solaris" in a co-production of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the opera houses of Lille and Lausanne, as well as Elliot Carter’s "On Conversing with Paradise" at the Aldeburgh Festival. In the 25/26 season, he will be heard with the Berlin Philharmonic, at the Salzburg Easter Festival, and at the Berlin Festival.

Huw Montague Rendall kommt aus England und studierte bei Russell Smythe am Royal College of Music in London. Mit der British Youth Opera sang er u.a. Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Archibald Grosvenor (in Sullivans Patience), Aeneas (Dido und Aeneas) und Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus). An der Garsington Opera war er in Brittens Death in Venice zu erleben. 2016 sang er als «Jerwood Young Artist» den Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia) beim Glyndebourne Festival sowie bei den BBC Proms und wurde dafür mit dem John Christie Award 2016 ausgezeichnet. In der Spielzeit 2016/17 und 2017/18 war er Mitglied des Internationalen Opernstudios und am Opernhaus Zürich u.a. als Ramiro in L’Heure espagnole sowie in Don Carlo, Lady Macbeth von Mzensk und Lohengrin zu hören. Im Sommer 2017 war er zudem als 2. Handwerksbursche (Wozzeck) unter Vladimir Jurowski bei den Salzburger Festspielen zu erleben. Als Mitglied des IOS sang er in der Spielzeit 2017/18 u.a. Nardo in Mozarts La finta giardiniera, den zweiten Nazarener (Salome) und Yamadori in Madame Butterfly. Im Sommer 2018 debütierte er als Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos) beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence und war mit dem RTE National Symphony Orchestra mit Duruflés Requiem zu hören. Weitere Engagements in der Spielzeit 2018/19 sind am Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, an der Komischen Oper Berlin und an der Garsington Opera geplant.

Die Partie des Calaf gehört derzeit zu den Paraderollen des deutsch-brasilianischen Tenors Martin Muehle. In der laufenden Spielzeit sang er sie in Barrie Koskys Turandot-Neuinszenierung an der Niederländischen Nationaloper unter der Leitung von Lorenzo Viotti und am Teatro Real in Madrid. Weitere Puccini-Partien waren in 2022/23 Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut) an der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Cavaradossi (Tosca) in 2021/22 an der Staatsoper Stuttgart, Luigi in Il tabarro an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München und Des Grieux an der Oper Frankfurt. In den vergangenen Spielzeiten sang er Don José in Bizets Carmen an der Staatsoper Hamburg, am Bolschoi-Theater und in der Arena di Verona, wo er ausserdem als Radamès in Verdis Aida debütierte. Martin Muehle war zwischen 2013 bis 2015 Mitglied des Ensembles am Nationaltheater Mannheim.

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."

Jakub Józef Orliński, Countertenor, hat an der Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warschau seinen Master absolviert. Gleichzeitig war er 2012 Mitglied des Young Artists Programm an der Nationaloper Teatr Wielki in Warschau. Erste Bühnenerfahrungen sammelte er als Zweite Hexe in Dido and Aeneas und als Ariel in The Tempest am Collegium Nobilium Theatre in Warschau. Ab 2015 studierte er an der Juilliard School in New York und gewann den 1. Preis beim Marcella Sembrich International Voice Competition in New York. 2016 gewann er den 1. Preis am Oratorio Society of New York und wurde Finalist bei den Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions. 2017 gab er als Orimeno (Cavallis Erismena) sein Debüt beim Festival d’Aix-en-Provence und verkörperte diese Rolle 2019 erneut am Théâtre de Luxembourg. An der Oper Frankfurt war er 2017 in der Titelrolle von Rinaldo zu hören und kehrte im Mai 2019 als Unulfo (Rodelinda) dorthin zurück. Am Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris sang er in Pergolesis Stabat Mater unter der musikalischen Leitung von Julien Chauvin und Narciso bei einer konzertanten Aufführung von Händels Agrippina. Unter der musikalischen Leitung von Emmanuelle Haïm war er zudem als Unulfo in Lille und in Caen zu erleben. In der Saison 2018/19 erschien sein Debütalbum Anima Sacra, welches er mit einer Tour durch Europa zusammen mit dem Orchester Il Pomo d’oro vorstellt. Zudem gab er sein Debüt in der Carnegie Hall mit einem Solistenkonzert zusammen mit dem New York Baroque Incoroprated. In der Warschauer Philharmonie war er in Händels Messiah zu hören und beim Montreal Bach Festival sang er ein Programm mit Bach-, Händel- und Vivaldi-Arien. Im Sommer 2019 ist er beim Glyndebourne Festival als Eustazio in Rinaldo zu hören.

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").

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.

Tenor Mauro Peter was born in Lucerne and studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. In 2012, he won first prize and the audience prize at the International Robert Schumann Competition. Since then, he has performed at leading concert halls and opera houses worldwide, including Wigmore Hall in London, Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, Kölner Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie, Hamburger Laeiszhalle, Musikverein Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus, Verbier Festival, Lucerne Festival, Montréal Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Zurich Opera House, Pierre-Boulez-Saal, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Salzburg Festival, Semperoper Dresden, Musikfest Dresden, Bregenzer Festspiele, and Opéra National de Paris. His repertoire includes roles such as Andres ("Wozzeck"), Ferrando ("Così fan tutte"), Tamino ("The Magic Flute"), Loge ("Rheingold"), Naraboth ("Salome"), Nemorino ("L’elisir d’amore"), Eisenstein ("Die Fledermaus"), Prince ("The Love for Three Oranges"), and Max ("Der Freischütz"). As an internationally sought-after concert soloist, he has performed under the musical direction of renowned conductors including Ivor Bolton, Teodor Currentzis, Gustavo Dudamel, Iván Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marie Jacquot, Vladimir Jurowski, Fabio Luisi, Joana Mallwitz, Antonello Manacorda, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Minasi, Andris Nelsons, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Trevor Pinnock, Simone Young, and Christian Thielemann.

Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov began his career at the National Theatre Kyiv. In 2003 he was awarded the title "Merited Artist of Ukraine," which recognizes an outstanding contribution to the performing arts. In 2007 he won the prestigious Operalia Competition. His international breakthrough came in 2013 as Rodolfo ("La bohème") at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. Since then, engagements have taken him to renowned opera houses worldwide, such as the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Oper Stuttgart, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Zurich Opera House, Opéra national de Paris, Opéra National de Lyon, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Teatro Regio in Turin, Teatro Real in Madrid, Den Norske Opera, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Opera Australia in Sydney. In the concert field he has appeared, among others, with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, at the BBC Proms with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, with Vladimir Jurowski at the Royal Festival Hall, and with the Orchestre de Paris under Gianandrea Noseda. His repertoire includes roles such as Duca ("Rigoletto"), Lenski ("Eugen Onegin"), Alfredo ("La traviata"), Mario Cavaradossi ("Tosca"), Vodemont ("Iolanta"), Don José ("Carmen"), Riccardo ("Un ballo in maschera"), Nicias ("Thaïs"), Macduff ("Macbeth"), Pinkerton ("Madama Butterfly"), Rodolfo ("Luisa Miller"), Andrej ("Mazeppa"), Don José ("Carmen"), The Prince ("Rusalka"), Grigorij Otrepjew ("Boris Godunow").

Der Tenor Piero Pretti studierte bei Gianni Mastino und debütierte 2006 als Rodolfo (La bohème). Es folgten Rollen wie Alfredo in La traviata am Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi und am Teatro Comunale in Treviso, die Titelrolle in Donizettis Poliuto in Sassari, Manrico in Il trovatore in Ravenna und Achille in Iphigénie en Aulide in Rom. Seither sang er in zahlreichen Produktionen an internationalen Häusern, darunter I vespri siciliani, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor und La traviata am Teatro Regio in Turin, I vespri siciliani und La traviata am Teatro di San Carlo in Neapel, Luisa Miller und Rigoletto am Teatro alla Scala in Mailand und am Teatro Regio in Parma, I due Foscari am Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Madama Butterfly an der New Zealand Opera, Un ballo in maschera und Lucia di Lammermoor an der Scala, La traviata und Il trovatore am La Fenice sowie Rossinis Stabat Mater und das Verdi-Requiem in Tokio. Weitere Stationen waren die Wiener und die Bayerische Staatsoper, das Royal Opera House in London, das Teatro Real in Madrid, das Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, die Hamburgische Staatsoper, die Opéra de Paris, die Deutsche Oper Berlin, das Edinburgh International Festival, die Oper Frankfurt, das Teatro Comunale di Firenze und das Opernhaus Zürich (Madama Butterfly). Zu seinen jüngsten und aktuellen Engagements gehören Ariadne auf Naxos beim Festival della Valle d'Itria, Ernani, Un ballo in maschera und Simon Boccanegra beim Festival Verdi in Parma, I vespri siciliani und Der Rosenkavalier am Teatro alla Scala, Ernani im La Fenice und Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, La traviata und Mefistofele im La Fenice sowie Madama Butterfly in der Arena di Verona.

Christopher Purves began his musical career as a chorister at King’s College in Cambridge and later was a member of the experimental rock group Harvey and the Wallbangers before turning to opera singing. He sang, among others, Balstrode in "Peter Grimes" at the Bavarian State Opera, at Teatro alla Scala and at Teatro Real Madrid, Alberich in Wagner’s "Ring" cycle for the Zürich Opera House, the Houston Grand Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Canadian Opera Company and the Royal Opera House, Nick Shadow in "The Rake’s Progress" at Teatro Colón, the title role in Handel’s "Saul" at the Théâtre du Châtelet, at the Houston Grand Opera, at the Adelaide Festival and at the Royal Theatre Copenhagen, as well as the Forester in Janáček’s "Das schlaue Füchslein" at the Canadian Opera Company. Closely associated with contemporary repertoire, he created roles in numerous world premieres. He sang Walt Disney in the world premiere of Philip Glass’ "The Perfect American", Protector in George Benjamin’s "Written on Skin" at the Royal Opera House, as well as roles in works by Sir James MacMillan, including "The Sacrifice", "Ines de Castro" and "Parthenogenesis". On the concert stage, he was heard, among others, in Elgar’s "The Kingdom" at the BBC Proms and in Handel’s "Messiah" on a European tour with Emmanuelle Haïm and Le Concert d’Astrée.

Matthew Rose studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia before joining the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. There he appeared, among others, as Polyphemus ("Acis and Galatea"), Bottom ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream"), Colline ("La bohème"), Leporello ("Don Giovanni"), and Haraschta ("The Cunning Little Vixen"). For his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2006 as Bottom, he received the John Christie Award. Guest engagements have since taken him to, among others, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Opéra National de Lyon, Teatro Real de Madrid, the English National Opera, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Bavarian State Opera. In addition, he has worked with renowned orchestras worldwide, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Berlin Philharmonic. His repertoire includes, among others, Wotan ("Der Ring des Nibelungen"), Fasolt ("Das Rheingold"), Baron Ochs ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Oroveso ("Norma"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Claudio ("Agrippina"), Ashby ("La fanciulla del West"), and Giorgio Talbot ("Maria Stuarda").

The Italian tenor Giovanni Sala studied at the Conservatorio "Giuseppe Verdi" in Como and subsequently became a member of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he worked with Luciana D’Intino and Marcelo Álvarez. His awards include the AsLiCo Competition in 2014, the International Competition of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in 2015, and second prize at the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo. His repertoire includes the title role in Monteverdi’s "L’Orfeo", Mozart roles such as Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte", Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni", and Ferrando in "Così fan tutte", as well as Verdi roles such as Alfredo in "La traviata" and Macduff in "Macbeth". He regularly appears at Teatro alla Scala, the Bavarian State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, and the Teatro Regio di Torino. Highlights of his career include Tito in "La clemenza di Tito" at the Edinburgh International Festival and in Monte Carlo, Alfredo in "La traviata" at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, as well as Verdi’s "Messa da Requiem" under Riccardo Muti and Beethoven’s "Missa solemnis" under Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the BBC Proms. In the 2025/26 season, he will make his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Alfredo and return as Ferrando in a new production of "Così fan tutte" at La Scala in Milan.

Daniel Schmutzhard begann bereits während seiner Schulzeit mit einer Gesangsausbildung am Tiroler Landeskonservatorium Innsbruck und setzte sein Studium später an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien fort. Von 2005 bis 2011 war er an der Wiener Volksoper engagiert, von 2011 bis 2018 an der Oper Frankfurt. Als Don Giovanni, Graf (Le nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Marcello (La bohème), Heerrufer (Lohengrin), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Albert (Werther), Olivier (Capriccio), Escamillo (Carmen), Ford (Falstaff), Rodrigo (Don Carlo), Eugen Onegin, Nathanael (Der Sandmann) u.a. sang er dort die grossen Rollen seines Fachs. Am Theater an der Wien übernahm er in der Saison 2021/22 die Rolle des Corpo in der Neuproduktion von Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo. Mit dem Concerto Köln unter Kent Nagano debütierte er als Alberich in konzertanten Aufführungen von Wagners Rheingold und an der Komischen Oper Berlin in der Titelpartie von Weinbergers Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer in einer Neuinszenierung von Andreas Homoki. Zuletzt sang er die Partien Eisenstein, Herr Fluth und Danilo Danilowitsch an der Volksoper Wien, in Beethovens 9. Sinfonie in der Victoria Hall Genève sowie in Werken von Schumann und Beethoven in Boulogne-Billancourt. Neben seiner umfangreichen Operntätigkeit hat er sich ausserdem als Konzertsänger einen Namen gemacht und ist u.a. im Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus, Berliner Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kölner Philharmonie, Pariser Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Grand Théâtre Aix-en-Provence und bei den Salzburger Osterfestspielen aufgetreten.

Erwin Schrott, geboren in Uruguay, begann seine Opernkarriere im Alter von 22 Jahren als Roucher in Andrea Chénier. Nach seinem Sieg beim Operalia-Wettbewerb folgte eine aufsehenerregende Karriere; er tritt seither regelmässig an Häusern wie der Mailänder Scala, der New Yorker Metropolitan Opera, der Opéra National de Paris, dem Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, dem Royal Opera House London, dem Maggio Musicale Florenz, der Hamburger Staatsoper, dem Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brüssel, in Baden-Baden und an der Wiener Staatsoper auf. Als Don Giovanni und Leporello sowie als Graf Almaviva und Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) wurde er zu einem gefeierten Mozart-Interpreten. Andere Rollen in seinem Repertoire umfassen die Titelrolle in Attila, Banquo in Macbeth, Escamillo in Carmen, Méphistophélès in Faust, Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore und Ramfis in Aida. Mit seinem Debüt als Scarpia (Tosca) an der Staatsoper Berlin nahm er eine weitere wichtige Rolle in sein Repertoire auf. An der Oper Amsterdam gab er 2018 sein Debüt in Les Contes d’Hoffmann und sang im gleichen Jahr die Titelrolle in Mefistofele von Arrigo Boito beim Opernfestival Chorégies d'Orange. In der Saison 2019/20 sang er Don Giovanni am Royal Opera House London, Dulcamara am Teatro Real in Madrid, Escamillo an der Oper Köln, Leporello und Scarpia an der Wiener Staatsoper, Enrico VII in Anna Bolena am Königlichen Opernhaus in Oman, Figaro an der Ungarischen Staatsoper Budapest sowie Alidoro (La Cenerentola) an der Bayerischen Staatsoper München. Neben seiner Arbeit als Opernsänger widmet sich Erwin Schrott verschiedenen Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen, die Kindern in Not helfen und sie unterstützen.

Andrè Schuen is from South Tyrol. Originally a passionate cellist, he later decided to study voice at the renowned Mozarteum Salzburg. After completing his studies, he spent his first years as a member of the ensemble at Oper Graz. Today, the baritone is in demand at leading opera houses such as the Bavarian State Opera and the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Teatro Real Madrid, and has been invited to festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne and Salzburg. His recent operatic repertoire includes title roles in "Le nozze di Figaro", "Così fan tutte" and "Don Giovanni", the Herald ("Lohengrin"), Sharpless ("Madama Butterfly"), Donner ("Das Rheingold"), Ford ("Falstaff") and Posa ("Don Carlo"). Highlights of his past concert engagements include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle, the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons. His song recitals have taken the singer to venues including the Musikverein in Vienna, Wigmore Hall London, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, as well as to the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and the Rheingau Music Festival. Since 2021, Andrè Schuen has been an Exclusive Recording Artist with Deutsche Grammophon. His extensive discography, in particular his recordings of Schubert’s "Die Schöne Müllerin" (2022) and "Winterreise" (2024), earned him the Opus Klassik Award twice. In the 2026/27 season, he returns as Wolfram in "Tannhäuser" to Zurich Opera House, Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Teatro Real Madrid. At the Vienna State Opera, he makes his role debut as Frank/Fritz in Korngold’s "Die tote Stadt".

Lukas Siebert, Tenor, studiert zunächst Schulmusik in Frankfurt und anschliessend Gesang an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in München. Meisterkurse besuchte er bei Helmut Deutsch und Hedwig Fassbender. Aktuell studiert er Chor- und Orchesterdirigieren in Frankfurt bei Prof. Vassilis Christopoulos und ist Stipendiat des «Forum Dirigieren» des Deutschen Musikrates. Im Rahmen seiner Dirgierausbildung arbeitete er bereits mit dem MDR Rundfunkchor sowie der Philharmonie Neubrandenburg. Schon während seines Schulmusikstudiums sammelte er am Staatstheater Mainz erste Erfahrungen als Solist und gestaltete mit Hilko Dumno mehrere Liederabende u.a. an der Oper Frankfurt. Im Konzertfach führte ihn Mendelssohns Lobgesang in einem Hochschulkonzert zu den Münchner Symphonikern. In der Spielzeit 2021/22 gab er sein Debüt als Melot in Wagners Tristan und Isolde bei den Musikfestspielen Königswinkel und sang an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in Georg Friedrich Haas’ Bluthaus, einer Produktion des dortigen Opernstudios, unter der musikalischen Leitung von Titus Engel und in der Inszenierung von Claus Guth. Zusammen mit seinem Liedduopartner Viktor Jugovic war er mit Liedern von Paul Ben-Haim live auf Deutschlandfunk Kultur zu hören und im Sommer 2022 bei einem Liederabend im Rahmen der Opernfestspiele Heidenheim.

Bo Skovhus is one of the most important baritones of his generation and will soon celebrate his 40th anniversary on stage. He studied at the Aarhus Music Institute, the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen and in New York. Key milestones in 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, and Mandryka in "Arabella" at the Semperoper Dresden. He has also sung, among other roles, the title role in "Wozzeck" at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Dr Schön in "Lulu" at the Vienna State Opera, Šiškov in "Aus einem Totenhaus" at the Bavarian State Opera, and Jean-Charles in "Das Floss der Medusa" in Amsterdam. His most recent successes include "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, and Master Astaroth in the world premiere of "Die dunkle Seite des Mondes" in Hamburg. He has been awarded the titles of Austrian and Bavarian Kammersänger. At Zurich Opera House, he has appeared as Ich in "Leben mit einem Idioten" and as Herr von Faninal in "Der Rosenkavalier".

Vladimir Stoyanov was born in Pernik, Bulgaria, and studied voice at the Music Academy in Sofia, as well as in Rome and at the Accademia della Scala in Milan. He was initially a member of the ensemble at the opera house in Plovdiv for three years and has worked as a freelance artist since 1999. In 1998, he made his debut in the title role of "Macbeth" at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and has since appeared as a guest at numerous renowned opera houses worldwide, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House London, the Bavarian State Opera, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Paris Opera, Teatro Real Madrid and the opera houses in Naples, Parma and Rome. His repertoire includes roles such as the title role in "Rigoletto", Iago ("Otello"), Scarpia ("Tosca"), Conte di Luna ("Il trovatore"), Don Carlo ("Ernani"), Rodrigo ("Don Carlo") and Yeletsky ("Pique Dame"). His more recent engagements include Nabucco in Parma, Simon Boccanegra in Helsinki and Iago in Verdi’s "Otello" in Rome. In the 2025/26 season, he appeared as Giorgio Germont in "La traviata" at the Vienna State Opera and as Scarpia in "Tosca" at Staatsoper Hamburg.

Baritone Vladislav Sulimsky, born in Belarus, won the International Rimsky-Korsakov Competition in St. Petersburg in 2002 and subsequently became a member of the Mariinsky Theatre ensemble in St. Petersburg. In addition, he was the first prize winner of the Giacomo Lauri-Volpi Competition and was nominated for a Grammy in 2009. Guest engagements have taken him to opera houses, concert halls, and festivals worldwide, including the Berlin State Opera, Stuttgart State Opera, Leipzig Opera, Cologne Opera, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Dutch National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Theater an der Wien, Theater Basel, Zurich Opera House, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as well as the festivals in Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, and Salzburg. His repertoire includes roles such as Germont ("La traviata"), Renato ("Un ballo in maschera"), Alberich ("Das Rheingold"), Conte di Luna ("Il trovatore"), Count Tomsky ("Pique Dame"), Lord Enrico Ashton ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Dunois ("The Maid of Orleans"), Iago ("Otello"), as well as the title roles in "Eugene Onegin", "Simon Boccanegra", "Macbeth", "Mazeppa", "Gianni Schicchi", "Il Trittico" and "Nabucco".

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 French baritone Ludovic Tézier studied with Claudine Duprat, at the Centre National de Formation des Artistes Lyriques, and at the École d’Art Lyrique de l'Opéra de Paris. In 1998, he won second prize at the Operalia Competition. After early successes in Lucerne, Toulouse, and Lyon, he developed into one of the most renowned baritones of the present day and regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro alla Scala, the Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, the Royal Opera House London, the Bavarian State Opera, as well as at the Salzburg Festival and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. He is particularly acclaimed for his Verdi roles, including Macbeth, Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Renato in "Un ballo in maschera", Giorgio Germont in "La traviata", Posa in "Don Carlos", and Amonasro in "Aida". His solo album of Verdi arias was awarded the Gramophone Award in 2021; in 2022 he released the duet album "Insieme" together with Jonas Kaufmann. His recent highlights include new productions of "Rigoletto" in Madrid, "Tosca" in Munich, and "Hamlet" and "Simon Boccanegra" at the Opéra national de Paris. He is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

The haute-contre tenor David Tricou studied in his hometown of Montpellier as well as at the Conservatory of Paris. He has sung in operas such as Rameau’s "Pigmalion" and "Anacréon" on tour with William Christie, Cavalli’s "L’Egisto" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and in Luxembourg under Vincent Dumestre, and Rossi’s "Orfeo" in Versailles, Nancy, Bordeaux, and Caen under Raphaël Pichon. Further engagements include Rameau’s "Castor et Pollux" in Sablé and at the Festival de La Chaise-Dieu, John Blow’s "Vénus et Adonis" in Caen, Graun’s "Adriano in Siria" in Potsdam and Essen, Antonia Bembo’s "Ercole amante" in Stuttgart and Herne, as well as the title role in Rameau’s "Zoroastre" in Münster. With the ensemble la co[opéra]tive and Campra’s "Le carnaval de Venise", he toured throughout France, sang with Le Concert Spirituel in Lully’s "Persée" at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and took part in world premieres in Metz and Modena. As an accomplished Mozart interpreter, his repertoire includes roles such as Tamino ("The Magic Flute"), Marzio ("Mitridate"), and Bastien ("Bastien and Bastienne"), as well as Almaviva in Rossini’s "Il barbiere di Siviglia" and Nemorino in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore". In concert, he has appeared with ensembles including Les Arts Florissants, Les Correspondances, Le Banquet Céleste, il Gusto Barocco, and Ensemble 1700 under conductors such as William Christie, Hervé Niquet, Jörg Halubek, and Dorothee Oberlinger. He sang under Jordi Savall in Monteverdi’s "L’Orfeo" in Avignon, performed the role of Gardefeu in Offenbach’s "La Vie Parisienne" in Versailles, and toured with Vincent Dumestre and Lully’s "Armide" to Madrid, Paris, Toulouse, and Versailles.

The Estonian bass-baritone Lauri Vasar studied in Tallinn and at the Mozarteum Salzburg. He made his stage debut in 2003 at the Salzburg Festival in "Die Bakchantinnen" and "Don Carlos". His significant engagements include Gunther and Donner in Wagner’s "Ring" cycle, Orest in "Elektra", Amfortas in "Parsifal", the title role in "Le nozze di Figaro" and Sharpless in "Madama Butterfly" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Olivier in "Capriccio" at the Opéra national de Paris, at the Opéra de Lyon and at La Monnaie, Gunther in "Götterdämmerung" at Teatro Real Madrid, Kovalyov in "Die Nase" at the Zurich Opera House, Wolfram in "Tannhäuser" at the Budapest Wagner Days, as well as the title role in "Il prigioniero" at the Athens Opera, the Hanover State Opera, the Royal Festival Hall London, De Nationale Opera, and the Opéra de Lyon. In the past season, he was heard as Shchelkalov in "Boris Godunow" at the Hamburg State Opera, as Orest and Amfortas at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and as Wolfram at the Budapest Wagner Days. His recent successes include Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte" at the San Francisco Opera, Sharpless at the Royal Ballet and Opera, the Earl of Gloucester in "Lear" at Teatro Real Madrid, and King in "Lessons in Love and Violence" at the Zurich Opera House. For his portrayal of Billy Budd at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, he was nominated for the German Theatre Prize "Der Faust".

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.

The Italian baritone Gabriele Viviani was born in Lucca and studied at the Conservatorio "Luigi Boccherini" with Marco Boccassini as well as with Graziano Polidori, with whom he continues to collaborate to this day. He won the Mozart Competition of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the Mascagni Prize at the Cascina Lirica Competition, and a special prize at the Toti dal Monte Competition in Treviso. Since then, he has appeared at renowned opera houses such as Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, the Canadian Opera Company, the Royal Opera House, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, and in the Arena di Verona. He made his debut at the Royal Opera House in 2009 as Marcello in "La bohème". His repertoire includes, among others, Renato in "Un ballo in maschera", Simon Boccanegra, Giovanni lo Sciancato in "Francesca da Rimini", Tonio in "Pagliacci", Nabucco, Carlo Gérard in "Andrea Chénier", Rodrigo in "Don Carlo", as well as Scarpia in "Tosca". His recent highlights include Jack Rance in "La fanciulla del West" at the Teatro Regio di Torino, the title role in "Nabucco" at the Opéra de Lausanne and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Dulcamara in "L’elisir d’amore" at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, as well as Scarpia at the Royal Opera House, in Bilbao, and in Bologna.

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."

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.

Baritone Pavel Yankovsky was born in Belarus and studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg. He has received numerous awards, including at the International Irina Bogacheva Competition in 2007 and the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in 2008. Engagements have taken him to, among others, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerp, Opéra de Lyon, Hamburg State Opera, Stuttgart State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Hannover, Theater Basel, Teatro Real Madrid, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. His repertoire includes roles such as Eugene Onegin, Prince Igor, Rigoletto, Germont ("La Traviata"), Marcello ("La Bohème"), Robert ("Iolanta"), Prince Yeletzky and Tomsky ("Pique Dame"), Wolfram ("Tannhäuser"), Telramund ("Lohengrin"), Jochanaan ("Salome"), Miller ("Luisa Miller"), Iago ("Otello"), Conte di Luna ("Il trovatore"), Don Carlo di Vargas ("La forza del destino"), Amonasro ("Aida"), Ford ("Falstaff"), Figaro ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Belcore ("L’Elisir d’Amore"), Carlo Gérard ("Andrea Chénier"), Enrico ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Escamillo ("Carmen"), Sharpless ("Madama Butterfly"), Jack Rance ("La fanciulla del West") and Scarpia ("Tosca").

Chinese baritone Xiaomeng Zhang studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School. As a former member of the Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, he regularly appears at the house, where he has performed as Ping ("Turandot"), Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Silvio ("Pagliacci"), and Donner ("Das Rheingold"). His repertoire also includes the title role in "Don Giovanni" and the roles Figaro ("The Barber of Seville"), Belcore ("L’Elisir d’amore"), Schaunard ("La bohème"), and Figaro ("The Marriage of Figaro"). At the Opéra national de Paris, he appeared as Zhou Enlai ("Nixon in China") and as Schaunard ("La bohème"). In the 2025/26 season, he will make his debut at the Royal Opera House in London as Ping and sing Dr. Falke ("Die Fledermaus") at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.