Die Fledermaus

Matthias Klink was a member of the ensemble at the Städtische Bühnen Köln from 1996 to 1998 and at the Stuttgart State Opera from 2006 to 2010. Guest engagements took him to Hamburg, Dresden, Frankfurt, the three major Berlin opera houses, and La Scala in Milan. Since his Salzburg debut in 1999 at the world premiere of Berio’s “Cronaca del luogo,” Matthias Klink has been a regular guest there and sang in 2010 the roles of Ein Gast/Apollon in the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s “Dionysos.” He performed Tamino (“Die Zauberflöte”) at the Vienna State Opera, the Baden-Baden Festival Theatre, the Salzburg Festival, Aix-en-Provence, the Ruhrtriennale, and the Metropolitan Opera. Other roles in his repertoire include Don José, Alfredo (“La traviata”), Tom Rakewell (“The Rake’s Progress”), and Hoffmann. In 2014/15, Matthias Klink rejoined the Stuttgart State Opera ensemble. For his acting and singing performance as Gustav von Aschenbach in “Death in Venice,” he was named Singer of the Year 2017 by the magazine “Opernwelt” and received the German Theatre Prize DER FAUST in 2018. At Zurich Opera House, he most recently sang Loge in “Das Rheingold.” Besides his opera engagements, Matthias Klink is regularly active as a concert and lieder singer. His appearances have included Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Cologne Philharmonic, Baden-Baden Festival Theatre, Salzburg Easter Festival, Musikverein Vienna, and Liederhalle Stuttgart. In 2018, he was appointed Kammersänger in Stuttgart.

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

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.

Ruben Drole, bass-baritone, comes from Winterthur and studied at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2004, he was accepted into the International Opera Studio (IOS) and in 2005 into the ensemble of the Zurich Opera House, where he appeared, among others, as Lucio Cinna (J.C. Bach’s Lucio Silla), Haly (L’italiana in Algeri), Argante (Rinaldo), Wurm (Luisa Miller) and as Papageno in the “Zauberflöte” conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. As Papageno, he also made his debut at the Semperoper Dresden in 2015. Further projects with Harnoncourt included Kezal (“Die verkaufte Braut”) and Haydn’s “Schöpfung” at the Styriarte Graz, Beethoven’s “Christus am Ölberg” in Vienna and Lucerne, a Japan tour (Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah) as well as Leporello (“Don Giovanni”) at the Theater an der Wien. In the Zurich cycle of Mozart/Da Ponte operas directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, he performed as Guglielmo (“Così fan tutte”), Figaro (“Le nozze di Figaro”) and Leporello. He performed the same roles under Welser-Möst with the Cleveland Orchestra. At the 2012 Salzburg Festival, he sang Achilla (“Giulio Cesare”) and appeared there in 2013 in Haydn’s “Il ritorno di Tobia” and in Walter Braunfels’ “Scenes from the Life of Saint Joan.” In Zurich, he sang roles such as Papageno (“Die Zauberflöte”), Alaskawolfjoe (“Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny”), Soldier (“Die Geschichte vom Soldaten”), Odysseus (“Die Odyssee”), Antonio (“Le nozze di Figaro”) as well as Duchess/Caterpillar in “Alice im Wunderland.” Recently, he was also seen in America and in the ballet evening “Nachtträume.”

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

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 Francisco Viñas Competition. He participated in the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival and was a member of the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera Munich. From 2012 to 2014, he was a member of the Young Ensemble at the Theater an der Wien, where he appeared in chamber opera productions including La bohème, La Cenerentola, Fidelio, Attila, Mathis der Maler, and La clemenza di Tito. Since then, he has returned to Theater an der Wien as Mads in Werner Egk’s Peer Gynt, as Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as the 4th Jew in Salome, and most recently in 2021 as Jacob Glock in Der feurige Engel, and guested in the title role of Don Carlos at the Kammeroper Wien. Recently, he has also appeared as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor at 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 part of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House, where he has sung roles including the 4th 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), Guglielmo Antolstoinoloff (Viva La Mamma), and Pylade (Iphigénie en Tauride).

Yannick Debus studied voice at the Lübeck University of Music, the Basel Music Academy, and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Alongside his vocal studies, he studied music theory and ear training in Lübeck. During his studies, he sang at the theaters in Kiel and Lübeck, including the lead role of the Poet in L’impresario in angustie (Cimarosa). As part of the Junge Oper Schloss Weikersheim, he appeared in the summer of 2017 in the role of the Father in Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera Hänsel und Gretel. In the summer of 2018, he sang the role of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg. He was seen at the Theater Basel as the Emperor Overall in Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, as Figaro in Milhaud’s La mère coupable, and at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music as Emireno in Handel’s Ottone, re di Germania. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the International Opera Studio in Zurich, where he appeared as Kilian in Der Freischütz, as Speaker and 2nd Priest in Die Zauberflöte, as Hermann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, as Thierry in Dialogues des Carmélites, and as Pieter in Girl with a Pearl Earring. He has a close collaboration with René Jacobs, with whom he appeared as Orpheus in Telemann’s opera of the same name in Basel, and in 2022 as Apollo in Handel’s Apollo e Dafne, as Kilian and Ottokar on the CD release tour of Der Freischütz, and in Israel in Egypt. In 2022, he sang Haydn’s Creation at the Berlin Konzerthaus and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Berlin Philharmonic.

Nathan Haller is from Canada and studied voice at the Juilliard School in New York. In 2013, he participated in the International Meistersinger Academy. From 2015 to 2017, he was a member of the OperAvenir studio at Theater Basel, where he appeared as Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Romeo in Blacher’s Romeo und Julia, in the world premiere of Melancholia by Sebastian Nübling and Ives Thuwis, as Enoch Snow (Carousel), and as Oronte in Alcina. In 2016, he sang Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at the Akko Opera Festival in Israel. On the concert stage, he has performed at the New York Festival of Song in Carnegie Hall, with the Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg, in La Resurrezione under William Christie, and with Masaaki Suzuki in Boston, New York, Leipzig, and London. In the 2017/18 season, he appeared at Neue Oper Wien as François in Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place; in 2018/19, he sang Count Albert (Die tote Stadt) with the Nederlandse Reisopera and appeared in Die Gezeichneten and as Albazar in Il turco in Italia at Zurich Opera, where in the 2020/21 season he also performed the title role in Mitterer’s Das tapfere Schneiderlein. Since the 2021/22 season, Nathan Haller has been a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House and has appeared there as Telemachos in the world premiere of Die Odyssee, Sir Hervey (Anna Bolena), Count Elemer (Arabella), Bardolfo (Falstaff), Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), First Jew (Salome), Triquet (Eugene Onegin), and Gobin / Adolfo (La rondine). He also sang Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at Malmö Opera in 2021 and Pong (Turandot) at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 2023.

Rebeca Olvera is from Mexico and studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City. From 2005 to 2007, she was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House. Afterwards, she became a permanent ensemble member and performed roles such as 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). She worked with conductors including Ralf Weikert, Vladimir Fedoseyev, 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 (Carreras Gala 2007 on ARD) and with Plácido Domingo in Mexico. In 2016, she sang Adalgisa in Norma alongside Cecilia Bartoli at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, at the Edinburgh Festival, and at the Baden-Baden Festival House. In Zurich, she appeared as Despina, Musetta, Frasquita (Carmen), Mi (Das Land des Lächelns), Zaida (Il turco in Italia), Komtesse Stasi (Die Csárdásfürstin), Waldvöglein (Siegfried), and Contessa di Folleville (Il viaggio a Reims) — the latter role also performed at the Royal Danish Opera. She performed Isolier at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and Clorinda (La Cenerentola) at the Vienna State Opera. Additionally, she appeared as Berta (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and in the gala concert Carmencita & Friends at the Salzburg Festival.

Barbara Grimm was born in Bern and also completed her acting training there. In 1980, she received a scholarship from the canton of Bern for six months in New York (voice and tap dance). This was followed by numerous engagements in Germany, including at the Theater Kaiserslautern, Theater Ulm, Theater Essen, Staatstheater Stuttgart, and Schauspiel Kiel. In 1986/87, she was a participant in the Musical Studio Munich (patronage: August Everding). From 2002 to 2021, she was a permanent ensemble member at TOBS (Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn), where she also worked as a director. Her major roles included Lady Milford (Kabale und Liebe), Queen Elisabeth (Maria Stuart), Ranevskaya (The Cherry Orchard), Maria Callas (Masterclass), the Old Lady (The Visit), Florence Foster Jenkins (Souvenir), and Patricia Highsmith (Switzerland). Barbara Grimm is also a lecturer in role study and improvisation, as well as a speaker for radio and TV. In 2021, she played the role of Charlotte Tanner in the 4th season of the TV series Wilder. In 2011, she received the acting award from the canton of Solothurn.