Elektra

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brent Michael Smith is from the USA. He studied voice at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and at the University of Northern Iowa, as well as piano at Hope College in Michigan. He was a finalist in the Queen Sonja International Music Competition (2021) and a semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions (2020), and he has won prizes in various international singing competitions. Additionally, he received scholarships from the Loren L. Zachary Society and the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition in Miami. In the United States, he sang roles including Zuniga ("Carmen"), Friedrich Bhaer (Mark Adamo’s "Little Women"), and Ashby ("La fanciulla del West") at Michigan Opera, Antonio ("Le nozze di Figaro") at Toledo Opera, Ariodante ("Xerxes") at the Glimmerglass Festival, the Lackey ("Ariadne auf Naxos") at Santa Fe Opera, as well as Celio (Prokofiev’s "The Love for Three Oranges") and Peter Quince ("A Midsummer Night’s Dream") at Opera Philadelphia. In 2020/21, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House and was subsequently admitted to the ensemble the following season. At the Zurich Opera House, he has since appeared as Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Prince Gremin ("Eugene Onegin"), Friar Laurence ("Roméo et Juliette"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold"), Cesare Angelotti ("Tosca"), and in "Cardillac."

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

Bass Valeriy Murga studied at the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv. He was a finalist at both the 41st International Singing Competition in Toulouse (1996) and the 7th Julian Gayarre Competition in Pamplona (1998). In 1997, he won second prize at the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens and participated in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1999. From 1997 to 1999, he was a soloist at the Ukrainian National Opera in Kyiv, where he performed roles including Figaro (“Le nozze di Figaro”), Escamillo (“Carmen”), Schaunard (“La bohème”), and the title roles in “Eugene Onegin,” “Don Giovanni,” and “Prince Igor.” His repertoire also includes the roles of Marchese di Posa (“Don Carlo”) and Shaklovity (“Khovanshchina”). At the Zürich Opera House, Valeriy Murga was initially a member of the International Opera Studio and during this time performed, among others, Sciarrone and the Jailor (“Tosca”) as well as Monterone (“Rigoletto”). Since the 2000/01 season, he has been a permanent ensemble member at the Zürich Opera House, where he has performed roles such as Prince Yeletsky (“The Queen of Spades”), Moralès (“Carmen”), Second Soldier (“Salome”), Alessio (“La sonnambula”), Ali (“L’italiana in Algeri”), Wagner (“Faust”), Sacristan (“Tosca”), Butler (“La rondine”), and Bogdanovich (“The Merry Widow”), as well as in family operas including “The Canterville Ghost,” “Robin Hood,” “The Enchanted Pig,” “Jim Knopf,” and “Wir pfeiffen auf den Gurkenkönig” He has also appeared as a guest in Eugen d’Albert’s “Tiefland” at the Liceu in Barcelona and in “L’italiana in Algeri” at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.

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.

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

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").

Natália Tuznik, soprano, was born in Budapest and completed her vocal studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music there. She was awarded the Junior Prima Prize. In 2023, she was a member of the Opera Academy at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw and the following year took part in the "Exzellenz Labor Oper," founded by Hedwig Fassbender. She attended numerous masterclasses and worked with artists such as Éva Marton, Claudio Di Segni, Anatoli Goussev, Izabela Kłosińska, Fausto Nardi, Katelan Trần Terrell, Michał Biel, and René Massis. In 2022, she made her debut as Wellgunde ("Götterdämmerung") at the Hungarian State Opera and sang the First Lady ("The Magic Flute") on a tour of Japan. At the Hungarian State Opera, she has also performed the title role in Gluck’s "Iphigenie auf Tauris", Donna Anna ("Don Giovanni"), Alice Ford ("Falstaff"), and most recently Countess Almaviva ("Le nozze di Figaro"). Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House.