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 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").

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.

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.

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".

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".

Melanie Diener made an international name for herself with the major roles in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Her operatic repertoire includes Wagner roles such as Isolde, Elsa, Sieglinde and Elisabeth ("Tannhäuser"), Strauss heroines such as the Marschallin, Ariadne and Chrysothemis, as well as roles such as Leonore ("Fidelio"), Agathe, Katya Kabanova, Ursula ("Mathis der Maler") and Ellen Orford ("Peter Grimes"). Her engagements have taken her to opera houses in Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig, Vienna, Zurich, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Warsaw, London, Paris, Rome, Moscow, New York, Washington, Toronto, Bogotá and Tokyo, among others. She has worked with renowned conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Philippe Jordan, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Michael Gielen, Bernard Haitink, Marek Janowski, Simone Young, Kent Nagano, Lorin Maazel, Kirill Petrenko and Franz Welser-Möst. Her engagements have taken her to numerous festivals, including the Berliner Festwochen, the Lucerne Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Festival and the Tanglewood Festival. Melanie Diener has worked with directors such as Michael Thalheimer, Keith Warner, Oliver Py, Peter Sellars, Martin Kušej, Katharina Thalbach, Nigel Lowery, Marco Arturo Marelli and Vera Nemirova. She has given numerous masterclasses, including in Barcelona, at the Rotterdam Conservatory and at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts. In 2019, together with Thomas Hampson, she directed the "Internationale Opernwerkstatt Waiblingen", which she had initiated. Melanie Diener has an extensive discography, including her solo CD "Puccini's Heroines" and complete opera recordings such as Puccini's "Le Villi", Korngold's "Die Kathrin" and Weber's "Euryanthe".

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 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.

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").

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".

The Finnish soprano Sonja Herranen studied at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and took private singing lessons with Dale Fundling. In 2022, she made her debut at the Finnish National Opera as the First Lady in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte". In 2023, she won first prize at the Elisabeth Connell Prize International Singing Competition in London, as well as second prize and the special prize of the Finnish National Opera Foundation at the national singing competition in Lappeenranta. In 2024, she made her debuts as the Third Norn in Wagner's "Götterdämmerung" at the Finnish National Opera and as Donna Elvira in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. From 2024 to 2026, she was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. There, she sang, among other roles, Freia in "Das Rheingold", Helmwige in "Die Walküre", Anna in "Nabucco", Pamina in "Die Zauberflöte", the Priestess in "Aida" and the Voice from Heaven in "Don Carlo". In the Opera Studio production of Weber's "Der Freischütz", she took on the role of Agathe. She has worked with conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Simon Rattle, Bertrand de Billy and Philippe Jordan. In 2025, she sang Gerhilde in a semi-staged performance of "Die Walküre" with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding and performed Mahler's Fourth Symphony at the Bregenz Festival. In 2026, she sang the Countess in "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. In the same year, she became a scholarship holder of the Finnish Wagner Society. In 2026/27, she returns to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Giulietta in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" and as Pamina. At the Finnish National Opera, she sings Euridice in "Orfeo ed Euridice" and will appear again as Pamina at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2027.