Johannes-Passion

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

Yannick Debus studied voice at the Lübeck University of Music, the Basel University of Music, and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In parallel, he studied music theory and ear training in Lübeck. During his studies, he performed at the theatres of Kiel and Lübeck, including the main role of the Poet in Cimarosa’s "L’impresario in angustie." Within the framework of the Junge Oper Schloss Weikersheim, he appeared in 2017 as the Father in Humperdinck’s "Hänsel und Gretel" and in 2018 sang Guglielmo in "Così fan tutte" at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg. At Theater Basel, he performed Kaiser Overall in Viktor Ullmann’s "Der Kaiser von Atlantis," Figaro in Milhaud’s "La mère coupable," and at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music Emireno in Handel’s "Ottone, re di Germania." From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House and has since returned several times as a guest. There, he sang roles including Kilian ("Der Freischütz"), Speaker and Second Priest ("The Magic Flute"), Thierry ("Dialogues des Carmélites"), Pieter in Stefan Wirth’s "Girl with a Pearl Earring," the title role in "Jakob Lenz," Dr. Falke ("Die Fledermaus"), Lesbus ("Agrippina"), Don Fernando ("Fidelio"), and Lescaut ("Manon"). He maintains a close collaboration with René Jacobs, under whom he performed Orpheus in Telemann’s eponymous opera in Basel, Apollo in Handel’s "Apollo e Dafne," Kilian and Ottokar on the CD release tour of "Der Freischütz," and in "Israel in Egypt." Recent engagements include a song recital at the Zurich Opera House, Telemann’s "Orpheus" at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre, and Brahms’ "Ein Deutsches Requiem" with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra under Florian Helgath.

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.

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

The tenor Johan Krogius began his musical training in the boys’ choir of the Cathedral Cantores Minores in Helsinki. He later studied in Helsinki and Stockholm, won the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 2021, and in the same year was awarded first prize at the Helsinki Lied Competition. In opera he has sung roles such as Jaquino ("Fidelio") and Pong ("Turandot") in Helsinki, First Man and Juhana in Joonas Kokkonen’s "The Last Temptations" at the opera in Jyväskylä, Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Finnish National Opera, Kuska ("Chowanschtschina") with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen in Helsinki and Stockholm, as well as Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") at the opera in Tampere and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he could also be heard in 2024 as Don Ottavio and Ismaele ("Nabucco") and in 2025 as Macduff ("Macbeth"). In the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons he was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. There he performed, among others, as Leukippos (Strauss’ "Daphne"), Tamino, First Armoured Man and First Priest ("Die Zauberflöte"), the Innkeeper and Faninal’s Major-Domo ("Der Rosenkavalier"), a Trojan ("Idomeneo"), Parpignol ("La bohème") and Borsa ("Rigoletto"). As a guest he returned to the Berlin State Opera in the role of Tybalt ("Roméo et Juliette"). On the concert stage he has appeared with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and made his debut with Mozart’s "Requiem" at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2024.

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