From 1. November 2026 until 28. November 2026
Gianandrea Noseda has been General Music Director of Zurich Opera House since the 2021/22 season. He is also 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, artistically reshaping the opera house during this period. Noseda has conducted the world's leading orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal 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 held leading positions with the BBC Philharmonic (Chief Conductor), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor), Mariinsky Theatre (Principal Guest Conductor) and Stresa Festival (Artistic Director). His discography comprises more than 80 CDs – the "Musica Italiana" project, featuring neglected 20th-century Italian repertoire, holds a special place. Born in Milan, Noseda is a Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana and received the City of Milan's Order of Merit in 2024. In 2015, he was honoured as "Musical America's Conductor of the Year", named "Conductor of the Year" at the International Opera Awards in 2016 and received the Puccini Prize in 2023. In the same year, the Oper!Awards named Noseda "Best Conductor", particularly highlighting his interpretations of the first two operas of the "Ring" cycle at Zurich Opera House.
Dmitri Tcherniakov was born in Moscow and studied at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts. He designs the sets for all his productions himself and has received numerous awards, including the "Golden Mask", Russia's most prestigious theatre award. 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", Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tsar's Bride", Wagner's "Parsifal" and "Tristan und Isolde". Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" has been performed 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" at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, among others, Verdi's "Macbeth" at the Paris Opéra and "Simon Boccanegra" at the ENO, and 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 established his reputation in Germany, while Verdi's "La traviata" in Milan and Borodin's "Prince Igor" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York brought him international recognition. Further highlights include Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" in Amsterdam, Janáček's "Jenůfa" and Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande" at Zurich Opera House, the combination of Tchaikovsky's "Iolanta" and "The Nutcracker" at the Opéra de Paris, "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 Paris, Prokofiev's "Betrothal in a Monastery" and Wagner's "Ring" cycle at the Berlin State Opera. Most recently, Dmitri Tcherniakov presented Korngold's "Die tote Stadt" at Zurich Opera House. In the 2026/27 season, he returns to combine Sergei Rachmaninoff's three one-act operas "Aleko", "Skupoi Rytsar" and "Francesca da Rimini".
Elena Zaytseva is from St Petersburg, where she also trained at the Theatre Academy. She subsequently worked at Lenfilm Studio as a costume assistant and later as a costume designer for film. In 1997, she became a costume designer at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, where she designed costumes for productions including "The Flying Dutchman" and "The Sleeping Beauty". She also designed costumes for theatre productions. In 2001, she began working for the New Opera Company in Moscow, and in 2003 she joined the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where she was responsible for the costumes for "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" (2004), "Le Corsaire" (2007), "Ruslan and Lyudmila" (2011) and several ballet productions, among others. She has also worked in Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg ("La Bayadère") and Berlin ("Esmeralda"). As co-costume designer for Dmitri Tcherniakov, she has been involved in the following productions: "Khovanshchina" (Bavarian State Opera), "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" (Deutsche Oper am Rhein, English National Opera), "The Gambler" (Berlin State Opera, Teatro alla Scala), "Wozzeck" (Bolshoi Theatre), "Dialogues des Carmélites" (Bavarian State Opera), "Don Giovanni" (Aix-en-Provence, Bolshoi Theatre, Canadian Opera Company), "Simon Boccanegra" (English National Opera, Bavarian State Opera), "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" (Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam), "Jenůfa" and "Pelléas et Mélisande" (Zurich Opera House), "Il trovatore" (Mariinsky Theatre), "Lulu" (Bavarian State Opera), "Parsifal", "The Tsar's Bride", "Tristan und Isolde" and "Betrothal in a Monastery" at the Berlin State Opera, and "Iolanta"/"The Nutcracker" and "Les Troyens" at the Opéra National de Paris.
Klaas-Jan de Groot is a Dutch conductor and chorus master. He has been Chorus Director of Zurich Opera House since the 2025/26 season. After studying in The Hague and Cardiff, he was assistant to Chorus Director Ching-Lien Wu at Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam from 2016 to 2022, where he prepared several productions and projects with the opera chorus. Since 2018, he has worked regularly with the Netherlands Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor). From 2018 to 2024, he worked annually as assistant to Chorus Director Eberhard Friedrich at the Bayreuth Festival. He has conducted various concerts and performances with Opera Zuid, as well as with the Orchestra of the 18th Century and the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2022 to 2025, he was Chorus Director at the Aalto Theatre in Essen. Since 2023, he has worked regularly with the NDR Vokalensemble in Hamburg. In 2024, he made his debut with the MDR Radio Choir and the Berlin Radio Choir. In 2021, Klaas-Jan de Groot was awarded the prestigious Dutch conducting prize of the Anton Kersjes Fund as part of its programme to support emerging talent.
Gleb Filshtinsky is from St Petersburg and studied at the Academy of Theatre Arts there, where he specialised in set design. As a lighting designer, he has designed numerous theatre productions as well as show programmes incorporating pyrotechnics. His work has received numerous awards, including the Estonian National Theatre Award. His productions of "The Rake’s Progress" and "Eugene Onegin" at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow received the Golden Mask, Russia's most prestigious theatre award. He has designed numerous productions for the Alexandrinsky and Mariinsky Theatres, including "Otello", "Boris Godunov", "Jenůfa", "The Nose", "Carmen", "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and "Tristan und Isolde". He has a close working relationship with Dmitri Tcherniakov, including collaborations on "The Gambler", "The Tsar's Bride", "Parsifal" and "Der Ring des Nibelungen" at the Berlin State Opera, "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, "Macbeth" at the Opéra National de Paris, "Khovanshchina", "Dialogues des Carmélites" and "Lulu" at the Bavarian State Opera, "Don Giovanni" in Aix-en-Provence and at the Bolshoi Theatre, "Simon Boccanegra" at the English National Opera in London, "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" in Amsterdam, "Prince Igor" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, "Iolanta" at the Opéra National de Paris and "Elektra" at the Hamburg State Opera. In addition, he has worked with director Alvis Hermanis on productions for the Salzburg Festival ("Giulio Cesare in Egitto", "Die Soldaten", "Gawain", "Il trovatore"), at the opera houses in Bologna and Brussels ("Jenůfa"), at the Opéra National de Paris ("La Damnation de Faust") and at La Scala ("I due Foscari").
Tieni Burkhalter studied Fine Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), where he specialised in video and video installation. After his works were mainly shown in galleries and at experimental film festivals, he began working for the stage in 2009. As a video producer, he has close ties to Zurich Opera House. His stage work has also taken him to theatres in Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Moscow, Oslo and Savonlinna. At Zurich Opera House, he has worked with Andreas Homoki ("Der fliegende Holländer", "Das Land des Lächelns", "Das Rheingold", "Siegfried" and "Die Walküre"), Evgeny Titov ("Lessons in Love and Violence" and "L’Orfeo"), Jan Philipp Gloger ("Die Csárdásfürstin" and "Le nozze di Figaro"), Adele Thomas ("Il trovatore"), Rainer Holzapfel ("Die Odyssee"), Nina Russi ("Coraline") and Kai Anne Schuhmacher ("Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer"). For Zurich Ballet, he produced videos for Christian Spuck ("Anna Karenina" and "Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern"), Marcos Morau ("Nachtträume"), Edward Clug ("Faust") and Douglas Lee ("A-Life"). He has also worked with Philipp Himmelmann on "Aida" at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and with Christian Spuck on "Madame Bovary" in Berlin. For many years, he has been involved in Dmitri Tcherniakov's productions, including "Pelléas et Mélisande" and "The Makropulos Affair" at Zurich Opera House, "Senza Sangue/Herzog Blaubars Burg", "Elektra" and "Salome" at the Hamburg State Opera, "La Fille de Neige" and "Les Troyens" at the Opéra National de Paris, and "Tristan und Isolde" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.
Jana Beckmann is a dramaturge and curator. She studied choreography in Buenos Aires, dramaturgy in Hamburg, as well as music and philosophy in Oldenburg, and has worked internationally for opera, theatre, and festival institutions, including Tanzhaus Zürich, Kampnagel, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Goethe-Institut Buenos Aires. From 2018 to 2023, she was a dramaturge at the Berlin State Opera. She has collaborated with directors including Romeo Castellucci, Kornél Mundruczó, Christiane Jatahy, Calixto Bieito, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Philipp Stölzl, Barbora Horáková, and Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson. From 2023 to 2025, she was part of the dramaturgy leadership collective of the Vienna Festival under the artistic direction of Milo Rau. There, she was responsible for and supervised key productions of the festival programme, including "Sancta" by Florentina Holzinger. Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a dramaturge at the Zurich Opera House as well as an independent curator for the Vienna Festival. In addition, she undertakes teaching and jury work and was the author of a radio opera about Joseph Beuys for SWR. As a curator, she developed and directed formats that combine aesthetic innovation with questions of participation and cultural transformation, including the concert-performance format "Sustainable Listening", which was nominated for the OPUS Klassik, and the "Akademie Zweite Moderne".
Belarusian-born baritone Vladislav Sulimsky won the International Rimsky-Korsakov Competition in 2002 and subsequently became an ensemble member at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. He was also awarded first prize at 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, and 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 ("Die Jungfrau von Orléans"), Iago ("Otello"), Grigory ("Die Zarenbraut"), Scarpia ("Tosca"), Ezio ("Attila"), as well as the title roles in "Eugene Onegin", "Simon Boccanegra", "Macbeth", "Mazeppa", "Gianni Schicchi", "Trittico" and "Nabucco".
Tenor Bekhzod Davronov is 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 in New York, Alfredo ("La traviata") at the Santa Fe Opera, Rodolfo at the Prague State Opera and on a Glyndebourne Festival tour, Anatol Kuragin in Dmitri Tcherniakov's new production of Prokofiev's "War and Peace" under Vladimir Jurowski at the Bavarian State Opera, and Alyeya ("Aus einem Totenhaus") at the Ruhrtriennale. In the 2024/25 season, he made his debut as Alfredo and Rodolfo at Dallas Opera, sang Edgardo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Rodolfo and Alfredo at the Semperoper Dresden, Duca di Mantova ("Rigoletto") at Irish National Opera, and made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Leicester ("Maria Stuarda"). In the 2025/26 season, he made his house debut as Alfredo at the Royal Opera House in London and his role and house debut as Roméo ("Roméo et Juliette") at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. He also returns to the Vienna State Opera as Edgardo, to the Bavarian State Opera as Duca di Mantova, Nemorino ("L'elisir d'amore") and Andrei ("Mazeppa"), to the Semperoper Dresden as Rodolfo and Roméo, and to Zurich Opera House as Alfredo ("La traviata").
Ain Anger studied singing at the Music Academy in Tallinn, Estonia. He was engaged as an ensemble member at Leipzig Opera and the Vienna State Opera. In 2020, he was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersänger. He has appeared as a guest at opera houses in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Barcelona, Dresden, Brussels, Zurich, Milan, Toronto, Houston, San Francisco and New York, as well as at festivals in Savonlinna, Bayreuth, Salzburg and Lucerne. His repertoire includes roles such as Pogner ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), King Marke ("Tristan und Isolde"), Heinrich der Vogler ("Lohengrin"), Daland ("Der fliegende Holländer"), Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia ("Tannhäuser"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold", "Siegfried"), Hunding ("Die Walküre"), Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), 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".
Russian soprano Elena Stikhina studied at the Moscow Conservatory and the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Singing Centre. She made her debut as Salome at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, where she later became an ensemble member. In 2016, she won the Culturarte Prize at the Operalia Competition, among other awards. 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 Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Vienna State Opera and the Opéra de Paris. She has also sung the title role in Tchaikovsky's "Die Jungfrau von Orléans" in Amsterdam, Salome at the Lyric Opera in 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 made her debut in the title role of Cherubini's "Médée" in 2019. At Zurich Opera House, she has appeared as Salome and Manon Lescaut, among other roles. In 2026, Elena Stikhina was named "Singer of the Year" by the specialist magazine Opernwelt.
Mezzo-soprano Dominika Stefańska studied in Łódź and was a member of the Academy of the Warsaw Opera. She was a finalist at the Ada Sari International Vocal Artistry Competition in 2021. At Łódź Opera, she sang the roles of Volpino ("Lo speziale") and Frau Reich ("Due lustigen Weiber von Windsor"), as well as a Nymph ("Rusalka") at Poznań Opera. As a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House, she sang Hippolyta ("A Midsummer Night's Dream"), among other roles. Since the 2026/27 season, Dominika Stefańska has been a permanent ensemble member at Zurich Opera House, where she can be seen in roles including the Third Lady ("Die Zauberflöte"), First Maid ("Elektra"), Grimgerde ("Die Walküre"), First Norn ("Götterdämmerung") and Pasqualita ("Doctor Atomic").
Belarusian-born baritone Vladislav Sulimsky won the International Rimsky-Korsakov Competition in 2002 and subsequently became an ensemble member at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. He was also awarded first prize at 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, and 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 ("Die Jungfrau von Orléans"), Iago ("Otello"), Grigory ("Die Zarenbraut"), Scarpia ("Tosca"), Ezio ("Attila"), as well as the title roles in "Eugene Onegin", "Simon Boccanegra", "Macbeth", "Mazeppa", "Gianni Schicchi", "Trittico" and "Nabucco".
Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov began his career at the National Theatre in Kyiv. In 2003, he was awarded the title of "Honoured Artist of Ukraine", which recognises outstanding contributions 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, including the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Stuttgart Opera, 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 and Opera Australia in Sydney. In the concert field, he has performed 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"), Lensky ("Eugene Onegin"), Alfredo ("La traviata"), Mario Cavaradossi ("Tosca"), Vaudémont ("Iolanta"), Don José ("Carmen"), Riccardo ("Un ballo in maschera"), Nicias ("Thaïs"), Macduff ("Macbeth"), Pinkerton ("Madama Butterfly"), Rodolfo ("Luisa Miller"), Andrei ("Mazeppa"), Don José ("Carmen"), the Prince ("Rusalka") and Grigory Otrepyev ("Boris Godunov").
Baritone Pavel Yankovsky was born in Belarus and studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg. He has received several awards, including at the International Irina Bogacheva Competition in 2007 and the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in 2008. Engagements have taken him to the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, Opéra de Lyon, Hamburg State Opera, Stuttgart State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Staatstheater Hannover, Theater Basel, Teatro Real in Madrid, Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, among others. His repertoire includes roles such as Eugene Onegin, Prince Igor, Rigoletto, Germont ("La traviata"), Marcello ("La bohème"), Robert ("Iolanta"), Prince Yeletsky 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").
Siberian tenor Alexey Dolgov studied at the Novosibirsk State Conservatory and 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, New Israeli Opera, 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 concert, he has performed with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. 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 ("Die Zauberflöte"), Bacchus ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Lensky ("Eugene Onegin"), Ferrando ("Così fan tutte"), Duca ("Rigoletto"), Rodolfo ("La bohème") and Alfredo ("La traviata").
Stanislav Vorobyov comes from Russia and studied at the Moscow Conservatory. He was a member of the International Opera Studio and has been an ensemble member at Zurich Opera House since the 2018/19 season. Here, he has appeared as Colline ("La bohème"), Alidoro ("La Cenerentola"), the High Priest ("Nabucco"), Reinmar von Zweter ("Tannhäuser"), Zaretsky ("Eugene Onegin"), Angelotti ("Tosca"), 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 deuerige 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 Vlaanderen and Luxembourg as Nourabad in "Les Pêcheurs de perles", to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as Ombra di Nino in "Semiramide", and in 2024 to the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and the ROHM Theatre in Kyoto as Colline in "La bohème".
Russian soprano Elena Stikhina studied at the Moscow Conservatory and the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Singing Centre. She made her debut as Salome at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, where she later became an ensemble member. In 2016, she won the Culturarte Prize at the Operalia Competition, among other awards. 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 Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Vienna State Opera and the Opéra de Paris. She has also sung the title role in Tchaikovsky's "Die Jungfrau von Orléans" in Amsterdam, Salome at the Lyric Opera in 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 made her debut in the title role of Cherubini's "Médée" in 2019. At Zurich Opera House, she has appeared as Salome and Manon Lescaut, among other roles. In 2026, Elena Stikhina was named "Singer of the Year" by the specialist magazine Opernwelt.
Tenor Bekhzod Davronov is 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 in New York, Alfredo ("La traviata") at the Santa Fe Opera, Rodolfo at the Prague State Opera and on a Glyndebourne Festival tour, Anatol Kuragin in Dmitri Tcherniakov's new production of Prokofiev's "War and Peace" under Vladimir Jurowski at the Bavarian State Opera, and Alyeya ("Aus einem Totenhaus") at the Ruhrtriennale. In the 2024/25 season, he made his debut as Alfredo and Rodolfo at Dallas Opera, sang Edgardo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Rodolfo and Alfredo at the Semperoper Dresden, Duca di Mantova ("Rigoletto") at Irish National Opera, and made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Leicester ("Maria Stuarda"). In the 2025/26 season, he made his house debut as Alfredo at the Royal Opera House in London and his role and house debut as Roméo ("Roméo et Juliette") at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. He also returns to the Vienna State Opera as Edgardo, to the Bavarian State Opera as Duca di Mantova, Nemorino ("L'elisir d'amore") and Andrei ("Mazeppa"), to the Semperoper Dresden as Rodolfo and Roméo, and to Zurich Opera House as Alfredo ("La traviata").
Belarusian-born baritone Vladislav Sulimsky won the International Rimsky-Korsakov Competition in 2002 and subsequently became an ensemble member at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. He was also awarded first prize at 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, and 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 ("Die Jungfrau von Orléans"), Iago ("Otello"), Grigory ("Die Zarenbraut"), Scarpia ("Tosca"), Ezio ("Attila"), as well as the title roles in "Eugene Onegin", "Simon Boccanegra", "Macbeth", "Mazeppa", "Gianni Schicchi", "Trittico" and "Nabucco".
Siberian tenor Alexey Dolgov studied at the Novosibirsk State Conservatory and 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, New Israeli Opera, 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 concert, he has performed with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. 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 ("Die Zauberflöte"), Bacchus ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Lensky ("Eugene Onegin"), Ferrando ("Così fan tutte"), Duca ("Rigoletto"), Rodolfo ("La bohème") and Alfredo ("La traviata").
Ain Anger studied singing at the Music Academy in Tallinn, Estonia. He was engaged as an ensemble member at Leipzig Opera and the Vienna State Opera. In 2020, he was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersänger. He has appeared as a guest at opera houses in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Barcelona, Dresden, Brussels, Zurich, Milan, Toronto, Houston, San Francisco and New York, as well as at festivals in Savonlinna, Bayreuth, Salzburg and Lucerne. His repertoire includes roles such as Pogner ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), King Marke ("Tristan und Isolde"), Heinrich der Vogler ("Lohengrin"), Daland ("Der fliegende Holländer"), Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia ("Tannhäuser"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold", "Siegfried"), Hunding ("Die Walküre"), Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), 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".
Power, control and destructive greed – and a love that overcomes guilt and death – stand at the centre of this late-Romantic triptych. This evening places the three one-act operas by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov into a compelling field of tension with one another. Dmitri Tcherniakov, a master of radical de-romanticisation, stages an unflinching study of human abysses. Gianandrea Noseda conducts these three works, which are rarely performed together.
Es ist faszinierend und etwas Einzigartiges: alle drei Opern an einem Abend als eine Geschichte zu erleben. In gewisser Weise sind es drei verschiedene Stilgedichte der Opernkomposition. Ich mag, dass wir an einem Abend von 1892 bis 1905 reisen. Eine Reise von 13 Jahren in einer Nacht. Und es ist die Geschichte unseres Lebens. Das Publikum wird etwas Vertrautes in diesen Opern finden, aber auch Überraschendes entdecken, das zeigt, wo Rachmaninow hinwollte.
Als Komponist ist er dem 20. Jahrhundert sehr verbunden, auch wenn seine musikalischen Wurzeln in der Spätromantik der russischen Schule liegen. So gibt es in der Musik Elemente des Neuen, die aber immer auch der Vergangenheit nachspüren – in ihrer Melodik und in ihrem Sinn für Struktur. Das zeigt, dass diese Art von Erinnerung in Rachmaninow immer präsent ist. Selbst als er Russland verliess, nach Amerika zog und vom Land entfremdet war, versuchte er in Beverly Hills die Atmosphäre einer Datscha wie in Russland wiederzubeleben. Oder als er in die Villa Senar an den Vierwaldstättersee nach Luzern zog: Wenn man dort ist, könnte man meinen, in der Nähe des Ladogasees in St. Petersburg zu sein. Es ist dieselbe Umgebung mit dem Garten, dem Haus und dem Zugang zum See. Es ist unglaublich, wie Rachmaninow sein ganzes Leben versuchte, das zu reproduzieren, woran er sich aus seiner Kindheit und Jugend erinnerte.
Wir werden durch unsere Erinnerungen geformt, aber mehr noch durch unsere Erfahrungen. Und wenn man etwas erlebt, ist es schön, kleine Elemente davon festzuhalten, die zur Erinnerung werden. Wir erinnern uns nicht an alles, was wir erlebt haben, aber vielleicht haben wir dieses Bild, dieses Wort, diese Atmosphäre, diesen Geruch oder diesen Geschmack verinnerlicht, und das definiert, wer wir sind. Es vermittelt uns den Eindruck, dass wir Teil der fortschreitenden Geschichte sind: Wir kommen von dort, wir gehen diesen Weg und wir gehen in die Zukunft.
Solange wir unsere Erinnerungen haben, werden wir die Personen sein, die wir sind. Wir wissen, dass es Krankheiten wie Demenz gibt, die dazu führen, dass man den Kontakt zu den Erinnerungen verliert. Man lebt gewissermassen im Moment. Die Vergangenheit ist nur noch in Bruchstücken vorhanden. Und die Zukunft ist nur eine Entität, die man nicht in Betracht zieht. Aber selbst dann, so stelle ich mir vor, ist dieser eine Moment wichtig, denn fünf Minuten später ist er schon vorbei. Ich bin überzeugt davon, dass die Identität aber nicht verloren geht, sie ist vom Vorher und vom Nachher abgekoppelt. Man kann nur die Gegenwart leben.
