La fanciulla del west

The German soprano Anja Kampe is one of the leading singers in her field. With role portrayals such as Brünnhilde in "Der Ring des Nibelungen" at the Berlin State Opera and the Vienna State Opera, Kundry at the Vienna State Opera and the Opéra national de Paris, Sieglinde at the Bayreuth Festival, Isolde at the Berlin State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, as well as Marie in "Wozzeck" at the Vienna State Opera and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, she has set standards. In the 2025/26 season, she can be seen as Brünnhilde in "Der Ring of the Nibelungen", as Marie in "Wozzeck" and as Ortrud in "Lohengrin" at the Berlin State Opera. At the Hamburg State Opera, she takes on the title role in "Ariadne auf Naxos", and at the Vienna State Opera she can also be heard as Ariadne. At the Wagner Days in Budapest, she sings Kundry in "Parsifal". Concert engagements take her, among others, to the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and to Radio France Montpellier. Highlights of past seasons include Isolde at the San Francisco Opera, her role debut as Ariadne in Hamburg, Ortrud at the Semperoper Dresden and at the Munich Opera Festival, Brünnhilde in Sydney and Berlin, her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Senta in "Der fliegende Holländer", as well as new productions of "La fanciulla del West", "Tristan und Isolde" and "Parsifal". Her repertoire also includes roles such as Senta, Leonore, Lisa, Jenůfa, Carlotta and Tosca. She has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Philippe Jordan, Christian Thielemann, Sir Simon Rattle and Simone Young.

The tenor Jonas Kaufmann studied voice at the Academy of Music in his hometown of Munich. After engagements in Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Milan, he joined the Zurich Opera House in 2001. From there, his international career took off with appearances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala in Milan, the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, as well as at the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2006. He has sung the title roles in Verdi’s "Otello" in London, Munich, and Naples, Massenet’s "Werther" in Paris, Vienna, and New York, and Wagner’s "Lohengrin" in Bayreuth, Milan, Paris, and Melbourne. In the field of lieder, he enjoys a close artistic partnership with Helmut Deutsch, with whom he gave the first solo recital at the Met in New York in 2011 since Luciano Pavarotti. Jonas Kaufmann is an exclusive artist with Sony Music, and many of his recordings have received awards such as the Gramophone Award. He has been named "Singer of the Year" multiple times, including by Opernwelt magazine, Diapason, Musical America, and the juries of the International Opera Awards and the Opus Klassik. In 2013, he was named Bavarian Kammersänger and in 2022 Austrian Kammersänger. He received the Bambi Award in 2014, the Premio Puccini in 2015, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2016, was appointed "Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" in 2018, received the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art, and in 2024 was awarded the "Ordre de la Légion d’honneur". Since 2024, Jonas Kaufmann has also served as Artistic Director of the Tyrolean Festival Erl.

Die Partie des Calaf gehört derzeit zu den Paraderollen des deutsch-brasilianischen Tenors Martin Muehle. In der laufenden Spielzeit sang er sie in Barrie Koskys Turandot-Neuinszenierung an der Niederländischen Nationaloper unter der Leitung von Lorenzo Viotti und am Teatro Real in Madrid. Weitere Puccini-Partien waren in 2022/23 Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut) an der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Cavaradossi (Tosca) in 2021/22 an der Staatsoper Stuttgart, Luigi in Il tabarro an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München und Des Grieux an der Oper Frankfurt. In den vergangenen Spielzeiten sang er Don José in Bizets Carmen an der Staatsoper Hamburg, am Bolschoi-Theater und in der Arena di Verona, wo er ausserdem als Radamès in Verdis Aida debütierte. Martin Muehle war zwischen 2013 bis 2015 Mitglied des Ensembles am Nationaltheater Mannheim.

Tomasz Konieczny, wurde in Polen geboren und studierte an der dortigen Filmakademie zunächst Schauspiel. Er wirkte als Schauspieler im Theater und war an verschiedenen Film- und Fernsehproduktionen beteiligt. Sein Gesangsstudium begann er an der Fryderyk-Chopin-Akademie in Warschau und setzte es an der Hochschule für Musik in Dresden fort. Tomasz Konieczny ist regelmässiger Gast an zahlreichen renommierten Häusern weltweit; er sang u. a. am Teatro Real Madrid, an der Semperoper Dresden, an der Opéra National de Paris, an der Met in New York, der Bayerischen Staatsoper, bei den Salzburger und den Bayreuther Festspielen und an der Scala in Mailand. Von 2006-2014 gehörte er zum Ensemble der Deutschen Oper am Rhein, wo er u. a. Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) Amfortas (Parsifal), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Holländer, Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Balstrode (Peter Grimes), Alberich (Der Ring der Nibelungen), Selim (Il turco in Italia), Falstaff und Escamillo gesungen hat. Seit 2009 ist die Wiener Staatsoper seine künstlerische Heimat. Dort war er bisher in Partien wie Alberich, Wotan, Telramund, Amfortas, Jochanaan und Holländer zu erleben. Seit 2019 ist er Kammersänger der Wiener Staatsoper. Tomasz Konieczny ist auch mit einem breiten Repertoire im Konzertfach aktiv. Zudem ist er seit 2023 Gründer und Künstlerischer Leiter des Baltic Opera Festival in der Dreistadt (Danzig-Sopot-Gdingen). 2025 wird er u. a. an der Metropolitan Opera als Pizarro (Fidelio), bei den Bayreuther Festspielen als Wotan/Wanderer (Der Ring der Nibelungen) und an der Oper Amsterdam als Boris Godunow auftreten.

Aksel Daveyan comes from Armenia, where he studied at the State Conservatory in Yerevan. He has been awarded prizes at several competitions, including the Elena Obraztsova Competition in St. Petersburg, the Queen Sonja Competition in Oslo, the Stanisław Moniuszko Singing Competition in Warsaw, and the Gohar Gasparyan Competition in Armenia. From 2022 to 2024, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, where he appeared as Maestro in Donizetti's "Viva la mamma", Moralès ("Carmen"), Dumas ("Andrea Chénier"), soloist in "Timekeepers", Sciarrone ("Tosca"), Page ("Roberto Devereux"), and as the Consul ("Eliogabalo"). Since 2024, he has been a company member at the Oldenburg State Theatre. His repertoire there includes Giorgio Germont ("La traviata"), Ottokar ("Der Freischütz"), the Forester ("Das schlaue Füchslein"), Moralès, the Captain (Manfred Gurlitt's "Wozzeck"), Figaro ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), and the Police Chief ("Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk"). As a guest, he has appeared as Marcello ("La bohème") at the Glyndebourne Festival, Figaro ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") at Theater Bonn, and as Prince Yamadori ("Madama Butterfly") with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, as well as in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie. In concert, he has sung Mansurian's "Requiem" at the National Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan, Haladjian's "Missa de Lumine" at the Frankfurt St. Thomas Church, Fauré's "Requiem" as well as "Seven Prayers" at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, and Mansurian's "Hymnus Navapet" at the Mendel Festival in Brno. He returns to the Zurich Opera House as Albert ("Werther") and Sonora ("La fanciulla del West").

Stanislav Vorobyov is from Russia and studied at the Moscow Conservatory. He was a member of the International Opera Studio and has been a member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House since the 2018/19 season. Here, he has appeared in roles including Colline ("La bohème"), Alidoro ("La Cenerentola"), the High Priest ("Nabucco"), Reinmar von Zweter ("Tannhäuser"), Zaretsky ("Eugene Onegin"), Angelotti ("Tosca"), the Fifth Jew and First Nazarene ("Salome"), Lord Rochefort ("Anna Bolena"), 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 feurige 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 Ballet Vlaanderen and Luxembourg as Nourabad in "Les Pêcheurs de perles", to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as Ombra di Nino in "Semiramide", and in 2024 as Colline in "La bohème" at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and the ROHM Theatre Kyōto.

Brent Michael Smith is from the United States. 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. In 2021, he was a finalist at the Queen Sonja International Music Competition and a semifinalist at the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions in 2020, and he won prizes at several other international singing competitions. He also 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, Lakai ("Ariadne auf Naxos") at the 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. Since then, he has been a member of the ensemble and has appeared there in roles including Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Prince Gremin ("Eugene Onegin"), Frère Laurent ("Roméo et Juliette"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold"), and Angelotti ("Tosca").

Johan Krogius began his musical training in the boys’ choir of the Domkantorei 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 Song Competition. In opera, he has sung roles such as Jaquino ("Fidelio") and Pong ("Turandot") in Helsinki, First Man and Juhana in "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, and Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Opera in Tampere and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he also performed as Don Ottavio and Ismaele ("Nabucco") in 2024 and as Macduff ("Macbeth") in 2025. From 2022 to 2024, he was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Berlin State Opera, where he performed roles including Leukippos (Strauss’ "Daphne"), Tamino, First Armored Man and First Priest ("Die Zauberflöte"), Innkeeper and Major-domo to Faninal ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Trojan ("Idomeneo"), Parpignol ("La bohème"), and Borsa ("Rigoletto"). As a guest, he returned to the Berlin State Opera as Tybalt ("Roméo et Juliette"), among others. 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 in 2024 with Mozart’s "Requiem" at the Berlin Philharmonie. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the ensemble at the Opera House Zurich, where he has performed in "Der Rosenkavalier," "Tosca," and "Carmen."

Guram Margvelashvili comes from Georgia. He completed his vocal studies in 2024 at the State Conservatory in Tbilisi. From 2019 to 2023, he was a member of the Tbilisi Opera Studio, where he performed roles such as the Priest and Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte", Valentin in Gounod’s "Faust", as well as the title roles in "Don Giovanni" and "Eugene Onegin". He also sang Belcore in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore". Guram Margvelashvili has received several scholarships and was a finalist in the International Singing Competitions Giuseppe Di Stefano in Sicily and Tamar Iveri in Georgia. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

Baritone Steffan Lloyd Owen is from Wales and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He received numerous singing awards, including the W. Towyn Roberts Scholarship Prize, the Blue Riband Osborne Roberts Memorial Prize at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Prize. In 2025, he won the Josep Palet Singing Competition and was a finalist at the Paris Opera Competition. He sang Sciarrone and the Jailer in a semi-staged "Tosca" alongside Sir Bryn Terfel and Kristine Opolais at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Escamillo ("La tragédie de Carmen") at the Buxton International Festival, and Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte") at the Welsh National Opera. Concert highlights included Beethoven’s Mass in C major and "Choral Fantasy" with the BBC National Orchestra, Chorus of Wales, and the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio, where he has sung, among other roles, the title role in "Gianni Schicchi".

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").

Evan Gray is a Swiss bass-baritone from Winterthur. He began his musical training as a treble in the Zurich Boys’ Choir and later transitioned to the bass vocal range. After his initial vocal studies at the Winterthur Conservatory, he went on to study at the renowned Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. His previous roles include the Forester ("Das schlaue Füchslein"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), and Leporello ("Don Giovanni"). As an accomplished recital singer, he has performed Schubert’s "Winterreise" and Vaughan Williams’ "Songs of Travel" on multiple occasions and has worked with artists such as Julius Drake and Robert Holl. From 2023 to 2025, he was a guest at the Marlboro Music Festival, where he developed a close artistic relationship with pianist Mitsuko Uchida, who has invited him again for the 2026 summer edition. Since the 2025/26 season, Evan Gray has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

Salvador Villanueva is a Mexican tenor. He completed his vocal training at the Universidad de Sonora and subsequently at the Mexican Opera Studio, where he sang roles including Goro in "Madama Butterfly" and Remendado in "Carmen." In the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, he was a member of the Opera Studio at the Amsterdam Opera, performing roles such as Gastone ("La traviata"), Borsa ("Rigoletto"), the tenor role in Tom Johnson’s The Four Note Opera, and the Sailor ("Dido and Aeneas"). In 2024, he returned to Mexico to sing the title role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Salvador Villanueva was a finalist in singing competitions in Mexico City and ’s-Hertogenbosch. He has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House since the 2025/26 season.