La traviata

Martina Russomanno was born in Italy. She studied with Michèle Crider at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She subsequently spent two years as a member of the opera studio of the Opéra national de Paris and took part in the 2022 Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival. Guest engagements have taken her to the Teatro alla Scala, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Opéra national du Rhin, the Opéra national de Paris, the Opéra de Dijon, the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, the La Monnaie / De Munt, the Stuttgart State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Rossini Opera Festival. To her repertoire belong roles such as Donna Anna ("Don Giovanni"), Violetta ("La traviata"), Dircé ("Médée"), Bianca ("La rondine"), Susanna ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Princess Eudoxie ("La Juive"), Clorinda ("La Cenerentola"), Marzelline ("Fidelio"), and Juliette ("Die tote Stadt"). Recent engagements include Donna Anna at the Stuttgart State Opera and the Semperoper Dresden, Violetta at the Aalto Theatre Essen and the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as Amenaide (Rossini’s "Tancredi") at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. In summer 2026, she will sing Violetta at the Arena di Verona and Lucio Cinna ("Lucio Silla") at the Salzburg Festival.

The tenor Bekhzod Davronov comes 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 New York, Alfredo ("La traviata") at the Santa Fe Opera, Rodolfo at the Prague State Opera and on tour with the Glyndebourne Festival, Anatol Kuragin in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s new production of Prokofiev’s "War and Peace" under Vladimir Jurowski at the Bavarian State Opera, and Aljeja ("From the House of the Dead") at the Ruhrtriennale. In 2024/25, he debuted as Alfredo and Rodolfo at Dallas Opera, sang Edgardo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Rodolfo and Alfredo at the Semperoper Dresden, Duca di Mantova ("Rigoletto") at the Irish National Opera, and made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Leicester ("Maria Stuarda"). In 2025/26, he will make his house debut at the Royal Opera House London as Alfredo and his role and house debut as Roméo ("Roméo et Juliette") at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. He will also return as Edgardo to the Vienna State Opera, as Duca di Mantova and Nemorino ("L’elisir d’amore") to the Bavarian State Opera, and as Rodolfo and Roméo to the Semperoper Dresden.

Baritone Roman Burdenko was born in Russia and studied at the conservatories in Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg. He was a prizewinner at international singing competitions in Moscow and Paris, as well as at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia in Beijing (2012) and the Belvedere Singing Competition in Amsterdam (2013). From 2006 to 2011 he was a soloist at the Mikhailovsky Theatre and, from 2017, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. He performs on the world’s leading opera stages, including La Scala in Milan, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Arena di Verona, the Opéra de Paris, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Opera Amsterdam, and the Salzburg Festival. His repertoire includes Scarpia ("Tosca"), Iago ("Otello"), Tonio ("Pagliacci"), Alfio ("Cavalleria rusticana"), Don Carlo di Vargas ("La forza del destino"), Rodrigo ("Don Carlo"), Alberich ("Der Ring des Nibelungen"), Giorgio Germont ("La traviata"), Jack Rance ("La fanciulla del West"), Amonasro ("Aida"), Tomski ("Pique Dame"), Enrico Ashton ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Barnaba ("La Gioconda"), as well as the title roles in "Rigoletto," "Nabucco," and "Macbeth." Most recently, he appeared as Macbeth at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Amonasro at the Opéra de Paris and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and as Michele ("Il tabarro") at the Opéra de Paris. He made his debut at the Zurich Opera House in 2015 as Ford and has since returned as Count Tomski, Alfio, Tonio, Lord Enrico Ashton, and most recently as Macbeth.

Siena Licht Miller, a German-American mezzo-soprano, studied voice at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She completed her training with courses at Opera Philadelphia, the Santa Fe Opera, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Aspen Music Festival. She is a recipient of a Bagby Foundation scholarship and a prizewinner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Marilyn Horne Rubin Foundation and the Gerda Lissner Foundation. Highlights of her career to date include her role debuts as Hermia in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", Second Lady in "Die Zauberflöte" and one of the two solo roles in the world premiere of Philip Venables’ "Denis and Katya" at Opera Philadelphia. At the Aspen Opera Center, she sang the title role in Ravel’s "L’Enfant et les sortilèges" under the direction of Robert Spano. She also regularly devotes herself to song recitals. She sang in the "The Song Continues" series at Carnegie Hall in honour of her mentor Marilyn Horne and went on a tour of the USA with a recital alongside pianist Kevin Murphy. From the 2020/21 season, she was associated with the Zurich Opera House, first as a member of the International Opera Studio and, since 2022/23, as a member of the ensemble of Zurich Opera House, where she most recently appeared in "La scala di seta", "Hänsel und Gretel" and "La clemenza di Tito", among others. In 2026/27, she will appear as Prince Orlofsky in "Die Fledermaus", Flora Bervoix in "La traviata", Rossweisse in "Die Walküre" and Flosshilde in "Das Rheingold" and "Götterdämmerung".

Liliana Nikiteanu studied at the Conservatory in Bucharest. She received her first permanent engagement in 1986 at the Musiktheater Galati. She has won numerous awards, and in 2000, Opernwelt named her "Best Young Singer of the Year." Her repertoire includes over 80 roles, which she has performed in Zurich, where she has been an ensemble member since 1991, as well as in other opera houses, including Octavian ("Der Rosenkavalier") at the Bastille, the Vienna and Hamburg State Operas, Ježibaba ("Rusalka") in Montreal, Sesto ("La clemenza di Tito") in Dresden, Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") in Vienna and Munich, Dorabella ("Così fan tutte") in Dresden, Munich, Salzburg, and Aix-en-Provence, Fjodor ("Boris Godunow") in Salzburg, Margarethe ("La damnation de Faust") in Brussels, and Dulcinée ("Don Quichotte") at Theater an der Wien. In Zurich, she has performed all Mozart roles of her fach as well as roles such as Ljubascha ("Die Zarenbraut"), Nurse (Dukas’ "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue"), and Fricka ("Das Rheingold"). As a concert singer, her repertoire ranges from Bach to Berio. In Bamberg, she sang Berenice by Haydn under Adam Fischer, in Paris Berlioz’ "Les nuits d’été" under Heinz Holliger, in Copenhagen Verdi’s Requiem, and in Tel Aviv and Haifa Bruckner’s Te Deum under Zubin Mehta. Conductors who have shaped her include Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Claudio Abbado, Fabio Luisi, Franz Welser-Möst, John Eliot Gardiner, René Jacobs, and Philippe Jordan. Most recently, in Zurich, she has performed roles including Tisbe ("La Cenerentola"), Praškowia ("Die lustige Witwe"), Mama ("Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig"), Sir Pumpkin ("In 80 Tagen um die Welt"), as well as in the music-theater evening created for her, "Wie du warst! Wie du bist!"

The Cuban-Colombian tenor Anthony León studied at La Sierra University in Riverside (California) as well as at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (Massachusetts). He has been honored with numerous prestigious awards. In 2024, he was a finalist of the Rising Star Award of the International Opera Awards and received the Richard Tucker Career Grant. In 2023, he won the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition; at Operalia 2022, he was awarded First Prize as well as the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Zarzuela Prize. In addition, he received a Career Development Grant from the Sullivan Foundation and was portrayed, among others, in "Opera News". In the 2025/26 season, he makes his house and role debut at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Belmonte in "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" and also sings this role for the first time at Glyndebourne. In addition, he makes his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Ferrando in "Così fan tutte" and returns to the LA Opera, where he sings Fenton in "Falstaff" for the first time. His repertoire also includes roles such as Count Almaviva in "Il barbiere di Siviglia", Remendado in "Carmen", Nemorino in "L’elisir d’amore", Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte", Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni" and Spoletta in "Tosca". From 2022 to 2023, he was a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program of the Los Angeles Opera. Guest engagements have taken him, among others, to the Cologne Opera, to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, to the Santa Fe Opera, to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as well as to the Salzburg Festival.

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.

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.

The Armenian bass Mikayel Sargsyan has appeared in recent years at the Armenian National Opera in Yerevan as well as in other international productions. His repertoire includes, among others, Dulcamara in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore", Sarastro in Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte", Colline in Puccini’s "La bohème", the Bonze in "Madama Butterfly" and the Forester in Janáček’s "Das schlaue Füchslein". From the 2026/27 season, he will be a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House, where he will appear in, among others, Puccini’s "La rondine", Verdi’s "La traviata", "La fanciulla del West", "Tosca" and "Don Carlo".

Martin Zysset was born and raised in Solothurn. He trained as a clarinettist while simultaneously studying voice, which he complemented with masterclasses with Ernst Haefliger and Edith Mathis. In 1990/91, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House and at the same time a scholarship holder of the Migros Cooperative Federation and a prizewinner at the Pro Arte Lyrica Competition in Lausanne. Since 1992, he has been a regular guest at the summer theatre in Selzach. He has been a permanent member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House since 1991. Here, he has developed a broad repertoire of both buffo and dramatic roles, including Pedrillo, Monostatos, Spoletta, Incredibile ("Andrea Chénier"), Jaquino, Kudrjasch ("Káťa Kabanová"), Alfred ("Die Fledermaus"), Tamino, Tybalt, Dancaïro, Arturo, the Gingerbread Witch, Brighella and the male lead in Udo Zimmermann’s "Weisse Rose". He portrayed Simplicius in the operetta of the same name by Johann Strauss, which was also released on CD and DVD. Guest appearances have taken him throughout Europe, to Shanghai and, with "Die Zauberflöte", "Le nozze di Figaro", "Fidelio" and "Tannhäuser", to San Diego. Most recently in Zurich, he has sung Don Basilio ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Chekalinsky ("Pique Dame"), Triquet ("Jewgeni Onegin"), the Chief Eunuch ("Das Land des Lächelns"), Goro ("Madama Butterfly"), Spoletta ("Tosca"), Dormont ("La scala di seta"), the White Minister ("Le Grand Macabre"), the Devil/Narrator ("Die Geschichte vom Soldaten"), the Third Jew ("Salome"), Schmidt ("Werther"), Feri ("Die Csárdásfürstin") and Don Curzio ("Le nozze di Figaro"), among others. In the 2026/27 season, he will also be heard for the first time as Giuseppe in Verdi’s "La traviata".