Un ballo in Maschera

Stephen Costello is a native of Philadelphia and studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in his hometown. In 2007, at just 26 years old, he made his debut at the season opening of the Metropolitan Opera. In 2009, he won the Richard Tucker Award. In 2010, he sang the role of Greenhorn in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s opera Moby-Dick. Since then, he has appeared at major opera houses and festivals. He has performed roles such as Alfredo (La traviata) in Hamburg, at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Arena di Verona, and the Munich Opera Festival; Fernand (La Favorite) at the Liceu Barcelona; Don José (Carmen) in Dallas; Rodolfo (La bohème) in Dresden, Hamburg, Madrid, and Los Angeles; Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) at the New National Theatre in Tokyo; Duca di Mantua (Rigoletto) at the Semperoper Dresden, in Hanover, Bregenz, at the Met, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and with the Canadian Opera Company; Lord Percy (Anna Bolena) at the Met; Cassio (Otello) in Salzburg; the Prince (Rusalka) in Strasbourg; and Des Grieux (Manon) at the Opéra de Paris. More recent engagements have included Rodolfo (La bohème) at the Metropolitan Opera and in Tokyo, José (Carmen) at the Bavarian State Opera, and the title role in Roberto Devereux in Zurich.

Dalibor Jenis is originally from Slovakia and studied voice at the Conservatory in Bratislava. In 1990, he was a triple prizewinner at the Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna. His repertoire includes the major baritone roles in the operas of Bellini, Rossini, Mozart, and Verdi. He has sung Nabucco at venues including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Arena di Verona, the Slovak National Opera in Bratislava, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. As Rigoletto, he has appeared at the Sydney Opera House, the Leipzig Opera, the Stuttgart State Opera, and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and in the title role of Macbeth in Zurich, at the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Edinburgh Festival, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. In 2018, he sang Paolo Albiani (Simon Boccanegra) at La Scala in Milan, Jago (Otello) at the Vienna State Opera, Alfio and Tonio (Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Giorgio Germont (La traviata) at the National Opera in Bratislava, and Lescaut (Manon Lescaut) at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. He has worked with conductors such as James Conlon, Asher Fisch, Daniele Gatti, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo, and Alberto Zedda. Numerous CD recordings featuring Dalibor Jenis are available, including Gianni Schicchi, Christoph Columbus, Edgar, Marion Delorme, Die Rheinnixen, as well as a DVD recording of Il barbiere di Siviglia from the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

Russian soprano Elena Stikhina is among the leading singers of her generation. She is regularly invited to perform at renowned opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra National de Paris, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. In the 2025/26 season, she will perform, among other roles, the title role in "Tosca" at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, at the Vienna State Opera, and at the Paris Opéra. In addition, she will appear in the title role of Tchaikovsky’s "The Maid of Orleans" in Amsterdam, as Salome at the Lyric Opera in Chicago, as Cio-Cio-San ("Madama Butterfly") at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as Senta ("The Flying Dutchman") and Elisabetta ("Don Carlo") at the Vienna State Opera, and as Amelia ("Un ballo in maschera") at the Zurich Opera House. Elena Stikhina studied at the Moscow Conservatory and the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Singing Centre. After early performances on the Primorsky stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in Vladivostok, she made her debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg as Salome, after which she became a member of the ensemble.

Yulia Matochkina won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2015. She is one of the leading soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and has established herself as one of Russia’s most impressive mezzo-sopranos. At the Mariinsky Theatre, she has appeared in roles such as Amneris (Aida), Eboli (Don Carlo), Principessa di Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur), Didon (Les Troyens), Dalila (Samson et Dalila), Venus (Tannhäuser), and Kundry (Parsifal). In 2019, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in the role of Federica in a concert performance of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. Past engagements have also included Roméo et Juliette at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte-Saint-André, as well as Carmen and Polina (The Queen of Spades) at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. She performed Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust) at the Berlioz Festival, Venus (Tannhäuser) in Los Angeles, Carmen at the Bolshoi Theatre, Eboli (Don Carlo) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Maddalena (Rigoletto) at the Met in New York, Marfa (Khovanshchina) at the Opéra de Paris, Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) at La Scala in Milan, and Ortrud (Lohengrin) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Upcoming engagements include Azucena (Il trovatore) and Venus (Tannhäuser) in Munich, as well as Amneris (Aida) in Tokyo.

Rebeca Olvera is from Mexico. She studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City and was a member of the IOS at the Opernhaus Zürich from 2005 to 2007. She then became a permanent ensemble member there and sang roles such as Adina ("L’elisir d’amore"), Norina ("Don Pasquale"), Berenice ("L’occasione fa il ladro"), Giulia ("La scala di seta"), Rosina (Paisiello’s "Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Blonde ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail"), Madame Herz ("Der Schauspieldirektor"), Dorinda ("Orlando"), Isolier ("Le comte Ory"), Adalgisa ("Norma"), and Zaida ("Il turco in Italia"). She has worked with conductors including Ralf Weikert, Vladimir Fedoseyev, William Christie, Marc Minkowski, Nello Santi, Adam Fischer, Fabio Luisi, Diego Fasolis, Franz Welser-Möst, Emmanuelle Haïm, and Alessandro De Marchi. She has performed concerts with José Carreras in South America and Europe (Carreras Gala 2007 on ARD) and with Plácido Domingo in Mexico. In 2016, she sang Adalgisa in "Norma" alongside Cecilia Bartoli at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Edinburgh Festival, and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. In Zurich, she has appeared as Despina, Musetta, Frasquita in "Carmen", Mi in "Das Land des Lächelns", Zaida in "Il turco in Italia", Komtesse Stasi in "Die Csárdásfürstin", Waldvöglein in "Siegfried", and Contessa di Folleville in "Il viaggio a Reims"—a role she also sang at the Royal Danish Opera. She performed Isolier at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and Clorinda ("La Cenerentola") at the Vienna State Opera. She has also appeared as Berta ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") and in the gala concert Carmencita & Friends at the Salzburg Festival.

Steffan Lloyd Owen, baritone, is from Wales and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He has received numerous singing awards in the United Kingdom, 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 selected as a finalist in the Paris Opera Competition. He has sung Sciarrone and the Jailer in a semi-staged production of "Tosca" alongside Sir Bryn Terfel and Kristine Opolais at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Escamillo ("La tragédie de Carmen") at the Buxton International Festival, the Doctor in Verdi’s "Macbeth" at Mid Wales Opera, as well as the title role in Hans Krása’s children’s opera "Brundibár" and Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte") at Welsh National Opera. Concert highlights include Mozart’s "Requiem" with the Orchestre National de Bretagne in Rennes, as well as Beethoven’s Mass in C major and "Choral Fantasy" with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales and the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House, where he has already sung roles such as the Usher ("Rigoletto"), Silvano ("Un ballo in maschera"), Hermann ("Les Contes d’Hoffmann"), and Sciarrone ("Tosca").

Brent Michael Smith is from the USA. 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. He was a finalist in the Queen Sonja International Music Competition (2021) and a semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions (2020), and he has won prizes in various international singing competitions. Additionally, he 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, the Lackey ("Ariadne auf Naxos") at 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 and was subsequently admitted to the ensemble the following season. At the Zurich Opera House, he has since appeared as Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Prince Gremin ("Eugene Onegin"), Friar Laurence ("Roméo et Juliette"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold"), Cesare Angelotti ("Tosca"), and in "Cardillac."

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 the Zurich Opera House since the 2018/19 season. Here he has appeared, among others, as Colline ("La bohème"), Alidoro ("La Cenerentola"), High Priest ("Nabucco"), Notary ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Reinmar von Zweter ("Tannhäuser"), Faust ("The Fiery Angel"), Zaretsky ("Eugene Onegin"), Cesare Angelotti ("Tosca"), Fifth Jew and 1st Nazarene ("Salome"), Lord Rochefort ("Anna Bolena"), Doctor Grenvil ("La traviata"), Crébillon ("La rondine"), Zuniga ("Carmen"), Roberto ("I vespri siciliani"), Roucher ("Andrea Chénier"), Police Commissioner ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Marchese Calatrava ("La forza del destino"), Tom ("Un ballo in maschera"), Brühlmann ("Werther"), as well as Faust ("The Fiery Angel"), Gold Dealer ("Cardillac") and Méphistophélès ("La Damnation de Faust"). In addition, he sang Don Basilio ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") at the Bregenz Festival, Nourabad ("Les Pêcheurs de perles") at Opera Flanders and in Luxembourg, as well as Ombra di Nino ("Semiramide") at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. At the Bregenz Festival he appeared as Uncle Bonzo in "Madama Butterfly" and as Il capitano/L’ispettore in Giordano’s "Siberia". In 2024, he also appeared as Colline ("La bohème") at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater and at the ROHM Theatre Kyoto.

Martin Zysset was born and raised in Solothurn. He trained in clarinet while simultaneously pursuing vocal studies, which he complemented with masterclasses with Ernst Haefliger and Edith Mathis. In 1990/91, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House and at the same time a scholarship recipient from the Migros Cooperative Union as well as a prizewinner in the Pro Arte Lyrica Competition in Lausanne. Since 1992, he has been a regular guest at the Summer Festival in Selzach. He has been permanently engaged at the 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, Kudryash ("Káťa Kabanová"), Alfred ("Die Fledermaus"), Tamino, Tybalt, Dancaïro, Arturo, Knusperhexe, Brighella, as well as the male lead in Udo Zimmermann’s "Weiße Rose." He performed Simplicius in the operetta of the same name by Johann Strauss, which was also released on CD and DVD. Guest appearances have taken him across Europe, to Shanghai, and with "The Magic Flute," "Le nozze di Figaro," "Fidelio," and "Tannhäuser" to San Diego. For the Bayerischer Rundfunk, he recorded the Lehár operetta "Paganini." In Zurich, he has most recently sung roles including Don Basilio ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Tschekalinski ("Pique Dame"), Triquet ("Eugene Onegin"), the Chief Eunuch ("The Land of Smiles"), Goro ("Madama Butterfly"), Spoletta ("Tosca"), Dormont ("La scala di seta"), the White Minister ("Le Grand Macabre"), the Devil/Narrator ("The Soldier’s Tale"), the Third Jew ("Salome"), Schmidt ("Werther"), Feri ("Die Csárdásfürstin"), and Don Curzio ("Le nozze di Figaro").

Samuel Wallace is from Brazil, where he studied singing with Lício Bruno. In 2024, he received a scholarship from the Mozarteum Brasileiro and subsequently participated in Rolf Beck’s International Choir Academy in Lübeck. During this time, he gave concerts in Germany as well as at the Philharmonie de Paris under Raphaël Pichon. His operatic repertoire includes roles such as Tamino ("The Magic Flute") and the title role in Guilherme Bernstein’s opera "Serafim und der Ort, an dem man nicht stirbt." In 2024, he performed Dorvil in Rossini’s "La scala di seta" and participated in the Gala Lírica of the 13th Tenor Meeting of Brazil at the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus. He was a semifinalist at the Paris Opera Competition, a finalist at the Maria Callas Competition, and a prizewinner in the Joaquina Lapinha and Natércia Lopes singing competitions. Since 2025/26, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House.

The Swiss dancer Sina Friedli received her classical ballet training at the Zurich Dance Academy under Steffi Scherzer and Oliver Matz. Her first engagement was with the Cinevox Junior Company under the direction of Malou Fenaroli Leclerc, where she danced as a soloist for two seasons. During her time with Cinevox, she worked with choreographers such as Franz Brodmann, Jacqueline Beck, Gisela Rocha, and Felix Duméril, performing on stages in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, and Brazil. In recent years, she has been working as a freelance dancer, participating in projects with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the LIT Dance Company (choreography by Neel Jansen), and the Pizzi Dance Art Company (choreography by Aliana Pizzi), and dancing in pieces by choreographers including Jochen Heckmann, Adriana Mortelliti, and Dominika Knapik. She gained her first experience as a choreographic assistant and stage manager in projects with Jacqueline Beck and Jochen Heckmann, and developed several of her own choreographies for the Wilhelmina Festival of the Arts. At Zurich Opera House, she has appeared in various productions with choreography by Pim Veulings, Thomas Wilhelm, and Kinsun Chan.

Jessica Falceri wurde in Bergamo geboren. Sie absolvierte die Pavlova Academy und das PjDancestudio und schloss ihr Studium in Mailand und New York ab. Die Tänzerin, Sängerin und Schauspielerin wurde in Italien vor allem durch TV-Auftritte bekannt. 2006 war sie mit der Compagnie Katakló bei der Eröffnungszeremonie der Olympischen Winterspiele in Turin zu sehen. Sie wirkte in zahlreichen Musicals mit, darunter: La Febbre del Sabato Sera (Teatro Nuovo di Milano), We will rock you (IT-tour), Mary Poppins (Teatro Sistina), Saturday Night Fever und Die Schöne und das Biest (Walenseebühne), An American in Paris (Deutschlandtour), Jesus Christ Superstar, Cabaret, La Cage aux Folles und West side Story (Eutiner Festspiele) sowie Soho Cinderella (Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen). Ausserdem war sie im Salto Natale des Zirkus Knie zu erleben. Als Tänzerin war sie in La bohème und Der Freischütz (Eutiner Festspiele), in Barrie Koskys Orpheus in der Unterwelt (Deutsche Oper am Rhein), in Ball im Savoy (Kammeroper Köln) sowie in Barkouf (Opernhaus Zürich) zu erleben.

Cristian Alex Assis is a native of Brazil. He studied at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts, on a scholarship awarded by the Brasilia International Dance Seminar. He was a member of the Munich-based Bavarian State Ballet from 2010 to 2012, and came to Ballett Zürich for the 2012/13 season. Since then he has been seen in various roles including Wronski in Christian Spuck’s Anna Karenina, Tybalt in Spuck’s Romeo and Juliet and the drum major and the captain in Spuck’s Woyzeck, in further choreographies by William Forsythe andEdward Clug and in Martin Schläpfer’s Forellenquintett. In the reconstruction of Swan Lake by Alexei Ratmansky he was seen as Rotbart.

Pietro Cono Genova is originally from Italy. He completed his training at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania and moved to Switzerland in 2013 to work with the Cinevox Junior Company. After six years as a soloist, contemporary dance teacher, and assistant with the company, he began working as a freelancer on various dance projects in Switzerland and across Europe. Most recently, he danced with the new company Cie La Ronde, directed by Cathy Marston and Ihsan Rustem. Pietro Cono Genova is currently working with the Zurich Opera House and the Theater im Kornhaus Baden.