Werther

The tenor Jonathan Tetelman was born in Chile and raised in the United States. He is a regular guest at major opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Among his many artistic partners are Plácido Domingo, Elīna Garanča, Jonas Kaufmann, Asmik Grigorian, Kirill Petrenko, Andris Nelsons, and Michael Tilson Thomas. He also collaborates with renowned orchestras such as the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Vienna Philharmonic.
Recently, the tenor made his debut at the concert series "Christmas in Vienna" with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, performed Verdi’s "Requiem" in Gstaad under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda, and gave solo recitals in Munich, Prague, Frankfurt, and at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, as well as in Buenos Aires, Lima, and Santiago.
In the 2025/26 season, he can be heard as Mario Cavaradossi in "Tosca" at the Vienna State Opera, as Loris Ipanov in "Fedora" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and as Faust at the Bavarian State Opera. He will appear in "Il trittico" at Carnegie Hall and take on the title role in "Werther" at the Zurich Opera House. In addition, he will give concerts in Essen, Venice, Munich, Hamburg, Dortmund, and Florida, as well as at the Fort Worth Opera. For Deutsche Grammophon, he has recorded the award-winning solo albums "Arias" (2022) and "The Great Puccini" (2023).

Anna Goryachova is originally from St. Petersburg and studied at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg as well as at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. She began her career as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Opera, soon followed by guest appearances, including as Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims under Alberto Zedda in Antwerp and Ghent. From 2012 to 2017, Anna Goryachova was a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House, where she performed in roles such as Eustazio in Rinaldo, Mascha in Three Sisters, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Polina in The Queen of Spades, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Magdalena in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Yen-Er in Rote Laterne, Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims, Alcina in Orlando Paladino, Zelim in La verità in cimento, and Adalgisa in Norma. Important milestones in her recent career include Sesto in La clemenza di Tito and Angelina in La Cenerentola in Geneva, Olga in Eugene Onegin in Vienna, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte at the Bregenz Festival, Rosina at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and at the Festival d’Opéra Baroque in Beaune, Dido in Moscow, Adalgisa in Trieste and Naples, and her debuts in the Arena di Verona, at the Royal Opera House in London, and at Teatro Real in Madrid in the title role of Carmen. She also performed Melibea in Rome, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Antwerp, Polina in Amsterdam and London, Ruggero (Alcina) at the Palais Garnier in Paris, Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) in Pesaro, and Alcina (Orlando Paladino) at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. In addition, she made her debut as Angelina at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 2022. The 2022/23 season has so far taken her to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Carmen and to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome as a soloist in Stravinsky’s Les Noces.

Chelsea Zurflüh, soprano, studied voice at the Lucerne School of Music, the Bern University of the Arts, and the Swiss Opera Studio in Biel. She is a prizewinner of the Marianne & Curt Dienemann Foundation music competition and the Kiefer Hablitzel/Göhner music competition, a scholarship recipient of the Migros Culture Percentage singing competition, and winner of the Elvirissima vocal competition. In December 2019, she sang the national anthem at the Swiss Federal Palace in Bern on the occasion of the swearing-in of the Council of States. Although her repertoire also includes music styles such as soul and rock, her main focus lies in the classical field. In the 2020/21 season, she made her debut at Theater Biel-Solothurn in Burkhard’s Casanova in der Schweiz and at Konzert Theater Bern as Adele in Die Fledermaus. Since the 2021/22 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio in Zurich, where she has appeared as Circe and Calypso in Die Odyssee, as Alice in Le Comte Ory, as Zaida in Il turco in Italia, as Clarice in Il mondo della luna, as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, and in Jakob Lenz.

Aksel Daveyan studied at the Yerevan State Conservatory in Armenia with Anna Mousayelyan and Arnold Kocharyan. At the Yerevan Opera Studio, he sang Malatesta in Don Pasquale in 2021. He has also performed in several concerts, including at the Opera and Ballet Theatre of Yerevan and at Teatro Politeama. In 2017, he won third prize at the Renaissance International Competition, in 2019 first prize at the “Gohar Gasparyan” Pan-Armenian Competition, and in 2021 third prize at the Opera Crown Tbilisi International Voice Competition. In 2020, he was awarded the “Boghossian Youth Prize,” and in 2023 he was a prizewinner at the Queen Sonja Singing Competition in Oslo. Since the 2022/23 season, the baritone has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House and has appeared so far in Eliogabalo, Tosca, Roberto Devereux, and Viva la mamma.

Bass Valeriy Murga studied at the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv. He was a finalist at both the 41st International Singing Competition in Toulouse (1996) and the 7th Julian Gayarre Competition in Pamplona (1998). In 1997, he won second prize at the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens and participated in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1999. From 1997 to 1999, he was a soloist at the Ukrainian National Opera in Kyiv, where he performed roles including Figaro (“Le nozze di Figaro”), Escamillo (“Carmen”), Schaunard (“La bohème”), and the title roles in “Eugene Onegin,” “Don Giovanni,” and “Prince Igor.” His repertoire also includes the roles of Marchese di Posa (“Don Carlo”) and Shaklovity (“Khovanshchina”). At the Zürich Opera House, Valeriy Murga was initially a member of the International Opera Studio and during this time performed, among others, Sciarrone and the Jailor (“Tosca”) as well as Monterone (“Rigoletto”). Since the 2000/01 season, he has been a permanent ensemble member at the Zürich Opera House, where he has performed roles such as Prince Yeletsky (“The Queen of Spades”), Moralès (“Carmen”), Second Soldier (“Salome”), Alessio (“La sonnambula”), Ali (“L’italiana in Algeri”), Wagner (“Faust”), Sacristan (“Tosca”), Butler (“La rondine”), and Bogdanovich (“The Merry Widow”), as well as in family operas including “The Canterville Ghost,” “Robin Hood,” “The Enchanted Pig,” “Jim Knopf,” and “Wir pfeiffen auf den Gurkenkönig” He has also appeared as a guest in Eugen d’Albert’s “Tiefland” at the Liceu in Barcelona and in “L’italiana in Algeri” at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.

Martin Zysset was born and raised in Solothurn. He trained as a clarinetist while simultaneously studying voice, complementing his education with master classes 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 Culture Percentage and a prizewinner of the Pro Arte Lyrica Competition in Lausanne. Since 1992, he has been a regular guest at the Selzach Summer Festival. He has been a permanent member of the Zurich Opera House ensemble since the 1991/92 season, where he has built up a wide-ranging repertoire encompassing both comic and dramatic roles, including Pedrillo, Monostatos, Spoletta, Incredibile (“Andrea Chénier”), Jaquino, Kudrjasch (“Káťa Kabanová”), Alfred (“Die Fledermaus”), Tamino, Tybalt, Dancaïro, Arturo, the Witch, Brighella, and the male lead in Udo Zimmermann’s “Weiße Rose.” He achieved great success as Simplicius in Johann Strauss’s operetta of the same name, which was also released on CD and DVD. Guest performances have taken him throughout Europe, to Shanghai, and to San Diego with “The Magic Flute,” “Le nozze di Figaro,” “Fidelio,” and “Tannhäuser.” For Bavarian Radio, he recorded Lehár’s operetta “Paganini.” Most recently at Zurich Opera House, he has appeared as Don Basilio (“Le nozze di Figaro”), Tschekalinski (“The Queen of Spades”), 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”), and Feri (“The Csárdás Princess”).

Evan Gray is a Swiss bass-baritone from Winterthur. He began his musical training as a treble with the Zürich Boys’ Choir and later transitioned to the bass voice. After initial vocal studies at the Winterthur Conservatory, he continued his education at the prestigious Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. His roles to date include the Forester ("Das schlaue Füchslein"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), and Leporello ("Don Giovanni"). As an accomplished recitalist, he has performed Schubert’s "Winterreise" and Vaughan Williams’ "Songs of Travel" multiple times and has collaborated 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 back for the summer 2026 edition. Since the 2025/26 season, Evan Gray has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House.

Lobel Barun, bass, is from Croatia. He studied with Alexei Tanovitski in Zagreb. In 2023, he won the special prize "Željko Lučić" at the International Singing Competition "Lazar Jovanović" in Belgrade. In the same year, he made his debut at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as Bacchus in Boris Papandopulo’s Amphitryon. He has also performed with the Zagreb Philharmonic and portrayed Salieri in Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Mozart and Salieri" at the Opera Studio of the Zagreb Academy of Music. His repertoire includes, among others, Sarastro ("The Magic Flute"), Commendatore and Masetto ("Don Giovanni"), Don Basilio ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Banco ("Macbeth"), Padre Guardiano ("La forza del destino"), Colline ("La bohème"), Gremin ("Eugene Onegin"), and Zuniga ("Carmen"). He made his debut at the Bregenz Festival as Alidoro ("La Cenerentola") and has also performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Orquesta Reino de Aragón in Zaragoza. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio.

Thalia Cook-Hansen, soprano, is from the USA. After studying voice in the USA and Canada, she completed her master’s degree at the Dutch National Opera Academy. She also attended masterclasses with, among others, Elliot Madore, Floris Visser, and Lynne Dawson. In Amsterdam, she performed roles such as Nerina in Haydn’s "La fedeltà premiata," Fanny in Rossini’s "La cambiale di matrimonio," Bastienne in Mozart’s "Bastien et Bastienne," and Adele in "Die Fledermaus." She sang Barbarina ("Le nozze di Figaro") at the Estates Theatre in Prague, as well as the First Lady ("The Magic Flute") and Mademoiselle Silberklang ("Der Schauspieldirektor") in Toronto. Her repertoire also includes roles such as Bubikopf in Viktor Ullmann’s "Der Kaiser von Atlantis," Singer No. 1 in Conrad Susa’s "Transformations," Amore in Monteverdi’s "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria," and the title role in Donizetti’s "Lucia di Lammermoor." Since the 2025/26 season, she has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House.