Press Enter to search
In the 2023/24 season, Chelsea Laggan brings her “memorably timbred dark mezzo” (Opera News) to multiple debuts, most notably in her role debut as Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen with Sarasota Opera. In Spring 2022, she originated the role of Nelly/Heather in the world premiere concert version of Kevin Puts’ The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has also brought several classic mezzo characters to life in performance with regional companies throughout the United States, including Olga in Eugene Onegin, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and Erda in Das Rheingold. Along with her extensive opera repertoire, Chelsea has experience in sacred and secular concert music, having performed with many American orchestras. She is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts and in 2023, was a Career Bridges Grant Winner, Jensen Vocal Competition Finalist, and Elizabeth Connell Prize quarterfinalist.
Mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately has been highly visible in Britain since being designated a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013 to 2015. Unusually versatile, she has performed opera, choral music, and lieder, and her repertory ranges from Gilbert and Sullivan to contemporary works.
Born Catherine Whately in London in 1983, she was the daughter of actor Kevin Whately. She appeared on television as the daughter of his onscreen character in the series Auf Wiedersehen. Whately was raised partly in northern England and attended Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. There, she appeared as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. She went on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and then the Royal College of Music International School. After winning several significant prizes, she was admitted to the Verbier Festival Academy, appearing there as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. These successes led to her designation as a BBC New Generation Artist in 2013 and to the chance to record her debut album, the song recital This Other Eden, on the Champs Hill label.
Since then, Whately has been a familiar figure on operatic stages, and not only in Britain. She appeared as Isabelle in Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights at L’Opéra National de Lorraine in France. At the Royal Opera House in London, she appeared as Mother/Other Mother in the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera Coraline, and she has been noted for championing contemporary works. At the Three Choirs Festival, she was heard in a new work by Sally Beamish, and she commissioned a song cycle from composer Jonathan Dove. Whately has made several more recordings on Champs Hill, and in 2019, she joined baritone Roderick Williams on The Song of Love, a collection of little-known material by Ralph Vaughan Williams. She remained active through the COVID-19 pandemic, appearing on the 2021 Chandos release The Harmonious Echo: Songs of Sir Arthur Sullivan and on Signum Classics’ The Complete Songs of Fauré, Vol. 4. In 2023, she issued the solo recital Befreit: A Soul Surrendered on Chandos. Whately is the co-founder of the charity SWAP’ra (Supporting Women and Parents in Opera).
Biography by James Manheim
With a repertoire spanning from baroque to contemporary, including opera, Lied and oratorio, young Swedish mezzo-soprano Rebecka Wallroth is attracting increasing international attention.
Rebecka began the season at the National Theatre in Prague, portraying Idamante in Calixto Bieito’s new production of Idomeneo. From the 2025/26 season, she has joined the soloist ensemble at the Staatsoper Berlin, where her roles include Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Meg Page in Falstaff, and Carlotta in Die schweigsame Frau. In the summer of 2026, Rebecka will return to the Verbier Festival as Dorabella in their star-studded cast of Così fan tutte.
During the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, she was a member of the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s International Opera Studio, performing a wide range of roles, among them Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Mercedes in Carmen, Carlotta in Die schweigsame Frau, a Cretan Woman in Idomeneo, the Second Wood Nymph in Rusalka, Second Handmaiden of Dircé in Cherubini’s Medea, the Shepherdess and Elderly Woman in Jenůfa, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.
Rebecka made her debut at the Verbier Festival in 2024, performing Cherubino in a concert version of Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy. In recent years, she has performed with several major orchestras: the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust (Harding); the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène (Harding), their traditional Twelfth Night concerts (Rooke), and Christmas concerts; the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Sørensen’s St Matthew Passion (Morlot); and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Alma Mahler’s Seven Songs (Tjeknavorian). She has performed Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Steffens) and made her debut at London’s Wigmore Hall with The Mozartists (Page), performing Arias for Rauzzini.
Rebecka Wallroth studied at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW), where her roles included Olga in Eugene Onegin, Idamante in Idomeneo, Unulfo in Händel’s Rodelinda, and Agnes in Die verkaufte Braut at Schlosstheater Schönbrunn. In 2023, she performed the role of Lilly in the world premiere of The Ghost Factory by Daniel Nelson at the Vadstena Academy in Sweden.
Yulia Matochkina opens her 2024/25 season with Verdi’s Requiem in Rome with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, conducted by Daniel Harding. She returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper München as Ulrica Un ballo in maschera and Santuzza in a new production of Cavalleria rusticana. She will also return to ROH Covent Garden as Azucena Il trovatore and to Deutsche Oper Berlin as Amneris Aida. Later, she will perform Carmen with Ópera de Las Palmas and Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Matochkina’s recent appearances include debuts as Venus Tannhäuser and Azucena Il trovatore at Bayerische Staatsoper, and her return to Deutsche Oper Berlin as Amneris Aida and Ortrud Lohengrin.
Other recent highlights include Eboli Don Carlo at The Metropolitan Opera, Semperoper Dresden, The Royal Ballet and Opera, Amneris Aida and Ulrica. Un ballo in maschera at the Spring Festival Tokyo with Riccardo Muti, Dalila Samson et Dalila with Opera de Tenerife. Verdi’s Requiem at Opernhaus Zürich, the Verbier Festival, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Dutch National Opera, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Carmen at Arena di Verona, Azucena Il trovatore at Opernhaus Zürich, Ulrica Un ballo in maschera at Teatro alla Scala, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Marfa Khovanshchina with Opéra national de Paris, Federica Luisa Miller at Staatsoper Hamburg and the Salzburg Festival.
Yulia took the first steps of her career with the Mariinsky Theatre and soon became its leading soloist. In her home theater she had the opportunity to build an extended repertoire of the main mezzo-soprano roles such as Amneris Aida, Eboli Don Carlo, Principessa de Bouillon Adriana Lecouvreur, Dido Les Troyens, Dalila Samson et Dalila, Venus Tannhäuser, Ortrud Lohengrin, Brangäne Tristan und Isolde, Wellgunde Das Rheingold, Kundry Parsifal, Polina Pique Dame, Ascanio Benvenuto Cellini, Dulcinée Don Quichotte, Marguerite La damnation de Faust, Joanna The Maid of Orleans and Marfa Khovanshchina, among others.
She is the first prize-winner of the Golden Medal of the XV International Tchaikovsky competition and the first prize-winner of the 9th Rimsky-Korsakov International Competition for Young Opera Singers.
Yulia Matochkina was born in Mirny in the Arkhangelsk Region and graduated from the Petrozavodsk State Conservatoire, named after Glazunov, where she studied with Professor Viktoria Gladchenko. She was also a member of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers between 2009–2015.
South Korean mezzo-soprano Hyejun Melania Kwon joined the Opera Studio NRW Germany in 2022. She is currently performing Valencienne (Merry Widow), Flora (La Traviata), Fortuna, Valletto and Famigliare 1 (L’incoronazione di poppea) at Theater Wuppertal, and Mara (Kirsas Musik) at Theater Dortmund. She has performed in the Konzerthaus Berlin’s opera gala and has won top prizes in competition, including First prizes at the International Competition Nouvelles Étoiles in 2021, and the King’s Peak International Music Competition in 2022. Hyejun received her bachelor’s degree at Ewha Womans University in Korea. During her studies, she was alto soloist for a tour of the United States with the Ewha Chamber Choir, which made a stop at Los Angeles Disney Hall. She went on to study with Ewa Wolak at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule Berlin, where she received her master’s degree and where she performed Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutte), Ruggiero (Alcina) and Ljubica (Svadba). Hyejun has been awarded a scholarship from the Mozart Gesellschaft (Dortmund) for the upcoming year.
English mezzo-soprano Siân Griffiths has recently graduated from the National Opera Studio’s Young Artists programme (London), studying with John Evans and generously supported by the Nicholas John Trust. Recent performance highlights include Fanny Price in Waterperry Opera’s Touring and Festival production of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park, Riccardi in Opera Rara’s concert performance of Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde, and Guest Singer in the Royal Ballet’s production of Like Water for Chocolate by Joby Talbot at the Royal Opera House, London. Recent concerts performances include alto soloist in Saint-Saëns Messe de Requiem for the Sussex House School and alto soloist in Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C minor and Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore for the Wooburn Singers. In 2023, Siân will perform the roles of Cherubino in Spira Mirabilis’ upcoming production of Le nozze di Figaro and Dryad in Garsington Opera’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos.
Mezzo soprano Elena Zhidkova made her professional debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She appeared at the Bayreuth Festival. Claudio Abbado invited her for the concert version of PARSIFAL, for Schumann’s FAUSTSZENEN and for his farewell concert at the Berlin Philharmonic where she appeared again in Händel’s JEPHTA under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
At the Teatro Real in Madrid she debuted as Waltraute (GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG) and as Brangäne in TRISTAN UND ISOLDE. A highly sought after guest performer in Tokyo as well she could be heard at the New National Theatre Tokyo among others as Octavian (DER ROSENKAVALIER), Fricka (DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN) and Brangäne (TRISTAN UND ISOLDE). She debuted very successfully as Judith in Bartok’s DUKE BLUEBEARD´S CASTLE at the Teatro alla Scala, a role she has also created at the Barbican Hall London with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valéry Gergiev (published on CD).
Her interpretation of Judith (DUKE BLUEBEARD´S CASTLE) at the Mariinsky Theatre gained her the „Golden Mask“ award as best singing actress in Russia. She was invited to sing the same part under Seiji Ozawas at the Saito Kinen Festival (also published on CD). Her appearance as Fricka (DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN) could be witnessed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and in the new production of the tetralogy at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She could be seen as Venus in TANNHÄUSER at the Semperoper Dresden, as Ortrud in PARSIFAL at the Bayreuth Festival and sang Marie (WOZZECK) with the BBC Orchestra under Donald Runnicles and in a new production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As Kundry (PARSIFAL) she appeared in Lyon, Vienna, Mannheim and Düsseldorf. She has sung La Principessa di Bouillon (ADRIAnA LECOUVREUR), The Foreign Princess (RUSALKA), Eboli (DON CARLO) and Kundry (PARSIFAL) at the Wiener Staatsoper, Charlotte (WERTHER) under Michel Plasson, as well her debut as Ortrud (LOHENGRIN). She enjoyed great success as Didon in Berlioz’ LES TROYENS, as Amneris in AIDA and Eboli (DON CARLOS) at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, as Nicklausse in LES CONTES D´HOFMMANN at ABAO Bilbao Opera, as Eboli at the Bolshoi, as Judith in BLUEBEARD´S CASTLE in Dresden and as Santuzza in CAVALLERIA RUSTIVANA at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Opéra Bastille Paris.
She celebrated a triumphant success at the Bayreuth Festival in the summer of 2019. Shortly before the festival premiere of the new production of TANNHÄUSER, she took over the role of Venus and was warmly acclaimed for her performance by the international press.
Emma Jüngling is a Swiss-French mezzo-soprano based in London. She is the laureate of numerous prizes such as the Friedl Wald Prize for young Swiss singers, the Richard Wagner Prize of the Geneva Wagner Society in 2017, the Alice Gamble Prize, amongst others. She has also attended the Verbier Festival Academy 2022 as Artist of Promise.
The mezzo-soprano studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London as well as at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne. She currently continues her training with Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet and Cathy Pope.
This year, Emma made her debut as Carmen under the guidance of Ludovic Tézier in Nancy (France) as part of his Young Artist production. Her operatic career also includes Natacha and Soeur Thérèse (L’Aube Rouge), La Suora Zelatrice (Suor Angelica) and Sicorace (La Tempesta). The young mezzo has worked with companies such as English Touring Opera, Opéra de Lausanne (Switzerland), Wexford Festival Opera and The Grange Festival.
On the concert stage, Emma was heard as a soloist in Haendel’s Israel in Egypt under the direction of Leonardo Garcia Alarcon and in Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Her oratorio repertoire also includes Scarlatti’s and Haendel’s Dixit Dominus, Dvorak’s Requiem, L’Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Saëns and Mozart’s Requiem.
Recently, she sang the alto solo in Golgotha by Frank Martin at the prestigious Victoria Hall in Geneva.
Canadian mezzo-soprano Kady Evanyshyn is a member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Hamburg, where her roles include Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), 2. Magd (Elektra), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Laura (Luisa Miller), and Glascha (Katja Kabanova). A 2020 participant of Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall, Kady’s broad repertoire ranges from the music of Purcell and Rameau to numerous world premieres. Her recent concert performances include: J.S. Bach’s Ich habe genug, conducted by Simone Dinnerstein, Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs, conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky, and the world premiere of Stefano Gervasoni’s Drei Grabschriften for mezzo-soprano and piano. Kady is an alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, and has received prizes from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and the Winnipeg Music Festival. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Edith Wiens.
Anna Lucia Richter comes from a large family of musicians. A long-time member of the girls’ choir at Cologne Cathedral, she received singing lessons from her mother Regina Dohmen from the age of nine. She was subsequently trained by Prof. Kurt Widmer in Basel and completed her singing studies with distinction with Prof. Klesie Kelly-Moog at the Cologne Academy of Music. She received further inspiration from Christoph Prégardien, Edith Wiens and Margreet Honig. In spring 2020, the artist initiated a change of subject to mezzo-soprano under the guidance of vocal expert Prof. Tamar Rachum, who still mentors her and is now her authoritative teacher. An important step that opened up new opportunities for the artist worldwide. In March, for example, she gave a guest performance of Mahler’s Wunderhorn Lieder under the direction of Ádám Fischer in Düsseldorf at short notice.