Alice im Wunderland

The soprano Marie Maidowski, born in Berlin, studied voice and music theatre at the Berlin University of the Arts as well as concert singing at the University of Music and Theatre Munich. She gained Stage experience, among others, at the Staatstheater Cottbus, the Philharmonie Luxembourg as well as at the Kammeroper Munich. Her repertoire includes roles such as Barbarina ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Silvia (Haydn's "L’isola disabitata"), Papagena ("Die Zauberflöte"), Lovis (Leonard Evers’ "Der Baumgeist") as well as the nurse (Xavier Dayer’s "Alzheim"). In 2024 she made her debut at the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival in the title role of Carl Orff's "Die Kluge". From 2024 to 2026 she was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Hamburg State Opera. There she was seen, among others, as Echo ("Ariadne auf Naxos"), Papagena ("Die Zauberflöte"), Gretel ("Hänsel und Gretel"), trainbearer ("Elektra") as well as in the world premiere "Die grosse Stille". She will also debut in summer 2026 at the Staatstheater Braunschweig as Ännchen ("Der Freischütz"). Marie Maidowski is a scholarship holder of the Cusanuswerk, the German Stage Association and prizewinner of the Dr.-Wilhelm-Oberdörffer Prize of the Hamburg Opera Foundation. In the 2026/27 season she will debut at the Zurich Opera House in the title role in "Alice im Wunderland".

Thalia Cook-Hansen 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 appeared, among other roles, 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 ("Die Zauberflöte") 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 Zurich Opera House. Most recently, she appeared here, among other roles, in "Gianni Schicchi" and "Der Rosenkavalier". In the 2026/27 season, she will perform roles in "La rondine", "Alice im Wunderland", "Die lustige Witwe" and "Angels in America".

Ruben Drole, a bass-baritone, was born in Winterthur and studied at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2004, he joined the International Opera Studio and in 2005 the ensemble of Zurich Opera House, where he appeared, among other roles, as Lucio Cinna (J. C. Bach’s "Lucio Silla"), Haly ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Argante ("Rinaldo"), Wurm ("Luisa Miller") and as Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte", conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He also made his debut as Papageno at the Semperoper Dresden in 2015. Further projects with Harnoncourt included Kezal ("Die verkaufte Braut") and Haydn’s "Schöpfung" at Styriarte Graz, Beethoven’s "Christus am Ölberg" in Vienna and Lucerne, a tour of Japan (Mozart’s "Requiem" and Handel’s "Messiah") and Leporello ("Don Giovanni") at Theater an der Wien. In the Zurich cycle of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and Franz Welser-Möst, he appeared as Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro") and Leporello. Under Welser-Möst, he also performed the same roles with the Cleveland Orchestra. At the Salzburg Festival in 2012, he sang Achilla ("Giulio Cesare") and appeared there in 2013 in Haydn’s "Il ritorno di Tobia" and Walter Braunfels’ "Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna". In Zurich, he has sung, among others, Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte"), Alaskawolfjoe ("Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny"), Soldier ("Die Geschichte vom Soldaten"), Odysseus ("Die Odyssee"), Duchess/Caterpillar in "Alice im Wunderland" and Frank ("Die Fledermaus"). Most recently, he also appeared in the ballet evening "Nachtträume". In the 2026/27 season, he will take on the role of Baron Mirko Zeta in Lehár’s "Die lustige Witwe" for the first time.

Gary Martin, a baritone from the USA, was a member of the Young Artists Program at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 1993 to 1995. He later returned to the company as a guest artist, appearing alongside Plácido Domingo in "Fedora", among other productions. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York during the 1998/99 season in "Lohengrin" and "Carmen". In 2000, he moved to Europe to join the permanent ensemble of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. Until 2012, he performed roles there such as Don Giovanni, Figaro ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Il Conte ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Escamillo ("Carmen"), Giorgio Germont ("La traviata"), Ford ("Falstaff"), Tonio ("Pagliacci"), Jaroslav Prus ("Die Sache Makropulos"), Marcello ("La bohème"), The Traveller ("Death in Venice"), Nick Shadow ("The Rake’s Progress") and Leander ("Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen"). In July 2013, he made his debut as Wotan, the Wanderer and Gunther in "Der Ring an einem Abend" in Bayreuth. In October 2013, he performed "Carmina Burana" in Berlin with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, followed by the title role in "Sweeney Todd" at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in 2014 and the title role in Detlev Glanert's "Joseph Süss" in 2015. In 2015, he appeared in the Verdi trilogy performed in a single evening ("Rigoletto", "Il trovatore", "La traviata") at Theater an der Rott; in 2016, he performed Ford in Verdi's "Falstaff" at Theater Münster. His concert repertoire also includes Verdi's "Requiem", Handel's "Messiah" and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. At Zurich Opera House, he was most recently heard in "Jim Knopf". In the 2026/27 season, he returns as the Duchess and the Caterpillar in "Alice im Wunderland".

Salvador Villanueva is a Mexican tenor. He completed his vocal training at the Universidad de Sonora and subsequently at the Mexican Opera Studio. There, he performed 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 Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, where he performed roles such as Gastone ("La traviata"), Borsa ("Rigoletto"), the tenor role in Tom Johnson's "The Four Note Opera" and the Sailor ("Dido und Aeneas"). In 2024, he returned to Mexico as Roméo in Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette". Salvador Villanueva was a finalist in singing competitions in Mexico City and ’s-Hertogenbosch. Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. In the 2026/27 season, he appears as the March Hare/Tweedledee in "Alice im Wunderland", as Il maestro di ballo in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" and as Il Conte di Lerma in Verdi's "Don Carlo".

The tenor Tautvydas Slizauskas is from Lithuania and studies voice in the class of Prof. Brigitte Lindner at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. In the 2026/27 season, he will become a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. Here, he will appear, among other roles, as Benvolio in Gounod’s "Roméo et Juliette", Ninetta in Puccini’s "Manon Lescaut" and Raoul de Saint-Brioche in Lehár’s "Die lustige Witwe". Further performances will take him to the Zurich stage in "La rondine", "Alice im Wunderland" and "Angels in America".

Valeriy Murga studied at the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv. He was a finalist both at the 41st International Singing Competition in Toulouse (1996) and at the 7th Julian Gayarre Competition in Pamplona (1998). In 1997, he won second prize at the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens and took part in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 1999. From 1997 to 1999, he was a soloist at the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, where he performed, among others, Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Escamillo ("Carmen"), Schaunard ("La bohème") and the title roles in "Jewgeni Onegin", "Don Giovanni" and "Prince Igor". His repertoire also includes roles such as the Marchese di Posa ("Don Carlo") and Shaklovity ("Chowanschtschina"). At Zurich Opera House, he was initially a member of the International Opera Studio and during this time appeared, among other roles, as Sciarrone and the Jailer ("Tosca") and as Monterone ("Rigoletto"). Since the beginning of the 2000/01 season, he has been a permanent member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House and has since appeared here, among other roles, as Prince Yeletsky ("Pique Dame"), Moralès ("Carmen"), Second Soldier ("Salome"), Alessio ("La sonnambula"), Ali ("L’italiana in Algeri"), Wagner ("Faust"), Sacristan ("Tosca") and Bogdanowitsch ("Die lustige Witwe"), as well as in family operas including "Das Gespenst von Canterville", "Robin Hood", "Das verzauberte Schwein", "Jim Knopf" and "Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig". He has also appeared as a guest in Eugen d’Albert’s "Tiefland" at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and in "L’italiana in Algeri" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, and has performed in concerts at the Tonhalle Zurich. In the 2026/27 season, he will appear at Zurich Opera House, among other roles, as the Old Servant in "Elektra" and as Alcindoro in Puccini’s "La bohème".

Andrew Moore, an American bass-baritone from New Jersey, received his training at Rutgers University (Mason Gross School of the Arts) and the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 2019, he reached the New England Region Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where he received the Susan Eastman Encouragement Award. Other important stages in his artistic career included the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco and the Santa Fe Opera, where he appeared as an Apprentice Singer in "La bohème", "Così fan tutte" and "Jenůfa", among others. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. He was subsequently invited to join the ensemble of the house, which he has been a member of since the 2022/23 season. Since then, he has appeared here, among other roles, as Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Paolo Albiani ("Simon Boccanegra"), Don Fernando ("Fidelio"), De Brétigny ("Manon"), Marullo ("Rigoletto"), Paris ("Roméo et Juliette"), Marchese d’Obigny ("La traviata"), Pritschitsch ("Die lustige Witwe"), Johann ("Werther") and Fix ("In 80 Tagen um die Welt"). His most recent international engagements include his debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and his Salzburg debut as Marchese d’Obigny ("La traviata"). In summer 2026, he appeared as Johann ("Werther") at the Salzburg Festival.

Irène Friedli grew up in Räuchlisberg, Switzerland, and completed her studies at the Basel Academy of Music with a soloist diploma. The contralto furthered her studies in Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's interpretation class in Berlin, attended masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender and continued her training with Helen Keller. She won numerous prizes at international song competitions. She has been an ensemble member at Zurich Opera House since 1994. Here, she has performed roles including the Second and Third Lady ("Die Zauberflöte"), Mercédès ("Carmen"), the title role in Ravel's "L’Enfant et les sortilèges", Elsbeth in "Schlafes Bruder", Lily in "Harley", Annina and Flora ("La traviata"), Flosshilde ("Das Rheingold", "Götterdämmerung"), Marcellina ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Emilia ("Otello"), Lucia ("Cavalleria rusticana"), Olga in Peter Eötvös' "Three Sisters", Marthe in Gounod's "Faust", Margret ("Wozzeck"), Lovis in Jörn Arnecke's "Ronja Räubertochter", a Flower Maiden and the Voice from Above ("Parsifal"), Clotilde ("Norma"), Mother/Other Mother ("Coraline"), the Card Dealer ("Arabella") and the Nurse ("Boris Godunov"). In the world premiere of the family opera "Odyssee", she portrayed Eurycleia/Mother, and in "Girl with a Pearl Earring", Tanneke. In 2012, she made a guest appearance at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. Most recently, she has appeared in Zurich in roles including Filipyevna in "Eugene Onegin", Tisbe in "La Cenerentola", the Head Cook in "Amerika", Annina in "Der Rosenkavalier" and Gertrud/the Witch in "Hänsel und Gretel". In the 2026/27 season, she appears in "Alice in Wonderland", "Roméo et Juliette", "Le nozze di Figaro" and "Elektra".

The Brazilian mezzo-soprano Marcela Rahal received her vocal training in São Paulo and Leipzig. She gained her first significant stage experience at the Theatro São Pedro in São Paulo, where she appeared as Angelina in Rossini's "La Cenerentola". She has been a member of the ensemble at Lucerne Theatre since the 2021/22 season. Her repertoire includes roles such as Hänsel in Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel", Dido in Purcell's "Dido und Aeneas", Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" and Romeo in Bellini's "I Capuleti e i Montecchi". She has also made guest appearances at Opera Bern, the Ópera Nacional de Chile and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, among others. Marcela Rahal has won prizes at various competitions, including the Concurso Tenor Viñas 2024 (First Prize), the Albert Lortzing Lions Club Singing Competition 2020, the Linus Lener Competition, the Bauru Atanta Competition, Jovens Solistas OSESP and the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition. In the 2026/27 season, Marcela Rahal appears at Zurich Opera House as the Queen of Hearts in "Alice im Wunderland", as Wellgunde in Wagner's "Das Rheingold" and as Un musico in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut".

The Cuban-Colombian tenor Anthony León studied at La Sierra University in Riverside (California) and at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (Massachusetts). From 2022 to 2023, he was a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera. He has received numerous prestigious awards: in 2024, he was a finalist for the Rising Star Award at the International Opera Awards and received the Richard Tucker Career Grant. In 2023, he won the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, while at Operalia 2022, he was awarded First Prize and the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Zarzuela Prize. He also received a Career Development Grant from the Sullivan Foundation and was featured in "Opera News". During the 2025/26 season, he made role debuts at the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Glyndebourne Festival. In the 2026/27 season, he makes his debut at the Bavarian State Opera as Arbace in Mozart's "Idomeneo". At Zurich Opera House, he appears in "Alice im Wunderland", "La traviata", "Roméo et Juliette" and "L’elisir d’amore". He also sings the tenor part in Mozart's "Mass in C minor". His repertoire 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". Guest engagements have also taken him to Opera Cologne, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Santa Fe Opera, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Salzburg Festival, among others.

Johan Krogius began his musical training in the boys’ choir of the Cantores Minores Cathedral Choir in Helsinki. He later studied in Helsinki and Stockholm, won the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 2021 and was awarded first prize at the Helsinki Lied Competition in the same year. In opera, he has sung roles including Jaquino ("Fidelio") and Pong ("Turandot") in Helsinki, First Man and Juhana in "The Last Temptations" at the Jyväskylä Opera, Don Ottavio ("Don Giovanni") at the Finnish National Opera, Kuska ("Chowanschtschina") with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen in Helsinki and Stockholm, as well as Tamino ("Die Zauberflöte") at the Tampere Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, where he was also heard 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 at Staatsoper Berlin. There, he performed, among others, Leukippos (Strauss’ "Daphne"), Tamino, First Armoured Man and First Priest ("Die Zauberflöte"), Innkeeper and Faninal’s Major-Domo ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Trojan ("Idomeneo"), Parpignol ("La bohème") and Borsa ("Rigoletto"). On the concert platform, he has appeared with, among others, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2024 made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie with Mozart’s "Requiem". Since the 2025/26 season, he has been a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House, where he has appeared, among other roles, in "Der Rosenkavalier", "Tosca" and "Carmen", and in the 2026/27 season performs in "Tannhäuser", "Die Fledermaus", "Das Rheingold", "La fanciulla del west" and "Die Zauberflöte".

Lukas Siebert, tenor, initially studied music education in Frankfurt and subsequently voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Alongside his vocal studies, he studied choral and orchestral conducting in Frankfurt under Prof. Vassilis Christopoulos. As part of his conducting training, he worked with the MDR Radio Choir and the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2024, he won the Audience Award at the German Choral Conducting Prize with the RIAS Chamber Choir. Concert engagements have taken him to various renowned concert halls, including the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Tonhalle Zurich and Berlin Philharmonie. Together with Hilko Dumno, he has given several song recitals, including at Oper Frankfurt. As a soloist, he made his debut as Melot in Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" at the Musikfestspiele Königswinkel in 2021/22 and performed in Georg Friedrich Haas' "Bluthaus" at the Bavarian State Opera, a production of its Opera Studio, under the musical direction of Titus Engel and directed by Claus Guth. In the 2026/27 season, he returns to Zurich Opera House as the Mad Hatter in "Alice im Wunderland".

Daniel Hajdu was born in Göttingen and completed his acting training at the Folkwang University in Essen. His theatre career took him to renowned theatres as a permanent ensemble member, including the Wuppertaler Bühnen, Theater Basel, Theater Heidelberg and Schauspielhaus Zürich. He also had guest engagements at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Schauspiel Essen, Zürcher Theater Neumarkt and Volkstheater München. In recent years, he has frequently appeared at Theater Biel Solothurn, Theater Kanton Zürich and Zurich Opera House. In addition to his stage work, Daniel Hajdu is also known to a wide audience for his numerous film and television roles. Alongside appearances in productions such as "Tatort" and the series "Bella Block", one of his outstanding performances was the leading role in the television miniseries "Die Bertinis", which received international awards. Daniel Hajdu has been a regular performer at Zurich Opera House for many years. Among other roles, he appeared in the title role of Mozart's "Der Schauspieldirektor", was seen as the narrator in Offenbach's "Barkouf" and took on roles in several family opera productions, including the title role in "The Wizard of Oz" and the White Rabbit in "Alice in Wonderland". Since 2006, Daniel Hajdu has taught at Kantonsschule Enge in Zurich, where he directs Junges Theater KEN, the school's theatre group, with which he is regularly invited to festivals, including the Swiss Youth Theatre Festival.

Kjell Brutscheidt, born in Düsseldorf in 1996, studied acting at the Theaterakademie August Everding from 2014 to 2018. Guest engagements took him to the Residenztheater, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Münchner Kammerspiele and Bad Hersfeld Festival, among others. In the 2019/20 season, he was part of the first interdisciplinary studio at Theater Bielefeld, where he worked in opera, drama and dance. In 2023, he played Yorick in "Hamlet" at the Komische Oper Berlin, and in 2024/25, he appeared in "Früchte des Zorns" at the Münchner Volkstheater. Alongside his theatre work, he regularly appears in film and television productions. His recent work includes the series "Babylon Berlin", "Die Kaiserin" and "Schwarzes Gold", as well as the film "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes". In 2026, he takes on the leading role of Maximilian Bernard in the Prime Video series "Superior". At Zurich Opera House, he returns as the Cheshire Cat in "Alice im Wunderland".

Jessica Elsasser is an actress and aerial artist. She has been practising gymnastics since the age of six and completed her acting studies in Zurich in 2009. In addition to various productions in Germany and Switzerland, she appeared in "Attabambi-Pornoland" directed by Christoph Schlingensief and in "Nora or A Doll's House" directed by Timofej Kuljabin at Schauspielhaus Zürich. At Zurich Opera House, she appeared in Weber's "Der Freischütz" directed by Herbert Fritsch and in the family opera "Ronja Räubertochter" directed by Marie-Eve Signeyrole. In the 2026/27 season, she appears in "Alice im Wunderland". Alongside her stage work, she works as an aerial artist and teaches children, teenagers and adults various disciplines of aerial acrobatics. Jessica Elsasser has gained film experience in various short films, music videos and feature films.