Cast

Her international concert career as a soloist has taken Nathalie Peña-Comas to Egypt, Germany, the Dominican Republic, England, Italy, Colombia, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, the USA, the Vatican and Belarus. She has sung in major concert halls including the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (Vatican), the Vienna Musikverein (Golden Hall), the Vienna Konzerthaus (Mozart Hall, Schubert Hall) and MuTh – the concert hall of the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

On the opera stage she has appeared in Europe and the Dominican Republic as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Musetta in La bohème, the Queen of Trolls in The Two Fiddlers, Gabi in Agleia Federweiss, Lucia in Mateo, the Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Micaëla in Carmen and Violetta Valéry in La Traviata, among other roles.

She has worked with the Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Wiener Konzert-Verein, the Wiener KammerOrchester, the Strauss Festival Orchestra, the Orchestra di Roma, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, the Belarus Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Târgu Mureș Philharmonic Orchestra – under conductors including Valery Polyansky, Eugene Kohn, Ernst Kovacic, Ola Rudner, Harald Krumpöck, Joji Hattori, Ferenc Gabor, José Antonio Molina and Laura Pérez-Soria. She has performed alongside Andrea Bocelli, Gregory Kunde, KS Ramón Vargas, Morris Robinson, Tuomas Katajala and Plácido Domingo Jr.; in May 2023 she sang at the 64th Viennese Opera Ball in New York alongside Stephen Costello and Joyce El-⁠Khoury.

Her awards include 1st Prize at the Ebe Stignani International Opera Competition (2022, Imola), 2nd Prize at the Montecatini Opera Festival Singing Competition (2022), a Latin Grammy nomination (2017), the final of the 14th Osaka International Music Competition (2013), the prizes “Most Promising Soprano” and “Best Interpretation of a Polish Composition” at the 14th Ada Sari International Competition of Vocal Art (2011, Nowy Sącz) and the title “Classical Singer of the Year” at the Premios Soberano (2014–2016, 2018–2022).

Nathalie Peña-Comas was born in Santo Domingo. She studied piano pedagogy, concert singing and vocal pedagogy (with distinction) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She has attended masterclasses with Helena Łazarska, Mariella Devia, Michael Recchiuti and Kamal Khan; since 2018 she has been coached by Maestra Irina Gavrilovici.

Margarita Gritskova was born in St Petersburg. She studied piano and singing in her home city and graduated from the State Music Academy. She was a finalist in the “Operalia” competition and is a prizewinner of several competitions in Russia as well as in Modena, Italy, and Colmenar Viejo, Spain.

Immediately after graduating she was engaged by the theatre in Weimar, where she appeared as Cherubino, Maddalena, Carmen, Bradamante and Ottone in “L’incoronazione di Poppea”, among other roles. She then became an ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera, where her roles have included Cenerentola, Sesto in “La clemenza di Tito”, Cherubino, Bradamante, Isabella, Dorabella, Idamante, Olga, Smeton, Fyodor, Maddalena, Rosina, Anna in Berlioz’s “Les Troyens”, Carmen and Orlofsky.

Her first guest engagements took her to Tenerife as the Page in “Salome”, to Budapest as Rosina and Idamante, to Québec in Canada as Olga, and as Cherubino to Muscat, St Moritz, the Salzburg Festival, Tokyo and Aix-⁠en-Provence. She has appeared as Cenerentola in Mexico, in Vivaldi’s “Catone in Utica” in Cologne, as Isolier in “Le Comte Ory” and as Nicklausse in “The Tales of Hoffmann” at the Oper Klosterneuburg, as Olga at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and as Idamante in Lyon. She has also appeared as an actress in the film “Der letzte Gipfel”.

Her recent and future engagements up to the 2027/28 season include Cenerentola in Düsseldorf, at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and in Melbourne, Rosina in Moscow, Sesto in “La clemenza di Tito” in Valencia, Ramiro in “La finta giardiniera” in Zurich, Giovanna Seymour in “Anna Bolena” in Munich, Isabella in “L’italiana in Algeri” in Paris, “Die Walküre” in Naples, Amneris in Chemnitz, Preziosilla, Eboli, Adalgisa and Dalila at the Oper Klosterneuburg, Dorabella and Rosina at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and at the Lech Festival, Eboli in Helsinki, Cenerentola in Brisbane, “Ermione” at the Theater an der Wien and Olga at the New National Theatre Tokyo.

She has given concerts and recitals in Moscow, St Petersburg, Sofia, Tenerife, Pesaro, Oviedo, New York, London, Munich, Düsseldorf, Bad Wildbad, Klagenfurt, Linz, Innsbruck and Vienna, among other cities.

Photo: Mark Glassner

Marianne Schechtel is currently an ensemble member of the Staatstheater Meiningen. Her repertoire there includes Eboli in Don Carlos (G. Verdi), Carmen (G. Bizet), Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (G. Puccini) and Dorabella in Così fan tutte (W. A. Mozart). For her impressive portrayal of Helene Alving in the world premiere of the opera Gespenster (T. Aagaard-Nilsen) she was nominated for the German Theatre Prize (Faust) in 2024. She also received the Ulrich Burkhardt Prize at the Staatstheater Meiningen as an outstanding young artist.

Marianne Schechtel also performs regularly in concert, including Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht under Alexander Lebek at the Konzerthaus Berlin and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in cooperation with Christoph Hagel at Berlin Cathedral; the great oratorios are part of her repertoire.

She has a particular fondness for works by contemporary composers and has sung various world premieres, such as the song cycle “Wenn die Schatten singen” (K. Querfurth), written especially for her. She has also created roles in contemporary operas such as Julie (Julie / P. Boesmans), Sister (Through his teeth / L. Bedford) and in the children’s opera GOLD! (L. Evers).

Marianne Schechtel grew up in Lübeck in a German-Russian family. While still at school she began preliminary studies at the Lübeck University of Music and completed her bachelor’s degree in 2014 in the class of Prof. Anke Eggers. For her master’s degree she studied at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, first with Prof. Thomas Quasthoff and later with Prof. Renate Faltin. Immediately after graduating she joined the ensemble of the Staatstheater Meiningen. Masterclasses took her to KS Francisco Araiza, KS Christa Ludwig and KS Angelika Kirchschlager.

During her studies she received scholarships from Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now in Lübeck and Berlin, the Possehl Foundation Lübeck, the Junge Oper Lübeck and the Richard Wagner Society Hamburg, as well as the Jutta Schlegel Prize. Marianne Schechtel is also a Meisner technique coach for singers.

Young Woo Kim opens the 2026/27 season with further performances as Siegfried in “Götterdämmerung” at the Lucerne Festival and the Philharmonie de Paris – a collaboration between the Dresden Music Festival, Concerto Köln and Kent Nagano. At the Cologne Opera, of whose ensemble he is a member, he makes two role debuts: the title role in “The Tales of Hoffmann” and the Singer in “Der Rosenkavalier”. In the spring he sings Calaf in “Turandot” at the Irish National Opera in Dublin. A further role debut as Macduff in “Macbeth” follows at the Cologne Opera; he returns to the Oper Frankfurt as Radamès in “Aida” and appears in Vienna as Siegfried.

His recent successes include Don José in “Carmen” at Opera Australia, his role debuts as des Grieux in “Manon Lescaut” and in the title role of “Ernani” at the Cologne Opera, his debut as Siegfried in “Götterdämmerung” under Kent Nagano, his first Calaf in Sydney and Cavaradossi in “Tosca” at the Hamburg State Opera.

In previous seasons he made his debut at the Oper Frankfurt as Radamès, a role he has also sung at the Cologne Opera. He has appeared as Cavaradossi at Opera Australia, the Hamburg State Opera and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. His roles at the Cologne Opera also include Ismaele (“Nabucco”), Erik (“Der fliegende Holländer”), Hylas (“Les Troyens”), the title role in “Faust” and Siegmund in “Die Walküre” for young audiences; at the Garsington Opera Festival he made his debut as Bacchus in “Ariadne auf Naxos”.

Young Woo Kim studied on a full scholarship at Chugye University for the Arts in Seoul, graduating top of his year with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in classical singing, and continued his training at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with Dr Veronica Dunne. He then joined the opera studio of the Cologne Opera, of whose permanent ensemble he has been a member since 2018.

Photo: Oper Köln / Teresa Rothwangl

Joseph Dahdah was born in Zgharta (Lebanon) in 1992. As well as Arabic, he speaks fluent French, English, Italian and Spanish, and also sings in German, Ukrainian and Russian. He began studying singing and piano at the age of twelve. In Italy he continued his training first in Rome with Raina Infantino and then at the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali Briccialdi in Terni, where he graduated in opera singing with distinction under the mezzo-soprano Ambra Vespasiani. Masterclasses took him to Richard Barker, Luca Salsi, Eva Mei, Bruno de Simone and Tatiana Chivarova, among others; he then joined the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

At the Teatro del Maggio he made his debut in Giordano’s “Siberia” (Sergeant) under Gianandrea Noseda and went on to sing Barbarigo in “I due Foscari” alongside Plácido Domingo, Radamès in a children’s production of “Aida”, the Officer in “Ariadne auf Naxos”, Don Riccardo in “Ernani”, the Herald and Count Lerma in “Don Carlo” under Daniele Gatti, roles in Busoni’s “Doktor Faust” under Cornelius Meister and Gastone in “La Traviata” under Zubin Mehta. In concert he was the tenor soloist in Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella” under Daniele Gatti, in Bruckner’s “Te Deum” and as Cassio in Verdi’s “Otello”, both under Zubin Mehta. He also made his debut as Radamès at the Gut Immling Festival.

His recent and forthcoming engagements include Cavaradossi and Pollione in Bern, “Pique Dame” at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Don José in “Carmen” in the Circuito Lombardo, at the Teatro Petruzzelli, in Modena and Piacenza, “Il trovatore” in Hanover, “Nabucco” in Jesi, his debut at Teatro La Fenice as Pinkerton, Arlecchino in Bari and “Aida” at the Wiener Opernsommer, in Bern and in Saint-Étienne.

Photo: Alina Rossoshanska

This season Stepan Drobit returns to the Prague State Opera, where he sings Nabucco and Giorgio Germont in La Traviata. At the Baltic Opera Gdańsk he makes his debut as Carlo Gérard in Andrea Chénier and in the title role of Rigoletto. He also sings the title role in Nabucco at the State Theatre Košice.

His recent engagements include Amonasro in Aida at Opera Kraków, Nabucco at the Opéra de Toulon and leading roles in Nabucco, Falstaff, Aida and Rigoletto at the Polish National Opera and the Lviv Opera. He has also sung Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Wiener Opernsommer and at the National Opera of Ukraine. Further highlights have included Conte di Luna in Il Trovatore and Friedrich von Telramund in Lohengrin at the Lviv Opera and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Gürzenich in Cologne and the Konzerthaus Berlin.

Drobit also appears regularly as a concert singer. His repertoire includes Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, which he has sung at the Konzerthaus Berlin and the KKL Luzern, and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem. Since 2018 he has been artistic director of the academic song and dance ensemble “Cossacks of Podillya”, and since 2014 a soloist of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Philharmonic.

His operatic repertoire comprises leading baritone roles by Verdi, Wagner, Puccini and Mozart, including Nabucco, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, Don Carlos, Lohengrin, Der fliegende Holländer, Tosca and Die Zauberflöte. Drobit studied with distinction at the Pedagogical College of the National University of Lviv and then completed a master’s degree in singing at its Faculty of Culture and Arts.

Photo: Anastasiia Kvasnovska

Falk Struckmann is regarded as one of the leading bass-baritones of our time; he has recently and very successfully extended his repertoire to include major bass roles. Highlights of the 2026/27 season include Fafner (Siegfried) under Daniel Harding in Rome, Hagen (Götterdämmerung) in Sydney with Simone Young and Alberich (Das Rheingold) at San Francisco Opera under the musical direction of Eun Sun Kim.

Central roles by Richard Wagner are a focus of his artistic profile, among them the Dutchman, King Heinrich (Lohengrin), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde) and numerous roles in Der Ring des Nibelungen. The versatile artist’s repertoire also includes Jochanaan (Salome), Orest (Elektra), Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten) and the Doctor (Wozzeck), as well as Italian roles such as Scarpia (Tosca) and Iago (Otello).

From Kiel and Basel, where his career was founded, he went on to conquer the international opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House and the Vienna State Opera, which honoured his artistic achievements with the title of Kammersänger. He works regularly with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Christian Thielemann and Riccardo Muti. Falk Struckmann made his Bayreuth Festival debut in 1993 as Kurwenal, followed by roles in the Ring and in Parsifal. Many of his performances have been recorded on CD and DVD.

At the Wiener Opernsommer 2027, Georg Leskovic takes on the role of the ghost of Giuseppe Verdi. Between the acts of “Aida” he tells the moving story behind the opera – its creation, its great passions and its tragic end – and brings it closer to the audience in a very special way. All the music of the opera is performed authentically and true to the original.

His artistic career began as a soloist with the Vienna Boys’ Choir. After studying at the Vienna Conservatory, his work as an actor and singer took him to stages from Europe to Japan – including the Volkstheater Wien, the Graz Opera, the Mörbisch Lake Festival, the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien and the Deutsches Theater München, the Globe Wien and the cabaret Simpl.

Beyond the stage he works as a presenter and educator – at the Musikverein Wien and MuTh, at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and in workshops at the Mozarteum Salzburg, among others. He already appeared at the Wiener Opernsommer in 2025 (alternating with Karl Markovics) as Giuseppe Verdi in “La Traviata”.

Photo: Markus Morawetz