Following his time with Opernhaus Zürich’s Opernstudio, Moldovan baritone Adrian Timpau joins the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program from the 2017/18 season. This comes immediately after his debut at the 2017 Glimmerglass Festival as Eustachio in Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais. Also at The Met is mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb who, in her final season on the Program, sings roles including Sandman (Hänsel und Gretel), Lola (Cavalleria rusticana) and Laura (Luisa Miller) under Donald Runnicles, Nicola Luisotti and James Levine, respectively. 

Following productions at Theater Basel as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and Opera di Firenze as The Governess (Turn of the Screw), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring) and Pamina, Anna Gillingham heads to Vienna to join the Jungesensemble at Theater an der Wien. Her roles this season include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), and the title role in Porpora’s Arianne in Nasso in their Kammeroper, alongside performances of von Einem’s Der Besuch der alten Dame and Mozart’s Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots on the main stage. 

Joining English National Opera’s prestigious Harewood Artists Programme this season are young British artists Božidar Smiljanić and Katie Stevenson. Bass-baritone Božidar joins the programme with roles including Marquis in La traviata and covering the title role in Le nozze di Figaro in the spring. Elsewhere he joins Ian Page and Classical Opera as Don Simone in concert performances of Mozart’s La finta semplice as well as Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberger Symphoniker as Masetto (Don Giovanni) in Bamberg and at the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. Katie joins the programme fresh from performances in the title role of Porpora’s L’Agrippina for the Barber Opera in Birmingham, and sings in the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s new work Marnie, alongside cover commitments in Satyagraha and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the summer, Katie will join Garsington Opera as Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte). 

Young British baritone Alex Otterburn joins Scottish Opera Emerging Artists Programme. This comes after his outstanding debut for the company at the Edinburgh International Festival as Eddy in a new production of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek, where he was described as ​“magnetic” (The Guardian) in his ​“star turn” (Financial Times). His roles in Glasgow include Marchese (La traviata) and Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos) – which he’ll also sing for Opera Holland Park next summer – as well as a reprise of Greek. 

With last season highlights including Third Maid (Elektra) under Esa-Pekka Salonen in concert at the 2017 Verbier Festival and her debut as Dorabella (Così fan tutte) for Bury Court Opera, Bethan Langford joins the National Opera Studio this season following her recent graduation from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s prestigious Opera Course. Outside of her studying commitments, she will join Oliver Zeffman and his orchestra, Melos Sinfonia, in her debut as Second Angel in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin in London and at the Mariinsky Theatre.