Competition 2023

RAFAEL OLIVEIRA comes from Brazil.

His musical journey began at the age of seven in the children's choir of his hometown. At the Escola de Música do Estado de São Paulo he studied baroque singing with Marília Vargas.

In 2016, Rafael made his debut in Zurich, performing works by José Maurício Nunes Garcia. In 2019, he was selected as a soloist for the International Bach Academy Stuttgart.

He attended master classes in baroque singing with Maria Cristina Kiehr, Sophie Daneman, Peter Harvey, Arianna Savall and Dame Emma Kirkby. In 2022 he sang Tapioca in the opera "L'ètoile" by Emmanuel Chabrier, directed by Olga Pavlu in Basel. Rafael Oliveira attended master classes in singing with Yvonne Naef, Teru Yoshihara, Martina Fausch and Margreet Honig.

In 2023 he can be seen in the documentary film about Margreet Honig "Der freie Ton" by Stefan Haupt.

He attended the Liedklassse of Christoph Berner and Hans Adolfsen and forms a successful duo with the Polish pianist Paulina Maslanka. He completed master classes for Lieder with Ricardo Ballestero, Olaf Bär and Richard Stokes.

In 2023 he received a Master in Concert Performance at the Zurich University of the Arts in the class of Markus Eiche.

Xun ZHOU (China)

Third prize in the American Classical Vocalist Competition.2016
First prize, Renato Bruson Opera Competition, 2017
Sir Georg Solti NCPA Master Class Scholarship, 2018
the fifth place in the PAOLO CONI Opera Competition in 2018.
Enter the final of HONG KONG operatic singing competition in 2018
In 2018, the LA TRAVIATA role award of the Italian Cesena Opera House.
entered the ISing Young Singer Program and cooperated with musician Kamal Khan and Suzhou Symphony Orchestra.In 2019, 
In 2020, scholarship of Hong Kong Arts Festival to enter the soprano KIRI TE KANAWA master class.
2021 Invitation from Firenze MASCHERADE Opera Studio
2022 concorso RENATA TEBALDI audizione in Teatro alla Scala
2022 Teatro fiorentino maggio accademia qualificati
2022 Teatro regio Parma accademia finale audizione
2023 Musica su ROMA REQUIEM MOZART tenore solo con Orchestra Filarmonica Città di Roma
2023 il corso accademia PESARO di LUCIANA D'INTINO
                                                          

Etienne Anker is a tenor from the canton of Vaud.

He grew up in the village of Les Diablerets and began his musical studies in 2014 in the class of Mrs. Carmen Casellas (musical conservatory of Vevey). Two years later, he met Mr. Stuart Patterson and joined his class in the HEM1 in 2017. He achieved with success a Bachelor of Arts in singing and a Master of Arts in music pedagogy. He is currently continuing his studies with a Master of Arts in Music Performance.
He sang with some Swiss vocal ensembles (as chorister and soloist) like the vocal ensemble of Lausanne, La Fontana Cantabile, or small vocal ensembles in Neuchâtel and Fribourg.
He also sang several times as soloist with the Musique des Lumière orchestra and its director Facundo Agudin.
He also joined the chorus of the Opera of Lausanne and sang in L’Auberge du Cheval Blanc (Benatzky) and in Le Domino noir (Aubert).
In September 2021, thanks to a collaboration between the HEMU2 and the HEM, Etienne did his role debut as Ferrando (Così fan tutte, Mozart) on the stages of the Opera of Lausanne and of the theatre of Fribourg. In May 2022, he was Mr. Brühlmann (Werther, Massenet) in the opera of Lausanne and in January 2023, he took the role of Benvolio (Roméo et Juliette, Gounod) in Montreux and Genève with the OCG3, alongside of the tenor Benjamin Bernheim (Roméo). In April, he sang the complete evangelist soloist part in BWV 244 - Matthäus-Passion (J.S. Bach) in Strasbourg.
At the end of 2023, he will participate in the first “Academy of the NOF”4 and take a cover role as Ruodi in Guillaume Tell (Rossini).

Gianni Bergamo was born in Milan, Italy in 1941, attended primary school in Italy and Liceo in Switzerland. After a degree in Economy (1964) at the Catholic University of Milan, he dedicated himself to the study of music with Tissoni (harmony and composition), D. Maffeis (organ) and N. Sanzogno (orchestra conducting) at the Conservatory of Bergamo, Italy.
From 1964 to 1994 has been a businessman with his own import-export, real estate and finance companies, though at the same time he has remained close to music and to its world.
In 1990 he created the Cultural Association “Gli Amici Cantori”, first as a chorus alone, then later accompanied by an orchestra. He has given many concerts in Italy with them, preferring the symphonic-sacred repertoire (masses, oratories, passions, etc.). At present, he lives in Santiago del Chile.

Barbara Zanichelli was born in Parma and graduated in Violin with Luca Fanfoni at the Conservatory of her home town. She studied singing with the Russian teacher Anatoli Goussev in Milan. She immediately developed a passion for baroque music and studied it with Cristina Miatello, Claudine Ansermet and Roberto Gini, attending the three-year course at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan; medieval repertoire with Pedro Memelsdorff; belcanto repertoire with Luciana Serra, Sherman Lowe and Sergio Bertocchi.

She met contemporary vocal music with Luisa Castellani, under whose fundamental guidance she obtained her Master Performance Diploma 'cum laude' at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano where shie also graduated 'cum laude' in Singing Pedagogy in 2009 with Marianne Kohler and Luisa Castellani.

Winner and finalist of international competitions such as the 'Luca Marenzio' 1999 and the Nicati 2009, a light soprano voice, Barbara Zanichelli is a performer whose artistic work focuses mainly on early music: from Gregorian to early polyphony, from madrigal to 18th-century cantata, with some incursions into specific areas of the contemporary repertoire, those involving the linear vocalism of early music.

Her use of the voice, in accordance with this kind of repertoire, focuses on the search for vocal flexibility and ductility, combined with a measured control of expressive means, coordinated by the study of different musical performance practices.

She intensively performs in concerts, participating as a soloist in musical productions, in collaboration with differently formed instrumental ensembles or a cappella vocal ensembles, performing in important halls and international festivals.

As a soprano soloist, she has collaborated with musicians such as:

the conductors Barthold Kuijken, Pedro Memelsdorff (Mala Punica), Enrico Gatti (Ensemble Aurora), Stefano Bagliano (Collegium Pro Musica), Rinaldo Alessandrini (Concerto Italiano) Alessandro De Marchi (Accademia Montis Regalis), Claudio Cavina (La Venexiana), Luca Pianca (La Claudiana), Gianluca Capuano (Il Canto di Orfeo), Paolo da Col (Odhecaton), Tierry Fisher (Paris, Cité de la Musique: Prometeo by L. Nono), M.W.Chung (Rome, Accademia di S.Cecilia: Wagner's "Tannhauser", role of the shepherd boy), Pal Nemeth (Milan, Chiesa di S. Alessandro: Festival MITO) Robert H. Platz, Vittorio Parisi, Filippo Maria Bressan, Massimiliano Pascucci (Vox Àltera), Claudio Chiavazza (Affetti Musicali), Candace Smith (Cappella Artemisia), Marco Mencoboni (Cantar Lontano); Karlheinz Stockhausen with whom she performed the world premiere of KLANG's HIMMELFAHRT-ERSTE STUNDE in the Milan Cathedral, PAUSE 2005 in the version for organ, soprano and tenor; and in the Stockhausen-Kurse Kürten 2006 concert season, in the version for synthetizer, soprano and tenor, in both cases with the composer himself as sound director. The piece was also recorded and published on CD for the Stockhausen-Verlag; in July 2011 she performed a posthumous world premiere of KLANG's piece URANTIA-19TH HOUR for solo soprano and electronics, in Rome in the Gardens of the Accademia Filarmonica.

She has performed and premiered compositions, including pieces written specifically for her voice and dedicated to her by the composers Gavin Bryars, Stefano Gervasoni, Francesco Hoch, William Blank, Leo Kupper, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Nadir Vassena, Nicolas Bolens, Mario Pagliarani, Milos Stredron, Luigi Sammarchi, Alberto Barberis,

Her great interest in the Medieval repertoire, from Gregorian Chant to Ars Nova, has led her to collaborate for several years with the ensemble Mala Punica, directed by Pedro Memelsdorff, of which she has been a stable member since 1996, with the group Tasto Solo, directed by Guillermo Perez, and to deepen her study of the Medieval repertoire by attending the Semiology and Gregorian Chant courses held in Cremona by N. Albarosa, J.B. Göschl, G. Conti and Tito Molisani in Cremona and the Advanced Course 'L'Ars Nova in Europa' at the University Tor Vergata in Rome, graduating with honours in September 2008; she also founded and directed the female vocal group STUDIUMensemble, which aims to tackle the medieval repertoire, from classical Gregorian to early polyphony, and some trends in contemporary repertoire

She has participated in Italian and European radio and television recordings and live broadcasts including: RAI radio3, DRS2 Bern, Austrian Radio ORF, RSI2 Lugano, RSR espace 2 French Switzerland, WDR3 Germany and has recorded CDs for the record companies ERATO, ARCANA, CHANDOS, VIRGIN, GLOSSA, STOCKHAUSEN-VERLAG, NAIVE. TACTUS, PAVANE, ARTS, BONGIOVANNI, PHONÈ, AEON PARIS, BRILLIANT.

Since 2007 she has been teaching Singing and Singing Pedagogy, as well as being assistant to Luisa Castellani at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana and since 2017 she has been teaching Renaissance and Baroque Singing at the Conservatorio Ghedini in Cuneo.

From 2018 to 2022, she was a lecturer at the "Haute école de musique de Genève-Neuchâtel": Diction Lyrique - Italian Practical Vocal Coaching.

Marcin Habela, baritone, was born in Poland. After a musical education (piano, organ, chamber music), he continued his singing studies at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), then at the Opéra de Marseille (CNIPAL). His teachers include: R. Crespin, R. Yakar, G. Magby, R. Tear, S. Leiferkus, M. Alcantara.

After winning several international prizes, including the Competition Opera and Festival with Mezzo Television, he has sung more than 40 roles covering a very wide repertoire (Ford in Falstaff, Conte in Le nozze di Figaro, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Sharpless in Madame Butterfly, Onegin...) on the main European stages. He has sung together with Roberto Alagna, José van Dam, Thomas Hampson, Karita Mattila, in productions conducted by Simon Rattle, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Jeffrey Tate, Emmanuel Krivine, Antonio Pappano and directed by Alfredo Arias, Stéphane Braunschweig, Michael Hampe, Andrei Serban.

He has made recordings for Radio France, TSR, SBB, EMI, RAI.

In November 2008, Marcin Habela won the Audience Grand Prix as best performer at the International Opera Competition in Mezzo for his interpretation of Raoul Wallenberg in the world premiere of Kingsley and Kunze Raoul.

Passionate teacher, he is regularly invited to give master classes in Europe. He teaches singing at the Lyon Conservatory and the Haute école de musique de Genève.

Director, musician and musicologist, he had an eclectic training from dance theater to singing, from musicology to acting.

He began his theatrical training course with contemporary dance and theater-dance at a very young age, studying in Italy with Anna Sagna and the Bella Hutter Contemporary Dance group, in England (at The Place, Martha Graham's London school) in France and in ex-Yugoslavia.

He then devoted himself to music studying singing with Gabriella Ravazzi and then Anne English Santucci in Rome, perfecting himself followed in France in the chamber repertoire with Dalton Baldwin and Gerard Souzay and in the lieder repertoire with Erik Werba. Guest of concert seasons and festivals in Italy, France, Spain, Great Britain, Romania, United States and South America and has made recordings for Stradivarius, Nuova Era, DDT, La Giuntina and others.

In 1994 he founded the Controluce ShadowTheater Company with Corallina De Maria and Jenaro Meléndrez Chas. Since then he has dedicated himself to it by signing with the group the staging of all the shows presented in the major festivals and theater seasons in Europe, Asia, North Africa and South America, collaborating with names from the world of entertainment and music such as Kate Bush, Vinicio Capossela, Mario Brunello, Jordi Savall, Kenneth Weiss, Fabio Biondi, Davide Livermore etc.

From 2013 he began to devote himself to directing musical theater and opera, personally signing operas in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Italy including IL PIRATA and LA STRANIERA by Bellini at the Niederbayern Landestheater in Passau, Landshut and Straubing, Germany; IL GIARDINO DELLA VITA (The garden of life) by José Maria Sanchez Verdù, 900 Musica of Lugano, Switzerland, and Semana de Musica Religiosa of Cuenca, Spain; LO STRIDERE LUTTUOSO DEGLI ACCIAI (The mournful screeching of steels) by Adriano Guarnieri, TPE Turin; DONNA DI VELENI by Marco Podda, Coccia Novara Theater; I VIAGGI DI GULLIVER (Gulliver's Travels) by Bruno Moretti, Coccia Theater in Novara; Il SOGNO DEL SIG. RODARI (The Dream of Mr. Rodari) by Nuria Nunez Hierro, Spanish Academy, Rome. He has also collaborated in directorial / didactic projects with the Lugano Conservatory and Luisa Castellani with three productions between Baroque and Contemporary Music.

Among the last works of 2022 the direction of Federico Gon's UN BULLO IN MASCHERA (A masked bully)  at the Coccia Theater in Novara and the care of the visual imagery with Controluce of IL DIARIO DI ANNA FRANK (The Diary of Anna Frank) by Grigorij Frid at the Teatro Regio in Turin.

Graduated in Musical Aesthetics at the University of Letters and Philosophy of Turin, he has published studies on musical treatises of the eighteenth century and on Mozart's theater, later dedicating himself to twentieth century music, Kurt Weill, Alberto Savinio and entertainment show for UTET, Unicopli, La Giuntina Ed., Fabbri Editori, Franco Angeli Ed. And has collaborated with magazines such as Il Giornale della Musica, Puck and Sonus, etc. Interpreter and scholar of Jewish music and culture, he edited the Italian edition of the History of Jewish music by Abrahm Zvi Idelsohn for La Giuntina in Florence.

He founded the Scuola Holden in Turin with Alessandro Baricco; he was president and director of HoldenArt section dedicated to the narration of Cultural Heritage and Museums.

He is currently professor of History of Musical Theater and Musical Dramaturgy at the Giorgio Ghedini Conservatory in Cuneo. Since 2015 he has taught at the Catholic University in Milan, Fundamentals of Musical Communication.

He is Artistic Director of INCANTI International Puppet Festival of Turin.

Peter Siegwart studied school music, flute with Marianne Fässler, André Jaunet and Marcel Moyse (master class), music theory with Rudolf Kelterborn and Hans Ulrich Lehmann, and conducting with Ferdinand Leitner, Robert Schollum and Rafael Kubelik (master class at the Lucerne International Music Festival). He was director and flutist of the Baroque Ensemble Lucerne, which developed an intensive concert activity and was presented as a chamber music prize winner in 1974 as part of the Young Artists at the Lucerne International Music Festival.

Peter Siegwart is the initiator of several musical projects with various vocal and instrumental ensembles, also in the field of improvisation and experimentation. He is committed to contemporary music (e.g. with the Forum Neue Musik Luzern) as well as to rarely performed historical works.

He has led various ensembles, for many years the Collegium Musicum Zug, and today mainly the Vokalensemble Zürich, one of the most renowned professional vocal ensembles in Switzerland, which he founded and with which he has carried out special programmes beyond the usual concert repertoire in Switzerland and abroad for more than 30 years. In 1990, together with this ensemble, he was invited to the Königsfeld Festival, where he had a decisive role, first as musical director and later, from 2004 to 2012, as artistic director.

His list of works includes compositions mostly in special instrumentations for voices and instruments.

Peter Siegwart taught for 37 years at the (now) Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), temporarily also at the Academy for School and Church Music in Lucerne and at the Lucerne Conservatory (now Lucerne University of Music), where he also served as head of department and deputy director, as well as at the Musicology Institute of the University of Zurich.

In 2004, Peter Siegwart received an honorary award from the UBS Cultural Foundation for his achievements in the field of new music and for his special work with the Vokalensemble Zurich. The Vokalensemble Zurich, which he directs, was awarded the "Werkjahr für musikalische Interpretation" by the City of Zurich in 2007.

See also: www.vokalensemblezuerich.ch