Opera Studio 2023/2024

Members 

Mina Yu
The lyric soprano Mina Yu was born in Seoul. She completed her bachelor’s degree in classical singing at Ewha Womens University. Already during her studies, she performed in numerous concerts and sang at various Young Artist Concerts, in French, German and English recitals as well as in various boutique concerts. In 2020 she came to Germany, where she completed a Master’s degree with Carolyn Grace James at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg as well as her concert exam. Here she took part in numerous master classes and learned from Edita Gruberova, Brigitte Fassbaender, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Angela Denoke and Alfred Brendel, among others. As part of her training, she appeared in medium to large roles in opera productions such as »Das Rheingold«, »Rinaldo«, »Opera concisa«, »Le nozze di Figaro« and »Die Fledermaus«.

Mina Yu won first prize at the Ewha Singing Competition in Seoul and was invited to sing at the opera gala concert there. In addition, the scholarship holder of the »Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now« Foundation was awarded the Mozart Prize of the Absalom Foundation, at the Elise Meyer Competition in Hamburg and at the Hamel Competition in Hanover. As part of the 11^th German Lied Academy 2021, she performed at the final concert in Trossingen. This was followed by performances in numerous recitals, opera galas and benefit concerts in Germany, Italy, Austria, Latvia and South Korea.


Anna Tetruashvili
The Israeli mezzo-soprano Anna Tetruashvili received her training at the Tbilisi State Conservatory and in the master’s programme »Music Dramatic Performance« at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Margit Klaushofer and Christoph U. Meier. As a member of the opera studio of the Tbilisi Conservatory she sang Cherubino (»Le nozze di Figaro«), Second Lady (»Die Zauberflöte«) and Giannetta (»L’elisir d’amore«), among others. At the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre in Vienna she appeared on stage as Eduige in Handel’s »Rodelinda« and as Idamante in Mozart’s »Idomeneo«.

She was a finalist of the International Mozart Competition (Salzburg 2023), winner of a 1st prize at the international competition »Premio Scarlatti« (Vilnius 2022), 2nd prize at the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition (Karlovy Vary 2018) and 3rd prize winner at the Jerusalem International Opera Competition (2018). In 2022 she took part in a master class with Silvana Bazzoni Bartoli at the Gstaad Menuhin Music Festival.


Jacob Romero Kressin
The Californian tenor Jacob Romero Kressin was initially trained by Francisco Crespo and later studied with Berthold Schmid at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater »Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy« Leipzig and with Christiane Libor and Stephan Klemm at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. He was encouraged early on by his grandfather, the Spanish guitarist Pepe Romero, and was awarded 1^st prize at the NATSAA competition (National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards) in San Diego.

Already at the age of 19, Jacob Romero Kressin sang at the Opera de Granada, and in university productions in Germany he performed, among others, as Florian Ducroquet in Jacques Offenbach’s »Un Mari à la Porte« directed by Ansgar Weigner. He also opened the Beethoven Year at the Leipzig Musikhochschule in 2020 under the musical direction of Matthias Foremny. In 2019/2020 he made his debut as Jäger in »Rusalka« at the Leipzig Opera. In 2020/2021 he appeared there as Servant in »Capriccio« and Shepherd in the world premiere of »Paradiese« by Gerd Kühr under the musical direction of Ulf Schirmer. In 2021/2022 he made a guest appearance as Arturo and Normanno in »Lucia di Lammermoor« at the Allee-Theater Hamburg.


Jeremy Boulton
From Wollongong, Australia, Jeremy Boulton studied at the Opera School of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Maree Ryan. Masterclasses include that by Jessica Pratt, Gerald Finley, Barbara Frittoli, Fabio Armiliato, Graham Pushee and Graham Johnson.

In 2022, Jeremy Boulton was awarded the Marianne Mathy Scholarship and Nicole Car Prize at the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition, 1^st Prize at the Sydney International Song Prize and 2^nd Prize in the Bel Canto Award from the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation and 2^nd Prize in the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship. In 2020, he won joint 1^st Prize at the 4^th Fresno State Art Song Festival (California, USA). Other prizes include the Opera Australia Regional Student Scholarship and the Demant Dreikurs Lieder Scholarship.

His stage roles include Marcello (»La bohéme«), Demetrius (»A Midsummer Night’s Dream«), Papageno (»Die Zauberflöte«), Il Conte (»Le nozze di Figaro«), Aeneas (»Dido and Aeneas«), Baron Reintal (»Die Opernprobe«), Secret Police Agent (Menotti’s »The Consul«) and Death (Holst’s »Savitri«). His concert repertoire includes Mozart’s »Requiem«, Handel’s »Messiah« and »Dixit Dominus«, Charpentier’s »Messe de Minuit«, Michael Haydn’s »Regina Coeli«, Telemann’s »Machet die Tore weit« and the Bach cantatas BWV 38, 82 and 166.


Mauro Filippo Zappalà
Catania-born Sicilian Mauro Filippo Zappalà has been playing the piano since the age of 4. In 2011, he began his training as a pianist at the Conservatorio »Vincenzo Bellini« in Catania with Gabriella Cosentino and Cristina Zago and completed it in 2016 with a Master of Arts degree with Giulia Gangi. This was followed by a stay abroad in Krakow at the Akademia Muzyczna im. Krzysztofa Pendereckiego w Krakowie with Gajusz Kęska and Lech Napierała, as well as studies in Lied accompaniment at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Charles Spencer and Markus Hadulla. Master classes he attended include Helmut Deutsch, Hartmut Höll, Maciej Pikuslki, Carlos Cebro, Homero Francesch (who gave him a scholarship for the summer course »Lenk im Simmenthal« in Switzerland in 2014), Federico Gianello, Paul Badura-Skoda and Violetta Egorova.

Mauro Filippo Zappalà participated as a soloist in various national and international competitions with success (Palermo, Siracusa, Comiso, among others). In 2017 he received the »Giovani Eccellenze Sicliane« prize of the Rotary Catania Etna Centenario and the »Premio Simona Savino«, in 2018 in the master class »Liedkunst im Schloss vor Husum« in Germany the »Theodor Storm Klavierpreis« as best Lied accompanist, in 2021 the »20. Nordfriesischer Liedpreis« with the baritone Stefan Jovanović as well as the 1^st prize at the »International Artsong Competition OPUS 2021« with the soprano Alicja Ciesielczuk and in 2022 the 2^nd prize at the 13^th International Competition for Liedkunst Stuttgart of the International Hugo Wolf Academy together with the bass-baritone Alexander Grassauer.

As a soloist, with orchestras, in chamber music ensembles and above all as a Lied accompanist, Mauro Filippo Zappalà has performed at venues including. in the Brahms Hall, the Glass Hall and the Bösendorfer Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, in the Schubert Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus, in London's Wigmore Hall, in the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna, in the Bösendorfer Hall in the Mozarthaus Vienna, in the Teatro Bellini in Adrano, at the Castello Ursino in Catania, at the Villa Confalonieri in Merate, at the Sala Florianka in Krakow, at the Amphithéâtre Quinet of the Sorbonne University in Paris, as well as at festivals such as Hidalgo in Munich, the Trecastagni International Music Festival and the first Wiener Neustadt Singfest.