The Salzburg Festival has announced the participants and performance program for the 2026 edition of its Young Singers Project (YSP).

The 2026 cohort comprises sopranos Hanna Park, Imola Maté, and Mariam Suleiman; mezzo-sopranos Brigitta Listra, Amandine Portelli, and Anja Mittermüller; tenors Joshua Berg and Jack Lee; baritones Leander Carlier and Daniils Pogoriless; countertenor Julian Schmidlin, bass-baritone Marius Aron and Blaž Stajnko; and basses Ivan Lyvch and Per Bach Nissen.

During the residency, participants receive vocal coaching, body work, repertoire studies, stage rehearsals, song interpretation, and workshop training. Their first public appearance takes place July 19 at the Mozarteum Foundation’s Main Auditorium as part of the Festival Opening Party.

Finally, public master classes led by mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, pianist Malcolm Martineau, and tenor Julian Prégardien will also feature YSP participants. The program concludes with the YSP Final Concert on August 27 at the Haus für Mozart, with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg conducted by Leo Hussain. The program will be announced at a later date.

Within the Festival’s main opera program, participants will take on roles in “Der Prinz von Homburg,” “Saint François d’Assise,” and “Ariadne auf Naxos.” Soprano Hanna Park appears as First Lady-in-Waiting and mezzo-soprano Brigitta Listra as Third Lady-in-Waiting in “Der Prinz von Homburg;” bass-baritone Marius Aron sings Frère Sylvestre and bass Ivan Lyvch sings Frère Rufin in “Saint François d’Assise;” and mezzo-soprano Anja Mittermüller appears as Dryade and bass-baritone Blaž Stajnko as a Wig-Maker in “Ariadne auf Naxos.”

Meanwhile, several Young Singers will also appear in “King Arthur Junior,” a newly commissioned children’s opera. The artists include tenors Joshua Berg and Jack Lee as Arthur; baritones Leander Carlier and Daniils Pogoriless as Merlin; mezzo-sopranos Brigitta Listra and Amandine Portelli as Philidel; sopranos Imola Maté and Mariam Suleiman as Oswaldine; and countertenor Julian Schmidlin as Grimbald.

“Every year, it’s fascinating to skim through the applications after the deadline has passed, before we start diving deeply into the evaluation,” said YSP casting director and manager Evamaria Wieser, per an official statement. “In the end, the choice is always torturous, as we can only accept 14 or 15 singers.”

The Young Singers Project has been supported by the Kühne Foundation since 2013, which became a Main Sponsor of the Salzburg Festival in 2019. This year’s program received 1,007 applications from around the world.

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