Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Zoryana Kushpler has established an international career on both the opera and concert stage and was a long-standing ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera. A prizewinner of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, she has appeared at leading European venues and continues to perform as a guest artist alongside her work in Lied and oratorio. Since October 2023, she has been Professor of Voice at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.
Zoryana Kushpler was born in Lviv and received her first piano lessons from her mother at the age of five, later switching to the violin. In 1993, she continued her musical training at the Music Academy in Lviv, where she studied voice in her father’s class. In 1998, she moved to the Hamburg University of Music to study with Prof. Judith Beckmann and received important artistic impulses in masterclasses with Teresa Berganza, Renata Scotto and Kurt Moll. In 2000, she won first prize at the renowned ARD International Music Competition in Munich.
While still a student, she appeared at the Lviv Opera House as Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and as Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto, marking the beginning of her international career. She has since performed at venues including the Tonhalle Zurich, Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Laeiszhalle and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Royal Albert Hall and Barbican Centre in London, and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Zoryana Kushpler made her debut at the Vienna State Opera in 2007 as Adelaide in Strauss’s Arabella and was a member of the ensemble until 2020, performing a wide range of mezzo-soprano roles. During this time, she also appeared regularly at the Volksoper Vienna. She continues to perform as a guest at both houses, while also devoting herself to the Lied and oratorio repertoire.