ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IN A COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT

Dr Ralph Strehle is the Director of Mascarade Opera.
Ralph is a leading expert on performance psychology and was formerly the Associate Head of Vocal Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Ralph works frequently as a guest performance coach and lecturer at institutions across Europe, such as: the National Opera Studio, the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Hamburg International Opera Studio, Akademia Operowa, the New Generation Festival, the Kiri Te Kawana Foundation and most recently the Cardiff Singer of the World. Ralph’s work has been the subject of articles in Opera Now, Classical Music Magazine and many other publications.
Ralph holds a doctorate in music, his thesis exploring performance psychology and motivation, as well as a doctorate in English in the field of ethics and philosophy.
He regularly works as resident resilience coach at international singing competitions such as  CLIP International Singing Competition, Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition and the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Julia Lynch is Artistic Director of Mascarade Opera, Florence.
Having spent three decades at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as senior vocal coach, she relocated to Florence in 2019 to devote her time fully to Mascarade Opera.
A sought-after vocal coach and recital partner, she has collaborated with many international artists, including Anthony Roth Costanzo, Michael Spyres, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Purves, Sir Tom Allen, Sue Bullock, Nicky Spence and Roderick Williams, as well as upcoming young opera stars such as Anna El-Khashem, Catriona Morrison, Beth Taylor and Svetlina Stoyanova. 

Concerts have taken her all over the world, with recitals in London, Tokyo and Geneva, as well as appearances at the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Cardiff Singer of the World and the Bayreuth Wagner Festspiele.
She has worked with many renowned conductors, including Donald Runnicles, Sir Andrew Davis, Matthias Pintscher, Kent Nagano, Christian Thielemann and Kirill Petrenko. Also an acclaimed chamber musician, Julia has performed with, among many others, Jeff Bradetich, Maximiliano Martin, Mark O’Keefe, Tijmen Husingh, Donnie Deacon and Gabrielé Geminiani. 

Most recently, she founded the Perfumeria Trio with violinist Tijmen Husingh and clarinettist Ross Montgomery.

Jonathan Papp is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Solti Accademia di Bel Canto.
He is greatly in demand as a coach and accompanist around the world, having shared recitals with Sir Thomas Allen, Cheryl Barker, Ian Bostridge, Sophie Daneman, Susan Gritton, Katarina Karneus, Christopher Maltman, Sergei Leiferkus, Marina Poplavskya, Aigul Akhmetshina, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Carmen Giannatasio, and Freddie De Tommaso, amongst others. Venues have ranged from London’s Wigmore Hall to the Sydney Opera House.
He has made radio and television broadcasts here and abroad with such artists as Dame Kiri and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
He worked as both coach and recital partner with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa for over seventeen years. Papp has given masterclasses at the Royal Opera House and abroad, including Germany, Japan, the USA and New Zealand.

Papp is a senior coach and member of the Vocal Faculty and the Opera School at the RAM, as well as the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Hailing from Fairbanks, Alaska, mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux is renowned for the musicality and dramatic intensity of her performances.
Since her professional debut as Isabella in Rossini's L’italiana in Algeri, she has thrilled audiences throughout the world with her singing of music of extraordinary difficulty.
Her repertoire encompassing more than sixty rôles, Vivica is a lauded interpreter of Baroque and bel canto opera and oratorio, as well as a champion of Lieder and

neglected music, particularly the works of Johann Adolf Hasse.

Vivica’s advocacy for Hasse’s music was honored by Johann Adolf Hasse-Stiftung with the 2019 Hasse Preis. She is also the recipient of the 2017 Händel Preis (Stiftung Händel-Haus), an ARIA Award, New York City Opera’s Christopher Keene Award, International Opera and International Classical Music Awards, and four GRAMMY® nominations.

Highlights of Vivica’s 2023 – 2024 Season include debuts as Stratonica in Alessandro Scarlatti’s Il Mitridate eupatore (Paris, Amsterdam), Galatea in Händel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (Barcelona), and Melissa in Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (Madrid); a performance of Hasse cantatas in Meiningen; and recitals with harpsichordist Jory Vinikour and pianist Marco Madrigal.

Earlier in 2023, Vivica reprised the rôles of Ino and Juno in Händel’s Semele and debuted as Dejanira in Hercules with Internationale Händel Festspiele Göttingen. She also added Cyrus in Händel’s Belshazzar to her repertoire at Theater an der Wien. 

In 2022, Vivica sang the rôle of Dario—originally written for the legendary castrato Farinelli—in Quantum Theatre’s modern-premiere staging of Riccardo Broschi’s Idaspe (Pittsburgh).

Professor Sigfried Gohritz is one of the leading voice teachers of his generation. His students regularly perform on the world’s largest stages including Teatro La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper unter den Linden, Wiener Staastoper, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Teatro Real and the MET, and have one major competitions such as the Cardiff Singer of the World and the International Vocal Competition's-Hertogenbosch. 
Before becoming Head of Opernstudio Thüringen in 2017, a post he still holds, he was Head of Department for Conducting, Voice and Opera at Hochschule für Musik ‘Franz Liszt’ Weimar.
He is a regular guest lecturer at Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid and has given masterclasses at many prestigious music conservatoires including the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, Escuela Superior de Musica de Catalan, Barcelona, Conservatorio di Musica di Bologna and Conservatorio di Musica di Palermo. Born in Gehren/Thüringen, Gohritz was a sought after lyric baritone in former East Germany before becoming a voice teacher.
He is passionate about equestrian sport, boxing and cooking. 

Marie Lambert-Le Bihan is a freelance opera director and lighting designer. Recently she directed Eden for Joyce DiDonato.
Other credits: direction and lighting for Le Villi (Halle aux grains-Toulouse), La Fille du Régiment (Opéra Royal de Wallonie starring Jodie Devos and Lawrence Brownlee), lighting for La Casa di Bernarda Alba (Tenerife). Currently on tour : Mon Amant de Saint-Jean written with Stéphanie d’Oustrac and Molière et ses musiques with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.
She staged acclaimed productions of Leoncavallo’s Zazà (Opera Holland Park) and La Voix humaine (Buxton Festival).
She was the associate director for Madama Butterfly (La Monnaie) and La Cenerentola (Opéra de Paris).
Other collaborations include The Rain VR-film by artist HeeWon Lee, Entropy a scientific lecture with music by Dopplereffekt, and projects with writer Anne-James Chaton.
Marie collaborated extensively with directors Piero Faggioni and David McVicar. She revived La Traviata (Liceu, Madrid, Scottish Opera), La Clemenza di Tito (Toulouse, Marseille, Chicago, Liceu), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Chicago, San Francisco), Carmen (Glyndebourne, Gothenburg) and Andrea Chénier (Liceu, Covent Garden). She also assisted Liliana Cavani, Alfredo Arias, Elijah Moshinsky, Micha Van Hoecke, Lee Blakeley and Chiara Muti. She worked at la Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Strasburg, Lille, Tokyo, Maggio Musicale, Ravenna Festival, Bologna, Parma, Turin, Genoa, Montpellier, Bari, Palermo and Welsh National Opera.
Credits as translator and dramaturg: Offenbach’s early operetta Vent du Soir into italian (Maggio Musicale), L’uomo in bivio into french for Paulin Büdgen/Ensemble Céladon (upcoming).
Marie grew up in Paris and in England. She read literature in Paris and Bologna and trained at la Scala. She sits on the board of Fonds UNiSSON and is a visiting teacher at CCM-Cincinnati and Mascarade Opera Studio in Florence.
Upcoming projects: Carmen (Lyric Opera Chicago), Dialogues des Carmélites (Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège), new productions in Tours and Opéra Comique.
Touring: Eden (world tour), Molière et ses musiques, Mon Amant de Saint-Jean.
She was a visiting French repertoire teacher at University of Cincinnati-CCM and visiting acting coach at Mascarade Opera Studio in Florence.

British bass James Platt was educated at Chetham’s School of Music and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
He was a member of the Jette Parker Artist Programme at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden from 2014-2016.
Engagements in James’ 2021/22 season include a return to the Royal Opera for Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Il Commendatore Don Giovanni for the Welsh National Opera, Cuno Der Freischütz for the Dutch National Opera and Handel’s Messiah in concerts for Glyndebourne on Tour.
Future highlights include returns to the Royal Opera for First Nazarene Salome and Il Re Aida, to Festival d’Aix-en-Provence for Zacahrie Le Prophète, and to the Glyndebourne Festival.
His concert appearances include Il Re in a European tour of Ariodante and Bach’s Weihnachts-oratorium with Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski, Shostakovich’s Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin with the Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Royal Northern Sinfonia/Lars Vogt, Handel’s Messiah with the Hallé Orchestra/Christian Curnyn, Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestre National de Lyon/Leonard Slatkin, Dvorak’s Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jiri Belohlavek, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at the BBC Proms with the BBC Singers/David Hill and Nino’s Ghost in Rossini’s Semiramide also at the BBC Proms with the OAE/Sir Mark Elder.
James regularly lectures in vocal pedagogy at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and at the Royal Northern College of Music.
His company Classical Voice Training Ltd. continues to offer multidisciplinary courses with a world class specialist team.

BA (Nice Sophia Antipolis), LRAM Hons. Hon ARAM, FRAM
Born in Paris, Florence graduated from Nice University and subsequently trained as a singer at the RAM in London and at the CMBV in Paris.
Florence has been working as a French coach in Europe and beyond for 35 years: Glyndebourne, Garsington, Scottish Opera, ROH, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Stockholm Royal Opera, Danish Royal Opera, New Israeli Opera, De Nederlandse Opera, Korea National Opera, Teatro Real, Wielki Theatre, Teatro San Carlos, Göteborg Opera, Zagreb National Opera, Opera Zuid.
As well as lecturing, narrating, doing pre-concert talks, workshops, masterclasses and adjudicating for competitions, she has worked with many distinguished singers in preparation for operatic roles, recitals and recordings.
She has a deep passion for poetry and French mélodie and is keen to encourage all singers to explore the French song répertoire.
Florence views her work with young artists as an essential part of her career and is a staff member in the London Music colleges (GSMD, RAM, RCM), the National Opera Studio, the Jette Parker YAP at Covent Garden, the Dutch National Opera Academy and Equilibrium Young Artists.
She is also a regular visiting coach at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Bolshoi Young Artists Opera Programme, the Copenhagen Opera Academy and the YAP at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.
She is delighted to have joined the team at Mascarade Emerging Artists in 2021.

Jean-Romain Vesperini studied acting at the École du Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris and singing at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he trained as a baritone.
After graduation, Jean-Romain decided to pursue a career as a director and spent several years collaborating with Luc Bondy, Peter Stein and Georges Lavaudant. During this time, he gained experience in some of the world’s leading opera houses, including La Scala, Opéra National de Paris, the Bolshoi Theatre, Opéra National in Lyon, Opéra-Comique in Paris, and at a number of opera festivals, such as Salzburg Festival and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

His directing credits include: Verdi’s La traviata (2012), his debut, at the invitation of the Rennes, Limoges and Reims opera houses, which was broadcast on French national television and radio, and which led to an invitation by these opera houses to stage a new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (2015); Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea (2013) at the Théâtre du Montparnasse in Paris; Gounod’s Faust (2015) for Opéra National de Paris conducted by Michel Plasson with whom he also worked on the same opera at Grand Théâtre de Genève in 2018; a new production of Puccini’s La bohème (2018) at the Bolshoi Theatre, now part of the opera house’s repertoire; Bizet’s Carmen (2018) at Hong Kong Opera, in co-production with Le French May Festival; Puccini’s Turandot (2019) at the Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre; and, Benjamin Godard’s Dante (2019) at the Opéra de Saint-Etienne in co-production with Palazzetto Bru Zane.
Upcoming projects include Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Sacha Guitry’s play Quadrille and Victorin de Joncières’s Lancelot at Opéra de Saint-Etienne.

Jean-Romain was previously the Artistic Director of Les Nuits de Corte festival in Corsica which he managed in partnership with Opéra de Lyon. There he staged Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.

In addition to his French mother tongue, the young director also speaks English, German, Italian and Russian. With his education and background, Jean-Romain is deeply musical and particularly aware of what the score brings to dramaturgy.
He is extremely grateful to have had the chance to work with great artists such as Sir Antonio Pappano, Tugan Sokhiev, Zubin Mehta, Myung-Whun Chung, Alain Altinoglu and Daniele Gatti.

Federica Falasconi started her career before graduating in Piano at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan (section Como).
She collaborated for more than two decades with AsLiCo, mainly as repetiteur and assistant conductor, but also dedicating herself to recitals, opera concerts, musical performances.
She is accompanist and teacher of the courses organized for the winners of the AsLiCo Competition held, among others, by Robert Kettelson, Luciana Serra, Barbara Frittoli, Alfonso Antoniozzi, Mariella Devia, Lawrence Brownlee, Daniela Barcellona. In the didactic field, Federica Falasconi designs and creates, from 2009 to 2018, the dramaturgies and musical ideas of numerous AsLiCo/Opera Education programs aimed at spreading opera from kindergartens to high schools.
Among others, the projects with Opéra Royal de Liège Wallonie and Piccolo Teatro Strehler in Milan.
Federica collaborates with directors such as Claudio Abbado, Philippe Herreweghe, Marc Minkowski and Daniel Harding at Ferrara Musica; with institutions such as Mahler Chamber Orchestra, MITO International Festival, Macerata Opera Festival, Teatro Bellini in Naples, Festival Verdi Teatro Regio in Parma, Royal Opera House Muscat Oman (creator and presenter of the educational workshop 'Around the world in a day'), Minute Papillon, Paris (project for Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2023).
From 2020 to 2023 she is professor of Piano Accompaniment at the G. B. Martini Conservatory, Bologna.
She currently teaches Practice of vocal and piano reading for Music Didactics at the G. Verdi Conservatory, Como.
Since 2021 she has been teaching style and interpretation of the bel canto repertoire for opera singers, and of operatic repertoire for repetiteurs, at the Opera School of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna.
Since 2018 Federica has been part of the teaching staff of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan teaching score study for the specialization course for opera singers.

Since 2021, Irish pianist DearbhlaCollins, has been Head of Artistic Administration at the National Opera Studio in London having previously held the position of Assistant Head of Music there.
She is highly regarded internationally as a song pianist; performances include concerts with sopranos Juliane Banse, Anna Devin and Fatma Said; mezzo-sopranos Tara Erraught, Angela Brower, Ann Murray and the late Bernadette Greevy; tenors Dean Power, Paul McNamara and Mark Padmore; baritones Benjamin Appl and Will Thomas.
These performances include recitals throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe, the US and China.
Dearbhla was the moving force behind the 2003 Dublin Hugo Wolf Festival, when under her artistic direction the complete songs of the Austrian composer were performed for the first time in Ireland.
Other notable projects under her direction include the acclaimed performance of the three operas known as the “Irish Ring” at the Royal Dublin Society, for whom she was opera consultant.
She also founded the Dublin Song Series in 2013 and continues to curate it in partnership with the National Concert Hall and the Hugh Lane Gallery.
Alongside her work in London and Dublin, Dearbhla collaborates with vocal teachers and mentors worldwide, notable amongst these are Dame Ann Murray, Maris McLaughlin and Brigitte Fassbaender.
She has played for masterclasses for Sir Thomas Allen, Joyce di Donato, Sergei Leiferkus amongst others. She coaches at Mascarade Opera Studio, Florence, Royal College of Music, London, and has coached also at Jerwood Young Artist Programme, Glyndebourne, the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, Opera North, Leeds, Universität für Musik, Vienna, and the Beijing Central Conservatory.
As vocal coach at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, Dearbhla works with the degree students, particularly the advanced Masters students, on all aspects of a vocal career, concentrating mainly on language, artistry, imagination and performance skills.
She also performs with these students in in-house and public examinations and recitals.
At the National Opera Studio, London, Dearbhla takes this mentorship to the next level where she works with the Young Artists there who are about to embark on International careers.
She works with both the singers and pianists at NOS and helps them with advanced musical coaching and also connections into the industry worldwide.
As Executive Artistic Director of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, Dearbhla works alongside such guest jury members as Richard Bonynge, Peter Carwell, Ileana Cotrubas, John Gilhooly, Olga Kapanina, Marie McLaughlin, Steven Naylor, Tobias Truniger and Christine Scheppelmann.
Past prizewinners of the competition have included Nadine Sierra, Fatma Said, Will Thomas, Tara Erraught, Will Liverman, Simon O’Neill and Pumeza Matshikiza.
Dearbhla was a member of the Board of the National Concert Hall, Dublin from 2010 – 2015, having previously served two terms on the Board of Culture Ireland.
In October 2017 Dearbhla was awarded an honorary doctorate for her services to music in Ireland from the National University of Ireland.

Wyn Davies was Director of Music, New Zealand Opera from 2005 to 2019.
He served his apprenticeship at WNO in the 1970s as repetiteur and Chorus Master and went on to conduct at ENO, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Opera Northern Ireland, English Touring Opera and Carl Rosa Opera.
He was for two years an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and was also a conductor at the Banff Centre in Canada for two years.
Elsewhere, conducting has taken him to Croatia, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Belgium, Spain, France and Italy.
Wyn has had a long association with both Opera North and the Buxton International Festival and this year has been working with the singers of the National Opera Studio and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
He has also been conducting Janacek’s Jenufa at WNO.

The pianist Alexandra Goloubitskaia, born in Moldova, grew up in Moscow. Her musical talent was discovered and promoted at a very early age.
She studied piano at the Central Music School of Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, where she graduated with honors.
In 2003 she received the Austrian Appreciation Award as the best graduate of her class.
She quickly became a sought-after soloist, Lied accompanist, and chamber music partner, who is constantly expanding her repertoire and continues to receive international recognition.
Various recitals as well as extensive musical performances as a Lied accompanist have brought her to concerts and festivals in the CIS countries, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, South Africa, South America, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
She is the winner of the Bösendorfer and Hans Gabor Belvedere Competitions in Vienna.
Alexandra Goloubitskaia regularly holds master classes at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, at the Bolshoi Theater as part of the Youth Artist Opera Program in Moscow, and at the Mascarade Opera Studio in Florence.
In June 2023 Alexandra obtained the certification as psychologist and coach with special focus on performing arts professionals.
Engagements among many at the Vienna State Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Theater an der Wien, the Bayreuth Festival collaborating with K. Petrenko and S. Bychkov, at the Salzburg Festival collaborating with R. Muti, in Grafenegg, the Komische Oper Berlin as well as guest performances in Prague, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Bremen stand as a proof to her artistic variety and activity.
Both the critics and the public reacted enthusiastically to her orchestral piano
accompaniment in the concert performance of Tristan and Isolde as well as the "excellent Lied accompaniment" as part of the chamber music program of the 2020 International May Festival at the State Theater in Wiesbaden, Hessen.
From June to July 2021 she took on the role of the orchestra of the State Theater in Wiesbaden during the gala performances of the Ring of Nibelung. Alexandra’s appearance at the 25.
Heidelberger Music Spring in Mai this year was praised as the highlight of the festival.
The further engagements in 2022 will lead her to San Souci Festival in Potsdam, National Opera in Riga, and Teatro Real in Madrid.

Born in Rome, Stefano Baldasseroni began studying drums at age 4, and by his late 20s had recorded and toured the world as a drummer with many renowned pop music artists.
He moved to New York in 2010 and worked as a session drummer while also serving as an Italian diction coach for Opera Repertory Ensemble’s productions at the Manhattan School of Music.
In 2012 he was the Italian coach for productions of Suor Angelica and Orlando at the summer program Opera Siena.
Dolora Zajick invited him in 2016 to join the faculty of her Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, where he uses his skills as a drummer to work with the singers on rhythm as well as Italian.
Mr. Baldasseroni has been the diction coach at the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Yale University, Rice University and Bard College. He also teaches at the Georg Solti Accademia, which has programs in China and Italy.
In 2017, Baldasseroni joined the faculty of Juilliard and the Curtis Institute where, in addition to teaching Italian diction classes and coaching singers, he oversees the Italian for their opera productions.
He also coaches Italian diction for the productions of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
“Good diction is about the merging of the right sound with the right rhythm. The perfect formula for effective expression”

A native Israeli, Opera Director Noa Naamat has worked across the UK, Europe, America and Asia on a vast range of productions, from mainstream repertoire to world premieres.
Her directing credits include Henze’s Phaedra (Royal Opera House), Benvenuto Cellini (Royal Opera of Versailles), Don Pasquale, L'elisir d’amore and Don Giovanni (Arezzo Opera Festival), Così fan tutte (Diva Opera), Il matrimonio segreto (Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music), La voix humaine (Studiotheater Schloss Belvedere Weimar) and Salieri’s Prima la musica e poi le parole (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).
A graduate of Covent Garden’s prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, she made her house debut directing the Young Artists Summer Performance on the main stage.
Before completing her MA in Directing at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Noa studied Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, as well as Italian and History of Opera at the Accademia Europea di Firenze.
Supplementing her operatic work, she also held a directing residency at Shakespeare’s Globe, where she staged scenes from The Merchant of Venice on The Globe stage.
Noa is dedicated to the development and training of young talents and has delivered classes and workshops for the Royal Opera House, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music, Clonter Opera, and the Royal Academy of Music. Noa has also worked extensively as an assistant and staff director for the Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera, The Israeli Opera, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.
Her production of Benvenuto Cellini, in which she collaborated with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, won the Oper! Awards for 'Best Opera Recording'. She also won the Opera Production Competition of the National Opera Association for directing Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto.
Her production of Henze’s Phaedra at the Royal Opera House was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Gabriele Rossmanith was born in Stuttgart and studied violin at the Musikhochschule Trossingen.
After obtaining her diploma in violin she studied voice at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart with Sylvia Geszty.
In 1985 she won First Prize in the Mozartfest Wettbewerb.
Upon her graduation in 1985 she joined the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and in 1988 became an ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera, where she sang over 100 roles, including Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Micaëla (Carmen), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Morgana (Alcina), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Nedda (Pagliacci), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Anne Truelove (The Rake’s Progress), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Musetta (La Bohème).
She has enjoyed major success as Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites) and Ännchen (Der Freischütz).
Gabriele Rossmanith has performed as a guest soloist at the opera houses of Munich, Antwerp, Brussels, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Toulouse, Strasbourg and the Glyndebourne Festival.
She has worked with many major directors, including Willy Decker, Christof Loy, Guy Joosten, Harry Kupfer, Bob Wilson, Marco Arturo Marelli, Peter Konwitschny, Renaud Doucet, Achim Freyer, Calixto Bieito, John Dew and Vera Nemirova, and with conductors such as Horst Stein, Christian Thielemann, Donald Runnicles, Michel Plasson, Sir Antonio Pappano, Robin Ticciatti, Silvio Varviso, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ivor Bolton, Kirill Petrenko, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher, Simone Young, Kent Nagano et al.
Numerous concerts and radio and television recordings, as well as Liederabende, chanson, and chamber music programs round out her musical activities.
In 2011 the Senate of the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg honored her with the title Kammersängerin.
Since the 2020/21 season she is Artistic Director of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera.

Theatre and opera director, in 2022 is the winner of the International Opera Directing Competition at Lithuanian National Opera where he will direct Les Contes d’Hoffmann by J. Offenbach in 2024.
Born in Florence in 1982, he started studying drama first as an actor and later as a director.
He graduated in 2008 at the Scuola d’Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi in Milan, directing Expoi, first performed at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano.
Since 2004 he directs and designs lights for many Theatre and Opera productions in Italy and around the world (Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, South Korea, Japan). He directed Hansel and Gretel by E.Humperdinck and Rigoletto by G.Verdi at Teatro Sociale di Como (2009), Gianni di Parigi by G.Donizetti at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca (2010) and Wexford Opera Festival in Ireland (2011), Little Sweep by B. Britten at Teatro Regio di Torino (2013) and Der Fliegende Holländer by R. Wagner at Teatro Ponchielli di Cremona (2013), Pagliacci by R. Leoncavallo and Gianni Schicchi by G. Puccini at Teatro Regio di Parma (2014), Turandot by Puccini at Opéra de Nice – Cote d’Azur (2014) and Hansel et Gretel by E. Humperdinck in Opéra de Rouen – Haute Normandie (2014) , Rigoletto by G. Verdi at the Macerata Opera Festival (2015), Il barbiere di Siviglia by G. Rossini at Opéra de Nice – Cote d’Azur (2016), Nabucco by G.Verdi at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma – Caracalla Festival (2016), Pagliacci by R. Leoncavallo and Il tabarro by G. Puccini at Korean National Opera in Seoul (2017), Roméo et Juliette by C. Gounod at Erfurt Theater in Germany (2017), Il barbiere di Siviglia by G. Rossini at Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2019-2021) and toured in the most important Opera Houses in Japan. From 2019 he works as director and acting coach with Accademia Solti.

Carmen Santoro is one of the foremost vocal coaches of her generation working regularly as répétiteur in Europe’s leading opera houses such as Opernhaus in Zurich, Theater Bolshoi in Moscow, Theatre an der Wien, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Vlaamse Opera in Antwerpen, Lithuanian National Opera, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro San Carlo in Napoli, Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Fondazione Toscanini in Parma, Rossini Opera Festival di Pesaro, Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, Wexford Festival Opera, and Festival Donizetti in Bergamo.
A sought after teacher, she works at International Opera Studio at Opernhaus in Zurich, Royal College of Music in London, Young Artists Opera Program at Theater Bolshoi in Moscow, Centre di Perfeccionament Placido Domingo‬ at Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Lunenburg Academy in Nova Scotia Canada, Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Scuola dell’Opera at Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Alberto Zedda‬’s Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro, Accademia del Belcanto “Paolo Grassi” in Martina Franca (Ta). Since 1999 she has also been a guest professor at Showa University in Tokyo. ‬‬‬‬
She regularly collaborates with many singers, including: Luciano Pavarotti‬, Placido Domingo‬, Diana Damrau‬, Mariella Devia‬, Juan Diego Florez‬, Daniela Barcellona‬, John Osborn, Pretty Yende, Lawrence Brownlee, Javier Camarena, Saimir Pirgu‬, Krasimira Stoyanova, and Marlis Petersen. ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Since 2012 she has been Chef du Chant for the new Italian opera productions and Musical Assistant of M. Fabio Luisi‬ at Opernhaus in Zurich. She is also M. Fabio Luisi‬’s Musical Assistant at Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino in Florence and at Festival della Valle d’Itria where she is also Musical Supervisor of Operatic Productions.
She is currently Direttore degli Studi Musicali and M. Fabio Luisi‬’s Assistant at Accademia del Belcanto “Paolo Grassi” in Martina Franca. In addition, since 1995 she has been a professor at “A. Boito” Conservatory of Music in Parma Italy‬‬‬‬‬‬.
In 2018 she was appointed Artistic Director of the Belcanto Opera Festival in Tokyo, Japan.
Her future plans include Verdi’s Nabucco, Vespri Siciliani in Zurich Opernhaus and Bellini’s La Straniera in Florence’s Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as M. Fabio Luisi’s Assistant; Rossini’s Guillaume Tell in Opéra National de Lyon as M. Daniele Rustioni’s Assistant Conductor; and Verdi’s La Traviata in Grand Théâtre de Genève as M. Paolo Carignani’s Assistant Conductor.

Jonathon Cole-Swinard is Head of Music and Chorus Director at Garsington Opera.
He studied at Oxford University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and began his career as Emerging Artist Repetiteur at Scottish Opera.
He then joined the music staff at the Staatstheater Nürnberg where he made his conducting debut aged 25. He has since worked on over 80 stage productions and works regularly as a conductor, chorus director, and vocal coach.
Recent conducting highlights include: The Gondoliers Scottish Opera, Opera Scenes Royal College of Music, Orfeo and Euridice Scottish Opera Young Company and the world premiere of The Happy Princess for Garsington Opera’s Youth Company.
In demand as a chorus director, Jonathon held the Alexander Gibson Choral Conducting Fellowship with the RSNO Chorus and spent four years as Chorus Master at Scottish Opera.
He is currently Musical Director of Wooburn Singers, founded by Richard Hickox.
Jonathon is particularly passionate about the training of young singers. He spent six years on the faculty of the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto, two years as Artistic Director of the Scottish Opera Young Company, and was Head of Music for the New Generation Festival in Florence. He is currently the Music Director of the Alvarez Young Artists' Programme at Garsington Opera and works regularly as a visiting vocal coach and conductor in the major UK music colleges.

Sándor Károlyi’s recent highlights have included his debuts in Finland with Julian Rachlin, Sarah McElravy and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and in Madrid with the Wiener Concert-Verein performing works by Penderecki, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.
From September 2023 he will be 2nd Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater Nürnberg conducting and leading several opera productions.
Károlyi shows a particular affinity with Mozart’s Operas. He conducted productions of Le Nozze di Figaro at the Theatre in Schaffhausen, Così fan tutte at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva and La Finta Giardiniera at the Konzerthaus in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Academy.
As an enthusiast of contemporary repertoire, he conducted first performances of Olszewski’s Blizzard and Berauer’s Fanfare among others.
Laureate of the 2018 International Nino Rota Conducting Competition and semi-finalist in the 2017 Fitelberg Competition, he has worked as an Assistant for Ingo Metzmacher, Gábor Takács-Nagy and Julian Rachlin.
He was awarded a bursary from the Eötvös Foundation in Budapest allowing him to attend contemporary music masterclasses conducting music by Kurtág, Boulez, Sibelius and Saariaho.
Operatic engagements include Don Pasquale and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Ticino Musica Festival in Lugano and La Cenerentola for The New Generation Festival in Florence
His recent symphonic work includes concerts with Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, Kammerphilharmonie Landshut and Orchestre de Dijon Bourgogne with works by Bartók, Saint-Saëns and Schumann.
Sándor’s early career began with opportunities assisting for Mahler‘s 2nd Symphony and Honegger Le Roi David with the Musikverein’s esteemed Singverein Choir conducted by Johannes Prinz at Salzburg Festival 2012 and on tour to Japan.
Of Swiss, Austrian and Hungarian background, his first musical education was in Geneva where he studied as a pianist, trombonist and singer.
He obtained honours in his Bachelor and Masters’ degrees in conducting at MUK and MDW in Vienna. Sándor has been working with Professor and mentor Sophie Rachlin and attended masterclasses with renowned conductors such as Paavo Järvi and Daniele Gatti.

Italian conductor and pianist Jonathan Santagada has worked with many of the most prestigious Italian and international musical institutions.
This season he has conducted the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin for a new recording of Tosca and has supervised the musical production of Gianni Schicchi, il film, Damiano Michieletto’s first film, which was presented at the Turin Film Festival and on RAI 1.
His future engagements for the summer of 2022 include 4 productions at the Arena di Verona assisting Maestro Marco Amiliato.
In past seasons he has conducted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, Opera North in Leeds, Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, I Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra in Milan, Teatro Regio orchestra in Turin, Theater Basel, The New Generation Festival in Florence, and the Southbank Sinfonia orchestra in London.
He also was the assistant of Maestro Maurizio Benini at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam.
He assisted Maestro Marco Amiliato at the Salzburg Festival and Maestro Nicola Luisotti at the Opéra National de Paris and at La Monnaie in Brussels.
He has also worked on over 25 productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, often collaborating with the musical director Sir Antonio Pappano. Jonathan completed his music studies at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica Giuseppe Verdi in Turin and the Conservatoire Supérieur de musique et danse in Lyon.
He has also taught at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and the Centre National d'Artistes Liriques in Marseille.

After graduating with a Masters in French Language and Literature at the University Paris 7 Denis Diderot, I furthered my studies as a classical soprano and graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Through the RCS, I’ve benefited from the rich mentoring of Prof. Chris Underwood, keeping a vital and direct link to the poets and composers of the late French 19th Century.
Through my musical training I’ve been fortunate to work with specialists of the French Mélodie Repertoire (Helen Abbott, Roy Howat in the UK).
As a singer, I participated in masterclasses with Véronique Gens, Michel Piquemal, François Leroux and Michelle Command.
I’ve been teaching the French Language class for singers and the French Repertoire classes for the Vocal Department at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland since 2018.
Since 2021, I also give French Repertoire and Phonetic workshops to the Vocal students Royal Northern Conservatoire of Music, Manchester.
As French Coach for the Gibson Opera School at the RCS, I’ve worked on the recent productions of “Les Mamelles de Tirésias” , “Le Dialogue des Carmélites” and the acclaimed production of “L’étoile”, by Chabrier, and for Grange Park Opera’s Werther for the 2023 season.

Franco-British pianist Florent Mourier is based in London. He is specialised in vocal repertoire (art song and opera) and is highly sought after as a recitalist and a vocal coach.
Florent has played at the Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Hall, Milton Court, St John’s Smith Square in London, the Holywell Music Room at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Festival d’Aix and Fondation Royaumont in France, Brussel’s La Monnaie, Classix Festival (Romania), Utrecht’s Tivoli Vredenburg and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in the Netherlands.
Florent was a semi-finalist of Das Lied International Song Competition in Heidelberg, Germany along with mezzo-soprano Grace Durham.
He was official pianist of the 2022 Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in Dublin.
Florent has worked as a vocal coach/répétiteur/assistant conductor on productions of Zemlinsky’s Eine Florentinische Tragödie (Fondation Royaumont/Opéra de Rennes), Verdi’s Falstaff (Royaumont), Bizet’s Carmen (Barefoot Opera and Opera Holland Park), Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Opera North), Georgiana (Buxton Festival), Delibes's Margot La Rouge (Opera Holland Park) and Handel’s Arminio (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden).
He was an ENOA Young Artist, a Britten-Pears Young Artist, a laureate of the Fondation Royaumont and a member of the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
Florent regularly works for the Guildhall School of Music, the National Opera Studio and the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Born in Florence, Beatrice has been teaching Italian to foreigners since 2006.
She started teaching in Seoul, South Korea thanks to a collaboration between Universities.
In 2007, she graduated in 2007 with distinction in the Master’s degree in Linguistic Sciences for Intercultural Communication, a five-year course of study aimed at teaching Italian as a second language.

In 2007/2008 she taught at the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade, and then in Paris in 2009/2010 at public schools. Upon returning to Florence, she collaborated with various American universities for the “study abroad” program until 2014.

In 2015 she started her freelance profession founding Italiano con Beatrice. Since then she has been teaching in person and online to expats and managers of important companies such as Ralph Lauren, Shell, Pirelli, Ge, Mediolanum; collaborates as Italian language and culture teacher for international private Universities in Florence, and still continues to keep abreast of the latest teaching theories and techniques. She speaks English, Spanish and a bit of French and is passionate about travelling and tango.