Jennifer Cormack
Director of Development
Jennifer Cormack is Director of Development at the New Generation Foundation, where she works with philanthropists, companies and foundations to secure support for the young artists of Mascarade Opera, the rediscovery of the sacred music of the Medici through Vox Medicea, and world-class performances at the New Generation Festival.
Previously, Jennifer was Director of Development at the Natural History Museum in London, where she launched NHM150 — the campaign to raise £150m to revitalise the Museum's South Kensington home ahead of its 150th anniversary.
She has held senior fundraising roles across the non-profit sector, including at Tate, Cancer Research UK, King's College London and the Royal Society, working with international philanthropists and multinational companies to secure support for scientific research, education and policy programmes, and the acquisition of masterpieces.
Scarlett Ossorio
Marketing Coordinator
With a Master’s in Marketing Communications and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Florida State University, Scarlett has built a career at the intersection of the arts and digital marketing.
Known for her ability to grow audiences organically, Scarlett consistently expands reach and impact across platforms. She also leads her own passion project, @simplybelcanto on Instagram, which has grown to over 40,000 followers.
In 2025, she joined Mascarade as Marketing Coordinator, supporting brand consistency and growth across social media, press, advertising, newsletters, and digital platforms. Scarlett is now based in Germany.
Federica Gerini
Social Media Manager
After graduating in Architecture, Federica Gerini worked for several years as an interior designer. Along the way, she developed a career path that blends creativity, writing, and the digital world, collaborating with various magazines, including Artribune, Elle Decor, and National Geographic, and delving into the narratives of art, architecture, and travel.
In 2024 she joined Mascarade Opera, where she handles digital communications and social media management, bringing a contemporary narrative vision and a strong focus on visual language to her projects.
Elisa Nello
Events and Communications Officer
Graduated with honours in Performing Arts and Communication from the University of Pisa, she began her professional career in the events sector, collaborating with fairs and conferences.
In 2022 she entered the world of opera, working as an events assistant and promoter for a festival in Montecatini Terme. This experience marked the beginning of a focused interest in cultural communication and the festival ecosystem, leading her to continue her studies between Bologna and Madrid.
In 2024 she obtained her Master’s degree from the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, with a thesis on partnerships between museums and businesses in Italy and Spain.
After collaborating with film and contemporary art festivals, in 2025 she joined Mascarade Opera as Events and Communications Officer.
Irene Colantoni
Programme and Casting Manager
Irene Colantoni is Programme Manager and Casting Manager at Mascarade Opera, where she is responsible for the delivery of the Emerging Artist and Talent Pathway Programmes, as well as the coordination of auditions and casting processes.
Born in Florence, she graduated in 2016 with a degree in Modern Languages from the University of Florence. Her thesis on Pushkin’s The Stone Guest marked her first engagement with theatre and led her to pursue further studies in the performing arts. She subsequently graduated summa cum laude in 2019 in stage direction and continued her training at the Academy of Performing Arts in Milan, where she worked with Alberto Oliva.
As part of the Global Frontiers recruitment initiative, Irene is actively involved in scouting emerging singers across Europe. She contributes to artist development through a holistic approach, supporting singers in their progression towards professional careers.
Her responsibilities include coordinating all stages of the audition process, from application review and preselection to candidate communication, working in close collaboration with the artistic team. She also oversees the tracking and evaluation of artists within the Talent Pathway Programme, ensuring that all relevant information is systematically maintained within the OperaMetrics evaluation system.
Olivia Giles
Artistic Planning Manager
Born into a Franco-British family, Olivia Giles graduated summa cum laude with an MA in Italian and Spanish. Her professional path has taken her across Europe, from London and Seville to Edinburgh and Provence, shaping a strong commitment to intercultural exchange and communication.
Olivia began her musical training at the age of five with the violin and went on to lead local orchestras as a teenager. Alongside her musical pursuits, she developed a keen interest in acting, cultivating a broad and enduring engagement with the performing arts.
Today, as Artistic Planning Manager at Mascarade Opera, Olivia brings together her artistic sensibility, organisational insight, and linguistic expertise to support the development of emerging artists and the realisation of innovative projects on an international stage.
Mark Spyropoulos
Director of the Sacred Music Programme
In 2015 he became the first British singer to join the Papal Choir of the Sistine Chapel.
With the Sistina, Mark has recorded four albums with Deutsche Grammophon including several world-première recordings, winning the Echo Klassik Prize for Cantate Domino in 2015.
He has toured extensively across Europe, South Korea, the USA and Canada, appearing as both a chorister and a soloist. Mark has also made several TV and radio appearances discussing choral music, including interviews on RAI, Sky Arts, CBS 60 Minutes, Fox News, BBC Breakfast, the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune'.
He has lectured in London at the China Exchange and at Eton College in addition to contributing to articles for the Independent on Sunday, Early Music Today, The Tablet, The Guardian and The Florentine.
In 2020 he starred in the BBC documentary Inside the Vatican.
In November 2018, Mark established the Music Programme at the Medici Archive Project in Florence with a mission to rediscover sacred works from the vast archives of Medici Florence.
To facilitate this, he founded Vox Medicea, a bespoke choir of Renaissance specialists based in London, with the sole purpose of reviving this forgotten repertoire.
As Music Director of Vox Medicea, Mark has performed two concerts in London, an extended broadcast feature for CBS Sunday Morning and a major public concert in the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio on behalf of the Comune di Firenze.
In July 2022, he launched the Florence Choral Course, offering advanced choral training in Renaissance repertoire.
Diana Salazar
Quality Assurance Officer
Dr Diana Salazar is a composer and music educator with extensive teaching and leadership experience in higher education. She is Director of Programmes at the Royal College of Music (RCM), having previously taught at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, City University of London, Kingston University London, and the University of Manchester.
Diana has worked internationally as an external examiner in music and music technology and as an external adviser and consultant for exam boards and higher education providers, including ABRSM, Edexcel, WJEC, Bath Spa University, the University of Derby, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, the University of Glasgow, Royal Holloway University of London, The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
A Conservatoire graduate herself, Diana originally trained as a flautist at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Scotland before specialising in composition for Masters studies, followed by AHRC-funded doctoral studies at the University of Manchester. As a composer and sound artist her works were performed and broadcast internationally, with many of her works recognised in leading international competitions including Bourges, Música Viva, the International Computer Music Association Awards, Musica Nova and Prix Destellos. In her current role at RCM she leads on learning and teaching strategy and curriculum development at junior, undergraduate and postgraduate taught levels. She is a co-founder of the Global Conservatoire Consortium and has published in the fields of music technology and technology-enhanced pedagogies in higher music education.
In addition to her work at the RCM, Diana is a Governor of the Purcell School for Young Musicians and a Trustee of the National Centre for Circus Arts.
Veronica Camaioli Giusti
Events & Venue Management
Born in Florence, Veronica Camaioli Giusti graduated in languages and studied fashion communication and marketing.
Her path started in Milan after which she moved to Rome and Paris where she was able to deal with dynamic and stimulating realities that led her to expand her network of knowledge and work experience. Before joining Mascarade Opera, Veronica worked at an architectural communication and events agency. Thanks to many years dedicated to the study of ballet, she was able to refine her passion for classical music and opera.
She joined the Foundation in July 2023 as Events & Venue Management.
Giulia Ragionieri
Programme Manager and International Relations
Giulia holds a BA in Political Science, an MA in International Relations as well as a Masters in Food & Wine Communication.
With several work experiences abroad, ranging from market research to marketing consultancy in very diverse industries, she has lived and worked in Milan, London, Switzerland, Paris.
Passionate about music since a very young age, she started listening and going to the opera at age 3 and has not stopped since.
Julia Lynch
Artistic Director of 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.
Dr Ralph Strehle
General Director of Mascarade Opera
Dr Ralph Strehle serves as General Director of Mascarade Opera in Florence, where he leads the strategic development of a comprehensive artist training and career development framework. This includes the Mascarade Opera Stage Network (MOSN), Mascarade Opera Agency Associates (MOAA), the OperaMetrics analytics platform, and the Global Frontiers international recruitment initiative.
Under his direction, Mascarade Opera integrates data-informed training methodologies with clearly defined professional pathways, supporting the development of emerging opera artists as they prepare for sustainable careers within an evolving international sector.
Dr Strehle brings extensive experience in opera coaching, higher education, and institutional leadership. He holds two doctorates: a Doctorate in Music from the University of St Andrews, specialising in performance psychology and motivation, and a Doctorate in English from London University, with a focus on ethics and philosophy. He is recognised internationally for his work in performance psychology for singers and previously held the position of Associate Head of Vocal Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
His international engagements include collaborations with leading institutions such as the Hamburg International Opera Studio, National Opera Studio, the Norwegian Academy of Music, Akademia Operowa, the New Generation Festival, and the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. He is also regularly engaged as a resilience coach at major international singing competitions, including Neue Stimmen and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.
Francis Parham
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
As an opera and music festival producer, credits include The New Generation Festival, in collaboration with the 23Arts initiative, and Andermatt Music, a programme designed for a brand new concert hall in Switzerland that included, among others, Daniel Barenboim, Maxim Vengerov and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Other producing credits include represent.’s production of Trueman and the Arsonists by Max Frisch in a new version by Simon Stephens with songs by Chris Thorpe at the Roundhouse, Much Ado About Nothing at the Rose Theatre Kingston, the UK première of Luce by JC Lee at the Southwark Playhouse and an international tour of Henry V for OUDS/Thelma Holt. He has also worked for the RSC, Cheek by Jowl, Shakespeare’s Globe, Theatre Royal Plymouth, the Sovremennik Theatre, Antic Face and Shakespeare in Italy. Francis read Classics and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, after which he studied Law at both SOAS and BPP University in London. He qualified as a solicitor with White & Case LLP and worked for the firm in London, Moscow and Paris.
Roger Granville
Executive Chairman & Co-Founder
Max Fane
Co-Founder
Before establishing the jazz project Daisy’s Firenze and co-developing Club Nine in Florence, Max oversaw the work of the Mascarade Emerging Artists programme, as well as the foundation's non-classical and outreach programmes, including a partnership with the Alsama Project in Lebanon.
He co-founded The New Generation Festival in 2017 and Andermatt Music in 2019 alongside Francis Parham and Roger Granville.
Max is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he studied voice and piano and ran the touring opera company Raucous Rossini and chamber music series Westbourne Music.
He enjoyed an early career as a conductor before turning to arts management. He holds an MSc in Business and Management from the University of Strathclyde where he was the European Visionary Scholar.