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Ambrogio Maestri was born in Pavia where he studied singing and piano.
His sensational debut in 2001 coincided with the most important musical event of the Verdi Centennial, Falstaff, conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by Giorgio Strehler, which saw him in the leading role at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the historic Teatro Verdi in Bussetto.
This interpretation earned him enthusiastic reviews from the international press and opened the doors of the most important opera houses in the world.The collaboration with Riccardo Muti lead him over the next three years to debut at the Teatro alla Scala in some of the most emblematic Verdi roles such as Iago in Otello, Renato in Un Ballo in maschera, Don Carlo di Vargas in La forza del destino and Giorgio Germont in Traviata, thereby strengthening the foundations of a constantly ascending career.
Guest of the most prestigious opera companies world-wide (Metropolitan Opera, Opera de Paris, Covent Garden, Staatsoper di Vienna, Deutsche Oper di Berlino, Maestri continues his Verdian journey performing as the Conte di Luna in Trovatore, Amonasro in Aida, Rolando in La battaglia di Legnano, and in the leading roles of Simon Boccanegra, Rigoletto and Nabucco.
Loved by the public and critics who continue to support him with the same enthusiasm as at the beginning of his career, Maestri is confirmed as one of the most acclaimed baritones on the international scene.In a rewarding career with an abundance of roles Maestri has obviously continued to bring Falstaff to the most important stages, with Sir John becoming his true alter ego through in depth research and interpretative recitation. In fact each new production represents a challenge that enables Maestri to study and experiment unedited actors’ and voice nuances. The continuing analysis and refining of the character, also carried out by confrontation with the greatest directors and conductors , brings a wealth of new results.
The ten-year collaboration with the Arena di Verona led him during the 2012 season to celebrate his one hundredth performance of another beloved opera: Aida. A significant milestone that results in a mature and complex interpretation of the character of Amonasro.
In these years of intense activity Maestri has been directed by the best conductors of the international scene including Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Oren, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Jeffrey Tate, Nello Santi, Marcello Viotti, Marco Armiliato, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo, Daniel Harding…and by directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Robert Carsen, Graham Vick, Peter Stein, Bob Wilson, Larent Pelly, Mario Martone, Hugo De Ana, Bartlett Sher…
In 2006 Maestri encountered for the first time the character of Dulcamara. The Opera de Paris, planning a new production of Elisir d’amore, wished to assign, as in the past, the role of the congenial charlatan to a baritone. The success of the performance rewarded this decision recognizing in Maestri a vocal flexibility that permits him to range from serious to buffo repertoires.In the last four years Maestri has confronted Puccini and Verismo. He debuted in Tosca at Torre del Lago, Cavalleria rusticana at the Metropolitan in New York and Pagliacci at La Scala in Milan. The choice of playing such strong and passionate characters came, not surprisingly, after a decade of experience. This stage experience in fact allows him to enhance the vehemence of his own vocal weight without losing the la linea del canto.
In 2012 the director Ferzan Ozpetek, who had directed Ambrogio in Aida at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, offered him a role in his film Magnifica presenza. Playing the part of an opera singer in the forties, Ambrogio Maestri had a cinematographic experience alongside an exceptional cast, made up of some of today’s greatest Italian actors.
Verdi’s bicentennial in 2013 represents the consecration of Maestri as a reference Falstaff. He was Sir John at La Scala, at the Opèra National de Paris, at Zurich’s Opernhaus, at Salzburg’s Festival, in Munich, in Tokyo, and at the Met in New York where he celebrated his 200th performance of the role. In 2013 he also interpreted Nabucco at the Arena di Verona; Amonasro in Aida at La Scala, at the Arena di Verona, and in Tokyo; and Simon Boccanegra at Turin’s Teatro Regio.
In 2014 Ambrogio will be working on several productions such as Pagliacci in Vienna, Tosca in Barcelona, Nabucco in Munich, Othello at Turin’s Teatro Regio, Aida at Rome’s Opera. We will see his Falstaff in Amsterdam with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in San Paolo in Brazil, and in Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon.
He will also make his debut as Gerard in Andrea Chenièr at the Peralada Festival.
Hailed as “the most promising of today’s up-and-coming song recitalists” (Financial Times), baritone Benjamin Appl is celebrated by audiences and critics alike for a voice that “belongs to the last of the old great masters of song’ with ‘an almost infinite range of colours” (Suddeutsche Zeitung), “exacting attention to text” (New York Times), and artistry that’s described as “unbearably moving” (The Times). Named Gramophone Award Young Artist of the Year in 2016, Appl was a member of the BBC New Generation Artist scheme from 2014 to 2016, as well as a Wigmore Hall Emerging Artist and ECHO Rising Star for the 2015/16 season, appearing at major venues throughout Europe, including the Barbican Centre London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wiener Konzerthaus, Philharmonie Paris and Cologne and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. He was signed exclusively to SONY Classical between 2016 and 2021. He recently partnered up with Alpha Classics for a long term collaboration of multiple albums.
New Zealander baritone Julien Van Mellaerts graduated with the Tagore Gold Medal from the Royal College of Music Opera Studio. He won numerous prizes at competitions including the 2018 Concours Musical International de Montréal and the 2017 Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation International Song Competition, among others. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, he organized and curated Whānau: Voices of Aotearoa, far from home. Devised to highlight the plight of and raise funds for those New Zealand singers unable either to return home or work, the concert was recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall and broadcast on both YouTube and Radio New Zealand Concert. Earlier this year, he was invited to return to the Royal College of Music to teach English Song. Van Mellaerts is an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy.
Musical America’s 2020 Vocalist of the year, renowned Swedish baritone Peter Mattei will the season of 2023/24 sing the title roles of Don Giovanni at the Opéra National de Paris and Wozzeck at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Peter will also appear at the Royal Swedish Opera as Amfortas in Parsifal. The previous season included Rodrigo in Don Carlo and in the title role in a new production of Don Giovanni, both at the Metropolitan Opera.
Peter Mattei’s international breakthrough came with the title role in Peter Brook’s staging of Don Giovanni at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1998 and he has since then had the privilege to work with many of the worlds’ foremost conductors and directors on stages across Europe and in the U.S.
Peter Mattei has been a frequent guest at the Metropolitan Opera, where he has been seen in roles such as Amfortas in Parsifal, Wolfram in Tannhäuser, the title role of Eugen Onegin, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Il Conte in Le nozze di Figaro, Marcello in La Bohème, Yeletsky in Pique Dame, Shishkov in From the House of the Dead and in 2020, he made his much-acclaimed role debut in the title role in Wozzeck. Some of Peter Mattei’s other roles include Billy Budd (Oper Frankfurt and the Göteborg Opera) and Don Fernando in Fidelio (Teatro alla Scala).
With one of his favorite roles, Don Giovanni, Peter Mattei has had the pleasure to work with directors such as Peter Brook and Michael Haneke. He has delighted audiences at Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Palau de les Arts Valencia, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Semperoper Dresden, the Royal Swedish Opera and the Norwegian Opera as well as the prestigious festivals of Salzburg, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne and Tanglewood.
His discography includes DVDs of Don Giovanni (Aix-en Provence), Le nozze di Figaro (Opéra National de Paris), Eugene Onegin (Salzburg) and Parsifal (Metropolitan) and CDs of Mahler’s 8:th Symphony under the baton of Chailly, Berlioz’ Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis (winner of two Grammy Awards), Fidelio with Abbado as well solo CDs such as Once in My Life (Naxos), Great Baritone Arias, Schubert’s Winterreise (BIS Records) and most recently the recording of Allan Pettersson’s Complete Songs (BIS Records).
Peter Mattei studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. He made his debut in 1990 as Nardo in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera at the Drottningholm Court Theatre and made a sensational Royal Swedish Opera debut as Pentheus in Daniel Börtz’ The Bacchae (directed by Ingmar Bergman) in 1991.
Peter Mattei is appointed Court Singer and has been awarded the medal Litteris et Artibus by H.M. the Swedish King for his outstanding achievements as an artist.
November 2023
Matthias Goerne is one of the most versatile and internationally sought-after vocalists and a frequent guest at renowned festivals and concert halls. He has collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and pianists. Born in Weimar, he studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, and later with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Matthias Goerne has appeared on the world’s principal opera stages including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Paris National Opera, and the Vienna State Opera. His roles range from Wolfram, Amfortas, Wotan, Orest, and Jochanaan to the title roles in Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.
Goerne’s artistry has been documented on numerous recordings, many of which have received prestigious awards, including four Grammy nominations, an ICMA Award, a Gramophone Award, the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award 2017, and a Diapason d’or arte. After his legendary recordings with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Alfred Brendel for Universal Music, he recorded a series of selected Schubert songs on 12 CDs for harmonia mundi (The Goerne/Schubert Edition) with eminent pianists. His latest recordings of Brahms songs with Christoph Eschenbach, of Schumann songs with Markus Hinterhäuser, of Mahler songs with the BBC Symphony, and of Wagner arias with the Swedish Radio Symphony have received rave reviews.
In addition to his residency with the New York Philharmonic further highlights of the 2018/19 season include concerts with other top orchestras in the U.S. (Pittsburgh, Houston, Los Angeles), Europe and Japan. Furthermore, Mr. Goerne appears as Kurwenal (Tristan) at the Paris National Opera. Song recitals with Daniil Trifonov, Leif Ove Andsnes and Sir Antonio Pappano will lead him to the Philharmonie in Berlin, Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Palau de la Música in Barcelona and other major European venues. Last but not least Goerne will be guest at the 2019 summer festivals in Ravinia, Salzburg and Verbier.