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Born in Bolzano, she graduated from the “Claudio Monteverdi” Conservatory in her city in singing and piano, later perfecting her skills at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. She made her debut at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto as the protagonist in Rossini’s Signor Bruschino and later at the Teatro alla Scala in the role of Pierotto in Linda di Chamounix conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni.
He has sung in the major theatrical institutions of the world, among which are the Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Opernhaus in Zurich, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and in some important festivals, including the Bregenz Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Spoleto Festival and those of Wiesbaden and Dresden.
During his career he has collaborated with important conductors such as Bruno Bartoletti, Gabriele Ferro, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre and Mstislav Rostropovich.
He was part of the Piccolo Teatro “Collegium Musicum Italicum” in Rome with the famous ensemble of the “Virtuosi di Roma”, participating as protagonist in numerous tours in the USA, Canada, Japan, Spain, Russia, with a repertoire of works from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Among his greatest successes are the interpretations of Cavalleria Rusticana and Les Troyens at the Teatro alla Scala, Falstaff at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by Zubin Mehta, at the Frankfurt Opera, at the Teatro Regio in Turin, at the Opéra National de Lyon, at the Opéra de Nantes and at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Andrea Chénier at the ROH Covent Garden in London and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Cavalleria Rusticana at Covent Garden in London, at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and at the Opéra National de Paris, Andrea Chénier at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris and at the Frankfurt Opera, Gianni Schicchi and The Turn of the Screw at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Il Tabarro at the Arena di Verona and at the Liceu in Barcelona, Eugene Onegin and The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Saul and The Nose at the Rome Opera, The Return of Ulysses in homeland in Antwerp and Zurich, Der Filiegende Hollaender at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
During the seasons from 2018 to 2020, we would like to point out Andrea Chénier at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Cavalleria Rusticana at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Lakmé at the Royal Opera House in Muscat.
He opened the 2020 season performing Cavalleria Rusticana at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and at the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona. He then sang Il Trittico at the Teatro de la Monnaie in Brussels; Cavalleria Rusticana at the ROH Covent Garden in London; Siberia at the Teatro Real de Madrid. He begins 2023 with Evgenij Onegin at the Oper Frankfurt, followed by “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” in Geneva, Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, Madama Butterfly at the Arena di Verona, Evgenij Onegin at the Liceu in Barcelona. He begins the 2023-24 season with Cavalleria Rusticana at the ROH Covent Garden in London, at the Opéra de Monte Carlo and Teatro alla Scala in Milan, then returns to the ROH Covent Garden in London for Andrea Chénier; in Turin for Il Trittico at the Teatro Regio.
Among his upcoming engagements: from now until 2026 we point out: Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Evgenij Onegin at the Frankfurt Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the Teatro Real in Madrid, Lakmè at the Teatro Real de Madrid, Jenufa at the ROH Covent Garden in London, Il Trittico at the Palau de la Musica Reina Sofia in Valencia and others.
Among his rich recording production (RCA, Cynus, ERI) we can mention Il Flaminio (Giustina) by Pergolesi (Fonit Cetra), Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica by Puccini conducted by Antonio Pappano (Emi).
Ellen Pearson recently graduated with distinction from the Royal College of Music with a Master of Music degree. She is an Oxford International Song Young Artist (2024/2025), a Samling Artist (2024), a Shipston Song Rising Star (2024), and a Britten Pears Young Artist (2024/2025). Ellen was an Opera Holland Park Young Artist for the 2023–24 season, performing the role of Rosina in the Young Artist production of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. An enthusiastic performer of art song, she recently won both the First Prize and Best Duo Prize (with pianist Archie Bonham) at the Ashburnham English Song Competition. Ellen’s other competition successes include First Prize at the Charles Wood International Song Competition and the AESS Dorothy Richardson Prize for English Song.
Mezzo-soprano Annabel Kennedy recently graduated from the Royal College of Music (RCM), where she studied with Amanda Roocroft and Caroline Dowdle. She is currently a member of the Opernstudio at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. Annabel has been a Young Artist with Opera Prelude, Samling Institute, Britten Pears Arts, and Glyndebourne’s Jerwood scheme. At Garsington Opera, she performed Juno (Platée) and covered Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro). Her operatic roles include Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Minsk Woman (Flight), and L’enfant (L’enfant et les sortilèges) at RCM, and covering Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at Glyndebourne. Recent awards include second prize at the IVC Opera & Oratorio Competition, the Singers’ Prize at the ROSL Music Competition, and Press & Junior Jury Prizes at the IVC LiedDuo Competition.
Winner of the 70th Kathleen Ferrier awards, contralto Lily Mo Browne currently studies at the Royal College of Music in London under Ben Johnson and Caroline Dowdle, supported by the Drake Calleja Trust as well as the Robert Lancaster and Helen Majorie Tonks scholarships. She has achieved notable success in competitions, placing first at the Somerset Song Prize and the AESS Senior Song Prize, second in the RCM English Song Final, and third in both the Junior Ferrier competition and the RCM Schumann Competition. Operatic roles include Second Witch (Dido and Aeneas), Old Lady (Candide), Zweite Dame and Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), and La Regina (La bella dormente nel bosco). Lily has also performed as a concert soloist in Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Martyn Brabbins and the RCM Symphony Orchestra, and in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with the Hounslow Symphony Orchestra.
After studying psychology, Hanna Schwarz began her vocal training at the Academy of Music in Hannover, where she also made her debut at the opera house with the role of Sigrune from Wagner’s Walküre. After winning a singing competition in Berlin, Hanna Schwarz was engaged by the Hamburg State Opera.
In 1975 she made her debut in Bayreuth, where she achieved her international breakthrough with the role of Fricka in the Chereau / Boulez Ring. In the following years Hanna Schwarz was also heard in Bayreuth as Erda, Brangäne and Waltraute.
An international opera career followed, which included all the major stages and encounters with renowned conductors, including Ring productions in San Francisco, the Metropolitan Opera under James Levine, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich under Wolfgang Sawallisch, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg and Covent Garden under Bernard Haitink. The Salzburg Festival engaged Hanna Schwarz for Parsifal and Die Zauberflöte under Herbert von Karajan, followed by Lulu / Geschwitz and Salome / Herodias. She also celebrated great successes with the roles of Octavian, Orpheus, Carmen (in a production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle with Placido Domingo), as Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten) or as Klytämnestra (Elektra). For her interpretation of this role she was named “Singer of the Year” in 1997.
Hanna Schwarz is equally at home on the concert stage. She has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the most important concert halls in Europe and America, such as Carnegie Hall New York, the Berlin and Cologne Philharmonic Orchestras, the Vienna Musikverein and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, to name but a few.
Hanna Schwarz has appeared in numerous radio concerts and recordings, including Das Lied von der Erde, Gurrelieder, symphonies and songs by Gustav Mahler and the Verdi Requiem under Böhm, Ozawa, Levine, Mehta, Sinopoli, Maazel, Sawallisch, Dohnanyi and Bernstein. The artist has also made a name for herself through her interpretation of contemporary music and has performed works by Maurizio Kagel, Hans Werner Henze, Pierre Boulez, Alfred Schnittke and Leonard Bernstein.
Important recent projects include new productions of Les dialogues des Carmélites and The Queen of Spades in Basel, concerts of Die Dreigroschenoper in Vienna, London, Paris and Hamburg, Salome in Valencia, Rheingold in Seville, Salome at the New National Theatre Tokyo and a new production of Jenufa at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
At the 2011 Salzburg Easter Festival, Hanna Schwarz sang the role of Herodias in the Salome production conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, as well as new productions of Die Soldaten at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and at the Zurich Opera House, and Jenufa and Salome, also in Zurich, New productions of Tchaikovsky’s Charodeyka and Peter Grimes at the Theater an der Wien and Daphne in Basel and at the Hamburg State Opera, Jenufa at the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Berlin State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera as well as Eugene Onegin at the Bastille in Paris, Katja Kabanova in Hamburg, and again Eugene Onegin also in Hamburg.
Fleuranne Brockway is quickly gaining international recognition for her “lusciously dark centred voice” (Herald Sun). Brockway has captivated audiences throughout her native Australia, and Europe alike. In 2022, Brockway won first place and best female voice at the 8th Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino and first place in the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Competition. She was also a prizewinner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2023. Since moving to Europe, Brockway has maintained an impressive performance schedule in such roles as Charlotte (Werther), Carmen (Carmen), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Fenena (Nabucco), and as Suzuki (Madame Butterfly) with the Bregenzer Festspiele. Brockway is a graduate of the Accademia del Belcanto ‘Rodolfo Celletti; and made her debut in Italy at the Festival della Valle D’Itria as Carlotta in La Scuola dei Gelosi by Salieri.
Sofia Anisimova is a Ukrainian mezzo-soprano, member the Opéra National de Paris academy since September 2023 and resident at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. She made her debut during the 2024-2025 season of the Opéra National de Paris in the role of Kate Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly directed by Robert Wilson. She plays the role of Costanza in Haydn’s L’isola Disabitata. In the 2025-2026 season, she will perform the role of Ramiro in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. In August 2025, she will sing the role of Olga in Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin at the Verbier Festival. That same month, she will participate in the production of Cosi fan tutte in the role of Dorabella at the Castel Artès Festival.
In June 2024, Sofia played the title role in the opera La Victoire de Karima, created by Edwin Baudo, at the Philharmonie de Paris. In September 2024 at the Salle Cortot in Paris, she presented her narrative show l‘Invitation au voyage, based on the story of her forced journey from Ukraine to France due to the war. She is supported by the Orphée Musique Foundation and has taken part in several masterclasses with major opera figures such as Michel Plasson, Sophie Koch, Thomas Quasthoff, Susan Graham, Karine Deshayes, Zoryana Kushpler, Maciej Pikulski and others. Sofia is also socially and politically committed. For several years she was a deputy on the Kharkiv Youth Council, and has been deputy head of the Department of Cultural Development since 2019
Winner of the 2022 SWR Junge Opernstars competition, mezzo-soprano Valerie Eickhoff is quickly establishing herself as an artist of intense musicality and brilliant vocalism. The 2023/24 season sees several important house and role debuts for her including as Ramiro in La finta giardiniera with Theater an der Wien and as Driade in Ariadne auf Naxos with Bayerische Staatsoper. She will also return to Deutsche Oper am Rhein as a guest artist to debut the roles of Angelina in Cenerentola and Marylou in Märchen im Grand Hotel. Concert work includes Poème de l’amour et de mer with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Orchestra della Toscana Italy, and a concert of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and Respighi’s Il Tramonto with the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchestra. Ms. Eickhoff also records the complete Hans Eisler Hollywood Songbook with pianist Eric Schneider this season, which is released on the Ars Production label.
In the 2023/24 season, Chelsea Laggan brings her “memorably timbred dark mezzo” (Opera News) to multiple debuts, most notably in her role debut as Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen with Sarasota Opera. In Spring 2022, she originated the role of Nelly/Heather in the world premiere concert version of Kevin Puts’ The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has also brought several classic mezzo characters to life in performance with regional companies throughout the United States, including Olga in Eugene Onegin, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and Erda in Das Rheingold. Along with her extensive opera repertoire, Chelsea has experience in sacred and secular concert music, having performed with many American orchestras. She is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts and in 2023, was a Career Bridges Grant Winner, Jensen Vocal Competition Finalist, and Elizabeth Connell Prize quarterfinalist.
Mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately has been highly visible in Britain since being designated a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013 to 2015. Unusually versatile, she has performed opera, choral music, and lieder, and her repertory ranges from Gilbert and Sullivan to contemporary works.
Born Catherine Whately in London in 1983, she was the daughter of actor Kevin Whately. She appeared on television as the daughter of his onscreen character in the series Auf Wiedersehen. Whately was raised partly in northern England and attended Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. There, she appeared as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. She went on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and then the Royal College of Music International School. After winning several significant prizes, she was admitted to the Verbier Festival Academy, appearing there as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. These successes led to her designation as a BBC New Generation Artist in 2013 and to the chance to record her debut album, the song recital This Other Eden, on the Champs Hill label.
Since then, Whately has been a familiar figure on operatic stages, and not only in Britain. She appeared as Isabelle in Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights at L’Opéra National de Lorraine in France. At the Royal Opera House in London, she appeared as Mother/Other Mother in the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera Coraline, and she has been noted for championing contemporary works. At the Three Choirs Festival, she was heard in a new work by Sally Beamish, and she commissioned a song cycle from composer Jonathan Dove. Whately has made several more recordings on Champs Hill, and in 2019, she joined baritone Roderick Williams on The Song of Love, a collection of little-known material by Ralph Vaughan Williams. She remained active through the COVID-19 pandemic, appearing on the 2021 Chandos release The Harmonious Echo: Songs of Sir Arthur Sullivan and on Signum Classics’ The Complete Songs of Fauré, Vol. 4. In 2023, she issued the solo recital Befreit: A Soul Surrendered on Chandos. Whately is the co-founder of the charity SWAP’ra (Supporting Women and Parents in Opera).
Biography by James Manheim