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After graduating from the Lipetsk College of Music, Alexander Naoumenko pursued advanced studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the mentorship of the prolific Georgian tenor Zurab Sotkilava. He furthered his training at the Moscow Opera Studio and attended masterclasses with celebrated artists such as Alfredo Kraus, Renata Scotto, Renato Capecchi, Ernst Haefliger, Nancy Evans, and Aldo Baldin.
Naoumenko performed prominent roles, including Podholusin in The Marriage at the Bolshoi Theatre, Alfredo in La Traviata, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, and Don Giovanni in The Stone Guest at the Moscow Conservatory Bolshoi Hall. In 1991, he made his American debut at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, playing Platon Karataev in War and Peace under the baton of Valery Gergiev. He performed Dr. Caius (Falstaff) and Ladislav (The Two Widows) at the English National Opera, Cavaradossi (Tosca) with the European Chamber Opera.
Currently, Alexander Naoumenko serves as a vocal coach at the prestigious Royal Opera House in London, where he continues to impart his extensive knowledge and experience to the next generation of opera singers.
Georgian tenor Giorgi Guliashvili began his studies at the Tbilisi State Conservatory and made his debut in 2019 as Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Alfredo (La Traviata). He joined the Academy of Teatro di San Carlo in 2021, training for two years with Mariella Devia. In 2022, he debuted in Italy as Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca) at Teatro di San Carlo and appeared in Paisiello’s Don Chisciotte della Mancia. Giorgi has performed under Riccardo Frizza as Signor Hervey in Anna Bolena, and as Flavio in Norma. In 2024, he joined San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, singing excerpts from Faust, Iolanta, and Lucia di Lammermoor. Giorgi recently won first prize at the Gerda Lissner Competition and performed Vaudémont (Iolanta) at the Yale School of Music in 2025, completing his postgraduate studies at Yale University.
He will be joining the Jette Parker Artists Program starting next season.
London-Irish tenor Hugo Brady, winner of the 2022 Junior Kathleen Ferrier Competition, studies at the Royal College of Music with Russell Smythe as the Victor and Lilian Hochhauser Scholar. He is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust and is a Samling Artist and an Oxford Song Young Artist. Hugo has appeared with Nevill Holt Opera and the Manchester Camerata, performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, and appeared at the Barbican Hall with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, most recently as Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera. He is also an Associate Artist of The Mozartists. Hugo has participated in masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Bernarda Fink, Roderick Williams, and Véronique Gens. In the 2024/25 season, he debuts at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and performs extensively at Oxford Lieder Festival.
Wu Fei studies with Ben Johnson at the Royal College of Music (London) where he has sung the roles of Tamino in The Magic Flute, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Grimoaldo in Rodelinda, and Armand Brissard in Der Graf von Luxemburg. In 2019, he took part in the International Vocal Artists Academy of Payerbach, led by Vladimir Chenov and Olga Topokova. Wu Fei is also well-regarded in Singapore, where he has performed several art song recitals at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and where he has collaborated with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Currently a master’s student at Rice University, Adam Cantangui studies with Nova Thomas. Recent roles at the Shepherd School of Music include Lenksy (Eugene Onegin) and First Sailor (Dido and Aeneas). A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Adam’s stage credits include Arcadio (Florencia en el Amazons), Oronte (Alcina), Jack (Into the Woods) and Miles Zegner (Proving Up). Other roles include Spoletta (Tosca), the first armoured man (The Magic Flute) with the Opera Theatre of St Louis, and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) with the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory.
American tenor Neil Shicoff, internationally recognised as one of the pre-eminent tenors of his generation, has performed at the world’s most renowned opera houses, has collaborated with the greatest conductors and directors, and is a GRAMMY® Awards, recording artist with an extensive discography of both solo and full-length opera recordings. His numerous honours include the Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Ehrenmitglied and Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera, and the Golden Mask, Russia’s highest singing and acting honour, for his performance of Eleazar in La Juive. Between 2015-2017 he was also Chief of the Opera of the Mikhailovsky Theatre, St Petersburg. In recent years, he has become known as a celebrated teacher and judge and is highly sought after both privately and as a guest teacher / adjudicator by young artist programmes and competitions around the world. American tenor Neil Shicoff, internationally recognized as one of the pre-eminent tenors of his generation, has performed at the world’s most renowned opera houses, has collaborated with the greatest conductors and directors, and is a GRAMMY® Awards, recording artist with an extensive discography of both solo and full-length opera recordings. His numerous honours include the Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Ehrenmitglied and Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera, and the Golden Mask, Russia’s highest singing and acting honour, for his performance of Eleazar in La Juive. Between 2015-2017 he was also Chief of the Opera of the Mikhailovsky Theatre, St Petersburg. In recent years, he has become known as a celebrated teacher and judge and is highly sought after both privately and as a guest teacher / adjudicator by young artist programmes and competitions around the world.
Christopher Ventris is one of the world’s leading Heldentenors and the pre-eminent Siegmund and Parsifal of his generation. From his acclaimed Bayreuther Festspiele debut as Parsifal in Stefan Herheim’s new production (Daniele Gatti), he went on to innumerable appearances in the role including at Wiener Staatsoper (under both Franz Welser-Möst and Semyon Bychkov), Bayerische Staatsoper (Kent Nagano), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Bernard Haitink), Opéra national de Paris (Hartmut Haenchen), San Francisco Opera (Donald Runnicles) and at Opernhaus Zürich (Haitink), the latter portrayal immortalised on DVD. As Siegmund (Die Walküre), Ventris has appeared at Wiener Staatsoper (Sir Simon Rattle), Bayreuther Festspiele, (Marek Janowski), Semperoper Dresden (Christian Thielemann), Washington National Opera (Philippe Auguin), Dutch National Opera (Marc Albrecht) and features on a live recording from Wiener Staatsoper (Thielemann).
Elsewhere in the Wagner repertory, Ventris joined Philippe Jordan at Salzburger Festspiele in the title role Rienzi, made his role debut as Tannhäuser under Sir Mark Elder at Opéra national de Paris, and appeared as Lohengrin at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Real Madrid and The Dallas Opera. His role debut in Tristan und Isolde at Théâtre de la Monnaie under Music Director Alain Altinoglu, was met with great acclaim: “In the love duet, he sang with honeyed warmth, blending handsomely with Isolde and the orchestra below …” and was followed by concert performances at Royal Danish Opera under Lothar Koenigs.
While Wagner’s music has played a key role in the development of his international career, Ventris’ repertoire flexibility has been pivotal to his enduring success: he has been seen as Peter Grimes at Opernhaus Zürich and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Florestan (Fidelio) at Washington National Opera, Sergei (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) in Geneva, Madrid, London and Brussels, and Jimmy Mahoney (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) at Berliner Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich and Wiener Staatsoper. Števa in Janáček’s Jenůfa marked his debut at the Metropolitan Opera and he more recently sang Laca in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production at Opernhaus Zürich. Max (Der Freischütz) marked his debut at Teatro alla Scala, he appeared as Pfitzner’s Palestrina at Bayerische Staatsoper and one of his many roles at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden was Manolios in Martinů’s The Greek Passion. His role debut as Prince Andrey Khovansky (Khovanshchina) at Wiener Staatsoper conducted by Semyon Bychkov, was subsequently seen at London’s Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2017 BBC Proms and he returned to the Metropolitan opera in the 2019/20 season in his role debut as Tambour’ Major (Wozzeck), conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and in William Kentridge’s acclaimed production.
Last season, Ventris revisited his success as Tambour’ Major both in production at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia under James Gaffigan and in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons in Boston and at Carnegie Hall. The current season includes a return to the role of Erik (Der fliegende Holländer) for both Canadian Opera Company under Johannes Debus and Vancouver Opera, and Parsifal with Orquesta de Extremadura under Pablo Heras-Casado.
English tenor Christopher Willoughby began his training as a chorister at Westminster Abbey. He graduated Royal Holloway, University of London in 2021 with a First Class degree in Music before moving to Vienna to continue his studies at the MDW with Margit Klaushofer and Michael Schade KS. In 2021 Christopher was chorus in L’Elisir d’Amor with Waterperry Opera Festival and made his debut in the role of Grimoaldo in Handel’s opera, Rodelinda at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn Palace. Last summer, Christopher debuted at the Internationale Barocktage Stift Melk in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, which was broadcast live on national television, before travelling to California to take part in The Music Academy of the West. Christopher appeared as Osmida in Holzbauer’s Der Tod der Dido, with the Teatro Barocco in Vienna, and performed the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo this spring. He joins the Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zürich next in the fall.
Sam Harris is a British tenor studying with Peter Savidge. He is supported by the Dr Martin Schwartz scholarship. Born in Edinburgh, Sam began his musical career as a boy chorister at Winchester Cathedral, and, as a treble soloist, premiered James Macmillan’s Mouth of the Dumb for the NMC record label. He was subsequently a choral scholar at New College, Oxford. Sam’s operatic highlights include Pluto in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld at Royal College of Music (London), Fenton in Sir John In Love with British Youth Opera, and Cecco in Il Mondo Della Luna with Bampton Classical Opera. On the concert stage, highlights have included Stravinsky’s Mass with the London Symphony Orchestra, and Pärt’s Passio with Ensemble Pro Victoria. A prolific vocal arranger, his work has been featured on national television, in major national ad campaigns, and included on worldwide best-of compilations.
Singer and conductor, tenor and baritone, eclectic artist with more than 150 roles, acclaimed by the public on stages all over the world.
Defined Renaissance man, awarded with honorary titles and prizes also for his humanitarian commitment.
Promoter of young talents and founder of Operalia. Worldwide Ambassador of Spanish Culture and Zarzuela.
Extraordinarily versatile, he has been general director and promoter of opera with Carreras and Pavarotti.
Performer of world premieres of operas, starred in opera movies, pioneer of crossover and winner of 12 Grammy Awards.
Conductor with more than 600 performances.
His career has continued for more than half a century and for this he has been celebrated at the Operas of New York, Vienna, Verona, Milan and Buenos Aires.