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Soprano Meigui Zhang was named Laureate of the 2019 Prix Yves Paternot (the Verbier Festival Academy’s highest honour), was a finalist in the 2019 Queen Sonja International Music Competition, and took second place at the 2020 Opera Index Competition. She also won the Audience Prize at the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup. While in the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Zhang made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Bloody Child in Macbeth, followed by Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro. While attending the Merola Opera Program, she performed as Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, and at both the Chautauqua Institute and at the Verbier Festival, she was seen as Pamina in The Magic Flute. Meigui Zhang earned her master’s degree from the Mannes School of Music, where she was a recipient of the George and Elizabeth Award, and completed her bachelor’s degree at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, Sandrine Piau was first discovered by William Christie and has since become one of today’s most captivating sopranos. Equally at home in Baroque and modern repertoire, she has sung leading roles at the Opéra de Paris, Salzburg Festival, Covent Garden, and La Scala. Her wide-ranging career includes performances with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Raphaël Pichon, Emmanuelle Haïm, and Laurence Equilbey. A passionate recitalist, she appears with pianists David Kadouch and Alexandre Tharaud and has recorded numerous acclaimed albums for Alpha Classics. Her latest release, Quintette imaginaire with the Quatuor Psophos, explores the world of Schubert through voice and strings.
Golda was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1983. Her mother is a retired nurse, and her father is a retired university professor of Mathematics. Golda studied journalism at Rhodes University before switching to singing at the University of Cape Town, and then at the Juilliard School in New York. In 2011, Golda won a place at the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, after which her career developed rapidly.
From her base in Germany she has conquered the world’s opera houses and concert halls, from the Vienna State Opera to the Salzburg Festival; and from La Scala, Milan, to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, to name but four.
In 2020 Golda appeared at the Last Night of the Proms in London, and the following year the recording of Porgy and Bess, in which she portrayed the role of Clara, received a Grammy Award. In 2022 Golda was described as a “gifted soprano” when she received the Bavarian government’s Special Prize for Culture. She was also named Artiste Étoile by the Lucerne Festival the same year.
Her debut album with the pianist Jonathan Ware was likewise released in 2022: This Be Her Verse is devoted to female composers who until then had been ignored by music historians. Reviewers were enthusiastic: the Munich Merkur described it as “one of the most powerful lieder albums of the recent past”, while the Guardian welcomed it as a further demonstration of Golda’s versatility and musical intelligence. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung spoke of the soprano “singing with so much dramatic talent, such magnificent use of tone, colours, and such a feeling for swing that even Schubert and Schumann would have swallowed hard.” This album demonstrates Golda’s great love of lieder and concert singing, a world in which she is just as much at home as she is in the realm of opera.
Soprano Erin O’Rourke is a second year Master’ degree student in the Vocal Arts Department at The Juilliard School, where she studies with Amy Burton. Erin recently won the Laffont Metropolitan Opera Competition New York District and is preparing for her roles as Nella in Gianni Schicchi and Philidel in King Arthur at Juilliard. In 2022, she made her Raylynmor Opera debut as Nannetta in Falstaff, joined New Amsterdam Opera covering the lead role of Anna in Boïeldieu’s La dame blanche, and performed the title role in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with the Chicago Summer Opera Company. She also performed concert works with Juilliard’s Focus Festival, which The New York Times dubbed “Broadway Meets the Avant-garde”, and made her Lincoln Center debut in the CPE Bach Concert Festival at the Bruno Walter Theater. Erin has been enjoys singing both early music and contemporary styles of music and is a champion of music by female composers and composers of colour.
American soprano Sarah Fleiss is in her fourth year at the Curtis Institute of Music. In the 2022/23 season, she sings Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante with the Tempesta di Mare Orchestra and the Curtis Opera Theater. She recently went on a North American tour with Eric Owens and sang the world premiere of Tania Léon’s In the Fields. A lover of song, she also performed in a recital with Warren Jones and looks forward to singing the Pergolesi Stabat Mater. Past seasons include Despina in Così fan tutte, Monica in The Medium, Annio in La Clemenza di Tito, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Prior to Curtis, she attended Columbia University and participated in the Juilliard-Exchange program where she narrated Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat and performed around New York in musical theatre and cabaret-style performances. Sarah has received awards from the George London and Gerda Lissner Foundations, and is generously supported by the Jack Wolgin Fellowship and the Shirley Winston Rabb Scholarship.
Puerto Rican opera singer Larisa Martínez has been praised and sought after for her “smoky soprano” (Opera News), gracing many of the world’s top opera and concert stages including recent debuts as a soloist at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and the Hollywood Bowl.
This season, Larisa Martínez tours extensively with violinist Joshua Bell, in a program entitled “Voice and the Violin” that explores repertoire ranging from classical art song and opera, to musical theater, to a series of selections by Puerto Rican and Spanish composers. She and Bell will present their specially arranged program on the stage of 92NY in NYC in October 2022, with additional plans for this program in the works for 2023. Over the last two years, the “Voice and the Violin” has been presented at the Brevard Music Center, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Chautauqua Amphitheater, with the Hawaii Symphony, and at the Ravinia Festival.
Larisa’s recent roles include Musetta in La Bohème (CulturArte), Violetta in La Traviata, conducted by Eugene Kohn (Wichita Grand Opera), Sophie alongside tenor Piotr Beczala in Werther (Culturarte), and Maria in West Side Story conducted by Lawrence Foster with tenor Michael Fabiano (Festival Napa Valley). In 2019, Ms. Martínez made her Kennedy Center debut in recital and Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage debut, singing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Athens Philharmonic under the baton of Yiannis Hadjiloizou. In 2020, she appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony, performing Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Floresta do Amazonas. Other concert appearances include Mahler’s Symphony No.4 and Mozart’s Requiem in D minor and Voci di Domani, presented by Renata Scotto and recorded by Euroclassics in Rome.
In 2016, she created the role of Isaura in the world premiere of Mercadante’s Francesca da Rimini in Italy, conducted by Maestro Fabio Luisi and directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi. That same year, Ms. Martínez was invited as part of President Barack Obama’s artistic delegation to Cuba, in an effort to expand cultural collaboration and friendships between the two countries, culminating in the Emmy®-nominated PBS special, Live from Lincoln Center: Seasons of Cuba where she was showcased. For the last three years, Ms. Martínez has toured with tenor Andrea Bocelli, debuting at Madison Square Garden, Hollywood Bowl and throughout North America, South America, and Europe.
In 2016, she won the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Audition in Puerto Rico, as well as the Angel Ramos Foundation Award and the Audience Prize. Soon after, she was invited by the Metropolitan Opera Guild 2018 Annual Gala as a guest artist to honor Anna Netrebko. In 2018, EastWest Sounds Studios chose and sampled her voice for its new virtual instrument software, “Voices of Opera,” used by composers and engineers worldwide.
In addition to studying Vocal Performance at the Music Conservatory in San Juan, Larisa simultaneously received her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences with high honors from the University of Puerto Rico. She went on to receive a Master’s degree from Mannes the New School of Music in New York City. Larisa is a board member on the Silk Road Ensemble and a proud artistic resident of Turnaround Arts, led by the Presidential Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, an organization that strives to transform schools in need through the arts. In addition to her deep commitment to music education, Martinez is also passionate about representing her Boricua cultural heritage through projects and performances.
Barbara Hendricks was born in Arkansas, USA and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Chemistry at the age of 20. She later studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York with Jennie Tourel. In 1974 she made her operatic debut at the San Francisco Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival as well as her recital debut in New York City’s Town Hall.
Since that moment, Barbara Hendricks’ career and artistry has never ceased to grow and she has become one of the world’s most loved and admired musicians. She has sung on all the major opera stages in the world including the Paris Opera, the MET in New York, Covent Garden in London and La Scala in Milano. She has sung under the direction of the greatest conductors of our time such as Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm, Sir Colin Davis, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Sir Georg Solti. She has always performed recitals with pianists such as Dmitri Alexeev, Michel Béroff, Yefim Bronfman, Michel Dalberto, Love Derwinger, Youri Egorov, Ralf Gothoni, Radu Lupu, Maria Joao Pires, Roland Pöntinen, Andras Schiff and Peter Serkin.
She has been acclaimed as one of the most active recitalists of her generation and in addition to her vast repertoire of German Lieder she is also known as a leading interpreter and staunch promoter of French, American and Scandinavian music. Barbara Hendricks also made numerous world creations of composers such as Gilbert Amy, David Del Tredici, Tobias Picker, Mari Takano, Bruno Mantovani, Krzysztof Penderecki, Arvo Pärt and Sven-David Sandström, and most recently in 2004 in Paris, the role of The Angel in Peter Eötvös’opera Angels in America.
She made her jazz debut at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994 and has since then performed regularly in renowned jazz festivals throughout the world with the Magnus Lindgren Quartet.
She starred as Mimi in the film La Bohème, directed by Luigi Comencini and Anne Truelove in 1994 in an international prize-winning film production of The Rake’s Progress conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. She was a member of the jury at the International Film Festival in Cannes 1999, presided by David Cronenberg.
Barbara Hendricks is one of today’s best-selling recording artists and has made more than 80 recordings for Sony, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Erato and EMI. From 1983 to 2004 she made nearly 50 recordings exclusively for EMI Classics. In 2006, she launched her own record label, Arte Verum, for which she is now recording exclusively. She is still very active performing orchestra, chamber music and jazz concerts, recitals and opera throughout the world.
HUMANITARIAN COMMITMENT
After nearly 20 years of untiring service to the cause of refugees in collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency she has been named the only Honorary Ambassador for Life by the UNHCR and is given special tasks that demand her long unparalleled experience and commitment. At the end of 1991 and 1993, she gave two solidarity concerts in war-ridden former Yugoslavia (Dubrovnik and Sarajevo). In 1998 she founded the Barbara Hendricks Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation to personalise her struggle for the prevention of conflicts in the world and to facilitate reconciliation and enduring peace where conflicts have already occurred.
Barbara Hendricks has received numerous awards for her artistic achievements and humanitarian work: Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universities of Louvain (Belgium) and Grenoble (France), Doctor in Law from the University of Dundee (Scotland), Doctor of Music from the Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Honorary Doctor of Music from the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She is a Member of the Swedish Academy of Music, was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award (Spain), was made “Commandeur des Arts et Lettres” by the French Government and was awarded the rank of “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” by François Mitterrand.
One of the most beloved and celebrated musical ambassadors of our time, soprano Renée Fleming captivates audiences with her sumptuous voice, consummate artistry, and compelling stage presence. Known as “the people’s diva” and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo, she continues to grace the world’s greatest opera stages and concert halls. Over the past few seasons, Fleming has hosted a wide variety of television and radio broadcasts, including the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series and Live From Lincoln Center on PBS. Most recently, Fleming was awarded the National Medal of Arts at the White House by President Obama for her artistic excellence, creativity and innovation.
As a musical statesman, Fleming has been sought after on numerous distinguished occasions, from the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to performances in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2014 Super Bowl. In January 2009, Fleming was featured in the televised “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration” at the Lincoln Memorial concert for President Obama. In 2012, in an historic first, Fleming sang on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in the Diamond Jubilee Concert for HM Queen Elizabeth II. Fleming also performed for the United States Supreme Court and, in November 2009, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic’s “Velvet Revolution” at the invitation of Václav Havel. An additional distinction was bestowed in 2008 when, breaking a precedent, Fleming became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala.
A four-time Grammy winner, Fleming won the 2013 Best Classical Vocal Solo Grammy Award for Poèmes, a collection of 20th-Century French music. In recent years, this fourteen-time Grammy-nominated artist has recorded everything from Strauss’s complete Daphne to the jazz album Haunted Heart to the movie soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Her recording honors range from the 2009 Echo Award for Strauss’s Four Last Songs to the Prix Maria Callas Orphée d’Or by the Académie du Disque Lyric for TDK’s DVD production of Capriccio. In February, 2012, Fleming received the Victoire d’Honneur, the highest award conveyed by the French Victoires de la Musique.
An advocate for literacy, Renée Fleming has been featured in promotional campaigns for the Association of American Publishers (Get Caught Reading), and the Magazine Publishers of America’s READ poster campaign for the American Library Association. Her book, The Inner Voice, was published in 2004. An intimate account of her career and creative process, the book was also published in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Russia.
Fleming is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the Board of Sing for Hope, and the Advisory Board of the White Nights Foundation of America. In 2010, she was named the first ever Creative Consultant at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, hailed by the The Economist as “opera’s newest star”, has taken the classical music world by storm since winning the much coveted Operalia competition in 2015. Her resounding debuts in all the most prestigious international venues have garnered overwhelming critical attention: “It’s been a long time since a singer has generated as much buzz,” wrote Gramophone in the review of her debut album for Decca, which debuted at number one in the UK Classical charts. Released on 31 May 2019, her recordings of music by Strauss and Wagner inspired the magazine to declare that “she is one of the greatest vocal talents to have emerged in recent years, if not decades.” Since then, she has released two further solo albums on the label to equal acclaim: an orchestral recital featuring Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi and a
stunning Grieg recital together with with famed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
This season, Davidsen’s many highlights include starring in the BBC’s much coveted Last Night of the Proms, the biggest classical music event in Britain; three major roles debuts: as Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera, as Giorgetta Il Tabarro at Gran Teatre del Liceu and as Elisabetta Don Carlo at Royal Opera House, where she also appears as Elisabeth Tannhäuser; and an artistic residency at the Bergen International Festival where she can be
heard singing her first Tosca in concert and Verdi Requiem as well as masterclasses and a song recital. Other appearances include Tannhäuser at Staatsoper under den Linden in Berlin and numerous concert appearances in Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona and at the Verbier Festival.
Last season saw her make a triple appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos, and as Chrysothemis in Elektra. She returned twice to the Wiener Staatsoper as Ellen Offord alongside Sir Bryn Terfel and Jonas Kaufmann in an all-star performance of Britten’s dramatic opera Peter Grimes, as well as Sieglinde Die Walküre; and Leonore Fidelio at Maggio Musicale in Florence under the baton of Zubin Mehta. On the concert platform, she joined Klaus Mäkelä and the Orchestra de Paris for
Strauss Op. 27 and was an Artist in Focus at the Barbican, where London audiences saw her in recital with Leif Ove Andsnes; an opera gala evening together with Freddie De Tommaso and pianist James Baillieu and a performance of Berg Seven Early Songs together with the Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus Mäkelä as well as a public masterclass with the students of the Guildhall
School of Music & Drama. She also made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko with Zemlinksy Lyric Symphony and toured together with Leif Ove Andsnes in Madrid, Munich, Vienna, Berlin and at the Bergen and Turku Festivals, earning rapturous reviews for their recital of Grieg, Strauss and Wagner songs. Her solo concerts included Hamburg State Opera, Moscow and the Peralada Festival and in summer 2022 she made another triumphant return to Bayreuth Festival, starring as Sieglinde in the much anticipated new Ring tetralogy and as Elisabeth Tannhäuser.
Despite the Covid crisis, Davidsen’s astonishing ascent has been unstoppable: in August 2020 she was one of the first stars featured by the Metropolitan Opera as part of their celebrated series: Met Stars Live in Concert. Davidsen’s rendition of Grieg En Svane and Ved Rondane from the recital was then broadcast together with the New Year’s Speech of King Harald V of Norway and in April 2021 she was a guest on Norway’s most popular chat show, Lindmo. Shortly after this in May 2021, she re-opened the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, with a solo concert under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Chailly, and Bayerische Staatsoper with a concert performance of the 1st Act of Die Walküre alongside Jonas Kaufmann, and in the same week was awarded Female Singer of the Year by the International Opera Awards. Further highlights include Sieglinde Die Walküre in a new production at Deutsche Oper Berlin and in concert at Opera de Paris; the title role of Jenůfa at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Elisabeth Tannhäuser at Bayerische Staatsoper; a return to Bayreuth in Tobias Kratzer’s production of Tannhäuser and concert performances of Die Walküre; as well as a Strauss film project with the Norwegian National Opera. On the recital platform, her appearances include recitals at home in Oslo, for the Norwegian National Opera, in Germany at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, in Spain at the Palau de les Arts Valencia; and together with Leif Ove Andsnes in Trondheim and Rosendal Chamber Music Festival in Norway.