Annelies Van Parys (°1975) is one of Belgium’s leading contemporary composers. She composes solo pieces and chamber music, as well as big orchestral compositions. Her great love is musical theatre. As composer-in-residence at Muziektheater Transparant since 2007, she has written a number of compositions for musical theatre. Note, for example, the remarkable productions of RUHE, An Oresteïa and Private View – Van Parys’ first opera, which was rewarded four times, a.o. with the Fedora-Rolf Liebermann Prize. In cooperation with Gaea Schoeters (who also wrote the scenario for Private View), she composed the opera USHER, at the request of the Staatsoper Berlin and Folkoperan Stockholm. The production was shown there in 2018 and 2019, and even returned to Berlin in 2020. Van Parys was also lauded for the big composition A War Requiem for the National Orchestra of Belgium and Collegium Vocale Ghent, with soloists Sophie Karthauser and Thomas Bauer. Her most recent orchestral work was created at the request of the Royal Concert Hall Orchestra of Amsterdam, and premiers in January 2021 (conductor: Matthias Pintscher).

Wim Henderickx works as a composer, conductor, percussionist and professor of composition. His compositions are often inspired by other cultures. The Tantric Cycle is a seven-part composition series based on Oriental philosophy and Buddhism and his work Groove! for percussion and orchestra was inspired by African, Arabic and Indian music and cultures. Electronics are often an important feature in his oeuvre.

Wim Henderickx has been Composer-In-Residence at Muziektheater Transparant since 1996. He joined the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra as an Artist-In-Residence in 2013. The full double CD (2016) with four of his works recorded by this orchestra, received international acclaim including five stars in BBC Music Magazine.

Symphony N°2 (Aquarius’ Dream) for orchestra, soprano, electronics and lighting design premiered with with Claron McFadden and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp. Revelations for music theatre premiered at the Opera21 Festival at de Singel in Antwerp and the ballet production Requiem was commissioned by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and performed  in collaboration with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Blossomings for choir, trumpet and electronics premiered at LSO St Luke’s in London with the BBC Singers, Marco Blaauw and Martyn Brabbins. Cello concerto Sangita premiered with Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra at the Cello Biennale in Amsterdam and Enigma VII for orchestra premiered with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Songs of Nature received an online world premiere at the Klarafestival 2021 in Brussels and a live premiere in Shanghai in China.

In 2019 the International Opera Academy and SPECTRA performed A Matter of Triumph and Void, a compilation of two of Henderickx’s operas.

Wim Henderickx was awarded both nationally and internationally for his work. His scores are published by Norsk Musikforlag in Oslo.

He is a professor of composition at the conservatories of Antwerp and Amsterdam. Finally, he is the main coach of the annual SoundMine summer composition course for young composers at Musica, Impulse Centre for Music.

Wim Henderickx was awarded both nationally and internationally for his work. His scores are published by Norsk Musikforlag in Oslo.

He is a professor of composition at the conservatories of Antwerp and Amsterdam. Finally, he is the main coach of the annual SoundMine summer composition course for young composers at Musica, Impulse Centre for Music.

Baritone Dietrich Henschel captivates audiences as a regular guest at major opera houses, as an esteemed interpreter of lieder and oratorios and with his varied multimedia projects. His repertoire stretches from Monteverdi to the avant-garde. Born in Berlin and raised in Nuremberg, he made his debut in 1990 at the Munich Biennale for New Music and first became known internationally from 1997, following a period as an ensemble member of the Opera Kiel. At the Deutsche Oper Berlin he took the title role in Hans Werner Henze’s Prinz von Homburg, staged by Götz Friedrich, and gave an outstanding lead performance in Busoni’s Doktor Faust at the Opéra de Lyon and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, for which he won a Grammy.

The singer’s major roles include Rossini’s Figaro, Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Monteverdi’s Ulisse and Orfeo, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Beckmesser in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and Dr. Schön in Lulu, Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, and Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, with which he makes regular appearances at the major European opera houses. Contemporary composers such as Péter Eötvös, Detlev Glanert, Manfred Trojahn, Unsuk Chin, Peter Ruzicka, and José-Maria Sanchez-Verdu have all dedicated leading roles in their operas to the baritone.

In addition to his operatic work, Dietrich Henschel is committed to the performance of lieder and concert works for voice. In orchestral concerts he has worked with conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Kent Nagano, Sylvain Cambreling, Semyon Bychkov, and Sir Simon Rattle. His collaborations with John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Sir Colin Davis are documented on numerous oratorio recordings.

Dietrich Henschel is particularly interested in theatrical and multimedia presentations of vocal music. He has performed staged versions of Schubert lieder cycles at La Monnaie, Theater an der Wien, Norske Opera Oslo, and the Komische Oper Berlin, among others. In the project IRRSAL – Triptychon einer verbotenen Liebe, featuring the orchestral songs of Hugo Wolf and conceived together with director Clara Pons, he combined film and live music. WUNDERHORN, featuring songs by Gustav Mahler and also created in collaboration with Clara Pons, was co-produced by European partners including De Doelen, La Monnaie, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra London. Dietrich Henschel launched his project X-Mas Contemporary at the Konzerthaus Berlin in December 2019 with the ensemble unitedberlin under the musical direction of Vladimir Jurowski. Twelve composers contributed works to the extraordinary program, which was hailed by critics and released as a CD by FARAO CLASSIC. Dietrich Henschel’s most recent projects include Pergolesi’s 1734 opera intermezzo Il Ciarlatano, a fast-paced production with the ensemble ART HOUSE 17 performed at the Styriarte in Graz and elsewhere.

He begins the 2021/22 season together with Sylvain Cambreling and the Ensemble Modern at the Ruhrtriennale with Olga Neuwirth’s chamber opera Bählamms Fest. Continuing his collaboration with Cambreling and the SWR Symphony Orchestra, he will premiere Francesco Filidei’s The Red Death for the 100th anniversary of the Donaueschinger Musiktage, followed by concerts at the Elbphilharmonie and the Kölner Philharmonie. Other highlights include a recital with pianist Piet Kuijken and Bach’s Coffee Cantata with ART HOUSE 17 at the Oude Muziek Festival in Utrecht, a recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival, a tour of Japan with Schubert’s Winterreise, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Jan Willem de Vriend, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis at the Auditori in Barcelona, and Britten’s War Requiem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko at the Royal Albert Hall.

It all started at the Conservatory of Arnhem, where Charlotte was more or less ‘discovered’ by Aafje Heynis, with whom she completed her studies as a Performing Artist in 1982. Later, after two years at the Opera Studio in Amsterdam, Charlotte left for Berlin where she continued to learn under the passionate guidance of director Harry Kupfer.

Back in the Netherlands, Charlotte met her manager and good friend Pieter Alferink, who, from that moment on, took care of all of her artistic engagements – and still does to this day. The first engagement she obtained through him was a series of concerts, in 1986, in Rotterdam with James Conlon, where she sang as a soloist in Mahler’s Symphony #2, together with contralto Jard van Nes.

A variety of different roles in various international opera houses quickly followed. The highlights of Charlotte’s career include: Berlin, where she sang Mimì in La Bohème under Rolf Ruiter and Harry Kupfer in 1984; Amsterdam, where she performed Fiordiligi in Così Fan Tutte under the baton Nikolaus Harnoncourt, directed by Jürgen Flimm; London, where she recorded Beethoven’s concert aria “Ah, perfido!” with Sir John Eliot Gardiner in 1991, and Salzburg that same year: Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito with Sir Colin Davies and director Peter Brenner. In 1993, she sang the soprano solo in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Frans Brüggen. In 1994, she performed Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello with Antonio Pappano, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) in Parma, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner and directed by Lorenzo Mariani, and the Contessa in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in Tokyo with Claudio Abbado and Jonathan Miller. In London, 1995, she performed Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with Bernard Haitink. A little later came a stretch of especially fond memories in her home country: the title role in Dvorak’s Rusalka with Leos Svarovsky in Utrecht and a lied recital in Rotterdam with conductor Ed Spanjaard (1998), Marguerite in Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust with Bernard Haitink (1999). In 2001 she sang in Beethoven’s Fidelio as Leonore with Simon Rattle, conducted by Deborah Warner. After that came Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin with Edo de Waart and Pierre Audi (2002), Szymanowsky’s Stabat Mater with Jaap van Zweden and Wagner’s Die Walküre as Sieglinde with Hartmut Hänchen and Pierre Audi (2004), all in Amsterdam. Then in 2005 came Der Freischütz in New York City, where she sang Agatha under Eve Queler. In 2011 Simone Young and Charlotte Margiono performed a selection of Alma Mahler songs in Hamburg, Germany.

Another immensely important part of her career is her musical partner and the other half of her Lied duo: Peter Nilsson, with whom she has done many beautiful and exciting recitals.

The CD recording and concerts in collaboration with pianist and composer Frans Ehlhart – singing his own compositions with texts by Ingrid Jonker – is also a highlight in her musical life.

Charlotte Margiono has been teaching for quite a while. From May 2008 until June 2015, she was a main subject teacher at the classical voice department of the HKU Utrecht Conservatory. For the past ten years, teaching has been a very important part of her life. She teaches privately in her studio, and guides a number of young singers, all working at different levels as singers and performing artists. For her, this work is equally fulfilling as singing herself, only in a completely different way. The stage now plays a small but joyous part in her life, as a role here and there, a recital, or a concert with an orchestra – but passing on the craft and artistry of music and singing is now her main passion.

American soprano Linda Watson has appeared at many of the major opera houses of the world including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatro del Liceu, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Nederlandse Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayreuther Festspiele and at the Metropolitan Opera, with leading conductors including Abbado, Mehta, Levine, Gergiev, Thielemann, Pappano, Gatti, Salonen and Nagano. She began her career as a mezzo-soprano in Aachen and in 1995 joined the Leipzig Opera.

She sang her first soprano role, Sieglinde (Die Walküre), in Essen and subsequently joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she also sang Leonore, Ortrud, Kundry, Feldmarschallin, Färberin, Ariadne and Elektra. In 2014 she was nominated for the Principal Soloist Grammy Award for her participation in Christian Thielemann’s Ring recording. Engagements this season include Ariadne and Turandot for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Die Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten) in Hamburg and Herodias (Salome) at the Wiener Staatsoper.

Martin Wölfel was born in Potsdam, where he received his first musical training and had his first stage and camera experience.

Although he was admitted to the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts to study acting, he began studying voice in Dresden. He graduated with a Meisterklassenabschluss as a countertenor under Margret Trappe-Wiel in 1999.

Since then he has performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Welsh National Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Norske Opera Oslo, the Berlin State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, the Korean National Opera, the Theater Basel and the Frankfurt Opera, where he has been a regular guest since 2006.

As a concert singer he has toured with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and has performed in Tokyo, Osaka, Toulouse, Cairo, Athens, Barcelona, Valencia, and Amsterdam. In addition he has participated in several radio and CD recordings, as well as televised broadcasts.

Since 2007 he has been teaching at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen as a voice teacher, where he was awarded a full professorship in 2017. He also holds regular masterclasses and workshops in several institutions, such as the International Opera Studio Frankfurt, the Conservatoire de Lille and the Conservatorio Superior de Música da Coruña.

www.martin-woelfel.de

Director Peter Konwitschny was born in 1945 in Frankfurt am Main, and grew up in Leipzig. His father was a conductor, and his mother was a singer. He studied opera direction in Berlin, and worked for ten years as an assistant director at the Berliner Ensemble, under artistic directors Ruth Berghaus and Manfred Wekwerth. During the period 1980-85 he was the director of opera, operette and theatre productions in Budapest, Berlin, Rostock, Greifswald, Anklam, Altenburg and Halle. He was director at the Landestheater in Halle from 1986 until 1990. Through his new, conceptual approach to Händel-operas, Konwitschny made musical history there.

Since 1990, Peter Konwitschny has worked as a freelance director in many European opera houses:  Basel, Graz, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Moscow, Tokyo and Zürich. His interpretations of Parsifal, Tristan und Isolde (Munich), Tannhäuser (Dresden), Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Hamburg), Götterdämmerung (Stuttgart) and Der fliegende Holländer (Moscow) marked a new phase of Wagner productions. Konwitschny also contributed to contemporary interpretations of Verdi, in his productions of Aida, Macbeth and Falstaff (Graz). For his Verdi cycle, the Graz opera was awarded the 2001 title of ‘Opera House of the Year’ (Opernwelt). During that same Verdi Year, Konwitschny directed Don Carlos in Hamburg. Other important productions include: Al gran sole carico d’amore (Hannover), Moses und Aron, Elektra (Copenhagen), Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Das Land des Lächelns (Komische Oper Berlin), König Lear (Graz), Salome at the Nationale Opera (Amsterdam) and La traviata at the Graz Opera. In 1988, Konwitschny was awarded the Kunstpreis by the former DDR; he was given the 1993 Könrad-Wolf-Preis by the Berliner Akademie der Künste, the 2005 Berliner Theaterpreis and the 2007 Welttheaterpreis. He was chosen ‘director of the years’ six times by the opera magazne Opernwelt. During the 2008-2009 season, he was head director at the Leipzig Opera. In these past years, he directed a.o. From the House of the Dead (Janáček) at the Zürich Opera, Verdi’s Atilla at the Theater an der Wien, Jenufa at the Graz Opera, and Wolfgang Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexiko at the Salzburger Festspiele.