Students of 2015-2017

Ana Sofia Ventura finished her Bachelor in 2014 in Lisbon Music University with Luís Madureira. At the moment she is under the guidance of Lúcia Lemos and Dietrich Henschel.

She attended workshops with Nathalie Dessay, Laurent Naouri, Dietrich Henschel, Linda Watson, Korneel Bernolet (Ancient Music), Alfredo Abbatti (Contemporary repertoire), Wim Henderickx (Contemporary repertoire), Rufus Müler, Jill Feldman, Yvonne Minton, Lieve Jansen, Crissman Taylor (Alexander technique), Alberto Zedda (Bel canto) and Marc-Andrée Dalbavie (Contemporary repertoire/orchestra).

She performed in Der gestiefelte Kater, by C. Cui (die Prinzessin), in Le cinesi by C. Gluck (Civene), in Dido and Aeneas, by H. Purcell (Belinda and Second Woman), in Les plaisirs de Versailles, by M. Charpentier (the Game) and in Die Lustige Witwe, by F. Léhar (Grisette).

She participated in the premiere of Courage to the follow way…, by Daniel Davis. She participated also in the Lunch Concerts at Opera Vlaanderen, in O King by L. Berio, in Drumming by S. Reich, in the Messiah by G. Händel and in Lauda per la Natività del Signore by O. Respighi, as the Angel.

Polish baritone Artur Rozek was born in 1984 and started his musical education when he was 7, first attending piano lessons. At the age of 20 he started his vocal education. He graduated from the Vocal Faculty at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, receiving a Master Degree with Distinction. In 2015 he graduated from the Udo Reinemann Lied Master-classes at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels under the direction of Prof. Udo Reinemann, Christianne Stotijn and guest teachers.

Active as Studienleiter in the Opera of Kaiserslautern.

Education before IOA:
The Italian-French pianist Aymeric Catalano began his musical studies at the age of six. After completing his studies in Italy, he continued his training at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. He alternates a career as a soloist and chamber musician with the profession of accompanist.

Follow his career here.

Active as repetitor at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

Education:
Eline Brys (1992, Belgium) studied piano with Daan Vandewalle at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, where she graduated in June 2015. While studying at the conservatory, she accompanied several rehearsals of opera productions organised by the school (e.g. La Fourchette (opera pastiche with music by Offenbach) and The Turn of the Screw (Britten)); at this point, she began dreaming of a career as a repetiteur. In 2014-2015 she did an internship at Opera Vlaanderen as a chorus repetiteur for the productions Akhnaten (Glass) and La Juive (Halévy). In April 2015, Eline was accepted to study at the International Opera Academy of Ghent, where she graduated in 2017 with highest honors and jury felicitations. The IOA programme was an intensive two-years-course with daily classes, concerts, projects and masterclasses (e.g. with Alberto Zedda, Dietrich Henschel, Natalie Dessay, Alfredo Abbati,…).

Read her testimonial about the IOA here.

Performed in Bozar in Brussels, Flanders Opera, Flagey in Brussels, UNESCO Auditorium (Paris), the Salle Cortot (Paris), the Catamarca Amphitheatre (Argentina), the Appeldoorn Amphitheatre (Netherlands), the Hofburg (Vienna), Opéra Royal de Wallonie.

Education:
Julie is a light lyrical soprano who is completed the level training course for singers of the International Opera Academy in Ghent (opera studio). She had the chance to work with Tom Kraus, Renata Scotto, Natalie Dessay, José Van Dam and Tito Capo Bianco during numerous masterclasses. She won the second prize in the ‘Flame’ competition in Paris and the first prize at the international ‘Lied Cobeli’ competition in Italy.

Follow her career here.

Visit her personal website here.

Read her testimonial about the IOA here.

Lara Rainho (Portugal, 1993) fell in love with classical singing in 2011 in the class of Susana Teixeira. After finishing a Bachelor’s Degree under the guidance of Mezzo-Soprano Liliana Bizineche she moved to Belgium in 2015 to continue her studies at the International Opera Academy of Gent, where she graduated in 2017.

Performed in La Monnaie, Flanders Opera and at the moment she is Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Brussels).

Education before IOA:
Louise (1991) began her musical education at the Peter Benoit Music Academy in Harelbeke at the age of ten. In 2010 she started her vocal training at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent under the bass-baritone Gidon Saks. While there, she had the opportunity to perform as a soloist in several operas: The Turn of the Screw, Dido and Aeneas and Der Rosenkavalier. In 2015 she finished her Masters in Singing at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven.

Follow her career here.

Portuguese soprano Margarida Hipólito has graduated in vocal performance at the University in Aveiro in 2012. During a postgraduate course in opera performance at ESMAE (Porto), she had the opportunity to work with Peter Konwitschny in “Die Zauberflöte” (2nd Lady) and sing several roles in Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges” and Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen”.

Margarida has further performed in “Amor de perdição”, a Portuguese opera by João Arroyo, the world premiere of “Mumadona”, a composition of Carlos Azevedo (conducted by António Saiote), “Prima la musica e poi le parole” from Salieri (role of Eleonora – directed by Jan David Schmitz) and “Eugène Onegin” from Tchaikovsky (role of Tatiana – directed by Carlos Wagner).

As a concert performer, she was a soloist in Mozart’s “Tantum ergo KV142“, “Laudate Dominum KV339” & “Regina Cæli KV127” and Haydn’s “Benedictus“ from “Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo”. She is part of the ENOA organization since 2013 and participated in several workshops including the Mozart Residence in the Festival of Aix-en-Provence of 2014. Also in 2014, she won the 3rd prize at the “Portuguese Rotary Foundation Lyric’s Singing Competition”.

In 2017, Margarida graduated from the International Opera Academy, a two-year postgraduate course for singers, based in Ghent (BE).

Performed in Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Opera Zuid, La Monnaie/De Munt, Flanders Opera, Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, Volksoper Wien.

Morgane Heyse was born into a bilingual and musical family in France in 1990. After obtaining a Master in Art Lyrique from the Conservatoire Royal de Liège in 2014, she joined the International Opera Academy for 2 years intensive opera training.

Performing on stage is her greatest passion and we have already seen her in numerous roles such as Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Sivene (Le Cinesi), Ernestine (Mr. Choufleuri restera chez-lui) or Aspasia (Mitridate, re di Ponto), for which she was cover of Lenneke Ruiten. In 2016/2017, she performed in Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Orasia (Orpheus) and Sofia (The Mother) for the world premiere of the fifth opera by English composer L. Osborn.

Morgane enjoys the challenge of bringing new roles to the public and has taken part in many world premieres: Le Chat, by A. Ripoll (2014), La Caravane du Caire reloaded, by A. Ripoll, A-M Register and F. Bovet (2013)… Her sensibility and clear diction are very much appreciated by contemporary composers such as P. Barthomée, S. Collin, J-P Peuvion… who trust her to bring their pieces to life.

She won the role of Sofia at the Armel Opera Competition (2016), Third Price at the Bell’Arte International Singing Competition (2015) and was a finalist of the SummerFest Europe Competition (2013).

Follow her career here.

Visit her personal website here.

Belgian mezzo-soprano Pauline de Lannoy is a native of the city of Liège. She holds a Master’s degree in History from the University of Liège.

After studying violin, Pauline devoted herself exclusively to the voice. She studied at the Conservatory of Liège with Bruno Boterf and at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where she studied with Christine Solhosse, Laure Delcampe, Stephane Van Dijck and Tibaut Lenaerts. In September 2014 Pauline joined ranks at the training program for young singers of the Chamber Choir of Namur. From 2015 until 2017, Pauline has studied at the International Opera Academy in Ghent.

Pauline is singing Early music and polyphony in La Noeva, L’ensemble Exuberans, the Musica Fura ensemble, The New Baroque Times, the Sablon Gregorian Schola, and the Namur Chamber Choir.

Recent soloist roles include a.o. Cherubino in the Nozze di Figaro by W. Mozart (Royal Park Theater, Brussels), Métella in Parisian Life by J. Offenbach (gala concert, Elezelles). In 2017, she incarnated Eurimides in Georg Philipp Telemann’s Orpheus (dir. Guy Joosten, cond. Korneel Bernolet) in the final curriculum production of the International Opera Academy.

She pursues vocal training with professors Louis Landuyt and Lucienne Van Deyck.

Mezzo-soprano Sylvie Bedouelle (France) trained at the Guildhall School Opera Course, where she was awarded the Patrick Libby Prize.

Recent roles include Hans in Der Gestiefelter Kater by Cesar Cui at the Ghent National Theatre; Lisinga in Gluck’s Le Cinesi at the Minard Theatre in Ghent; Annina in La Traviata, Garcias in Don Quichotte, and Madelon in Fortunio for Grange Park Opera; Third Boy in Zauberflöte for Metz Opera; Volusio in Hasse’s Cajo Fabrizio for the Handel Festival; and Angela in La Cenerentola for Opera Up-close.

She has been generously supported by the Kathleen Trust.