ENGUERRAND DE HYS TITO LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Tenor Enguerrand de Hys began his singing studies at the Toulouse Conservatory, before entering the Paris Conservatory. During his studies, he took part in the Mozart Academy of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as well as in the Academy at Royaumont Abbey. In 2011, he won second prize at the International French Song Competition in Toulouse. He has been a member of the Nouvelle Troupe Favart of the Opéra Comique in Paris and in residence at the Théâtre Impérial in Compiègne as part of the Ayònis trio. Mozart roles form a significant part of his repertoire: he has sung Il Podestà in La Finta giardiniera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Basilio and Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro at the Théâtre de Bastia, the 2nd Priest and the 1st Armoured Man in Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Saint-Etienne, Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Orchestre d’Avignon, the title role in Mitridate, re di Ponto, and Alessandro in Il re pastore with the Ensemble Matheus. This season, he will appear as Arcas in Le Retour d'Idoménée at the Opéra de Lille, under the direction of Emmanuelle Haïm; as Le Remendado in Carmen at the Opéra de Reims; as Le prince Quipasseparla in Le Voyage dans la lune by Offenbach at the Opéra de Montpellier, the Opéra de Compiègne and the Opéra de Tours; as Léodès in Fauré's Pénélope at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse; as Le comte de Surrey in Saint-Saëns' Henri VIII at La Monnaie/De Munt… 
LAURA TELLY CAMBIER SERVILIA LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Belgian soprano Laura Telly Cambier trained in Italy with Francesca Ruospo and Umberto Finazzi (“Accademia Teatro alla Scala”). Later, she entered the “Accademia Lirica B. Gigli” in Recanati. She has worked in master classes with soprano Barbara Frittoli, as well as with pianists Diego Mingolla and Enza Ferrari. She currently studies in Belgium with Marc Coulon, in France with Nadine Denize, in the Netherlands with Manuela Ochakowski. She sang Rosina (Il barbieri di Seviglia) in London and Micaëla (Carmen) in Verona, under the direction of Riccardo Serenelli. In 2016, she reprised these roles for Villa InCanto in Verona and added Musetta (La Bohème) and Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) to her repertoire. The same year, she won the coveted “Emmerich Smola Förderpreis”, a prize awarded each year by the German television channel SWR to two promising young operatic talents, during a gala concert under the direction of Marco Comin. A Mozartiade regular, she has appeared in the roles of Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), as well as in recital in 2019. 
GABRIEL HOLLANDER CONDUCTOR LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Gabriel Hollander is a conductor and pianist based in Belgium. Highlights of his 2018-19 season were conducting Mozart’s Requiem (1000 spectators) with the Uccle Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Carloo Cantores and the A Chantar choirs, and assisting music director David Miller with the Mozartiade production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In 2019-20, he is furthering his musical development by assisting Patrick Davin (L'orchestre de la Monnaie, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Opéra de Metz Métropole), while continuing his own conducting activities. He has been the music director and principal conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Uccle since 2017, principal conductor of the German Embassy Choir of Brussels and the Brussels Madrigals Singers since 2018, and guest conductor of the Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra since 2019. Gabriel’s conducting debut was in 2014 with a Mozart piano concerto, featuring Severin von Eckardstein as soloist. Since, he has worked with numerous orchestras and choirs, including the Berlin Sinfonietta (Germany), the Pazardzhik Symphonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), the University of Michigan’s Campus Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Orion Orchestra in Aberystwyth (Wales), the Choir and Orchestra of the Minimes, the Carloo Cantores choir, the A Chantar choir and the Brussels Madrigals Singers (Belgium). 
ERIC GOBIN STAGE DIRECTOR LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Belgian dancer, actor and tenor Eric Gobin has been active as a stage director for over thirty years. He has directed such diverse works as Kurt Weill's Street Scene, Haydn's Lo Speziale, Pierre Marie Beaude's Marie la passante and Peter Nichols' Un jour dans la mort de Joe Egg. Since 2006, he has worked regularly with David Miller and Keith Tillotson on opera and musical projects including Cendrillon (Massenet), Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Anything Goes (Cole Porter) and Guys & Dolls (Frank Loesser). In 2007, this team wrote and directed a musical comedy Tom Sawyer. The same year, he directed Les Monologues de l'Abandonnée with Belgian soprano Magali Mayenne at Espace Senghor. In the 2012-13 season, he staged his 3rd production of Les nozze di Figaro for Opera Avanti. This collaboration continued in 2013-14 with Carmen and in 2016-17 with Die Zauberflöte. He has staged a series of Mozart operas for the festival, including Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and, for this 5th edition, La clemenza di Tito 
GIANNA CAÑETE GALLO SOPRANO DONNE ROMANE E BARBARE REGINE Belgian-Uruguayan soprano Gianna Cañete Gallo began her training in solfège, piano, violin and dramatic arts at the age of 6 at the Conservatoire de Musique in Huy. She later studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels before perfecting her skills at the "Luigi Cherubini" Conservatory in Florence and the Hochschule für Musik in Nürnberg. She has given concerts in Uruguay, Belgium, France, Italy and Germany (notably for the International Rachmaninoff Foundation) and sung works by Bach and Haydn under the direction of Guy Van Waas with Les Agrémens. She has performed at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, the Théatre du Parc in Brussels, the Theatru Astra in Malta, the COOL Theater in the Netherlands and the Göggingen Parktheater in Germany. Her stage roles include Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica), Adèle (Die Fledermaus), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Papagena and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro). In 2018, she appeared in the title role of Dragonette and as Nicole in La Permission de dix heures at the Offenbach Festival in Etretat, France. In 2019, she was Juan in Massenet's Don Quichotte at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. Her outstanding performance of the role of Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at last year’s Mozartiade was acclaimed by the public and the press. In 2020, she has appeared in the title role of Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Guagnini), a brand new “operatic tale” written for Opéra Royal de Wallonie. |
KAREN VERMEIREN VITELLIA LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Belgian soprano Karen Vermeiren is a graduate of the Royal Conservatories in Liège and Antwerp, where she obtained her Master's degree in singing with the highest distinction in 2015. She also attended the Mozarteum in Salzburg and furthered her studies with Peter Kooij, Helmut Deutsch, Irwin Gage, Rudolf Jansen, Catherine Foster, Tom Krause and Montserrat Caballé. She was given a rave review in the Spanish magazine “Ópera Actual" for a recital under the aegis of Montserrat Caballé; her performances during her "Tribute to Maria Callas" tour were praised by the international publication "Maria Callas Magazine". She performed as soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem under the baton of David Miller. In 2017, her appearance as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Midsummer Mozartiade was praised in the Belgian press. In June 2019, she was nominated in Vienna for the Meistersinger Award, a distinction awarded to the best international performers of Verdi, Mahler and Wagner. This season, she made her debut with Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp and Ghent as the Foreign Princess in Dvorak's Rusalka. For her second participation in the festival, she takes on the role of Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito in Brussels and Mons. 
JULIE VERCAUTEREN ANNIO LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Belgian soprano Julie Vercauteren graduated from the conservatories in Liège and Amsterdam as well as from the Musikhochschule für Musik in Cologne. She then joined the Namur Chamber Choir, with whom she has performed on such prestigious stages as the Royal Opera of Versailles, the Bastille in Paris, and the Chaise-Dieu and Beaune Festivals. She has taken part in recordings including Peter Benoit’s Te Deum and Messe Solennelle (conducted by Martin Brabbins) and Lully’s Alceste et Isis (conducted by Christophe Rousset). Since 2018, she has performed as a soloist at the Aachen Opera in productions such as L'Incoronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi), Das schlaue Füchslein (Janacek), Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Der Zauber von Oz (Schreier). In 2019, she appeared with the Belgian National Orchestra in the role of the child in Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges, a performance praised by Crescendo magazine. In 2020, she will sing the role of Alceste in Handel's Admeto at the Théâtre National de la Criée in Marseille before joining the festival for the role of Annio in La clemenza di Tito 
DAVID MILLER MUSICAL ADVISOR LA CLEMENZA DI TITO David Miller has been a professional pianist, conductor and composer for over forty years. American-born, he has lived and worked in Brussels for many years, notably as a répétiteur at La Monnaie and a vocal coach at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. He has conducted opera and ballet performances at the Semper Opera in Dresden, the Teatro Carol Felice in Genoa, the Teatro Municipal in Santiago di Chile, as well as numerous concerts at the BOZAR in Brussels. In Liège, he was conductor for productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), La Traviata (Verdi), La Bohème (Puccini), Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams), Candide (Bernstein) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, as well as a series of concerts with the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie and José Van Dam. On tour, he conducted Peter Brook’s La Tragédie de Carmen throughout Italy and Germany as well Verdi’s La Traviata and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni throughout France for the Milan-based company Opera Stage. He composed original music for Gérard Corbiau’s films Le Maître de Musique and L’Année de L’Éveil and was musical advisor for his Farinelli. As musical director of the festival, he has conducted Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Entführung aus dem Serail in its previous editions. 
FRANÇOISE PONTHIER STAGE MOVEMENT COACH LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Françoise Ponthier was a professor of stage movement at the Liège conservatory for many years. She is specialized in physical, vocal, mental training for developing actors and singers. She is also active as a movement coach for professional theater and opera productions. She started her artistic path with singing lessons at the age of six. Having completed her studies in the theatre department at the Liège conservatory, she began a lengthy period of research into the body-voice connection under such international personalities as Eugenio Barba (Odin Teatret), Ludwig Flaszen (Warsaw Theater Laboratory), Kirstin Linklater (USA), Jacques Delcuvellerie (Liège), Jacques Lecoq (Paris), Laban Centre (London), Teatro Potlach (Italy), Shakespeare And Company (USA). At the same time, she continued to perform as an actress and to teach at the academy and the conservatory levels. Certified in “Danse Sensible” (Claude Coldy) and as a Master Practitioner in Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), she is currently undergoing advanced training in Life Art Process under Anna and Daria Halprin. Now retired from the stage, she has devoted herself fully to artistic training, pedagogy, and the further knowledge of the human being and of life. |
PAULINE CLAES SESTO LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Belgian mezzo-soprano Pauline Claes performs regularly in opera productions in Belgium and other European countries. In 2018-19, she took on the title role in La Partenope (Vinci) at the Teatro Calderón in Valladolid, Spain. In 2019-20, she will sing the witches in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) and Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) in several productions in France. She will then appear at the Belgian National Theatre in L'attentat before joining the festival to perform the role of Sesto in La clemenza di Tito. Her interest in contemporary music has led her to participate in such creations as Iwona, an electronic operetta by G. Nunes, at the Théâtre de la Balsamine in Brussels and Pierrot Rewrite, alongside the ensemble Musiques Nouvelles in Brussels and on tour. As early music remains one of her favorite repertoires, she performs regularly throughout Europe with such ensembles as Scherzi Musicali. In order to broaden her horizons, she also likes to tackle other vocal styles such as musical theatre, cabaret, gospel and soul. More recently, she joined a circus company touring France with the show O let me weep. Recently released by the “Musiques en Wallonie” label, her debut recording features Eugène Samuel-Holeman's La jeune fille à la fenêtre, a lyrical work for mezzo-soprano and instrumental ensemble, along with melodies by the same composer, with Mathias Lecomte at the piano. 
SHADI TORBEY PUBLIO LA CLEMENZA DI TITO & ROMANI! Born in Siegburg (Germany), Shadi Torbey is a Belgian bass of Lebanese origins. He is a graduate in Romance Languages and Literature and Cultural Management from the Free University of Brussels. He earned degrees in Opera and Concert under Ludovic de San at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, followed by advanced studies under José van Dam at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. In 1999, he won the Vocation Prize at the Verviers International Singing Competition; in 2001, he was awarded a Voix d'Or at the Tournoi des Voix d'Or in France; in 2004, he was third laureate at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition. He has worked with such renowned stage directors as Stéphane Braunschweig, Robert Carsen, Gérard Corbiau, Robert Lepage, Pier-Luigi Pizzi, Karl-Ernst and Ursel Herrmann, as well as with prestigious conductors including William Christie, Bruno Bartoletti, Patrick Davin, Eduardo Lopez-Banzo, Paul McCreesh, Evelino Pido, Philip Picket, Roy Goodman, Laurence Equilbey, Marcello Viotti. His stage roles have included Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) in Brussels; Leporello (Don Giovanni) in Rouen; the Drum Major (Le Caïd) in Metz; the title role in Johann Mattheson’s Boris Goudenow in Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Hamburg; Lord Rochefort (Anna Bolena) in Lyon, Paris and Dortmund; Lord Sidney (Il viaggo a Reims) in Montpellier, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux; Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Aachen and Osnabrück, where he also sang the title role in Telemann’s in Germanicus. In 2020, he joins the festival for the fifth time, this time as a recitalist. 
THIBAUT LENAERTS CHORUS MASTER LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Belgian tenor and conductor Thibaut Lenaerts studied with Greta de Reyghere at the Royal Conservatory of Liège and with Thierry Migliorini at the Royal Conservatory of Mons, graduating with the highest distinction from both institutes. After his studies, he started an international career as a soloist under the direction of William Christie (Les Arts Florissants) and Hervé Niquet (Le Concert Spirituel) as well as in Belgium under the direction of Guy Van Waas (Les Agrémens), Louis Langré (Liège Philharmonic Orchestra), Jean Tubéry (La Fenice) and Patrick Davin (L'Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie). An active concert performer and recitalist, he has also appeared on the opera stages in Brussels, Liège, Rennes, Avignon, Reims, Versailles, under the baton of such conductors as Christophe Rousset. A permanent member of Les Arts Florissants, he has sung with the ensemble in Rio, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Istanbul. He has worked with such stage directors as Robert Carsen, Frédéric Dussenne, Luc Bondy, José Montalvo, Déborah Warner. He has taken part in about thirty CDs and directs his own vocal and instrumental ensemble (Le Petit Sablon). He teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Royal Conservatory of Liège. 
LUCAS BLONDEEL FORTEPIANO DONNE ROMANE E BARBARE REGINE Lucas Blondeel began playing on a 19th century pianoforte at the age of four. He studied piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and then completed his studies at the Berlin University of the Arts under Professor Klaus Hellwig. He is a laureate of international piano competitions in Antwerp, Geneva, Zurich, Berlin and Cincinnati and gives numerous concerts, which take him all over the world. He has a great appreciation for chamber music and plays regularly in duet with the clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe. They have performed at leading international festivals such as Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein and Wolfsburg. He was awarded the prize for best accompanist at the Bavarian Radio Lieder Competition and subsequently recorded several discs. After having taught piano and fortepiano for six years at the Darmstadt Conservatory, he was appointed professor of piano at the Berlin University of the Arts at the beginning of 2018. His recent recording of Haydn's Concerto in D major for fortepiano under the direction of Bart van Reyn was warmly received by the Belgian and international press. |
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