Kathleen Deanna Battle is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016.
Kris Defoort is a Belgian avant-garde jazz pianist and composer. He was born on 30 November 1959 in Bruges. He also teaches at the Brussels conservatory. His brother is Bart Defoort.
Anna Yuryevna Netrebko is a Russian and Austrian operatic coloratura soprano who has performed at the Salzburg Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera and La Scala.
Magdalena Kožená, Lady Rattle is a Czech mezzo-soprano.
Natalie Dessay is a French soprano, best known as an opera singer before her retirement from opera stage in 2013. She gained wide recognition after her portrayal of Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann in 1992, and then performing at leading stages, such as the Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.
Sandrine Piau is a French soprano. She is particularly renowned in Baroque music although also excels in Romantic and modernist art songs. She has the versatility to perform works from Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart to Schumann, Debussy, and Poulenc. In addition to an active career in concerts and operas, she is prolific in studio recordings, primarily with Harmonia Mundi, Naïve, and Alpha since 2018.
Sara Magdalena Ernman is a Swedish mezzo-soprano opera singer. Besides operas and operettas, she has also performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, and appeared in musicals. She is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Ernman represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "La Voix", finishing in 21st place.
Wim Henderickx was a Belgian composer of contemporary classical music. He was composer in residence at Muziektheater Transparant and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, writing operas and other stage works. His music was influenced by oriental music and philosophy. He taught composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
Soile Marja Isokoski is a Finnish lyric soprano, active in opera, concert works and lieder.
Bejun Mehta is an American countertenor. He has been awarded the Echo Klassik, the Gramophone Award, Le Diamant d’Opera Magazine, the Choc de Classica, the Traetta Prize, and been nominated for the Grammy Award, the Laurence Olivier Award, and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Michael Stallknecht called him "arguably the best counter tenor in the world today."
Henk Lauwers is a classical baritone singer, born in Ypres, Belgium in 1956.
Michel van der Aa is a Dutch composer of contemporary classical music.
Michelle DeYoung is an American classical vocalist who has an active international career performing in operas and concerts.
Julia Mikhaylovna Lezhneva is a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist, specializing in soprano and coloratura mezzo-soprano material of the 18th and early 19th century. She studied with Tamara Cherkasova, Irina Zhurina, Elena Obraztsova, Dennis O'Neill and Yvonne Kenny.
Olga Alexandrovna Peretyatko is a Russian operatic soprano. She has been known for lyric and coloratura soprano roles, most notably in operas by Rossini and Mozart. In recent years, she has been taking up heavier and more lyrical roles.
Roberta Alexander is an American operatic soprano. She began her career as a lyric soprano in 1975 and spent the next three decades performing principal roles with opera houses internationally. Particularly celebrated for her performances of Mozart heroines, she was a leading soprano at the Metropolitan Opera from 1983 to 1991. In addition to principal Mozart roles like Countess Almaviva, Elettra, Fiordiligi, and Donna Elvira, she had particular success with the parts of Mimì in Puccini's La bohème and the title role in Janáček's Jenůfa. More recently she has performed secondary character roles on stage, including performances at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in 2013, La Scala in 2014, and La Monnaie in 2015. She performed the Fifth Maid in Strauss's Elektra at the Met in 2016 and Curra in Verdi's La forza del destino at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2019.
Katarina Esmé Marie Karnéus is a Swedish mezzo-soprano opera singer, winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, active on many of the opera world's major stages such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opera, and named Hovsångerska by the King of Sweden in 2018.
Julie Fuchs is a French soprano known for her interpretation of light-lyric repertoire.
Albert Dohmen is a German operatic bass-baritone who is known internationally for performing leading roles by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. He has also worked in concert halls and given lieder recitals.
Genia Kühmeier is an Austrian operatic soprano who has appeared internationally in opera and concert. She made her debut at the Vienna State Opera as Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in 2003, and sang the role also at the Salzburg Festival and the Metropolitan Opera.
