Damià Carbonell Nicolau (1977) studied Piano and Music Theory at the Conservatory in Barcelona. He also studied Cultural Management and Music Business Management at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona.

He began his career in 2004 as coordinator of Cultural activities at the "Friends of the Liceu" Foundation. In 2006 Damià Carbonell Nicolau joined the department of Artistic Affairs at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, where he was appointed deputy artistic director in 2011. November 2013 till January 2019  he has been working as deputy artistic director at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Since 2019, Carbonell has been head of the artistic affairs at Dutch National Opera. There he is responsible for the planning of the season and for the casting of opera productions.

Damià is regularly invited as a jury member to international singing competitions.

After graduating with honours in church music, organ and choral conducting under the guidance of Maestro Sergio Marcianò, Alessandro Galoppini continued his studies in composition with Maestro Carlo Mosso. Since then he has performed extensively both as conductor and accompanist in numerous Italian opera houses.

For almost thirty years he has worked with the Teatro Regio of Turin where he held numerous positions and responsibilities, working as vocal coach, prompter and head of music, before being appointed artistic director of the theatre in 2018. During this period he also conducted productions of Il matrimonio segreto, Il barbiere di Siviglia and La bohème.

In 2000 he joined the teaching staff of the Turin Conservatory.

In 2019 he was appointed casting director of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan

Since January 2014 Tobias Hasan is coordinating opera director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Most recently he was casting director and senior booker of the State Opera Hamburg. After completing his singing studies at the University of Mozarteum in 2001, he was a member of the festival Salzburger Festspiele and worked at the press offices of the record labels TELDEC, Deutsche Grammophon, DECCA and EMI Classics in Salzburg. Tobias Hasan has been a juror at the International Tenor Vinas Competition in Barcelona as well as the International Mozart Competition and the "Bundeswettbewerb Gesang" (National Vocal Competition).

Peter Katona, after having worked in similar positions in German, was appointed Director of Casting of The Royal Opera in 1983, and has since been responsible for the planning and casting of all performances by The Royal Opera, in close collaboration with the Music Directors of the company – first Sir Colin Davis, from 1987 with Bernard Haitink and from the start of the 2002/03 season with Antonio Pappano.

Artistic Director of the Teatro Real de Madrid since the 2013-2014 season. Artistic Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona from 1997 to 2013. He was previously Assistant Artistic Director and director of the Dramatugy department of the same theater and he has also worked as a journalist, and opera, theater, music and dance critic in various publications. He studied, among others, Piano, Singing and Harmony at the Liceu Conservatory of Barcelona and Information Sciences at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He has been the founder and president of Opera Europa and he is part of juries of prestigious international, musical and lyrical competitions.

He was born in Verona in 1974; he graduated in law at the University of Trento in 1998, and then obtained the qualification to practice the profession of lawyer.

He studied Piano and Flute in Verona.

In September 2008 he is appointed casting manager at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence.
This role leads to the interaction with the greatest artists of the international panorama, including: Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Richard Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Semyon Bychkov, Laurent Pelly, Robert Carsen, Graham Vick, William Friedkin, Ferzan Ozpetek, La Fura dels Baus, Dante Ferretti, Michael Curry, some of the greatest soloists, and finally Zubin Mehta, principal conductor, with whom he intensifies a strong collaboration especially in casting choices.

In January 2012 he is appointed also artistic secretary at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
In May 2015 he is appointed artistic consultant for the 2016-2018 artistic programming at Teatro Lirico of Cagliari.
In September 2015 he is appointed advisor for casting at Teatro Regio of Parma.
In January 2017 he is appointed head of artistic programming at Teatro Regio of Parma.

He also deals with the organization of the “Voci Verdiane Singing Competition” that takes place in Busseto, in addition to being part of the Jury and to being responsible for the pre-selection via video of the candidates, then admitted to the preliminary stages.
From 2017 he is head of the new “Accademia Verdiana”: a young artist program dedicated to Verdi repertoire that takes place at Teatro Regio.

In 2021 and 2022 he has been the artistic director of the Choral Singing School for children's voices of Teatro Regio of Parma from which he formed for the first time the children's choir of Teatro Regio.

From January 2023 he is appointed artistic director of Teatro Regio of Turin.
 

Brian Speck is Artistic Administrator for The Metropolitan Opera, where he hears hundreds of singers each year in consideration for Met productions and is responsible for casting many roles in the company’s repertoire each season.

Prior to joining the Met, he served as Director of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Studio at Houston Grand Opera for eight years, recruiting singers and pianists and supporting the artistic and career development of the program’s artists. He is a regular adjudicator of competitions, including the Met’s Laffont Competition, Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Opera Index, and others. During his time at HGO, he spearheaded an effort to provide online auditions for artists, increasing access for singers across the opera industry, and was a leader in OPERA America’s Performer Development Network.

Prior to his appointment with the Butler Studio, he served as HGO’s Company Manager and Artist Liaison, supporting the company’s guest artists and managing rehearsal planning and scheduling. He began his career in administrative positions with Aspen Opera Theater. Also trained as a baritone, he holds music degrees from Rice University and Pepperdine University.
 

Kiri Te Kanawa was born in New Zealand with European and Maori heritage and was singing on radio from the age of six. She won the major vocal prizes in Australasia, made numerous television appearances, was awarded a Golden Disc for early recordings, and appeared in two movies, before leaving in 1965 to study in London.

She was soon engaged to sing a small role at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - and caught the attention of Sir Colin Davis.  She returned to New Zealand to sing 'Carmen' and was then engaged by Covent Garden to appear as leading soprano in their 1971 new production of 'Marriage of Figaro'. The sensational opening night established the young New Zealander with legendary status. She moved rapidly into the front rank of international opera, became a familiar figure in the leading opera houses of the world, and one of the most famous sopranos in recent music history.

On the concert stage, she joined with the world's major orchestras and conductors in  ¬Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Germany, Boston, Australia, New Zealand, and  Japan. 

As soloist at the wedding of HRH Prince Charles in St. Pauls Cathedral, she was seen and heard by a viewing audience estimated to be over  600 million. 

Her outdoor performances include concerts at Tanglewood, Ravinia, the Arena at Verona, Hollywood Bowl, Salzburg Festival, and the Outback of Australia. During 1990 her outdoor concert appearance in Auckland attracted a crowd of 140,000.

Her recordings include sixteen full operas, besides concert repertoire such as the ‘Strauss Four last Songs,’ the ‘Songs of the Auvergne’( top of the best -seller charts in Britain and UK); symphonies of Beethoven and Mahler, oratorios of Handel, Brahms and the premiere of Paul McCartney’s ‘Liverpool Oratorio’. She also topped the charts with the Rugby World Cup song 'World in Union' and her ‘Maori Songs’ CD featured on best-seller lists for three years.

Created a Dame in 1982,  Kiri Te Kanawa has been conferred with honorary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge Universities plus nine other universities, is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, was presented with the International Achievement Summit and the British Recording Industry’s 2010 ‘Lifetime Achievement ‘ awards. In 2012 she was named ‘Iconic New Zealander of the Year’.

In 1990 Dame Kiri was invested with the Order of Australia, and the Order of New Zealand in 1995.

In 2000 she sang from Gisborne, New Zealand – the first place in the world to see the sun each day - in the massive Millennium telecast, and was the first singer seen by countless millions world-wide.

In 2010, her final appearance in a leading operatic role was the Marchioness in Cologne Opera’s 'Der Rosenkavalier'. She continued to perform worldwide with  concerts in Russia, USA, Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands, London, Norway, Australia and Switzerland. 

In 2003 Dame Kiri created the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to offer mentoring, financial and career assistance to young singers with exceptional potential. During it’s first 20 years the Foundation has made 160 grants to 40 singers which were geared to helping them attend international music schools, as well as grants for travel, visa applications and auditions.  Dame Kiri continues her work with the young singers through masterclasses.  
 

José Van Dam was born in Brussels, where he completed all his musical studies. Invited to perform on the most prestigious international stages (Scala in Milan, Metropolitan in New York, Covent Garden in London, Opéra in Paris, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires), his vast repertoire includes the title roles in Falstaff and Simon Boccanegra (Verdi), Don Giovanni (Mozart), Figaro ( Le nozze di Figaro) Boris Godounov (Moussorgski), Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner), La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz), Guillaume Tell (Rossini), Wozzeck (Berg), Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), as well as the world premiere of Saint François d'Assise (Messiaen) at the Opéra national de Paris, a role he successfully reprised at the Salzburger Festspiele. He has also appeared regularly as Philippe II (Don Carlo, Verdi); Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and Amfortas (Parsifal) by Wagner; Jochanaan (Salome, Strauss); Mephisto (Faust, Gounod); Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande, Debussy); Selim (Il Turco in Italia, Rossini) and Scarpia (Tosca, Puccini).

He has also appeared in L'Heure espagnole (Ravel), Gianni Schicchi, Fliegende Holländer, La Damnation de Faust and Elias at the Saito Kinen Festival; La Damnation de Faust in Geneva and Paris; Saint François d'Assise at the RuhrTriennale and in Paris; Die Meistersinger in Zurich; Don Pasquale (Donizetti) and De la maison des morts (Janáček) in Madrid; Pelléas et Mélisande in Paris and at the Metropolitan Opera; L'Amour des trois oranges (Prokofiev), La Traviata and Louise (Charpentier) in Paris, among others.

He also performs a vast repertoire of concert works, oratorios and lieder, and has made numerous recordings. In the cinema, he played the Master of Music in Gérard Corbiau's film of the same name, a brilliant Leporello in Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni, and appeared in André Delveau's Babel Opéra.

His performances have won him numerous awards. He holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Montreal and Mons; the City of Berlin has awarded him the honorary title of 'Kammersänger'; and the French government has made him a Commandeur des Arts et Lettres and a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur. He was knighted by King Albert II.
 

Roger Vignoles is one of the most distinguished song pianists and chamber musicians of our time.  In a career spanning over five decades he has appeared at all the world’s principal venues and festivals, from the Concertgebouw to Carnegie Hall.   Among the singers he has partnered are names such as Sir Thomas Allen, Barbara Bonney, Christine Brewer, Florian Boesch, Bernarda Fink, Elina Garanca, Susan Graham, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Angelika Kirchschlager, Dame Felicity Lott, Mark Padmore, Christoph Prégardien, Elisabeth Soederstroem  and Sarah Walker; he has also appeared in recitals and recordings with instrumentalists such as Nobuko Imai, Ralph Kirshbaum, Heinrich Schiff and Dmitry Sitkovetsky.

His extensive discography includes a long and fruitful association with Hyperion Records, recently crowned by the completion of the complete Songs of Richard Strauss.  Other notable recordings include Reynaldo Hahn with Susan Graham; Schumann, Brahms and Dvorak with Bernarda Fink; Schubert, Loewe and Krenek with Florian Boesch; Britten and Finzi with Mark Padmore, and a wide range of song from Schubert to Cabaret Songs with Sarah Walker. 

While continuing his busy playing career, Roger Vignoles is also deeply committed to working with and coaching younger singers and pianists: he gives frequent masterclasses and workshops in Europe, Scandinavia and the US, where he is a regular visitor to the Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music and Tanglewood Music Festival.  He is an Honorary fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge and Prince Consort Professor of Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music.