Cheryl Studer is an American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's foremost opera houses. Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated with lyric sopranos and coloratura sopranos, and, in her late stage, mezzo-sopranos. She is particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.
Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer was a German opera director and academic. A long-time director at the Komische Oper Berlin, he worked at major opera houses and at festivals internationally. Trained by Walter Felsenstein, he worked in the tradition of realistic directing. At the Bayreuth Festival, he staged Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer in 1978 and Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1988. At the Salzburg Festival, he directed the premiere of Penderecki's Die schwarze Maske in 1986 and Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss in 2014.
Anja Harteros is a German soprano. Since winning the 1999 Cardiff Singer of the World competition she has been particularly associated with the Bavarian State Opera and enjoyed an international career.
Johannes Wildner is an Austrian conductor, conducting professor, and former member violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic.
William Dooley was an American bass-baritone singer who performed with many prominent opera companies. He began his career in Germany in the late 1950s, ultimately becoming a leading performer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1962 to 1964. He then embarked on a highly successful career at the Metropolitan Opera where he sang regularly between 1964 and 1977. Between 1977 and 1982 he sang regularly at the Vienna State Opera, after which he remained active as a freelance artist on the international stage through the early 1990s.
Eva Johansson is a Danish operatic soprano.
Rachel Willis-Sørensen is an American operatic soprano.
Iris Vermillion is a German operatic mezzo-soprano. A member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1988, she has enjoyed an international career, appearing in Amsterdam with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and at the Salzburg Festival, among others.
Vera Nemirova is a Bulgarian-German opera director who has worked at major opera houses in Europe, staging for example Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Oper Frankfurt. She directed for the Munich Biennale and the Salzburg Festival.
Claire Born was a German operatic soprano. A long-term member of the Vienna State Opera and the Semperoper in Dresden, she appeared at leading international opera houses and festivals, in roles such as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos. She performed in world premieres including Hindemith's Cardillac and Othmar Schoeck's Vom Fischer un syner Fru.
Tijl Faveyts is a Belgian operatic bass. A current member of the Komische Oper Berlin, he has performed leading roles such as Mozart's Sarastro and Hunding in Wagner's Die Walküre and Gurnemanz Parsifal at major opera houses, concert halls and festivals, and made recordings.
Heiko Trinsinger is a German operatic baritone. A member of the Aalto Theatre in Essen, he has performed leading roles at major houses, such as Mozart's Papageno and Wagner's Alberich.
Tichina Vaughn is an American operatic dramatic mezzo-soprano active internationally in opera, concert halls and recitals. Starting at the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, her American career expanded into Europe, as member of the permanent ensembles of the Semperoper in Dresden and the Stuttgart Opera, where she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin in 2006. She has been a regular at the Arena di Verona and other major theaters worldwide, singing a wide repertoire span, with a "voluminous and dark mezzo" voice the dramatic Verdi roles such as Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlo, Azucena in Il trovatore and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Wagner's Ortrud Lohengrin, Venus Tannhäuser, Fricka Die Walküre, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung and Strauss, Herodias in Salome and Klytemnestra in Elektra. According to Opernglas, Vaughn has a natural "great intensity" on stage, with an ample "voice, which flows richly, even in the low registers." The Neue Zürcher Zeitung describes her voice as an "enchanting satisfyingly rich mezzosoprano". Bernard Holland of The New York Times called hers "A voice of quality", which had "the presence and personality that might well fit the Met... a mezzo-soprano whose strong upper register gave hints of a dramatic soprano to come".
Kwangchul Youn is a South Korean operatic bass and academic voice teacher. He made an international career based in Germany, from 1994 to 2004 at the Berlin State Opera. He has performed leading roles at international opera houses and festivals, such as Gurnemanz in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival, Mephisto in Faust at the Vienna State Opera, and King Marke in Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera.
Elisabeth Sobotka is an Austrian woman opera director and since January 2015, director of the Bregenzer Festspiele.
Ute Trekel-Burckhardt is a German operatic mezzo-soprano. She was a long-time lead soloist of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in East Berlin. She took part in world premieres such as Noch einen Löffel Gift, Liebling? by Siegfried Matthus and Heinrich Sutermeister's Le Roi Bérenger. Even before the fall of the Berlin Wall, she appeared internationally, including the Vienna State Opera in her signature role, the tile role of Der Rosenkavalier, and at Opéra de Nancy in Schönberg's Erwartung.
Giedrė Šlekytė is a Lithuanian conductor, who works in Europe with a focus on opera. After she was one of three conductors for the Young Conductor Award of the Salzburg Festival in 2015, she worked at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt for two seasons. She conducted Schreker's Die Gezeichneten at the Opernhaus Zürich, and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Oper Frankfurt in 2021.
Gottfried Hornik is an Austrian operatic baritone and voice teacher. He was a member of the Vienna State Opera for 25 years and appeared worldwide in leading roles. His signature role was Beckmesser in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He was awarded the title of an Austrian Kammersänger.
Peter Edelmann is an Austrian operatic baritone. Since 1 January 2018, he has been the artistic director of the Seefestspiele Mörbisch.
Christoph Pohl is a German operatic baritone who has performed at major opera houses in Europe, based at the Semperoper in Dresden from 2005 to 2018.
