The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of the festival; one highlight is the annual performance of Hofmannsthal's play Jedermann (Everyman).
Cecilia BartoliOMRI is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best known for her interpretations of the music of Bellini, Handel, Mozart, Rossini and Vivaldi, as well as for her performances of lesser-known music from the Baroque and Classical period. She is known for singing both soprano and mezzo roles.
Anja Silja Regina Langwagen is a German soprano singer.
Nyle Wolfe is an Irish operatic baritone, who has sung with the Musiktheater im Revier in Germany and Opera Ireland. His first solo album Moodswings was released in Ireland in 2007.
Helga Dernesch is an Austrian soprano and mezzo-soprano. Her career has taken her through four successive phases: from mezzo-soprano to lyric soprano to dramatic soprano, and after about 1980 back to mezzo again. "Her voice had great richness and power, and her strikingly handsome stage appearance and intense acting made her a compelling performer."
Sir David Willoughby Pountney is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ten world premières, including three by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for whom he wrote the librettos of The Doctor of Myddfai, Mr Emmet Takes a Walk and Kommilitonen!
Diana Damrau is a German soprano who achieved international fame for her performances, primarily in opera, but also in concert and lieder. She has been successful in coloratura soprano roles since her early career, and gradually proceeded into heavier roles 19th-century Italian bel canto repertoire. Her signature roles include the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Violetta in La traviata.
Johannes Schaaf was a German film, theatre and opera director and actor. Several of his films have been internationally recognized. His focus shifted to opera in the 1980s and he worked with many of the leading international opera houses within Europe, and was invited to direct at several renowned opera houses in the United States and Asia.
June Card is an American soprano and stage director who had an active career in operas and concerts from 1959 through today. She began her career as a chorus girl on Broadway before moving into opera.
Axel Köhler is a German countertenor and opera director. In 1994, he won the Handel Prize. Since 2009, he has been Artistic Director of the Halle Opera House.
Dorothea Nicolai is a German costume designer, stage designer, author and curator. From 2000 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2015 she worked as director for costumes, make-up and wigs of the Salzburg Festival. 2017/18 she was responsible for the costumes at the Bayreuth Festival.
Damiano Michieletto is an Italian stage director especially known for opera. He has staged productions at leading opera houses and festivals worldwide. His awards include the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for the production of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci at the Royal Opera House in London.
Christof Loy is a German stage director especially for opera, whose work received several awards. A freelance director, he has staged operas from Baroque to premieres of new works at major European opera houses and festivals. He is known for directing works by Mozart.
Asmik Grigorian is a Lithuanian operatic soprano.
Cornelia Wulkopf is a German operatic mezzo-soprano and contralto. A long-time member of the Bavarian State Opera, she has performed leading parts at international opera houses and festivals. She made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in the Jahrhundertring and sang in Franz Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln at the Salzburg Festival.
Benjamin Bernheim is a French lyric tenor known for his interpretation of Italian and French roles.
Tomer Zvulun is an Israeli stage director. Since 2013 he is the General and Artistic Director of Atlanta Opera.
Karine Babajanyan is an Armenian operatic soprano.
Frank Philipp Schlößmann is a German scenic designer focused on operas who has worked at major opera houses and festivals internationally. He staged Janáček's Jenůfa at the Metropolitan Opera, Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at both the Bayreuth Festival and Der Ring in Minden, and the world premiere of Heinz Holliger's Lunea at the Opernhaus Zürich.
Ruben Drole is a Swiss operatic bass-baritone.
