Aquiles Machado - Jacopo Foscari

After his successes gained in I Masnadieri in Naples, La Gioconda in Palermo and Rome, La Forza del Destino at the Festival Verdi in Parma, Ernani in Bilbao, Un Ballo in Maschera in Liège and Simon Boccanegra in Berlin, Aquiles Machado recently starred as Cavaradossi in Tosca in Leipzig, role he had sung with huge success at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, in Beijing, in Berlin (Deutsche Oper) and Vienna (Wiener Staatsoper). Among his recent engagements it is worth mentioning: Don José in Carmen in Las Palmas; Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra in Zurich; Alfredo in La Traviata in Florence; Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago; Rodolfo in La Bohème in Valencia, Riccardo Chailly conducting; Un Ballo in Maschera in Las Palmas; Norma at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna; Il Trovatore at the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata; La Traviata at the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo and at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia under Zubin Mehta; Roméo et Juliette in Liège; Don José in Carmen in Bilbao. Aquiles Machado had performed Verdi’s Requiem in Bologna and on tour in Moscow at the Rostropovich Festival under the baton of Michele Mariotti and in Cincinnati and St. Luois under the baton of Frühbeck de Burgos and a Verdian Gala at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

Future plans:  Madama Butterfly  in Vienna (Wiener Staatsoper); I due Foscari in Toulouse; Norma in Palermo;La Bohème at the Caracalla Bath in Rome and at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège . As returning guest at the Oper in Leipzig Mr. Machado will star in Verdi’s Requiem.

Gianluigi Gelmetti - conductor

Conductor and composer, Gianluigi Gelmetti, is one of today’s most prestigious conductors. Since his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Italian conductor, pupil of Sergiu Celibidache, Franco Ferrara and Hans Swarowski, regularly appears on the podium of the world’s most important opera houses and festivals.

M° Gelmetti was Principal Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra for ten years and Music Director of the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome from 2000 to 2009, he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He also regularly works at the Monte Carlo Opera and the Royal Opera house-Covent Garden such as the most important theaters in the world.

In Italy he has performed many works of Rossini at Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro achieving the Rossini d’Oro Prize for his Guillaume Tell. M° Gelmetti was honored with the title of "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres” in France and as "Cavaliere di Gran Croce" by President of the Italian Republic.

Among his recent engagements it is worth mentioning:  Falstaff, Francesca da Rimini, Amica, Mefistofele, L’Amica and Das Rheingold at the Opéra in Monte Carlo; Guillaume Tell at the Opernhaus Zurich; La Forza del Destino in Parma where he also conducted Un Ballo in Maschera for the opening night season at the Verdi Festival Les Vêpres Siciliennes in Naples; Turandot in Tokyo; Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Toulouse; La Fanciulla del West in Liège; and numerous symphonic concerts in Berlin and Copenhagen. M° Gelmetti lately returned to Trieste conducting La Traviata and where in the past seasons he conducted La Clemenza di Tito, Stabat Mater and more recently Un Ballo in Maschera.

Among his future plans it is worth metioning Manon Lescaut at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège.