Sara Mingardo - Alto

One of the genuine contralto voices on the music scene today, Sara Mingardo collaborated with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Ottavio Dantone, Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Riccardo Muti, Trevor Pinnock, Christophe Rousset, Jordi Savall, Jeffrey Tate and Rinaldo Alessandrini. Her repertoire includes works by Gluck, Monteverdi, Handel, Vivaldi, Rossini, Verdi, Cavalli, Mozart, Donizetti, Schumann and Berlioz. Particularly active in concert, she has a vast repertoire ranging from Pergolesi to Respighi, through Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak and Mahler. Mrs. Mingardo was awarded the prestigious Premio Abbiati in 2009.

Future plans: Handel's Giulio Cesare (Cornelia) at the Teatro Regio in Turin under Alessandro De Marchi; L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Ottone) at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan under Rinaldo Alessandrini; Messiah with Orfeo55 under Nathalie Stutzmann on a European tour (then revived in Detroit with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra); Mahler's Kindertotenlieder at the Amici della Musica in Florence and a Liederabend at Ferrara Musica with Enrico Pace; Cherubini’s Medea (Neris) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève; Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at the Festival International d’Art Lyrique in Aix-en-Provence and in Lille; Mendelssohn's Elias in Copenhagen; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in Turin with the Orchestra Nazionale della Rai and in Istanbul; Dvorak’s Stabat Mater in Paris and a series of concerts in London and Lisbon.

Krystian Adam - Tenor

Much in demand for the 17th and 18th serio and buffo repertoire, the Polish tenor Krystian Adam regularly works with many of the most important conductors of the ‘historically informed practice’, such as John Eliot Gardiner, Giovanni Antonini, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Teodor Currentzis, Andreas Spering, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Vaclav Luks, Fabio Biondi, Fabio Bonizzoni, among others.

Future plans include: L’Orfeo (title role and Pastore I) and Vespro della Beata Vergine with the Monteverdi Choir and John Eliot Gardiner on tour in the Unites States (New York, San Francisco, Washington, Costa Mesa, Chapel Hill) and then in London (BBC Proms) and Versailles; Le nozze di Figaro (under Antonio Pappano) at the Covent Garden; Il Re Pastore at the Théâtre du Châtelet under Jean-Christophe Spinosi and L’occasione fa il ladro at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées under Enrique Mazzola; Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège; Respighi’s Lauda per la natività del Signore with the Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester in Berlin.

Stefano Montanari - conductor

One of the most outstanding baroque violinists of his generation, Stefano Montanari is now much in demand as a conductor both with modern and period orchestras. Stefano Montanari was nominated for a Grammy Award for his recording of Purcell’s O Solitude with Andreas Scholl for Decca. His recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas has just been published for the Italian music magazine Amadeus. He recently wrote a Baroque Violin method, published by Carisch. He is regularly present in the seasons of Teatro La Fenice both in opera and in concert. He just made his theatre debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow conducting Così Fan Tutte. In Venice, where he regularly appears both in opera and concert, he recently conducted Cavalli’s Eritrea (first performance in modern times) and L’Inganno Felice. He also made his debut with the Rome Opera conducting Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Baths of Caracalla. Always active as a virtuoso violinist, Stefano Montanari has just played the whole series of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas at the Opéra de Lyon.

Future plans: several new projects at the Opéra de Lyon, where he is regularly reinvited; a new production of Il Viaggio a Reims at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam (company debut); a revival of Così fan tutte at the Bolshoi in Moscow; Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona and Don Giovanni at the Arena; Dido and Aeneas at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, where he will also conduct a series of baroque concerts; Orfeo ed Euridice at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples; Agrippina in Antwerp; concerts in Milan with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali and in Palermo with the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo. He will also play in several concerts with his own ensemble L’Estravagante in Italy and Europe.