Ketevan Kemoklidze - Elisabetta  (role debut)

In high demand by the major theaters of the world for her extraordinary vocal and stage skills, Georgian mezzo-soprano Ketevan Kemoklidze successfully appears at many leading stages, after graduating from Tbilisi State Conservatory and Academy of Teatro alla Scala. Her talent was awarded in prestigious competitions such as Operalia, the Belvedere in Vienna, and the Viñas in Barcelona. Mrs. Kemoklidze had made her exciting debut as La Cenerentola at the Los Angeles Opera, James Conlon conducting and then performed in La Forza del Destino (Preziosilla) in Washington. Mrs. Kemoklidze lately starred as Maddalena in Rigoletto at Teatro alla Scala and on tour in Japan, Gustavo Dudamel conducting and Gilbert Deflo directing. Mrs. Kemoklidze made her debut in Bizet’s Carmen in Tokyo and then sang Olga in Evgenij Onegin at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Liceu in Barcelona and Isolier in Le Comte Ory in Malmö. The fascinating Georgian mezzo recently opened the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto singing Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopatre with the Orchstra Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, under John Axelrod. Future plans include: Siebel in Gounod’s Faust at the Teatro Regio in Turin under Gianandrea Noseda; Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino in Tokyo; Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Nice. She will make her debut as Eboli in Don Carlo in the United States.

Shalva Mukeria - Roberto, earl of Leicester

Particularly appreciated in Bel Canto repertoire, Shalva Mukeria is considered one of the most important tenors of his generation. Recent engagements include Rigoletto in Tokyo and Florence, I Puritani at the Vienna State Opera, in Pamplona, Savonlinna and Essen, Leicester in Maria Stuarda at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Mariella Devia, La Traviata in Salerno, Corismano in Bellini’s Zaira at the Montpellier Festival (to be released as CD), Rigoletto,  La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, La sonnambula, I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the La Fenice in Venice, Anna Bolena (Percy) at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, at the Washington National Opera and in Japan with the Vienna State Opera alongside Edita Gruberova and under the baton of Evelino Pidò, Ernesto (Don Pasquale) at La Scala, Alfredo at the Teatro Bellini in Catania and in Shanghai, Duca in Rigoletto in Genoa under the baton of Fabio Luisi, Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi in Verona, two Verdi concerts with the Teatro La Fenice in Japan, Myun-Whun Chung conducting, Les Troyens (Iopas) at La Scala under the baton of Antonio Pappano, David McVicar directing as well as I Puritani (Arturo) in Santiago del Cile.

Andriy Yurkevych - conductor

Music Director of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera

After his debut at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, he earned an impressive reputation at international level with many invitations at the Monte Carlo Opera, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Municipal in Santiago (Chile), the Greek National Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Mr. Yurkevych enjoys a continuous and successful collaboration with the world famous soprano Edita Gruberova, working with her in numerous  productions. Among his most notable past engagements: Norma in Paris (Salle Pleyel), Nice and Cologne; The Swan Lake,  Anna Bolena and Il Mago di Oz  in Florence; Norma in Palermo; Evgenij Onegin, La Traviata and Macbeth in Gdansk; Pique Dame, Der Fliegende Holländer, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly and Nabucco in Warsaw; Roberto Devereux in Zürich, Vienna and Madrid; Aida in Riga; The Swan Lake in Rome; Lucia di Lammermoor in Budapest. In Berlin he recently conducted L’Elisir d’Amore (Staatsoper) and Anna Bolena (Deutsche Oper).

Active also in the symphonic field, he conducted concerts with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan and the Münchner Symphoniker, being immediately reinvited. Mr. Yurkevych also served as Music Director of the National Theatre in Odessa and as General Music Conductor at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Republic of Moldova in Chisinau. As Music Director at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, in the 2014-2015 season Mr. Yurkevych will also conduct Guillaume Tell (new production), Nabucco, Madama Butterfly,  as well as symphonic concerts.

Other upcoming projects include: Roberto Devereux in Madrid; Norma in Tokyo; Anna Bolena in Zurich and Vienna with Anna Netrebko.