Mario Cassi - Papageno

Already well-established as one of the most appreciated baritones of his generation, Mr. Cassi regularly collaborates with conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Bruno Campanella, Riccardo Muti in the most prestigious theaters in Italy and abroad. After his recent success at the Opéra de Paris singing L’Elisir d’Amore, Mario Cassi will return to Liège starring in Mozart’s masterpiece. Plans: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro) at the Opéra in Monte Carlo; Don Pasquale (Malatesta) at the Wiener Staatsoper; Don Giovanni (title role), La Traviata(Germont) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège; Così fan tutte in Dresden; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Regio in Parma then on tour in Italy.

Gianluca Buratto - Sarastro*

A noble and round voice, Gianluca Buratto is rapidly establishing himself as one of most versatile basses of his generation. His recent engagements include: Bach’s B minor Mass with Savall in Madrid and Barcelona, both Mozart and Jommelli’s Betulia liberata with Muti in Salzburg and Ravenna and in Wroclaw under Rovaris; Bach’s Johannes-Passion with Lopez-Banzo in Spain and Germany; Macbeth at the Salzburg Festival, Rome and Chicago with Riccardo Muti then at La Scala in Milan; Le Nozze di Figaro in Barcelona with Rousset; La Bohème (with Chailly) and I Due Foscari in Valencia; Rota’s Mysterium at the Vatican City, in Naples, Bari and in Milan (concert and recording) with La Verdi Orchestra; Rigoletto in Genoa under Luisi and in Bogotà; Handel’s Rinaldo and Admeto in Wien; Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques in Nancy and Paris; La Bohème in Rome, Palermo and Amsterdam; I Puritani in Florence; Rigoletto at the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata; Le Duc d’Albe in London for Opera Rara; Verdi’s Requiem in Manchester under Mark Elder. He had just starred in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Vespers on US tour, at the Wigmore Hall in London and in Versailles under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Guglielmo Ratcliff at the Wexford Festival Opera under Cilluffo. Plans include: I Due Foscari in Amsterdam; Faccio’s Amleto and Turandot at the Bregenzer Festspiele; Semiramide in London for Opera Rara; Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette in Beirut; Turandot in Montpellier; Le Nozze di Figaro in Zurich; Don Giovanni in Bilbao. In 2016 he will have his first solo recital at the Wigmore Hall in London. *Company debut

Krystian Adam - Monostatos*

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, Stefano Montanari, Andreas Spering, Werner Ehrhardt, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Vaclav Luks, Fabio Biondi, Fabio Bonizzoni, among others. Under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Krystian Adam just starred in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Vespers on US tour, at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms and in Versailles with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists and starred in Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda at the Wigmore Hall in London and in Versailles; amongst his other recent engagements it is worth mentioning: Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor in Toulouse and Bordeaux; Haydn’s La Canterina with Capella Augustina and Andreas Spering for the Opening concert of the Brühler Schlosskonzerte; Gluck’s Le Cinesi in Bad Lauchstädt under Werner Ehrhardt; Le Nozze di Figaro at the Covent Garden in London; Bach’s Cantata BWV 201 at the Leipzig Bachfest under Vaclav Luks; Idomeneo at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice under the baton of Jeffrey Tate. Plans include: Adriana Lecouvreur at the Covent Garden in London; Le Nozze di Figaro with Ivor Bolton at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam; La Fanciulla del West at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan under the baton of Riccardo Chailly; Bach’s Magnificat in Berlin with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester; Handel’s Messiah at the Handel Festival in Halle under Fabio Bonizzoni. *Company debut

Paolo Arrivabeni – Conductor

Music Director at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège.

Regularly invited by the major theaters and opera festivals, Paolo Arrivabeni is especially in demand for Italian and French opera, but he is also particularly interested in the major Russian and German repertoire, regularly conducting works by Mahler, Strauss and Mussorgsky. M° Arrivabeni conducted in the past seasons La Favorite at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, La Traviata, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Tosca and Don Carlo in Dresden, Il Trovatore at the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata, Macbeth and Nabucco at the Staatsoper and Maria Stuarda at the Deustche Oper in Berlin, La Straniera and Moïse et Pharaon in Marseille, Macbeth in Copenaghen, Fidelio, Tosca, Aida, Cenerentola, Les Pêcheurs de perles, La Forza del Destino, Ernani and a Wagner Gala at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Roberto Devereux at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Lucrezia Borgia at the Munich Opera Festival and Il Turco in Italia at the Bayerische Staatsoper, La Straniera at the Theater an der Wien, Don Giovanni in Monte Carlo, Un Ballo in Maschera in Palermo, La Bohème at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris with the Orchestre National de France, I due Foscari with Leo Nucci in Marseille. Future plans: Don Carlo and Tosca in Dresden; Boris Godunov, La Favorite, Lohengrin, series of concerts and further productions in Marseille; La Forza del Destino and La Bohème at the Grand Théâtre de Genève; I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Nabucco at Deutsche Oper in Berlin; Lucrezia Borgia at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; La Bohème at the New National Theatre in Tokyo; La Rondine in Toulouse; Aida at the Chorégies d'Orange; Maria Stuarda at the Theater an der Wien. In Liège M° Arrivabeni will conduct La Bohème, Turandot, Nabucco, Otello, Mozart’s Requiem and a series of concerts in addition to other future important productions.