Nino Surguladze - Carmen

Georgian born Nino Surguladze is one of the most interesting artists of her generation. After attending the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, she sang in world’s premier opera stages such as Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Arena in Verona, Gran Teatre de Liceu in Barcelona, Glyndebourne Festival, Salzburg Festival, Teatro Real in Madrid, Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Regio in Turin and in Parma, collaborating with such conductors as Muti, Plasson, Harding, Gergiev. Ms. Surguladze lately sang Sinaïde in Moïse et Pharaon (cond. Muti) at the Salzburg Festival and in Rome; Dorabella in Così fan Tutte and Carmen (title role) in Tokyo; Carmen in San Diego and St. Petersburg; Olga in Evgenij Onegin in Chicago. Mrs. Surguladze just starred as Maddalena in Rigoletto in Cologne and Genoa under Fabio Luisi; Fenena in Nabucco at La Scala in Milan and Olga in Evgenij Onegin at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette at the Arena in Verona; Carmen at the Sugi Opera in Seoul. Nino Surguladze also starred as Maddalena in the opera movie Rigoletto, beside Placido Domingo in the title role. After her successful debut as Amneris in Aida at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Nino Surguladze recently made her debut in the verismo repertoire singing Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana in Avignon.

Plans include: Aida in Bergen; Rigoletto at the Festival Internacional de musica de Bogotà; Luisa Miller at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples; La Traviata at the Chorégies d'Orange; La Damnation de Faust at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège.

Gregory Bonfatti - Le Dancaïre

A winner of the “A. Belli” competition in Spoleto, he made his debut as Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), starting an intense activity that brought him to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Regio in Parma, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale, the Paris Opéra, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Gregory Bonfatti is in high demand especially for the character roles such as Dr. Cajus in Falstaff, Arlecchino in Pagliacci and Goro in Madama Butterfly (recorded for EMI with Antonio Pappano). He collaborated with prestigious conductors such as: Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Maurizio Benini, Gabriele Ferro, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Paolo Arrivabeni, Zoltan Pesko and Vladimir Jurowski. Plans include: Madama Butterfly in Sassari; Rigoletto in Amsterdam; Le Nozze di Figaro and Turandot in Toulouse; Cherevichki in Cagliari.

Benjamin Bayl - conductor

Benjamin Bayl’s skill and flair in conducting period instrument ensembles as well as modern orchestras has led to collaborations with and support from many notable figures, not least Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Iván Fischer, Ivor Bolton, Harry Bicket, Paul McCreesh and Richard Hickox, to name a few. Following the success of his recent performances with Symfoniorkester Norrlandsoperan (Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah), Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (Handel’s Agrippina and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung), Aalborg Symfoniorkester and The Hanover Band, all have invited him to return for appearances in the next seasons. Other past season highlights include his debut with Opéra National de Lorraine in concert, and invitations to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Gävle Symfoniorkester and RTV Slovenian Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Bayl recently conducted La Clemenza di Tito with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in Taipei; Dido & Aeneas in at the Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire; Cavalli’s Gli Amori di Apollo e Dafne at the Copenhagen Music Theater and Don Giovanni at the Royal Danish Opera with Concerto Copenaghen; The Fairy Queen at the Staatsoper in Berlin (new production); St. Matthew Passion in Sweden; a symphony concert in Sassari, which marked his Italian debut, followed by his debut with the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento.

Future plans include: Messiah with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra; Le Nozze di Figaro at the Opera de Oviedo; Così fan Tutte in Aarhus; Idomeneo in Antwerp; a series of concerts in Wroclaw with the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, in Arundal with the Hanover Band (Bach’s B minor Mass), in Moscow with the Akademie für Alte Musik, in Gent with the Collegium Vocale Gent and concerts in Australia with seventeen88, his newly founded period instrument orchestra. In the future seasons, Benjamin Bayl will be engaged in an important production at the Wiener Staatsoper.