Sandra Pastrana - Oscar*

The young Spanish soprano made her debut in Barcelona as Norina in Don Pasquale, a role that she then performed under the baton of Riccardo Muti at the Musikverein in Vienna.In the past seasons she staged: La Traviata in Marbella, Haydn’s Lo Speziale at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, La Gazza Ladra (Ninetta) at the Rossini Opera Festival in Wildbad. She was Violetta Valery in La Traviata in Siena, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti; Lisette in Graham Vick’s production of La Rondine by Puccini at La Fenice in Venice; La Fille du Régiment in Tokyo. She also sang Don Pasquale in Ancona under Bruno Campanella; La Cecchina in Bergamo under Stefano Montanari; Adelaide di Borgogna in La Coruña with Alberto Zedda; Petite Messe Solennelle with Gustav Kuhn in Lucca, Erl and Rome; Rigoletto in Corea with Deuk-Gy Kim. She recently performed Don Giovanni in Lucca; La Sonnambula and L’Elisir d’Amore in Malaga; Werther in Salerno and Sassari where she also sang La clemenza di Tito and Il Signor Bruschino; Il Ratto dal Serraglio (world premiere of the Italian version) in Vicenza; Help, Help, the Globolinks! in Palermo; Rigoletto in Cosenza; La Traviata in Spoleto and Ljubljana; Nabucco in Erl under Gustav Kuhn; Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence; a concert in Monte Carlo and in Kazan. Future plans include: the Bachiana Brasileira n.5 in Lugano; Massenet’s Manon at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège.

* Role debut

Gianpiero Ruggeri - Samuel

Gianpiero Ruggeri made his debut in the title role of Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro where he returned in the following season with La Gazzetta. Mr Ruggeri was also invited in Ruegen’s and Wildbad’s Rossini Festivals. Other engagements include: Frank in Die Flederamus, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Don Giovanni at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, Falstaff in Fermo and Jesi, Don Giovanni at the San Carlo in Naples, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit; Così Fan Tutte on tour in China with the Piccolo Teatro of Milan; Manon Lescaut in Salerno;The Merry Widow and Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; Lucia di Lammermoor in Jesi; Le nozze di Figaro in Copenaghen; The rape of Lucretia (Junius) in Trieste; La Traviata in Lecce; I Shardana, gli uomini dei Nuraghi and I Pagliacci at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari.

Gianluigi Gelmetti - conductor

Conductor and composer, Gianluigi Gelmetti, collaborates with the most importat 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 Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples; La Clemenza di Tito and Stabat Mater at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste; Un Ballo in Maschera for the opening night season at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Mefistofele, L’Amica and Das Rheingold  at the Opéra in Monte Carlo.

Future plans include: La Traviata at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste and I Due Foscari at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.