Conductors, Orchestras and Accompanists

Conductors and Orchestras

Tomáš Hanus

• Conductor - Orchestra of Welsh National Opera

Tomáš Hanus is now recognised as one of the Czech Republic’s most exciting and important conductors. Having studied with Jiri Belohlavek at the Janáček Academy of Music and Drama in Brno, he came to prominence when he won the Conductors’ International Competition in Katowice in 1999. In 2016, Tomáš became Music Director of WNO.

Tomáš has conducted new productions and revival performances at the Dresden Staatskappelle, the Danish National Opera and Teatro Real Madrid. Having assisted Jiri Belohlavek in 2003 at the Finnish National Opera with a new production of Katya Kabanová he was invited to conduct the revival in 2005 and to make his debut at the Paris Opera in 2007 with Leoš Janáček’sVěc Makropulos directed by Krzystztof Warlikovwski. Tomáš returned to Paris Opera in 2009 for the revival of this hugely successful production. Since making his debut in 2001 with the National Theatre Prague and a production of Bedřich Smetana’s Devil’s Wall he has worked regularly in the house and most recently conducted performances ofVěc Makropulos directed by Christopher Alden. From 2007/2008 to 2009 Tomáš was Music Director of the National Theatre Brno, Janacek Opera House.

Tomáš has made several recordings with both the Prague Philharmonia and the State Philharmonic Orchestra Brno, and also records for Czech Radio. More recently, he has recorded the Viktor Ullmann symphonies with the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, and has collaborated with outstanding Czech soloists for Lotos Records.
Orchestra of Welsh National Opera

The WNO Orchestra was formed in 1970. Since then, it has established itself as one of the finest orchestras in the UK, highly praised for its distinction in wide ranging operatic repertoire, as well as for its extremely varied concert work and portfolio of recordings. Resident at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff the Orchestra is one of two permanent, full-time ensembles at the heart of the Company, alongside the WNO Chorus. Former Music Directors of Welsh National Opera and its Orchestra include Carlo Rizzi, Lothar Koenigs and the late Sir Charles Mackerras. Tomáš Hanus joined the Company as Music Director in August 2016, making his debut in this role conducting Mahler’s Symphony No 2 at St David’s Hall on 20 October 2016.

In addition to a substantial operatic remit for WNO, the Orchestra’s stature and reputation as a world-class ensemble in its own right is demonstrated by its distinguished involvement in the St David’s Hall International Concert Series in Cardiff each year. On the concert platform, the Orchestra is regularly active at many high profile concert and festival engagements, covering an extremely wide range of styles from large symphonic works through to lighter orchestral and popular music, together with a regular portfolio of family concerts and chamber music engagements. Upcoming highlights for 2017 include two performances of The Merchant of Venice at the Royal Opera House, two visits each to the Fishguard International Music Festival and the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (alongside Bryn Terfel) as well as a return concert at the Welsh Proms. WNO has a firm commitment to concerts and residency programmes across Wales and England, and 2017 has seen the Orchestra performing in Bangor, Newtown and Aberystwyth, alongside regular performances (directed by the Orchestra’s Leader, David Adams) in the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Beyond the conventional performance arenas, the Orchestra, in line with the Company’s commitment to young artistic talent, operates an extensive side-by-side mentoring scheme through rehearsal and performance programmes with students. This activity has been taking place through partnerships with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Birmingham Conservatoire and a burgeoning relationship with Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich.

Thomas Søndergård

Grace Bumbry

• Chairman: jury member, both competitions

David Pountney was Director of Productions at Scottish Opera, 1975–1980, and at ENO, 1980–93, and Intendant of the Bregenz Festival 2003–14. He has been Artistic Director of WNO since 2011, where his recent productions include Lulu, Guillaume Tell, Mosè in Egitto, Pelléas Et Mélisande, La Chute De La maison Usher, Figaro Gets A Divorce, In Parenthesis (including performances at the Royal Opera House) and La Voix Humaine. He has directed many world premieres, including three operas by Philip Glass, written librettos for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and others, and translated many operas into English from Russian, Czech, German and Italian.

David continues to work as a director for many leading international opera houses, with recent productions including Strasny Dwor in Warsaw, Das Rheingold (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Charodeika (The Enchantress) in Naples.

He was made a CBE, a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres and Cavalier’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

• Conductor - BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is Principal Conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBCNOW) and also Principal Guest Conductor of Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO). He was Principal Conductor and Musical Advisor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra from 2009-2012.

His 2014/15 season includes debuts with Sydney Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthaus, New Zealand and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, DSO Berlin and returns to Seattle Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Royal Swedish Opera (Les Dialogues Des Carmelites). Major projects with his titled orchestras include Mahler’s 2nd symphony (BBCNOW) and Bartok’s Concerto For Orchestra (RSNO). Future guest invitations include his debuts with Norske Opera (Oslo), Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Toronto Symphony and returns to DSO Berlin, Sydney, Houston and Danish National Symphony Orchestras.

Highlights of recent seasons include four contrasting programmes at BBC Proms (with BBCNOW), and successful debuts with Gothenburg, Atlanta, Brussels, Oslo and Luxembourg Philharmonics, Seattle, Houston and BBC Symphonies, European touring with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and EUYO and visits to Rotterdam Philharmonic, Aspen Festival, Danish National Symphony, CBSO, Bamberg Symphony. As part of forthcoming 2015 anniversary celebrations of both Sibelius and Nielsen he will be conducting a wide variety of works by these two composers with many of the world’s top orchestras. He collaborates regularly with internationally-acclaimed soloists such as Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Nina Stemme, Truls Mørk, James Ehnes, Julia Fischer and Ingrid Fliter.

Søndergård is also an experienced opera conductor and in the 2012/13 season appeared at both the Royal Danish (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Royal Swedish Operas (Turandot with Nina Stemme), following his success there with Tosca in 2011. In 2008 he made his highly-successful Stuttgart Staatsoper début (Tosca), returning in 2010 for Luisa Miller. He was described as 'a sensation' at his début with the Royal Danish Opera in 2005 conducting Ruders' opera Kafka's Trial: "He is one of the best things that has happened to the art of opera for many years". He has conducted productions for Royal Danish Opera both in Copenhagen and on tour in Denmark; including Il Barberi Di Siviglia, Le Nozze Di Figaro and La Bohème as well as Rite Of Spring and Pulcinella for the Royal Danish Ballet.

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

BBC NOW is one of the UK’s most versatile orchestras, with a varied range of work as both a broadcast orchestra and national symphony orchestra of Wales. The orchestra’s adventurous programming is driven by Principal Conductor Thomas Søndergård, Principal Guest Conductor Xian Zhang and Conductor Laureate Tadaaki Otaka; the Welsh composer Huw Watkins is the orchestra’s composer-in-association.

Generously supported by the Arts Council of Wales, and part of BBC Wales, BBC NOW is orchestra-in-residence at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall, and performs a busy series of live concerts throughout Wales and the UK, with almost all of its performances heard on BBC Radio. BBC NOW appears biennially at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and annually at the BBC Proms, where it is proud to represent Wales. Autumn 2015 saw one of the orchestra’s most ambitious international tours to-date; a community residency celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, followed by performances across South America.

The orchestra’s home is BBC Hoddinott Hall, a world-class concert hall and recording studio based in Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, where BBC NOW continues its work as the UK’s foremost soundtrack orchestra working on programmes and films including War and Peace, David Attenborough’s Life Story and Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie. As the Doctor Who house band, the Orchestra have performed music for the series for the last twelve years, and performed in arenas around the UK for the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular tour.

Thomas Quasthoff

Accompanists

Simon Lepper

• Member of both juries

For almost four decades, Thomas Quasthoff has set the standard on international stages, moving the hearts of countless listeners with his artistry. He ended his outstanding career as a singer in 2012. However, he has retained his close ties to singing and music as a teacher at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin and in various master classes.

In addition to his teaching commitments he has also discovered several new talents, appearing as a narrator, comedian, moderator and even actor. One of the most remarkable singers in his field, Quasthoff was a frequent guest of such orchestras as the Berlin and the Vienna Philharmonics and many other fine orchestras. He could regularly be enjoyed at all major music venues, working closely with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Christian Thielemann, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Thomas Quasthoff’s 1995 debut at the Oregon Bach Festival laid the foundation for his highly successful career in the USA. Returning numerous times for appearances with the most important orchestras and festivals, he regularly appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall following his outstanding recital début there in January 1999 (Winterreise by Schubert). Thomas Quasthoff gave his highly acclaimed opera debut in 2003 in the role of the Minister/Fidelio with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle at the Salzburg Easter Festival. His extraordinary debut at the Vienna Staatsoper in the role of Amfortas in Wagner’s Parsifal under Donald Runnicles followed in spring 2004. In January 2005, he returned to Vienna in the same role to perform under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Thomas Quasthoff has been artist-in-residence at Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and the Lucerne Festival, as well as in Baden-Baden, Hamburg, London Wigmore Hall, and the Barbican Centre.

He released his new soul/blues/jazz program Tell It Like It Is in 2010, bringing him to numerous concert venues throughout Europe. Quasthoff has something to say - and not just musically. Since his great success in the fall of 2012, where Thomas Quasthoff appeared for the first time as an actor in the role of Feste in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Or What You Will he continues to play this role at the Berliner Ensemble. Further highlights of the past seasons included concerts with the Belcea Quartett in Hamburg, Berlin and London where he performed in Haydn’s Seven Last Words as speaker, as narrator in Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle or in Schönberg's A Survivior From Warsaw with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Cornelius Meister. In July 2014 Thomas Quasthoff was highly acclaimed as Bassa Selim in Mozarts Die Entfürhung Aus Dem Serail at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. The 2014/2015 season saw Mr. Quasthoff and soprano Christiane Karg dedicating their joint artistic forces to the work of French poet and novelist Louise de Vilmorin, while at the Vienna State Opera he contributed and recited texts by Joseph von Eichendorff to a recital with tenor Michael Schade.

From September 2013 onwards Thomas Quasthoff went on to conquer the cabaret stage together with cabaret artist and author Michael Frowin and pianist Jochen Kilian. They sounded out the public opinion and put art and culture, society and events of the day, types and thesis under the cabaret artist’s microscope.

Projects of the 2015/2016 season included amongst others Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder under Ingo Metzmacher in Hannover. Thomas Quasthoff could be heard together with Florian Boesch in a literary recital around Heinrich Heine in Hamburg, Amsterdam and Graz. The innovative Verbier Festival and its artistic director Martin T:son Engstroem invited Thomas Quasthoff to make his conducting debut in July 2015 with Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion. Highlights of the upcoming season are Jazz concerts with Frank Chastenier (piano), Dieter Ilg (double bass) an Wolfgang Haffner (drums) in Zurich, Vienna and Essen as well as Schoenbergs A Survivor From Warsaw with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in Munich.

Thomas Quasthoff was a professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold from 1996–2004, and has taught at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin ever since, where he dedicates himself passionately to the upcoming generation of singers. This devotion inspired him to launch the Das Lied international song competition, which will take place next in February 2017. Master classes will bring him again to the festival Heidelberger Frühling, to the Verbier Festival to the Summer Campus in Rostock as well as to the Aldeburgh Festival. Thomas Quasthoff began his vocal studies with Professor Charlotte Lehmann and Professor Ernst Huber-Contwig in Hannover, Germany. His national and international music awards include, alongside many others, first prize in the ARD International Music Competition Munich (1988), the Shostakovich in Moscow (1996), and the Hamada Trust/Scotsman Festival Prize (Edinburgh International Festival 1996). He received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the President of Germany in 2005, the European Culture Prize for Music at the Dresden Frauenkirche, the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in 2009, and the Gold Medal of London’s Wigmore Hall in 2011. In addition, he was conferred the title of Österreichischer Kammersänger in 2009.

Starting in 1999, Thomas Quasthoff had an exclusive recording contract with the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (DGG). His CDs have been awarded many prizes and three of them have received a Grammy: Mahler’s Lieder Aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn (together with Anne Sofie von Otter) under Claudio Abbado, orchestrated Schubert Lieder (with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, also under Claudio Abbado), and in spring 2006 for his Bach Cantatas together with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. Six of his recordings have been honored with an Echo Award. In December 2014 his latest album was released by Deutsche Grammophon: Quasthoff has united the cool and relaxed song sound of the jazz singer with his penchant for fine poetry in a new concept album: Mein Weihnachten is a vocal excursion into the cool and swingin’ early holiday season in the USA with a literary interpretation of our Christmas.

Anu Tali

• Official Accompanist

Simon Lepper read music at King’s College, Cambridge. He is a professor of piano accompaniment and a vocal repertoire coach at the Royal College of Music, London where he also co-ordinates the piano accompaniment course. He is an official accompanist for BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Performance highlights have included an invitation from the Wigmore Hall, London to present a three concert project on the songs of Joseph Marx; a recital tour with Stéphane Degout which included the Ravinia and Edinburgh Festivals; his debut at Carnegie Hall, New York with mezzo Karen Cargill and at the Frick Collection with Christopher Purves; performances of the Schubert song cycles with Mark Padmore including at the Schubertiade, Hohenhems and recitals with Angelika Kirchschlager at La Monnaie, Brussels and at the Wigmore Hall where appearances have included recitals with Christopher Maltman, Elizabeth Watts, Stephan Loges, Sophie Bevan, Sally Matthews and Lawrence Zazzo.

Vocal recordings include Warlock Songs with Andrew Kennedy, 2 volumes of Debussy Songs and a Strauss disc with Gillian Keith and a disc of Mahler songs with Karen Cargill. Forthcoming releases include a song recital disc with Dame Felicity Palmer, Schubert Songs with Ilker Arcayürek and the complete songs of Jonathan Dove with Kitty Whately.

Llŷr Williams

• Jury member for BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Main Prize

Described by the Herald Tribune as “charismatic, brilliant, energetic”, Anu Tali is one of the most intriguing young conductors on the international scene today, belonging to a new generation of artists who are constantly searching for fresh musical ideas.

In August 2013, Tali became Music Director of the Sarasota Orchestra in Florida. Alongside her duties in Sarasota, recent highlights include her debuts with Houston Symphony and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as well as an invitation to the Lucerne Festival where she will debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Invitations to Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Aalborg Symfonieorkester corroborate her strong position in the Nordic countries. She continues in her role as Chief Conductor of the Nordic Symphony Orchestra, which she founded in 1997 together with her twin sister Kadri Tali, to develop cultural contacts between Estonia and Finland and to unite musicians from around the world. Today the Nordic Symphony Orchestra has members from fifteen countries, featuring musicians from some of the world’s leading orchestras.

Tali appears regularly with orchestras worldwide including the Japan and Tokyo Philharmonic orchestras, Orchestre National de France, New Jersey, Gothenburg and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras. In Germany she worked with Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Berliner Konzerthausorchester, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Ensemble Modern. Following a major success with a production of Carmen at Magdeburg State Opera, she was invited to conduct the Freiburger Barockorchester in a production of Gluck’s Telemaco at the Schwetzingen Festival and Theater Basel. She also recently conducted acclaimed semi-staged performances of Goebbels’ Songs Of Wars I Have Seen with ensembles including the London Sinfonietta at New York’s Lincoln Center, London’s Southbank Centre and in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Seattle and Barcelona.

Tali’s debut recording, Swan Flight, (Finlandia/Warner Classics) earned her the 2003 ECHO Klassik Young Artist of the Year Award. Other recordings include Action Passion Illusion for Warner Classics featuring works by Rachmaninov, Sibelius and Erkki-Sven Tüür. Her most recent CD, featuring Tüür’s Strata And Noēsis, was released on ECM in January 2011 and met with significant critical acclaim. Born in Estonia, Anu Tali began her musical career as a pianist, graduating at the Tallinn Conservatory in 1991. She then trained as a conductor at the Estonian Academy of Music with Kuno Areng, Toomas Kapten and Roman Matsow. From 1998 to 2000 she studied at the St Petersburg State Conservatory with Ilya Musin and later with Leonid Kortchmar and Jorma Panula.

John Gilhooly

• Official Accompanist

Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams is widely admired for his profound musical intelligence, and for the expressive and communicative nature of his interpretations. He has worked with orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Sinfonia Cymru, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Meininger Hofkapelle, Berner Kammerorchester, and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg. A regular performer in the Wigmore Hall’s main piano series, he also appears at the BBC Proms in London, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in the USA and has given many acclaimed performances at the Edinburgh International Festival. He is a regular performer at the East Neuk Festival in Scotland, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse, and currently artist in residence at Galeri Caernarfon in Wales.

Williams is an acclaimed performer of Beethoven with one complete piano sonata cycle under his belt and another under way. The first one in the form of an epic two-week marathon during the Edinburgh International Festival won him the prestigious South Bank Show award, the second spread over three seasons, at the Wigmore Hall and Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff started in October 2014 and will run until June 2017. In January 2017 he completed a successful collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in performances of all five Beethoven piano concerti. The 2016/17 includes his recital debuts at the Washington Performing Arts series, Da Camera in Houston and Portland Piano International.

Llŷr Williams’ great love of lieder has led him to become one of the regular official accompanists at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition; resulting in further partnerships with Jamie Barton in Edinburgh, baritone Quinn Kelsey, and Mongolian bass Amartuvshin Enkhbat. He also has an ongoing collaboration with violinist Alexander Janiczek, with whom he recently appeared at Mozarteum Salzburg and the Wigmore Hall.

Llŷr Williams’ eclectic taste is reflected in his discography. His latest release features the Wigmore Hall Beethoven cycle, the first four volumes of which are already available exclusively on digital platforms, while his critically acclaimed CD Wagner Without Words (Signum, August 2014) reflects Williams’ intimate relationship with operatic music. Williams had previously recorded two solo albums for Signum, the first one in 2010 with music by Mussorgsky, Debussy and Liszt and the second in 2012 featuring works by Liszt. Llŷr Williams is the subject of two films produced for S4C: the first of which won a Welsh BAFTA for Best Music Programme, and the second featured his debut at Carnegie Hall.

Born in 1976 in Pentrebychan, North Wales, Llŷr Williams read music at The Queen’s College, Oxford and went on to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he won every available prize and award. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He was an active member of the Live Music Now! scheme for several years, was selected for Young Concert Artists in 2002. From 2003-2005 he was a BBC New Generation Artist and in 2004 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award.