Mozart’s Così fan tutte: The Dangerous Game of Love ^2024-2025

Distinguished by innate musicianship, a gift for communication, and an irresistibly joyous spirit, conductor Rafael Payare began playing horn in Venezuela’s El Sistema program at age 14 and started his formal conducting studies in 2004 with José Antonio Abreu. Since winning Denmark’s prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors in 2012, his career has advanced rapidly. He was Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra from 2014 to 2019; has served as Principal Conductor of the Castleton Festival, founded by his mentor the late Lorin Maazel, since 2015; became Music Director of the San Diego Symphony in 2019, and three years later became Music Director of Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. In recent years, Payare has conducted many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including those of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Zurich, Berlin, Vienna, London, Munich, Hamburg, and Paris, besides making important opera debuts at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Glyndebourne Festival; Stockholm’s Royal Swedish Opera; and the Royal Danish Opera. 

2024 Opus Klassik Female Singer of the Year, the Austrian-English soprano Anna Prohaska made her debut aged 18 at Berlin’s Komische Oper as Flora in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and soon after with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, entering the ensemble at age 23. She has since gone on to have an extraordinary international career with some of the world’s greatest opera houses and orchestras.

Operatic highlights include Zabelle in the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Picture a day like this & Morgana (Alcina)for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Constance (Les Dialogues des Carmélites) and Nannetta (Falstaff) for the Royal Opera House, (Pelléas et Mélisande) for the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress), Merab (Saul) and Angelica (Orlando) for Theater an der Wien, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) for La Scala, title role (Orphée et Eurydice) for Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at Opéra national de Paris, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) in Baden-Baden, Iphis (Jephtha) in Amsterdam, as well as Marzelline (Fidelio), Purcell’s Fairy Queen, Blonde, Ännchen (Der Freischütz) and Adele (Die Fledermaus) for the Bayerische Staatsoper. A regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, Anna has appeared as Vitellia, Zerlina, Despina, Deola in Luigi Nono’s Al Gran Sole Carico d’Amore, Susanna and Cordelia in Aribert Reimann’s King Lear.

Noted for her diverse repertoire with the Deutsche Staatsoper, her roles include Anne Trulove, Susanna, Sophie, Pamina, Ilia, Oscar, Blonde, Poppea, Euridice, Aricie, Ännchen, Anna Reich as well as world premieres by Beat Furrer and Peter Ruzicka. Conductors she has worked with include Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Philippe Jordan, Gustavo Dudamel and René Jacobs.

In huge demand on the concert platform, Anna has performed regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker since her debut with them aged 24, performing under Rattle, Harding and Abbado. Other orchestras include the Vienna Philharmonic under Boulez, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jansons, Harding, Blomstedt and Nézet-Séguin, the LSO under Rattle, Los Angeles Philharmonic under Dudamel, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under François-Xavier Roth, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra under John Eliot Gardiner, the Cleveland Orchestra under Welser-Möst and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under von Dohnányi. Recent seasons have included artistic residencies at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzertahus Dortmund, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kammerakademie Potsdam and the Philharmonie Luxembourg.

Plans for the 25/26 season include the Governess (Turn of the Screw) directed by Deborah Warner for Opera Roma; Ismène (Antigone) in Pascal Dusapin’s world premiere conducted by Klaus Mäkelä; a return to Zabelle in George Benjamin’s Picture a day like this at the Teatro di San Carlo; and Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and at the Liceu Barcelona.

On the concert platform, Anna will join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra – who she appeared with as a Spotlight Artist in the 24/25 season – for their European tour performing Mahler 4; she will also reunite with Sir Simon Rattle for performances of Henze’s Floß der Medusa with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

The season sees Anna perform with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; the Varian Fy Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic; and the Phantasm Viol Consort. She will also continue to tour Kurtág’s Kafka Fragmente with violinist Isabelle Faust.

Anna’s various recordings and music videos made her the subject of a documentary feature “The Fabulous World of Anna Prohaska” dir. Andreas Morell in 2013. Her first solo album, ‘Sirène’, was released in 2011 on the Deutsche Grammophon label, followed by ‘Enchanted Forest’ in 2013 and ‘Behind the Lines’ in 2014. Recent albums include charttopping ‘Serpent & Fire’ with Il Giardino Armonico, ‘Paradise Lost’ with Julius Drake, ‘Bach: Redemption’ with Lautten Compagney and ‘Celebration of Life in Death’ with La Folia Barockorchester for Alpha Classics, and ‘György Kurtág: KafkaFragmente’ with Isabelle Faust for Harmonia Mundi. Last season also saw the release of her latest album ‘Maria Mater Meretrix’ with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Camerata Bern for Alpha Classics.

Montreal-born mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier is internationally acclaimed both by audiences and critics for her vocally and dramatically captivating role portrayals. Her repertoire includes, among others, Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Charlotte (Werther), Nicklausse (Les contes d’Hoffmann), the title role in Carmen, Prinz Charmant (Cendrillon), Ascagne (Les Troyens), Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle), Jane Seymour (Anna Bolena), as well as many roles in operas by Mozart. Guest engagements have taken her major cities including Vienna, Paris, London, New York, Milan, Munich, Berlin, Salzburg, Barcelona, Florence, Rome, Geneva, Hamburg, San Francisco, Washington, Brussels, and Montreal. She has also worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti, Ingo Metzmacher, Ádám Fischer, Philippe Jordan, Louis Langrée, Marc Minkowski, Jérémie Rhorer, Kent Nagano, Emmanuelle Haïm, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Placido Domingo, James Conlon, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and with directors such as Willy Decker, Damiano Michieletto, Frank Castorf, Dimitri Tcherniakov, Barrie Kosky, Stefan Herheim, Claus Guth, Laurent Pelly, Pierre Audi, and Christoph Walz. 

Praised for his “wonderfully sweet–toned, lyric tenor voice that is an instrument of great beauty,” (Classical Review) American Matthew Swensen has emerged as one of the most versatile and charismatic tenors of his generation. Recent projects include Handel’s Samson with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with the New Orleans Opera, a debut at the Rheingau Music Festival in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang Symphony, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the NDR Orchestra. Other European credits include Ferrando in Così Fan Tutte with Adam Fischer (after giving his first performance in the role under Zubin Mehta) as well as Fenton in Falstaff (with Sir John Eliot Gardiner) and Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress (with Daniele Gatti), all at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He also made several concert appearances in Florence, Dresden and Leipzig with conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst and Alain Altinoglu. 

Baritone Gustavo Castillo, who comes from Barquisimeto (Venezuela), owes the beginning of his musical education to El Sistema, a renowned music project in his home country. From 2016 to 2018 Castillo was a member of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he started his stage career singing Peter in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for children. 

To his future projects belong his debut as Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the New National Theater in Tokyo, his debut as Scarpia in Tosca at Hannover State Opera and he will also sing Amonasro in Aida at Teatro Coccia. In concert he sang Estevez Cantata Criolla with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at the May Festival. Furthermore, he sang Ginastera’s Estancia with the Los Angeles Phil under Gustavo Dudamel and Carmina Burana at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno. 

Jenny Daviet is a French soprano renowned for her compelling theatrical presence and flowing musicality, as well as for her excellence in an eclectic repertoire that embraces opera and contemporary music. Her performance of Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Kent Nagano garnered unanimous praise, as did her brilliant performance in the title role of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at the Malmö Opera. Daviet also performs with the Orchestre de Caen, notably in works by Knussen and George Benjamin. Her Asian debut in Taichung saw her perform in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. In 2024–2025, she will make her debut as Mireille in Battistelli’s 7 Minuti at the Opéra de Lyon, and with the Freiburger Kammerorchester in Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor. Jenny Daviet’s collaborations with prestigious ensembles and renowned conductors testify to her talent and versatility. 

Long recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, American baritone Thomas Hampson has received countless international honours for his unique artistry and his cultural leadership. Hampson’s operatic repertoire comprises more than 80 roles, and his discography includes more than 170 albums that have garnered multiple nominations and awards including GRAMMY Awards, the Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque. Thomas Hampson is an honorary professor of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and an honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. In addition to several doctorates honoris causa, he was named Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France. He is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Lied Academy Heidelberg, and in 2003, he established the Hampsong Foundation, where the art of song serves to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. 

Andrew Megill is recognized as one of the leading choral conductors of his generation, known for his unusually wide-ranging repertoire, extending from early music to newly composed works. He has prepared choruses for the American Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the National Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic, and he has worked with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jane Glover, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, and Kent Nagano. He is Director of Choral Organizations Activities at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and serves as Artistic Advisor and Director of Choral Activities for the Carmel Bach Festival and Choral Director for Music of the Baroque (Chicago). He previously taught at the University of Illinois and Westminster Choir College and has been a Guest Conductor for the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Broadcast by Public Radio International and the BBC, his work can be heard on numerous recordings, including Magnussen’s Psalm (Albany Records), Haydn’s Masses (Naxos), and works by Caleb Burhans (Cantaloupe).