Cast

Musical Direction

Lorenzo Passerini

Birthplace:
Morbegno, Italy

Studies:
Graduated with honors in trombone at the Conservatoire in Como (2009)
Second-level academic diploma at the Conservatoire in Aosta with honors (2014)
Studies with Maestro Ennio Nicotra, John Axelrod, Massimiliano Caldi, Gilberto Serembe, Pietro Mianiti, Oleg Caetani and Antonio Eros Neg

Repertoire:
La Bohème, Rigoletto, Manon, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Rondine, La Sonnambula, Fedora, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Tosca, Un ballo in Maschera, Pierini e il Lupo, Aida, et al.

Stages:
Teatro Real, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Regio, Teatro dell’Opera in Sassari, Sydney Opera House, Theatre of Las Palmas, Zagabria National Theatre, Theatre de Champes Elysée, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Frankfurt Opera House, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Essen Opera House, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Turku Festival, et al.

Cooperation with orchestras:
Orchestra Antonio Vivaldi, Teatro Sociale in Sondrio, ICO della Magna Grecia, Orchestra Regionale Filarmonia Veneta, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra della Fondazione Arena di Verona, Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Romanian National Opera Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, Orchestra Camerata Musica Wien, Symphony Orchestra of the State of Mexico and Milano Chamber Orchestra, et al.

Find further information about Lorenzo Passerini here.

Performances

• Luisa Miller

photo: Elena Cherkashyna

Associate Chorus Master

Christian Günther

Birthplace:
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Studies:
Conducting at University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, conducting lessons with Neeme Järvi, Jorma Panula and Gianluigi Gelmetti

Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Assistant Chorus Master at Hamburg State Opera since the 2019/20 season

Career stages:
Assistant of the Chorus Master at Hamburg State Opera (2008-2019), regular guest appearances at NDR-Chorus (since 2018), Guest Chorus Master at Zürich Opera House (2018), Assistant of Eberhard Friedrich with the Chorus of the Bayreuth Festival (2017), Guest engagements at Music Festival Bremen, at Festival der Projektgruppe Neue Musik Bremen as well as at Oh Ton-Ensemble Oldenburg, Leader of the Ensemble “Atelier Neue Musik”, Lectureship at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen (since 2007), Associate Chorus Master and Leader of the children's chorus at Theater Bremen (2002-2007), 2nd Capellmeister at Theater Bremen (2005-2007), Conductor of the Ensemble “piano possible” Munich (1996-2007), Guest répétiteur at Stuttgart State Theater, Theater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich and at the Biennale in Munich

Cooperation with choruses:
Chorus of Hamburg State Opera, NDR Chorus, Children's chorus of Theater Bremen, et al.

Performances

• Carmen
• Tosca
• Don Giovanni
• Der Freischütz
• Luisa Miller
• La Bohème
• Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
• Manon
• Eugene Onegin
• Les Contes d'Hoffmann
• Don Pasquale
• Rigoletto
• La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West)
• Il trovatore
• Falstaff
• La Traviata
• Parsifal
• Pique Dame
• Die dunkle Seite des Mondes
• Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde)
• Le Nozze di Figaro
• Così fan tutte

Bass

Adam Palka

Birthplace:
Walbrzych, Poland

Studies:
Gdansk Conservatory in Poland, Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zürich

Prizes:
II prize in male voice category in St. Moniuszko Singing Competition.
Kammersänger Baden Würtemberg

Important parts:
Boris (Boris Godunov), Commendatore/Leporello (Don Giovanni), Méphistophélès (Faust), Timur (Turandot), Fafner (Das Rheingold), Rodolfo (La Sonnambula), Vodnik (Rusalka), Filippo (II Don Carlo), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Walter (Luisa Miller), Colline (La bohème), Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Alidoro (La Cenerentola), et al.

Stages:
Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Vienna State Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Royal Opera House, Teatro Real Madrid, Opéra national de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, et al.

Cooperations with directors:
Robert Wilson, Christof Loy, Barrie Kosky, Frank Castorf, Richard Jones, Claus Guth, et al.

Cooperations with conductors:
Daniel Barenboim, Anthony Pappano, Riccardo Chailly, Nicola Luisotti, Michel Plason, Philippe Jordan, Bertrand de Billy, Dan Ettinger, Omer Meir Wellber, Antonino Fogliani, Cornelius Meister, et al.

Performances

• Luisa Miller

photo: Ania Wisniewska

Tenor

Giorgio Berrugi

Birthplace:
Pisa, Italy

Prizes:
Abbiati prize, best recording
Abbiati prize, best show
Preis der deutschen schallplattenkritik
1st prize International chamber music competition: Roma, Firenze and Bologna

Important parts:
Riccardo (Un Ballo in Maschera), Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Alfredo (La Traviata), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Idomeneo (Idomeneo), Avito (L’Amore dei Tre Re), Macduff (Macbeth), Siegmund (Die Walküre), Giasone (Medea), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Don José (Carmen), et al.

Stages:
Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House in London, Lincoln Center in New York, Teatro di San Carlo, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Wiener Konzerthaus, Opéra Bastille, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera di Roma, San Francisco Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Staatsoper Berlin, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Arena di Verona et al.

Cooperations with directors:
Franco Zeffirelli, Robert Carsen, Bob Wilson, David Mc Vicar, PIERLUIGI PIZZI, La fura dels baus, Stefan Herheim, Emilio Sagi, Gilbert Deflo, Davide Livermore

Cooperations with conductors:
Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann, Fabio Luisi, Andriss Nelsons, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Oren, Gianandrea Noseda, Pinchas Steinberg, Franz Welser-Möst, Nicola Luisotti, Myung-Whun Chung, Manfred Honeck, Roberto Abbado, Jaap van Zweden

Find further information about Giorgio Berrugi here.

Performances

• Luisa Miller

photo: Alessandro Moggi

Baritone

George Gagnidze

Birthplace:
Tbilisi, Georgia

Studies:
Tbilisi State Conserva

Prizes:
Winner of the “Voci Verdiane” competition in Busseto, of the “Leyla Gencer Voice Competition” and the “Elena Obraztsova Competition”

Important parts:
Rigoletto, Nabucco, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, Iago (Otello), Germont (La traviata), Scarpia (Tosca), Michele (Il tabarro), Carlo Gérard (Andrea Chénier), Tonio (Pagliacci), Barnaba (La Gioconda), Shaklovity (Khovanshchina) et al.

Stages:
Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Gran Teatro del Liceu, Teatro Real Madrid, Palau de les Arts Valencia, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, Teatro San Carlo of Naples, Arena di Verona, BBC Proms, Festival of Aix-en-Provence, et al.

Cooperations with directors:
Luc Bondy, Robert Carsen, Liliana Cavani, Edoardo De Angelis, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Andreas Homoki, David McVicar, Ferzan Ozpetek, Francesca Zambello et al.

Cooperations with conductors:
Semyon Bychkov, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Mikko Franck, Jesús López-Cobos, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Gianandrea Noseda, Daniel Oren, Kirill Petrenko, Yuri Temirkanov, et al.

Performances

• Luisa Miller

photo: Dario Acosta

Soprano

Selene Zanetti

Birthplace:
Italy

Studies:
Opera singing with full marks and honors at the “Pollini” Conservatory of Padua, Chigiana Academy of Siena, New Bulgarian University of Sofia, Higher Institute of Musical Studies “Vecchi – Tonelli” of Modena

Prizes:
“Tenor Vinas Competition” as best Verdi interpreter; at the Belvedere Competition “International Media Price”

Important parts:
Liù (Turandot), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Mimì (La bohème), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Sandmännchen (Hänsel und Gretel), Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Giannetta (L´elisir d´amore), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), Micaela (Carmen), Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), et al.

Stages:
Staattheater Klagenfurt, Teatro La Fenice, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, et al.

Cooperations with directors:
Emma Dante, Claus Guth, Harry Kupfer, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Lotte de Beer, Pierre Audi, David Bösch, et al.

Cooperations with conductors:
Omer Meir Wellber, Fabrizio Carminati, Carlo Montanaro, Juraj Valčuha, Kirill Petrenko , Pier Giorgio Morandi, Bertrand de Billy, Asher Fisch, et al.

Performances

• Luisa Miller

photo: Giacomo Orlando

Brindley Sherratt

Brindley Sherratt studierte an der Royal Academy of Music in London. Sein Debüt gab er als Leporello („Don Giovanni”) an der Welsh National Opera, wo er auch Ferrando („Il Trovatore“), Gremin („Eugen Onegin“) und Sarastro („Die Zauberflöte“) sang. Weitere Partien seines Repertoires sind unter anderem Jeronimus („Maskerade“), Publio („La Clemenza di Tito“) und He-Ancient („The Midsummer Marriage“), am ROH Covent Garden, Sparafucile („Rigoletto“), Ratcliffe („Billy Budd“), Melisso („Alcina“) und Wurm („Luisa Miller“). Im Sommer 2005 gab Brindley Sherratt an der Oper in Santa Fe sein USA-Debüt mit dem Commendatore („Don Giovanni“) und Claudio („Agrippina“). Außerdem debütierte der Bass beim Salzburger Osterfestival als Hobson („Peter Grimes“) und am Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brüssel mit Theseus („A Midsummer Night’s Dream“). Der Sänger ist auch konzertant tätig, unter anderem mit der Matthäus-Passion mit Daniel Harding und dem Mahler Chamber Orchester, in Mozarts Vesper in der Birmingham Symphony Hall, der Johannes-Passion bei den BBC Proms und mit der Matthäus-Passion auf einer Tournee in Wien, Salzburg, Paris und Japan. In der Saison 2005/2006 sang Brindley Sherratt bei den Salzburger Festspielen in Händels Messias. Zukünftig wird er als Rocco („Fidelio“) beim Glyndebourne Festival und in der Spielzeit 2006/07 als Sarastro in seinem Debüt an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper zu erleben sein.

Performances

• Luisa Miller

Mezzo-soprano

Kristina Stanek

Birthplace:
Krefeld, Germany

Studies:
Master studies with distinction at the Royal Academy of Music, London

Master classes:
With KS Brigitte Fassbaender, Charlotte Lehmann, Rudolf Piernay, Grace Bumbry

Prizes:
Best young singer at the European Music Festival Rome, Italy; 1st prize at the Mozart Competition Prague, Czech Republic; 1st prize at the Rotary Music Competition, Germany

Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since season 2020/21

Important parts:
Princess Eboli (Don Carlos), Carmen (Carmen), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Sesto & Annio (La Clemenza di Tito), Cecilio (Lucio Silla), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Concepcion (L‘heure espagnole), Olga (Eugen Onegin), Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Wellgunde (Das Rheingold), Veronica Quaife (The Fly), Mary Shelley (Uraufführung Diodati. Unendlich), Soprano 4 (Al gran sole carico d‘amore), Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), 2. Norn (Götterdämmerung), et al.

Stages:
Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Semperoper Dresden, Theater Basel, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Saarländisches Staatstheater, Oper Wuppertal, Stadttheater Trier, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, et al.

Cooperation with directors:
Hans Neuenfels, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Yuval Sharon, David Bösch, Barbora Horáková Joly, Stephan Kimmig, Barbara Frey, Lydia Steier, Sebastian Baumgarten, Sam Brown, Vasily Barkhatov, Daniel Kramer, Katharina Thoma, David Hermann, Christian von Treskow, BARBE & DOUCET, et al.

Cooperation with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Christian Thielemann, Marco Armiliato, Marek Janowski, Ivor Bolton, Giampaolo Bisanti, Axel Kober, Ainars Rubikis, Jonathan Darlington, Erik Nielsen, Kristiina Poska, Joana Mallwitz, Titus Engel, Christopher Moulds, Gianluca Capuano, Jonathan Stockhammer, David Parry, Christian Curnyn, Michele Spotti, Alexander Joel, Matteo Beltrami, Thomas Guggeis, et al.

Find further information about Kristina Stanek here.

Performances

• Luisa Miller
• Eugene Onegin
• Il trovatore

photo: Felix Grünschloß

Nora Kazemieh

Biography will be published shortly.

Performances

• Luisa Miller

Tenor

Mziwamadoda Sipho Nodlayiya

Birthplace:
Cape Town, South Africa

Studies:
Postgraduate Diploma in Opera Performance (2023), Diploma in Opera Performance (2021)

Master class:
Martin Hundelt – Johannesburg International Mozart festival (2024)
Levy Sekagapane - Opera UCT Masterclass Series (2023)

Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the season 2024/25

Important parts:
Camille, Count de Rosillon (The Merry Widow), Hendrik Cesars (Sara Baartman), Cochenille (Le Conte d’Hoffmann, Bertrando (L’inganno felice), Ernesto (don Pasquale)

Stages:
Artscape Opera House, Pam Golding/Baxter Theatre

Cooperation with directors:
Steven Stead, Matthew Wild, Claudia Blersch, Christine Nolte, Janice Honeyman, Zenobia Kloppers

Cooperation with conductors:
Jeremy Silver, Kamal Khan, Richard Cock, Jochen Rieder

Performances

• Jubiläumsgala: 30 Jahre Internationales Opernstudio
• Luisa Miller
• Dollhouse
• Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
• La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West)
• Konzert des Internationalen Opernstudios

photo: Jörn Kipping

Orchestra

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.

During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.

Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.

The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.

In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.

The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.

Performances

• Rathausmarkt Open Air
• 1st Academy Concert - Program I
• 1st Academy Concert - Program II
• 1st Academy Concert - Program III
• 4th Academy Concert
• Trionfi
• Carmen
• The Times Are Racing
• 1st Philharmonic Concert
• Kannst du pfeifen, Johanna
• Boris Godunov
• Special chamber concert
• Tosca
• Jubiläumsgala: 30 Jahre Internationales Opernstudio
• La clemenza di Tito
• Orchesterprobenbesuch
• 2nd Philharmonic Concert
• Don Giovanni
• Jane Eyre
• 3rd Philharmonic Concert
• Elektra
• Der Freischütz
• Luisa Miller
• La Bohème
• Slow Burn
• 4th Philharmonic Concert
• Hänsel und Gretel (Hansel and Gretel)
• Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
• The Nutcracker
• New Year's Eve concert
• Der fliegende Holländer
• 5th Philharmonic Concert
• THE ART OF Lise Davidsen
• Despot
• Ariadne auf Naxos
• Manon
• 6th Philharmonic Concert
• Les Contes d'Hoffmann
• Mitridate, re di Ponto
• Eugene Onegin
• 7th Philharmonic Concert
• PhiSch - das Staatsorchester hautnah...
• Don Pasquale
• Rigoletto
• Maria Stuarda
• La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West)
• Il trovatore
• Falstaff
• 8th Philharmonic Concert
• La Traviata
• The Odyssey
• Parsifal
• Pique Dame
• Opening concert of the Hamburg International Music Festival
• Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank
• Romeo and Juliet
• Die dunkle Seite des Mondes
• Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde)
• 9th Philharmonic Concert
• Salome
• National Youth Ballet
• Nijinsky
• Frühlings Erwachen
• Così fan tutte
• Le Nozze di Figaro
• 10th Philharmonic Concert
• Demian
• Nijinsky Gala L

photo: Foto: Felix Broede