Andreas Wolf | Conductor

After graduating from high school, Andreas Wolf initially pursued his scientific interests and studied electrical engineering, mathematics and physics, but then decided to follow his artistic inclinations and move to Munich to study at the Musikhochschule München. There he studied orchestral conducting with Prof. Hermann Michael and singing with Prof. Joseph Loibl, while receiving his pianistic training with Prof. Gitti Pirner. Sir Colin Davis, with whom he had the opportunity to work on various projects at the time, had a decisive influence on his musical development. During this time also gained further experience as a repetiteur at the Theater am Gärtnerplatz and as a chorister in the Bavarian State Opera Chorus. While still a student, he won the preliminary round of the Donatella Flick Competition and was invited to London for the final round. After completing his studies with a master class diploma, the Regensburg-born conductor then decided to pursue a career as a classical Kapellmeister.

Anthony Negus | Conductor

Anthony Negus studied clarinet and piano at the Royal College of Music London, and gained a music degree at Oxford University. He also joined the newly formed Else Mayer- Lismann Opera Workshop, where he was able to develop his passion for opera, both playing and conducting. He was for severa years a musical assistant in Wuppertal, and in Bayreuth working with Erich Leinsdorf, Heinrich Hollreiser (Tannhauser), Horst Stein (Ring), and Eugen Jochum (Parsifal).

Following a period with Hamburg State Opera, he joined the Welsh National Opera(WNO) music staff.  As a conductor there, he built up a wide repertoire of operas including Beethoven (both Leonore and Fidelio), Gluck, Mozart, Richard Strauss (Elektra, Ariadne, Die Frau ohne Schatten). It was his work with Music Director Sir Charles Mackerras in particular that led to his emergence as a vital and sensitive conductor of Mozart, all of whose major operas from Idomeneo to Tito and Die Zauberflote he has conducted.

Cristian Mandeal | Conductor

A student of Herbert von Karajan in Berlin and Sergiu Celibidache in Munich, Cristian Mandeal is considered to be the most important Romanian conductor nowadays, his activity extending without interruption over a period of four decades.

Between 1987 and 2009 Cristian Mandeal acted as Principal Conductor and General Music Director of the Bucharest Philharmonic and oversaw its rise as an orchestra on the international scene and leaving behind him a benchmark institution. Alongside the positions he has occupied in Romania, Cristian Mandeal has been Artistic Director of the Northern Israeli Orchestra, Haifa (1999–2002) and the Euskadi Symphony – Basque National Orchestra, San Sebastian (2001–2008), Permanent Conductor of the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento (2000–2003), Principal Guest Conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester (2005–2010—the first to hold this title in the 150-year history of the orchestra), the Belgrade Philharmonic (the 2006–2007 season), and the Copenhagen Philharmonic (2006–2013).

Francesco Pasqualetti | Conductor

Francesco studied Orchestral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music (London) with Sir Colin Davis and Colin Metters, at the Accademia Chigiana with Gianluigi Gelmetti and at the Accademia Musicale di Stresa with Gianandrea Noseda.

In 2015 Francesco made his debut at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice with La Scala di seta, and in the symphonic season of Orchestre d’Auvergne in France. In 2016 he will conduct Cosi Fan Tutte at Oper Koeln (DE), Le Nozzedi Figaro at Kimmel Center (Philadelphia, US) and Mefistofele in Pisa and Lucca.

Hilary Davan Wetton | Conductor

Hilary Davan Wetton is Artistic Director of the City of London Choir and Associate Conductor of the London Mozart Players.  He is Conductor Emeritus of the Milton Keynes City Orchestra and the Guildford Choral Society.

A student of Sir Adrian Boult at the RCM, he won the Ricordi conducting prize in 1967.  Over a career spanning 50 years, he is particularly admired for his interpretations of twentieth-century British music, conducting many first performances for British composers as well as neglected works by Gardner, Parry, Holst, Dyson, Bridge, Sterndale Bennett and Samuel Wesley.

John Gibbons | Conductor

John Gibbons studied at Queens’ College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music winning numerous awards as a conductor, pianist and accompanist. He has conducted across the world, including the Spier Festival, Cape Town, the Crested Butte Festival in Colorado and the Romanian premiere of Walton’s First Symphony with the Georges Enescu Philharmonic. He has also given many world premieres including the Third Orchestral Set by Charles Ives, William Alwyn’s Violin Concerto, Martyr by Tarik O’Regan, Roxanna Panufnik’s Christmas Kompot and Malcolm Arnold’s opera The Dancing Master.

Matthew Scott Rogers | Conductor

British musician Matt Scott Rogers recently completed four seasons on the conducting staff of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, latterly as a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Future engagements include returns to Malmö Opera for The Nutcracker and The Makropulos Affair; Chelsea Opera Group for Oberto; The Royal Danish Opera for Seven Deadly Sins, Manualen and The Handmaid’s Tale as assistant; Grange Park Opera for Otello; and, as composer, the premiere of his song cycle at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Stephen Higgins | Conductor

Stephen Higgins studied at Oxford University, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio in London and is a conductor who has worked extensively in major opera houses and festivals both in the UK and abroad.

He spent his early professional career on the music staff of ROH, Glyndebourne and ENO and has worked on a wide variety of repertoire, ranging from Monteverdi, Mozart, Puccini, John Adams and Stephen Sondheim.