Anna Fauth (USA/Germany)
Artist Manager at TACT International Art Management
present on the 2nd round only
Anna Fauth is a graduate of the Longy School of Bard College of Music, USA with a degree in Vocal Opera Performance, and has studied Business Administration at the University of Michigan. Having started a career on the stage as a soprano, Fauth has found a home at TACT Management where for five years she has been representing and managing international careers of young as well as established operatic artists.
Ana-Camelia Stefanescu (Romania)
Soprano
Professor of voice in l’IMEP of Namur, Belgium
The Romanian soprano Ana-Camelia Stefanescu was born in 1974 in Bucharest. She has been awarded prizes in a number of important singing competitions including the Verviers International Competition, but caught the attention of the international opera world when she won Second Prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Belgium. As principal artist with the Romanian National Opera, Ana-Camelia Stefanescu sang numerous roles including Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Rosina (Barbiere di Siviglia), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Queen of the Night (Zaubeflöte). With the latter role, Ana-Camelia Stefanescu made her debut at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, the Vienna State Opera and the Staatsoper Berlin. And when the Berlin production was invited to Japan, Ana-Camelia Stefanescu was chosen by conductor Daniel Barenboim to perform it there. The ensuing years, she belonged unquestionably to the most demanded Queen of the Night the with guest performances throughout Europe inlcuding the Opera Houses of Graz, Nice, Hamburg and Brussels, in the successful production stage directed by William Kentridge and led by René Jacobs. Other engagements included : Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Dieter Kaeg’s new production for Opera Ireland, The Queen in The Verurteilung des Lukullus (by Paul Dessau, after Brecht) and Narsea in Solimano at the Staatsoper Berlin. Subsequently she was engaged in Liège (Théâtre de la Place) as Frau Herz (Der Schauspieldirector) and made her debut at the Teatro Real Madrid as L’Enfant, le Rossignol and La Princesse in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Eventually she made her debut at the Cagliari Opera House as L’Ensoleillad in Chérubin by J. Massenet (2006) and at the Teatro lirico of Bolzano and Lucca as Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos (2007). She got lavish praise for her role debut as Ophélie (Hamlet, by A. Thomas) in the successful production by stage director Vincent Boussard and conducted by Patrick Fournillier, proposed by Opéra National du Rhin (ONR) in Strasbourg and /Mulhouse (June 2011). The House reinvited Ana-Camelia Stefanescu to sing La Folie (Platée by Rameau) in the award-winning production by stage director Mariame Clément (together with Les Talens Lyriques led by Christophe Rousset), for Violetta in new production of La Traviata also directed by Vincent Boussard and to make her role debut as La Princesse Eudoxie in La Juive (Halevy) stage directed by Peter Konwitschny (season 2016/2017). Ana-Camelia Stefanescu has sung under the baton of renowned conductors such as : Daniel Barenboim, René Jacobs, Mark Minkovski, Ivan Fischer, Simone Young, Bertrand de Billy, Peter Schreier, Marc Soustrot, Sebastian Weigle, Philippe Jordan, Josep Pons, Arnold Östman, David Gimenez, Emanuel Villaume, Patrick Fournillier, Jacques Lacombe, Pier Giorgio Morandi and Adam Fischer. In addition to her opera engagements, Ana-Camelia Stefanescu has made several recordings with the Romanian Broadcasting Corporation and for WDR in Cologne. She has also given a number of concerts and recitals in Romania, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, France, Holland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, including a concert in her native Romania, where she was the soprano soloist with José Carreras.
Aaron Wajnberg (Belgium)
Lieder pianist
Artistic director of Antwerp LiedFest
Professor of Lied at the Royal Antwerp Conservatoire
Belgian born pianist Aaron Wajnberg rapidly became one of the most sought after Lieder pianists of his generation, celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence, and consummate artistry. Next season’s engagements include appearances with, among others, Rolando Villazón, Sir Bryn Terfel, Ian Bostridge, Samuel Hasselhorn, Olga Peretyatko, Jeanine De Bique, Sophie Karthäuser & Charlotte Wajnberg. In 2011, he made his Carnegie Hall debut and has performed ever since at major venues such as the Teatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro, Veronica Hagman Hall Danbury (Connecticut), Palau de les Arts Valencia, the Bayerische Staatsoper München, the Dutch National Opera, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Clara Schumann Saal Frankfurt, Crystall Hall Rogaska Slatina, Mozarteum Salzburg, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Rudolfinum Praag, Teatro Communale Bologna, Teatro Verdi Milano, Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle Lille, Opéra de Lille, Ruse State Opera (Bulgaria), Baltasar Dias Municipal Theatre Funchal (Madeira), Kiev Philharmonic Hall, Elisabethzaal, Flemish Opera, DeSingel and AMUZ Festival van Vlaanderen (Antwerp), BOZAR, LaMonnaie & FLAGEY. He has established himself as a chamber musician in high demand, played concerts with the Russian violinist Artiom Shishkov as well as with Marc Sabbah, Annelien Van Wauwe, Julien Hervé, Roman Patocka, Maciej Pikulski, Matthew Barley and chamber music ensembles as the Quatuor Enesco and the Quatuor Danel among others. He was the accompanist for international masterclasses and recitals by great singers such as Ann Murray, James Newby (rising star series), Samuel Hasselhorn, Héloise Mas, Edith Wiens, Maxim Mikhailov, Charlotte Wajnberg, Ferdinand von Bothmer, Thomas Allen, Sergei Leiferkus, Gary Jankowski, Danylo Matviienko, Wilfried Van den Brande, Yuriy Hadzetsky, Sooyeon Lee and he was an accompanist at the International Queen Elisabeth Competition for Voice in Brussel, 2018. He studied at the Royal Antwerp Conservatoire with L. Kende, at the Royal Ghent Conservatoire with V. Samoshko and continued with L. Margarius & V. Makarov. He specialized as a Lieder pianist with J. De Beenhouwer & L. Van Deyck in Antwerp, with H. Deutsch in Vienna and R. Vignoles in London. While continuing his busy playing career, Wajnberg is deeply committed to working with and coaching younger singers and pianists. He gives frequent masterclasses and workshops in New York, Paris and Frankfurt and is a professor of Lied at the Royal Antwerp Conservatoire. Since 2019, Aaron Wajnberg has been the artistic director of Antwerp LiedFest.
Michèle Losier (Canada)
Mezzo-soprano
Leading soloist of the major opera houses all over the world
Born in Canada, mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier studied at McGill University, trained with young artists programs such as the one in Montreal, New York Juilliard, and San Francisco Merola before starting an international career.
She has distinguished herself in roles such as Ascanio (Benvenuto Cellini) at the Dutch National Opera, Octavian at the Berlin Staatstoper, Komponist at the Maggio Musicale Firenze, Prince Charmant(Cendrillon) at Opéra-Comique, Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) at Teatre del Liceu, La Monnaie and the Bayerish Staatsoper, Charlotte (Werther) at Opéra de Montréal and in Sydney, Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito) at Wiener Staatsoper and Théâtre royal de la Monnaie, Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) at San Francisco Opera, Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) at the Royal Opera House, Opera de Paris and at the Salzburg Festival, and Siebel (Faust) at the Metropolitan Opera. She has worked with renowned conductors such as Kent Nagano, Simone Young, Zubin Metha, Alain Altinoglu, Bertrand de Billy, Placido Domingo, Marc Minkowski, Louis Langrée, Philippe Jordan, Daniel Barenboim and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
In concert, her repertoire includes the major works from Berlioz, Beethoven, Chausson, Mahler and Ravel. Michèle regularly performs in recitals, where she demonstrates her fondness for French music. She has recorded Gounod’s La Colombe with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder, Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC symphony.
After competing for the Reine Elisabeth singing competition, she came back regularly in Belgium and recently decided to reside in Brussel. She recorded with pianist Daniel Blumenthal Duparc’s Mélodies, and with Canadian pianist Olivier Godin recording of Brahms’s Liebeslieder-Walzer, and French songs recitals.
Axel Everaert (Belgium)
Tenor
Professor of voice at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons (Arts2), Belgium
Professor of voice at the Conservatorium Maastricht, Netherlands
The Belgian tenor Axel Everaert studied singing in Rome with Gianella Borelli, Ré Koster and Ileana Cotrubas. Simultaneously he studied German song repertoire with Irwin Gage at the Konservatorium Zürich MKZ. He won several prizes in international singing contests, but the first prize in the Internationaler Koloraturgesangs-Wettbewerb van Stuttgart opened the door to an international career in Belcanto roles. Axel sang a.o. the Conte Almaviva (Barbiere), Lindoro (L’Italiana in Algeri), Narciso (Il Turco in Italia), Idreno (Semiramide), Ilo (Zelmira), Elvino (La Sonnambula), Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Leicester (Maria Stuarda), but was also appreciated as Don Ottavio, Belmonte and Idamante (Idomeneo). He combined his theatre career with an intensive activity as a recital singer, mainly in the German and French repertoire.
From 2011 till 2017 Axel Everaert was the artistic director of the Young Artist Program of the National Opera House in Riga. He is regular Guest as a vocal coach for Italian and french repertoire with the Stanislavski & Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre in Moscow, as well as with the National Opera Theatre in Minsk (Belorussia). He is a sought-after jury member for contests, notably the Bolshaia Opera Contest of the “Russia Kultura” TV Channel (from 2016 till 2019).
Axel Everaert is teaching voice at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons (Arts2) and at the Conservatorium Maastricht.
Constantin Philippoff (Germany)
Artist Manager
present on the 2nd round only
Constantin Philippoff works with the world’s most renowned opera houses and orchestras (formerly with Hilbert Artists Management GmbH). Born in Moscow, he completed his studies in Acting at Conservatoire de Nice, Voice at Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar and Arts History at Moscow Social Pedagogical Institute. After his engagements on stage, Constantin shifted his focus to a management role in the music industry. His interests lie in classical literature, performance and fine arts. Constantin speaks French, German, Italian, Russian and English. Having studied with the American pianist Dalton Baldwin, Constantin is dedicated to the promotion of classical music and opera, as well as preservation of bel canto tradition and endorsement of young singers.