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LIST OF PARTICIPANTS BIOGRAPHIES MENTORSHIP FOR WOMEN CONDUCTORS JUNE 22 — JULY 6, 2021

MENTORS PARTICIPANTS

VOCAL PROFESSOR RITA CASTRO BLANCO EDITH WIENS STÉPHANIE CHILDRESS ALIZÉ LÉHON CONDUCTORS THOMAS HENGELBROCK DUNCAN WARD

INSTRUCTOR IN ARTISTIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHRISTIANE LOUIS

3 MENTOR EDITH WIENS VOCAL PROFESSOR CANADA

Canadian soprano Edith Wiens’ beautiful, versatile voice and assured musicality embraced an astonishingly vast repertoire from the baroque to the contemporary. She has collaborated with the world’s foremost conductors and orchestras, including the New York, Berlin, London, Munich and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras; Boston, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and San Francisco Symphonies, the London Philharmonia, Dresden Staatskapelle and Cleveland Orchestras, the Academy of St Martin-in-the- Fields, Orchestre National de France and ; under such conductors as , Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, , Sir Neville Marriner, , Seiji Ozawa, , and Sir . Ms Wiens has been warmly welcomed at the Salzburg, Lucerne, Tanglewood, Dresden, Berlin and Vienna Festivals, and the London Proms. Renowned as a lieder singer of the highest order, Ms Wiens has given recitals in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris, Toronto, New York, Moscow, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, Florence, Munich and Berlin, and has been repeatedly invited to Vienna’s Musikverein. Her operatic appearances included principal Mozart roles at Glyndebourne, La Scala, the Santa Fe , Amsterdam Opera, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon. As recipient of both the Grammy and Diapason d’Or Awards, Ms Wiens is well represented on the EMI, Erato and Philips Labels. Her discography includes works of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Zemlinsky, Schumann and Wagner as well as four acclaimed CDs of Lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Strauss, and Zemlinsky’s Lyrical Symphony with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Edith Wiens is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been a recipient of several honorary doctorate degrees, including a Doctor of Music from her alma mater Oberlin College. She has been a jury member of various international competitions such as ARD Munich, Bertelsmann Neue Stimmen, Montreal and Geneva. Edith Wiens regularly holds masterclasses in Europe and North America. She enjoys a yearly residency at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as masterclasses at the Royal College of Music in London. The opera houses of Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich, Oslo have invited Edith Wiens to teach their young studio singers. Prof. Wiens is also the artistic director of the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie (www.meistersingerakademie.com), created for emerging artists. Edith Wiens is on faculty at the in New York, and also teaches at the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. Since coming to New York in 2010, Edith Wiens has had five singers win the Metropolitan National Council Competition. Her students are engaged at many opera houses world- wide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden London, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Dresden, Leipzig, and the , among others. Major festivals such as Glyndebourne, the Salzburger Festspiele, Aix-en-Provence, and Santa Fe have also engaged her students. as well as orchestras such as the , the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. Prof. Dr. Wiens lives in New York with her cellist husband Kai Moser. Both their sons are acclaimed musicians: Johannes Moser (cello) and Benjamin Moser (piano). 4 MENTOR THOMAS HENGELBROCK CONDUCTOR GERMANY

Thomas Hengelbrock is one of the most versatile and fascinating musicians of his generation. His work covers multiple genres and periods, opening up new worlds of ideas and emotions to musicians and audiences alike. Whether he is conducting Baroque , Romantic symphonies or contemporary works, his energetic appearances are invariably the result of a detailed engagement with the musical text and of his deep understanding of the meaning and content of the works in question. In the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble he has two world-class ensembles known for their ability to recreate the original sound world of the works that they perform. Together they have been internationally acclaimed for over twenty years. Thomas Hengelbrock is also in demand as a guest conductor and has appeared with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the , the Orchestre de Paris, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra among others. Among Thomas Hengelbrock’s enthusiasms is the discovery of new or neglected works, an enthusiasm he is keen to pass on to others. His repertory ranges from early music to contemporary compositions, taking in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and embracing every genre. He reintroduces largely forgotten compositions to a wider public and sheds new light on familiar works, most notably Wagner’s Parsifal, which he performed on instruments from the time of the work’s first performances. His concert programmes are notable for covering a wide range of different periods, often revealing surprising musical affinities and examining a very specific theme by playing around it as if in an iridescent kaleidoscope – in the spring of 2020, for example, he will explore the subject of death and resurrection in a programme for choir and organ. It was while working as an assistant that Thomas Hengelbrock first came into contact with a number of leading figures in the world of contemporary music, including Witold Lutosławski, and Antal Doráti. Modern music remains an important part of his activities even today. At the final concert of the 2018 Ruhrtriennale, for example, he conducted the world premiere of Jan Müller-Wieland’s oratorio Maria, while Wolfgang Rihm’s Reminiszenz was heard for the first time under his direction at the opening of the Elbphilharmonie in January 2017. He also works closely with the composers Jörg Widmann, Simon Wills, Lotta Wennäkoski, Qigang Chen and Erkki-Sven Tüür. As an opera conductor Thomas Hengelbrock has been heard at the Opéra national de Paris, the in Madrid, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Berlin State Opera. He also appears regularly at the Baden-Baden, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Festivals. He has additionally assumed the mantle of stage director in performances with his Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, most notably in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Musico-literary projects with actors such as , Johanna Wokalek and Graham Valentine form a further focus of his artistic activities. His own versions of Grieg’s Peer Gynt and Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s “Faust” combine music and literature and

5 in the process call traditional expectations into question. In 2005 he worked with the choreographer on a celebrated production of Gluck’s Orpheus und Eurydike at the Paris Opéra, a production that continues to tour internationally. Like the great Baroque architect who gave his ensembles their name, Thomas Hengelbrock strives in his work to ensure that the arts interact creatively. He formed the Balthasar Neumann Choir in 1991 and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble four years later. Both groups of musicians have long been numbered among the most successful of their kind and are internationally acclaimed thanks to their versatility, their high artistic standards and their unique sound. Thomas Hengelbrock’s knowledge and gifts as a communicator predestine him for the challenge of imparting his love of music to others. As part of the scholarship programme at the Balthasar Neumann Academy that he himself has established, outstanding students are accompanied step by step on their journey into the world of professional music-making. Young musicians from Europe and Cuba work together at his Cuban-European Youth Academy on orchestral projects, workshops and special transatlantic ventures. He also teaches other young artists from all over the world. For his services to music education he was awarded the Music Prize in 2016.

6 MENTOR DUNCAN WARD CONDUCTOR UNITED KINGDOM

British conductor Duncan Ward has established himself as one of the most exciting and versatile conductors of his generation and enjoys working regularly with some of the world’s leading ensembles and opera houses. Duncan is Chief Conductor Designate of philharmonie zuidnederland, a position he will take up in September 2021 for an initial three season contract. In January 2020, he was appointed by Festival d’Aix-en- Provence as Music Director of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, a position which he holds until 2023. Recent highlights have included engagements with Staatskapelle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Aurora Orchestra, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Gürzenich Orchester. At the beginning of the 2019/20 season, Duncan gave the German premiere of Brett Dean’s acclaimed at Oper Köln. From 2012-14 he was Conducting Scholar of the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchester-Akademie, to which he was appointed on the recommendation of Sir Simon Rattle. And from 2015-2017, he was Principal Conductor of Sinfonia Viva – one of the UK’s most dynamic ensembles. He also held the post of Associate Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Plans for the 2020/21 season include debuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Moscow Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orquestra Simfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Bochum Symphoniker & NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic. In addition, he will make return visits to London Symphony Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Oper Köln for a production of . Praised equally for his ‘viscerally exciting’ performances of Beethoven and Haydn symphonies as his committed and sensitive interpretations of demanding new works, Duncan is passionate about a hugely wide-ranging repertoire. He is as at home working with period instrument ensembles such as Balthasar Neumann, elite chamber ensembles such as Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the symphony orchestras of the BBC as directing the world’s foremost contemporary music ensembles like Ensemble Modern. This is not to mention his acclaimed work with the homeless performers of Streetwise Opera, including a special performance at the Royal Opera House as part of the London 2012 Olympics Festival, or directing 500 amateur musicians in a supersize Riley 'In C' at the Elbphilharmonie, Indian classical collaborations with Anoushka Shankar, and with celebrated Nordic folk band Dreamers' Circus. Operatic engagements have included Dutch National Opera for a double bill of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and Macmillan’s Clemency; , Cendrillon and Hamlet for Glyndebourne-on-Tour, Death in Venice with Mark Padmore at the St Endellion Festival, La Traviata at Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, the Chinese premiere of Peter Grimes with a stellar international cast and London Voices, Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone at Deutsche Oper in a new

7 production by Peter Sellars, a Barber of Seville for young audiences at the , a chamber version of Lescaut with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, and opera galas with singers from Venera Gimadieva to Rolando Villazon. Opportunities during his two years at the Berliner Philharmoniker included assisting and rehearsal conducting for Die Zauberflöte, Gurre-Lieder, Die Walküre, Le Grand Macabre, Britten’s War Requiem, G.F.Haas in vain and premieres by Wolfgang Rihm and Benedict Mason. He additionally conducted the Britten 100th Birthday concert with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Ian Bostridge, a Webern concert and production of ‘Kleine’ Manon Lescaut with the Principal Players of the orchestra at their Baden-Baden Easter Festival, and a special concert 'Violins of Hope' with the Berlin Philharmonic Strings to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Following a month working in India in 2006, Duncan subsequently co-founded the WAM Foundation which sent young UK musicians each year to teach Western classical music in schools across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Kerala. The charity attracted the attention of the great late Ravi Shankar, who invited Duncan to study with him in California in 2010. Duncan is also closely involved with the South African charity MIAGI (Music Is A Great Investment) and, to celebrate the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth in 2018, led the MIAGI Orchestra on an acclaimed summer festivals tour which included concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Berlin Konzerthaus. Also an accomplished composer - winner of the 2005 BBC Young Composer of the Year – Duncan is now published by Peters Edition. Recent composing highlights include arrangements of Dvořák songs for performances given by Sir Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kožená (performed in cities across Europe), an orchestral work for the LSO featured on their recent CD release of Panufnik Scheme Highlights, a commission for the Bamberger Symphoniker, and a theatrical version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt performed by members of the National Youth Orchestra at the Southbank’s Imagine Festival. His works have also been performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ensemble, BBC Singers and The Sixteen.

8 MENTOR CHRISTIANE LOUIS INSTRUCTOR IN ARTISTIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP FRANCE

After obtaining a Master of Advanced Studies in Comparative Literature, Christiane Louis began a career in the field of social science research. She worked first as Head of the Documentation Department at the Centre for Employment Studies (known as the CEET in French), and later for the French National Agency for Improved Working Conditions which is based in Lyon. Alongside this, she continued to do research in collaboration with the Georges Pompidou Centre, the Cinémathèque française, and with film festivals, while also writing for design, architecture and cinema magazines. In 1996, she joined the Cité de la musique and helped develop their information services as well as the professional orientation being offered in the music and cultural sector. Since 2005, she has piloted a program on professional development for musicians. Her program and its training modules have now been integrated into several different university courses, conservatories, and professional support organisations. Since 2016, she has been delivering these training modules on a regular basis to young artists who take part in the residencies of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and in the Outreach Skills sessions, which help participants gain professional skills that are vital today so that artists can carry out innovative and participatory projects for highly diverse audiences.

9 PARTICIPANT RITA CASTRO BLANCO CONDUCTOR PORTUGAL

Rita Castro Blanco is a young Portuguese conductor, known for her firm and clear technique and efficient rehearsal methods, thanks to a thorough preparation of the score and composed leadership skills. Recently appointed Principal Conductor of the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra, Castro Blanco has been working with different orchestras throughout the north of England and her home country Portugal. Her latest engagements include the Musical Directorship for the competition Maratona Ópera XXI and an engagement with Orquestra do Festival de Mafra and the pianist Adriano Jordão for International Women’s Day concert. Through the Royal Northern College of Music’s conducting programme, she worked as Assistant Conductor for Sir Mark Elder, Vasily Petrenko, Joana Carneiro, John Storgårds, Clark Rundell and Elim Chan at the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Orquestra Gulbenkian and the Hallé. The young conductor also worked as Assistant Conductor in the premiere of “Beaumarchais” (2017) and in the latest production of Bernstein’s “Mass” (2019) with the Orquestra Gulbenkian. Castro Blanco has had the privilege to participate in international masterclasses under the guidance of Sir Mark Elder, Johannes Schlaefli, Mark Stringer, , Mark Shanahan and other renowned conductors, with professional orchestras such as the Royal Opera House, London Sinfonietta, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Orchestra and the CHROMA Ensemble. In 2019, she represented the RNCM conducting class in masterclasses with the BBC NOW and BBC Philharmonic. Rita Castro Blanco graduated with Distinction from the Master in Music in Performance at the RNCM, under the guidance of Clark Rundell and Mark Heron, after completing the Bachelor Degree in Orchestral Conducting at Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra with Jean-Marc Burfin with exceptional marks.

10 PARTICIPANT STEPHANIE CHILDRESS CONDUCTOR UNITED KINGDOM / FRANCE

Stephanie Childress began her early musical career as a violinist. Now in her early twenties, she is making her mark as a conductor and has been likened to “other notable young conductors of the past such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Sir Simon Rattle” (Varsity). Her remarkable musicianship and command of a broad scope of repertoire has led to engagements with symphony orchestras, contemporary chamber groups and opera houses. Childress established her own ensemble, Orchestra Rheia in 2019, leading them to their make their first public performance of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem in May of the same year. She was also appointed to the position of Principal Conductor of the London Lawyers’ Symphony Orchestra for the 2019/20 season. Other highlights of the season included leading the Chineke! Juniors Orchestra in concerts at the Southbank Centre and covering performances of Verdi’s Luisa Miller at English National Opera for conductor Alexander Joel. In summer 2020 she was due to attend the Aspen Music Festival as one of their conducting fellows. Establishing herself in both symphonic repertoire and opera, Stephanie has already conducted a number of productions, including Jeremy Sams’ The Enchanted Island with the British Youth Opera, ’s The Rape of Lucretia at St John’s College (Cambridge), Lennox Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement for the Cambridge University Opera Society and the world premiere of Anna Semple’s opera The Next Station is Green Park at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In the 2020/21 season, Childress makes several exciting appearances, including conducting debuts with the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin as part of their 200th anniversary season celebrations. Childress has participated in several prestigious competitions and most recently, was awarded 2nd prize at the inaugural conducting competition, La Maestra, in Paris. She has attended masterclasses with esteemed conductors such as Sir Mark Elder, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Sian Edwards and Colin Metters, and most recently with Jukka-Pekka Saraste at the LEAD! Festival in Finland. As a violinist, Childress rose to prominence when she became a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in both 2016 and 2018. She was featured in the BBC’s 2019 Proms Launch Video ahead of her Proms debut at the with the Southbank Sinfonia and Jessica Cottis. Shortly after, Childress performed alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at Glasgow’s Proms in the Park. In January 2020 she made her solo debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vasily Petrenko, where “she displayed delightful bow work with the gentlest of nuances, both transfixing and transcendent” (The Reviews Hub). Known not only as a fantastic conductor and violinist, Stephanie is an active supporter of the Tri-borough Music Hub, an award- winning organisation for music education. She has taken part in a number of programmes with the association, including leading the junior string ensemble at an ‘Artists for Inclusivity’ event and speaking at the Youth Music Conference held at the Royal College of Music in February 2020. Last summer she appeared on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and BBC Proms Extra, as well as joining adjudicating panels for the RPS Awards (Storytelling Category) and the Ivor Novello Awards (Orchestral Category) last September. 11 PARTICIPANT ALIZÉ LÉHON CONDUCTOR FRANCE

Born in Provence in 1998, Alizé learnt to play the piano and the violin at the Conservatoire de Marseille. In pursuit of her vocation, she began conducting at the age of 14, and attended the Orchestral Conducting course at the Conservatoire de Montpellier. She then trained as a choirmistress and obtained a Degree in Musicology at the Sorbonne. She is currently studying Conducting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse with Alain Altinoglu. During this course, she has worked with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Orchestre de Picardie and the Orchestre Régional de Normandie. She has benefitted from advice from recognised conductors such as Mikko Franck, Jean Droyer, Pascal Rophé and Arie van Beek. Alizé is involved with several amateur musical ensembles, particularly the Orchestre Impromptu, which she has conducted since 2019 in various projects: a tour in Madrid with the Orquesta Madrid Sinfónica, performances of contemporary works created by young composers.

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13 14 PHOTO CREDITS Thomas Hengelbrock © Florence Grandidier Duncan Ward © Allan Kerr Stephanie Childress © Kaupo Kikkas Alizé Léhon © Aure Boichard

Graphic design: Irma Boom Graphic execution: Laurie Wagner THE ACADÉMIE DU FESTIVAL IS SUPPORTED BY: SINCE ITS CREATION IN 1998, THE ACADÉMIE HAS ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS A CENTRE FOR VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL EXCELLENCE, A PLACE TO REFLECT ON OPERA CREATION TODAY AND TO EXPERIMENT WITH NEW INNOVATIVE FORMATS, WHILE ALSO SERVING AS A SPACE THAT PROMOTES AND AIDS THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ARTISTS.

AMMODO

Ammodo initiates, develops and supports projects in the visual arts, performing arts and sciences. Artists and scientists often see things before other people do. They identify social trends, extend boundaries and make revolutionary discoveries. By providing artists and scientists with the space and time to really immerse themselves in their work, and by helping to showcase that work, Ammodo seeks to stimulate the development of the arts and sciences. Ammodo supports the realisation of the new opera Innocence and the Opera de-ci de-la residency.

FONDATION D’ENTREPRISE TOTAL

TotalEnergies Foundation actively leads and participates in actions of solidarity throughout the world on a daily basis through its sites, its subsidiaries and its corporate foundation which stems from Total Group. With its solidarity program, Total is committed to contributing to the development of the zones where it is present. While focusing on youth, Total’s actions can be seen in four different areas including road safety, forest and climate action, education and the professional integration of young people, and dialogue around the subject of culture and heritage. Within the context of this fourth objective, TotalEnergies Foundation supports artistic projects that promote social inclusion, empower youth, and bring vitality to the regions where Total Group is present. The vocal residency of the Académie is a project that brings together all these objectives. TotalEnergies Foundation provides support to the Opéra de-ci de-là residency whose aim was to help young artists create participatory forms of opera. Sharing these newly elaborated and condensed forms of opera which were created during the residency adds a dynamic element to the daily life of the city. These operas were performed in public spaces and showcase heritage that can sometimes be overlooked, the everyday life of the residents of Aix.

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