Born in Tbilisi (Georgia), where she studied at the Conservatory, Eugenia Anvelt made her debut at the Tallinn Opera House in Estonia where she was highly regarded as a lirico spinto soprano for 10 years in opera ‘Il trovatore’, ‘Attila’, ‘Saloma’. During this time she had won the First Prizes at the prestigious international music competitions including Glinka Competition, International Singing Competition of Toulouse, and Barcelona Vi?as International Singing Competition.
She has sung in venues throughout the world, such as Bolshoi Theatre in Moskva, Kirov Theatre in Leningrad, and Covent Garden in London. She also received great acclaim singing the main roles of over 30 operas at Scala Academy, La Scala Theatre, Catania, Modica, Reggio Calabria, Bari, Sulmona, Perma, Torino in Italy. In addition to her appearance in the most renowned opera houses of the world, her performances appeared in Television and Radio in Italy and also many of her recordings released.
She studied with Claudio Abbado, Giulietta Simionato, Renata Tebaldi at La Scala Theatre in Milano and has served on the faculties of the Conservatory of Ferrara, Udine Conservatory, Parma Conservatory. She is a professor of voice at the Verdi Conservatory in Milano and a frequent jury member of the leading international singing competitions such as Giacomo Aragall, Bilbao, Maria Callas, Giulietta Simionato, Bellini.

Jane Berbié became one of the most popular French mezzo-sopranos of the middle part of the twentieth century. She had a distinctive, saucy, and playful stage presence that made her a natural for ingénue parts and “trousers” roles in comic operas.
She was well known as a concert and recital singer, and excelled in a wide range of repertory. She was very early among important singers to add early Baroque repertory such as songs of Monteverdi to her programs, but French nineteenth-century song, plus songs of Roussel, Ravel, and Satie were among the most important.
She made her operatic debut in two roles in Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les sortiléges at La Scala in 1958. She participated in two recordings of the opera, including the classic Lorin Maazel recording on Deutsche Grammophon, in which she sang the roles of the Sofa, the Shepherdess, the female Cat, and the Squirrel. Her signature role was likely that of the lively young wife, Concepción, in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, which she also recorded on DG with Maazel.
She joined the roster of the Paris Opéra in 1959, debuting as Mercedes in Carmen. She was highly regarded in the soubrette roles in the three Mozart-Da Ponte operas: Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Despina (Così fan tutte), and Marcellina (Nozze di Figaro). An appearance in the last-named of these was one of the most notable occasions of her career, as she was chosen to play it in the 1973 Paris Opéra performance inaugurating the administration there of Rolf Liebermann.
Ms. Berbié has been a jury member of the prestigious international voice competitions including Munich International ARD Competition and Queen Elisabeth International Competition.

Born on April 17, 1940 in Oberhausen, Siegfried Jerusalem made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1977 as “Froh” in Rheingold and the young sailor in Tristan and Isolde. Since then he has been a permanent member of the Festival.
Further engagements took him to Vienna, the Metropolitan Opera New York, New Orleans, Milan’s Scala, Paris, London, Cologne, Geneva, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto, Washington and other venues.
Siegfried Jerusalem produced countless recordings, including <Violanta>, <Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer> and the <Ring des Nibelungen>, winning a coveted Grammy award for all of them. His album of orchestra songs by Strauss was chosen as record of the month in the United States.
1990 was Siegfried Jerusalem’s most successful year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He sang in the “Ring” cycle, in the role of Loge in “Rheingold” and both Siegfrieds (Siegfried and Götterdämmerung). This “Ring” was recorded for television and 55 million people viewed it in the United States. For his production of Loge on the DG recording, he was awarded the prestigious Grammy in 1991.
For Jerusalem, the 92/93 season was a high time in Vienna. In the new “Ring” production there, he received great acclaim singing the roles of Loge and both Siegfrieds. He was also awarded the “Der liebe Augustin” distinction and the title of Kammersänger by the Austrian President.
He made his debut as Tristan at the opening of the 1993 Bayreuth Festival. This was a huge personal success for him, ensuring him the role of Tristan at all the major opera houses for years to come.
On October 1, 2000, he took on a professorship at the new College of Music in Nuremberg. He has been the first Director of this new college since October 1, 2001. With great commitment, he now devotes himself to training young people and developing the young music college.
Yet Siegfried Jerusalem has not given up singing, only changed focus. In 2001-2004, he will appear in New York, London, Munich, Berlin and Vienna in the operas “Salome” and “Elektra”. He will also continue to perform Lieder evenings.

The Korean soprano Bok Joo Jhong is currently Dean of School of Music at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. After graduating from Seoul National University, she finished her studies with soprano Eileen Farrell by receiving Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University in the United States of America.
Even though she has taken part in many operatic performances and orchestral concerts from the start of her career she is a devoted recitalist. She has given numerous recitals and concerts in Korea, Canada, Australia and in the United States of America.
Bok Joo Jhong, an intellectually probing artist, has premiered many twentieth century contemporary vocal repertories. She has been much in demand in the juries of renowned competitions.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Young-Mi Kim is a world renowned Soprano known for her delicate and dramatic operatic voice. Acquiring her Masters and undergraduate degrees at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Italy, Ms. Kim studied with Giorgio Favaretto and Jolande Magnoni. During this time she was the recipient of numerous awards for her vocal talent: the Verona International Contest in Italy, The Dante Prize, at the Reggio Emillia Opera House; the Giacomo Puccini Contest, Lucca, Italy; the Maria Callas International Voice Competition in Milan; and the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition.
Young is active in the Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seoul National Opera and the New York Opera. During her performance with the Philadelphia Opera, Mr. Kim was opposite Tenor Luciano Pavarotti for L’Elisir D’Amore, Adina C. Her repertoire of operatic performances include La Traviata, Violetta; La Boheme, Mimi; Don Pasquale, Norin; Lucia di L’Ammermoor, Lucia and of course, Madama Butterfly, Cio-Cio San. On many opera performances Ms. Kim’s Cio-Cio San from Madama Butterfly has been well applauded and afforded many accolades.
Her dramatic soprano voice has been heard in many concert halls; the Chibahyun Gala Concert, Tokyo; Mission Concert, Los Angeles; Vancouver Mission Concert; the Roy Thomson Hall, the K.B.S. Symphony Orchestra, Korea; the Su Won International Music Festival Concert; the Korea Opera 50th Anniversary Festival Concert; the 2002 World Cup Japan and Korea Concert and many more.
One achievement of particular honor was awarded to Ms. Kim in recognition of her cultural achievements in Korea, a National Award, one of the highest honors bestowed for her support in the performing arts. Over her career, Ms. Kim has performed many concerts and recitals around the world attesting to her ability and talent. Since 1993 she as well has performed in her role as a Professor at the Korean National University of Arts. In addition, she has taught Master Classes for the San Francisco Summer Music Festival, the Viterbo and Casalmaggiore Summer Music festivals in Italy, and finally at the Yoo Rim Summer Academy.

Guy Montavon has been General Manager of the Erfurt Theatre since August 2002. He was born in Geneva, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, in 1961. He gained a diploma as a bassoonist at the Geneva Conservatoire and then worked as an assistant director at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. After that he studied Musical Theatre Direction at the Hamburg Academy of Drama and Music under Götz Friedrich. As an assistant to the internationally renowned director Gian Carlo del Monaco, Guy Montavon worked at many different opera houses, including those of Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, Bregenz and Barcelona, as well as at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
After graduating in 1986, he directed at the Hamburg State Opera, in Livorno, Pisa, Lyons, St. Gallen, Montpellier and Saarbrücken. From 1992 to 1995 he held a long-term appointment as Artistic Director and Deputy Operatic Director at the Bonn opera house and during this time he also worked as a guest director at the opening of the new opera house in Helsinki. From 1996 onwards, Guy Montavon was Theatre Director and Managing Director of the Stadttheater Giessen GmbH, a tripartite theatre with a staff of about 200.
He made his debut as a director in Erfurt with the production of Strauss’ opera “Friedenstag” at the DomStufen-Festspiele in 2003. His second production in Erfurt was the fairy-tale opera “Das geheime Königreich” by Ernst Krenek in the studio of the new theatre (premiere on 3rd December 2003). He is a jury member for a number of renowned singing competitions and a guest lecturer in Operatic Interpretation at the universities of Montreal and Tokyo.

Ms. Scheppelmann has nearly 20 years experience in artistic management and has served as the Director of Artistic Operations for Washington National Opera since January 2002.
She is responsible for the guidance and actualization of all aspects of Washington National Opera’s artistic mission. Under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo, she has advanced Washington National Opera’s reputation as a world-class opera company.
Prior to joining the WNO, Ms. Scheppelmann has worked with other world-renowned opera companies in Europe and the United States. She began her career as an artist manager with Walter Beloch Artist Management in Milan, Italy. She has held positions in arts administration as Assistant to the Artistic Director at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain and later at the Gran Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Italy. After her professional experiences in Europe, Ms. Scheppelmann was appointed Artistic Administrator at the San Francisco Opera.
Ms. Scheppelmann’s expertise in recognizing professional talent extends to her spare time where she regularly serves as a jury member at vocal competitions around the world. She is frequently interviewed for arts broadcasts and publications, and is a regular speaker and presenter at master classes and panel discussions. She is a native of Hamburg, Germany where she received her post-graduate degree in banking and economics.

She caught the world’s attention for the first time at the 1985 Bayreuth Festival, when she sang Elisabeth (Tannhäuser) under Giuseppe Sinopoli.
Since then, Ms. Studer has sung in the most prestigious houses in the world: Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona (debut in 1986 in Das Rheingold as Freia), Opéra de Paris (debut the same year in Die Zauberflöte as Pamina), San Francisco Opera (debut in Die Meistersinger as Eva, also in 1986), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (debut in 1987 in Tannhäuser as Elisabeth), La Scala (operatic debut in Don Giovanni as Donna Anna in 1987), New York Metropolitan Opera (debut in 1988 in Carmen as Micaela), Vienna State Opera (debut in Elektra as Chrysothemis in 1989). She debuted at the Salzburg Summer Festival that same year and in the same role.
From Mozart’s Queen of the Night, Donna Anna and Countess Almaviva to Wagner’s Sieglinde, Elisabeth and Elsa; from Rossini’s Mathilde and Semiramide to Donizetti’s Lucia; from Verdi’s Odabella and Violetta to Gounod’s Marguerite and the great heroines of Richard Strauss, her repertoire encompasses more than 70 roles.
Ms. Studer appears regularly as a concert soloist with the world’s most famous orchestras: the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the London Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Boston Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, to name but a few. Her concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Mozart’s concert arias, Verdi’s Requiem, Wagner’s Wesendonk-Lieder and Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder, as well as other orchestral Lieder.
Cheryl Studer has numerous vocal awards and distinctions, among them the Grand Prix du Disque – Prix Maria Callas; the International Classical Music Award in the category of Best Female Singer of the Year; the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize; and Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year (1994). Her profuse discography includes a large number of recordings which have received international awards.
Ms. Studer is also very active in supporting other singers, giving master classes and seminars in the US, Asia and Europe as well as participating in juries of international competitions. In 2003, she additionally was appointed a lifetime professorship from the state of Bavaria, Germany.

(in alphabetical order)
*updated November 2007