Aragall was born on June 6th in 1939 in Barcelona. He made his debut as Arlecchino in Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo and Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 1961-1962 season. Within a few months he had won the first prize and the Gold Medal in the world-famous International Competition “Voci Verdian” in Busseto. Giacomo Aragall’s debut as a leading role was in Verdi’s opera Gerusalemme at the Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice on September 24th in 1963. The same year, at the age of 23, he debuted in Palermo and at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, as the youngest tenor ever to make his debut in the operas L’amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni. During his career, Giacomo Aragall sang in all the leading opera theatres of the world: La Scala, Milan; Teatro Comunale, Bologna; Teatro dell’Opera, Rome; Vienna State Opera; Hamburg; Munich; Bonn; Cologne; Berlin; Paris; Covent Garden, London. He has worked with great conductors including Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Georges Prêtre, Sir Georg Solti, Richard Bonynge, Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Lorin Maazel as well as with famous stage directors, such as Luchino Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli, Roman Polanski, Jean Pierre Ponnelle, and Giancarlo del Monaco. Giacomo Aragall performed recitals and concerts in leading concert halls such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Salle Pleyel, Paris, Vienna Staatsoper and Wiener Musikverein, Gran Teatre del Liceu. His awards include Honorary Patron of the Orfeó Catalá Foundation, Cross of St George, Kammersänger from the Wiener Staatsoper, Gold Medal of the Fine Arts from the Spanish government. Aragall holds master classes all over the world. The first “Jaume Aragall International Singing Competition” took place in 1994 in Torroella de Montgri and now in Sabadell, Barcelona and Vienna. Giacomo Aragall makes international appearances in concerts and recitals.

Will Crutchfield is the Director of Opera for the Caramoor International Music Festival, where he has conducted nearly thirty operas by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. The Caramoor seasons have included important revivals such as Guillaume Tell, La gazza ladra, Linda di Chamounix, and Maria di Rohan and the original French versions of Don Carlos, Les vêpres siciliennes, and La favorite, alongside reinterpretations of classics like La traviata and Norma. Among the soloists: Hei-Kyung Hong, Sumi Jo, Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Spyres, Vivica Genaux, Ewa Podleś, Jessica Pratt, Jennifer Larmore, Barry Banks, John Osborn, Clémentine Margaine, and Angela Meade. The Caramoor Festival also includes a full-scale training program for approximately forty young singers each summer. Mr. Crutchfield has also held conducting positions with the Opera de Colombia(Bogotá) and the Polish National Opera(Warsaw), and has made guest appearances with many theaters, including the Rossini Opera Festival (Pesaro), the Canadian Opera Company, the Washington National Opera, and the Minnesota Opera among others, with repertoire ranging from Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Gluck’s Paride ed Elena to Verdi’s Don Carlos, Aida, and Otello. His recent revival of Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira at Pesaro won first prize in the category “Best rediscovered work” at the International Opera Awards for 2015. He is also active as a pianist and musicologist, and is currently completing a book on historical performance practice in Italian opera.

Bass Attila Jun is a graduate of Seoul National University and studied Lied, Oratorio and Opera (Konzertexamen) at the Musik Hochschule in Cologne, Germany. When he was still a student at Seoul National University, he won second place at the Vienna Belvedere Competition and consequently made his European debut at the Stuttgart Theater in Germany. Since then, Jun has sung under the baton of many renowned conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Metha, Christian Thielemann, Antonio Papano, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Kent Nagano, Andrew Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo Dudamel and Jeffrey Tate. His singing engagements led him to La Scala in Milan, Teatro Reggio in Torino, Opera Theater of Florence, La Fenice Theater in Venice, Rome Opera, Bayreuth Wagner Festival, Salzburg Festival, Vienna Opera, Berlin Deutsche Opera, Munich National Theater, Hamburg National Theater, Liceo in Barcelona, Wels Wagner Festival in Austria, Mannheim National Theater, San Francisco Opera House and the Royal Konzertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has performed and recorded with the Hamburg NDR Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Madrid National Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, NHK Orchestra of Japan. With the Deutsche Grammophone and Decca, Jun has released recordings of Wagner’s Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung and R. Strauss’ Friedenstag, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, W. Braunsfels’ Grosse Messe Op.37. In 2011, Jun was named Kammersänger by the German Ministry of the Arts for his distinguished achievements and artistry. Since 2014, he teaches at his alma mater, Seoul National University, College of Music in Seoul, South Korea.

Alain Lanceron was born in Nice, France in 1949. He graduated from the ESCP Business School in Paris and holds an academic degree in Economical Sciences. Alain Lanceron joined Pathé Marconi-EMI in 1972 as a pop label manager. At the same time, from 1970 to 1980, he wrote as a musical critic for various magazines. In November, 1978, he was appointed as Director of the Classical Department of Pathé Marconi-EMI. In June 1996, in addition to his activities for EMI Music France, he became President of Virgin Classics International. From 2007 to 2009 – in addition to his other activities – he acts as Vice President Artist & Repertoire for the EMI Classics label. Alain Lanceron has to date achieved more than 650 projects with the greatest classical artists of our times. More than 200 of these recordings are devoted to French music thus taking an active part in the re-discovery of the French musical heritage with a great number of world premiere recordings. Since May 2005, Alain Lanceron has also been President of the Cnipal (Centre National d’Insertion Professionnelle d’Artistes Lyriques). From 2006 to 2010 he was President of Les Victoires de la Musique Classique (French equivalent to the Grammy Awards) and artistic advisor for the 2010-2011 season of the Nice Opera. Further to the purchase of EMI classical labels by Warner Music Group, Alain Lanceron is appointed in April 2014, President of Warner Classics & Erato. In 2013, Gramophone Magazine honoured Alain Lanceron with a Special Achievement Award and in March 2014, Alain Lanceron was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame, acknowledging his contribution to classical music recording. Alain Lanceron is chevalier in the Order of la Légion d’Honneur, chevalier in the Order National du Mérite and chevalier in the Order of les Arts et Lettres.

Miguel Lerin was born in Barcelona as a great-grandson of the famous tenor Francisco Viñas, in the bosom of a family of deeply-rooted musical tradition. He carried out his piano study in his city at the Marshall Academy, heiress of Enrique Granados’s pianistic tradition, directed by Alicia de Larrocha. Licensed in Business, Economics and Art History, he has combined his career with a resolute dedication to the promotion of the musical culture, especially as promoter of the International Singing Competition that is held every year in Barcelona and who takes the name of his illustrious great-grandfather. He is often giving lectures and has collaborated as musical critic in specialized magazines. He has been a member of the jury in many international competitions as the Voci Verdiane of Busseto and the Competitions of Munich, Bilbao, Varallo-Sesia, Sophia, Marseille, auditions of the Sullivan Foundation of New York, Elena Obraztsova in Saint Petersburg, Ferruccio Tagliavini in Graz, etc. He works with most of the opera houses as an artist manager and new voices promoter.

Albrecht Puhlmann, born in 1955 in Bad Segeberg/Germany, studied musicology, philosophy and history of literature in Hamburg. From 1982 until Wernicke’s death in 2002, he worked closely together with the opera director, Herbert Wernicke. His first engagement was at Theater Basel as dramaturg under the management of Frank Baumbauer. From 1996 to 2001, he worked as Opera Director at Theatre Basel then he continued his work as an Intendant (manager) of Staatsoper Hannover until 2006. From 2006 to 2011, he was Intendant of Staatsoper Struttgart. After 2011 he worked as a freelance dramaturg. As of 2016 he will be Intendant of the Mannheim Opera.

Ms. Scheppelmann is currently Director General for Artistic and Production at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Prior to that, she was the first Director General of the Royal Opera House Muscat, the first opera house of its kind in the Gulf Region, where her mission was to present high quality music, opera and dance from around the world. Under her guidance, ROHM’s reputation helped establish Oman as a tourism destination and opened doors for international relations on all levels. As Director of Artistic Operations at Washington National Opera, Ms. Scheppelmann oversaw the artistic planning for eleven years in collaboration with General Director Plácido Domingo. She has led masterclasses, lectured at artist training programs, and judged vocal competitions around the world. After completing a degree in banking she left her home country of Germany in 1987 to become an artist agent in Milan. Fluent in five languages, she quickly became known for her communication skills and was soon offered a job in arts administration at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. In 1995, she was recruited by Lotfi Mansouri to assist him at San Francisco Opera where, as one of the youngest artistic administrators at the time, she continued her work in planning seasons and hiring singers, conductors, directors and designers. Ms. Scheppelmann prides herself on having built solid collaborative relationships with union and civic leaders, members of the diplomatic corps, and national and international press. She earned an award from the National Labor Relations Board for establishing and maintaining positive dialogues between management and unions. In 2008, she was awarded the title of Commendatore in the Order of the Star of Solidarity by the Italian government for her career-long work promoting opera and Italian culture.

Soprano Kwang Sun Song graduated from Ewha Women’s University in 1977, leaving to study vocal music in Italy after winning the same year Dong-A Music Competition. She earned a diploma from Santa Cecilia Conservatorio in 1979 in Rome and Master’s degree from the Osimo Academia in 1981 in Pesaro. She won the first prizes and grand prizes more than 10 times at the international vocal competitions held all over Europe while studying from 1979 to 1985 in Italy. Her international awards include the first prizes in the international competition of Begiamino Gigli, Giuseppe Borgatti, Giovanni Viotti, Francisco Vinas, Luciano Pavarotti, Belgium Brussels and the Grand Prizes in the Gioacchino Rossini International Opera Festival, etc. Especially, in 1981 she was Aians’ very first winner of the Grand Prize at Rossini International Opera Festival and it surprised the world. She had a solo recital invitation of honour from Rossini theater and many enthusiastic fans highly acclaimed for the essence of Lyric Soprano. She won the 1981 Luciano Pavarotti International Competition. In 1982 she performed an invited opera, “Gianni Schicchi” with Pavarotti in Philadelphia. Between 1990 and 1994, she studied the lied of Germany and France, and finally earned the Diplome Superieur from both Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and Ville De Rueil-Malmaison Paris in 1993, respectively. Kwangsun Song moved all of the music fans to enthusiasm at home and abroad through the beautiful voice of Lyric soprano with her 20 invitation of operas as prima donna; La Traviata, La boheme, Rigoletto, Otello, etc., and with her 100 invited solo recitals by Rossini International Opera Festival, etc., and with her 1,000 invitation of joint concerts both at home and abroad. Since 1994, Kwangsun Song now works for the Korea National University of Arts as a professor of music. In 1997 she established a non-profit music foundation, Arumdownsesang. Through this music foundation she made more than fifty special classic music programs for young and adult age groups who are in the whole country until now as the president.

Jeffrey Vanderveen is Senior Vice President at Opus 3 Artists (formerly ICM Artists), a leading arts management and entertainment company based in New York with offices in Los Angeles and Berlin. He collaborates with arts organizations, record labels, corporate entities, and a diverse group of artists from leading classical musicians to rock legends Roger Waters and Sting. Recently, Mr. Vanderveen created new initiatives in the digital space for Google Play and YouTube to be launched in the first quarter of 2015. Previous to his work with Opus 3 Artists, Mr. Vanderveen acted as Managing Director of Universal Music Classical Management & Productions. Appointed by Universal Music Group, Mr. Vanderveen developed a pioneering business model that combined innovative production values, new promotional platforms, and media and recording opportunities to provide unique services to customers and clients alike. During his tenure with UMG, Mr. Vanderveen produced projects as diverse as Sting’s world tour of Symphonicities and a tour and television special of the artist’s If on a Winter’s Night album (shown in over 40 countries). He also produced a feature film of La bohème. By combining music and entertainment with sponsorship from luxury brands and related corporate entities, Mr. Vanderveen brings new audiences to music events and creates exceptional value for leading sponsors. He brings a unique global perspective, sound business background, and deep understanding of the music world to the presentation and consumption of live and recorded music. Mr. Vanderveen also lectures frequently throughout the U.S. and Europe on issues ranging from production and promotion of music events to artistic representation, media, and branding of live events.

Leading recitalist and vocal coach, James Vaughan studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. After graduating with an honours degree in Musicology and Composition from Trinity College Dublin, he continued his studies with Norma Fisher in London and with Riccardo Brengola on an Italian Government Scholarship at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Despite many appearances as soloist, his preference for working with singers soon led him to appointments as vocal coach at the Vienna State Opera and as Head of Music Staff at the VIenna Chamber Opera. Since then, he has worked regularly with leading singers and conductors including Abbado, Mehta, Harnoncourt, Chung, Pretre and Giulini, as well as Domingo, Carreras, Netrebko, Gheorgiu and Kaufmann. In 1998 he was invited to be Head Coach at La Scala Theatre in Milan. Since then, he has participated in over seventy productions for the theatre. He has appeared regularly in recital with Leo Nucci, Fiorenza Cedolins, Barbara Frittoli, Jessica Pratt and Pretty Yende in venues such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Pushkin Museum and Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, and in London at the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and St John’s Smith Square. He has worked regularly in masterclasses with singers such as Sena Jurinac, Christa Ludwig, James King and Renato Bruson and has held his own masterclasses frequently throughout Europe and Asia. In January 2016, he was awarded the Triumph International Award in Rome with Ennio Morricone and actor Michele Placido. He has been invited regularly to act as juror in vocal competitions including the Vinas in Barcelona, the Belvedere in Japan and the Vidisc International in Dublin.