Vladimir Jurowski conducts Haydn & Brahms

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. In 2023/2024, his concerts, tours and recordings were the highlights of the ‘RSB100’ anniversary season. His current contract in Berlin runs until 2027,
while he has also been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

Vladimir Jurowski, one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, who is celebrated worldwide for his innovative musical interpretations and equally for his courageous artistic commitment, was born in Moscow in 1972 and completed the first part of his music studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. He moved to Germany with his family in 1990 and continued his studies at the music academies in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995, he made his debut at the Wexford Festival in Ireland with Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Mainacht’ and in 1996 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with ‘Nabucco’. He was then First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2001).

Vladimir Jurowski worked as Chief Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for fifteen years until 2021 and has since been appointed Conductor Emeritus. In the UK, he was Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 2001 to 2013, leading a wide range of highly acclaimed productions. His close connection to British musical life was recognised by King Charles III in spring 2024 when he appointed Vladimir Jurowski an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). In April 2024, Vladimir Jurowski returned to London as a guest conductor to complete the concert performance cycle of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ with ‘Götterdämmerung’ with the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall.

He was Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra ‘Yevgeny Svetlanov’ of the Russian Federation until 2021 and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain, as well as Artistic Director of the International George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. He has also worked with the unitedberlin ensemble for many years. Vladimir Jurowski has suspended performances in Russia since February 2022. Ukrainian works are and will remain part of his repertoire, as will works by Russian composers.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted concerts by the most important orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. He is a regular guest at the music festivals in London, Berlin, Dresden, Lucerne, SchleswigHolstein and Grafenegg. Although Vladimir Jurowski is invited as a guest conductor by top orchestras from all over the world, he now concentrates his activities on those geographical areas that he can easily reach with reasonable effort from an ecological point of view.

The joint CD recordings by Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and again Schnittke. Vladimir Jurowski has been honoured many times for his achievements, including numerous international record awards. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Philharmonic Society from the hands of the current King Charles III. In 2020, Vladimir Jurowski’s work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival was honoured by the Romanian President with the Order of Cultural Merit.

Soprano Siobhan Stagg is one of the most exceptional young artists to have emerged from Australia in recent years. After graduating from the University of Melbourne, Siobhan began her career in the Salzburger Festspiele’s Young Singers Project and as a soloist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

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Siobhan has sung the title role in Cendrillon for the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Pamina and Susanna for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Sophie Der Rosenkavalier for the Opernhaus Zurich; Susanna for Komische Oper Berlin; Mélisande for Opera de Dijon and Australia’s Victorian Opera (for which she received the Green Room Award for Best Female Lead in an Opera); Gilda, Blonde and Cordelia in Reimann’s Lear for the Hamburgische Staatsoper; Lady Magnesia and Najade Ariadne auf Naxos for the Bayerische Staatsoper; Blonde for the Dutch National Opera; staged performances of Mozart’s Requiem at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Woglinde for the Deutsche Staatsoper and Morgana Alcina and Marzelline Fidelio for the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

​The 2024/25 sees Siobhan revisit important relationships with major orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Müncher Rundfunkorchester, Tasmanian Symphony and Aalborg Symphony.  Other concert highlights include her debut with Toronto Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Orquesta y Coro de Radio Televisión Española and Freiburger Barockorchester.
Upcoming opera engagements of the coming season include Idomeneo on tour with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Angelica Orlando in the new production at the Théatre du Châtelet Paris, a revival of Lady Magnesia at the Bayerische Staatsoper as well as her role debut of Despina Così fan tutte and a new opera Dark Side of the Moon by Unsuk Chin for the Hamburgische Staatsoper.

​Siobhan became a Director of the Melba Opera Trust Board in October 2020, their first scholarship alumna to be appointed, and the first International Director.

Canadian-born bass-baritone and Grammy Award winner Gerald Finley is one of the leading singers and dramatic performers of his generation. He can be heard at the world’s most important opera and concert venues and is represented by award-winning CDs and DVDs in a wide-ranging repertoire on major labels. Gerald Finley dedicates himself to a broad spectrum of vocal artistry in opera, concert and lieder, working regularly with the great orchestras and conductors of our time.

He began his career with Mozart roles; his Don Giovanni and his Count in Le nozze di Figaro can be heard on the opera stage and on DVD worldwide. Key roles in the recent past include Guillaume Tell, J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adam’s Dr. Atomic and Jaufré Rudel in Saariaho’s L’amour de loin. He sang the role of Harry Heegan in the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie.

Highlights of the 2024/2025 season include Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Vienna State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, and the role of Helge in Marc-Anthony Turnage’s new opera Festen, Wagner’s Flying Dutchman at the Bavarian State Opera, John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the role of Don Alfonso in a new production of Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte at La Scala in Milan. Recitals have taken him to the Liceu in Barcelona and the Bavarian State Opera.

Most recently, Finley appeared as Hans Sachs in Laurent Pelly’s new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Madrid, as Antonius in the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra at the San Francisco Opera, as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca and Count in Netia Jones’ new production of Le Nozze di Figaro at the Opéra national de Paris. He made his debut in the title role of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Staatsoper Berlin, and was critically acclaimed as Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Royal Opera House. He also sang Iago in a new production of Otello at the Bavarian State Opera and the Canadian Opera Company, the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle and Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera, as Count Almaviva at the Bavarian State Opera, in the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff.

Recent years have brought important successes in the Wagner repertoire: as Hans Sachs at the Glyndebourne Festival and at the Opéra de Paris, as Amfortas in Parsifal at the Royal Opera Covent Garden and as Wolfram at the Lyric Opera in Chicago. His extended repertoire includes Verdi’s Falstaff at the Canadian Opera (for which he won a DORA Award), an “incomparable” Iago in Otello with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO (LSO Live) in Japan, the Bavarian State Opera and the Canadian Opera, as well as the title role in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Sir Antonio Pappano (EMI), including at the Royal Opera Covent Garden. His other important roles include Golaud, Eugene Onegin and Nick Shadow.

In contemporary opera, Gerald Finley has distinguished himself by premiering numerous leading roles, notably J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic (New York Met, ENO London, San Francisco, Chicago and Amsterdam), as Harry Heegan in Turnage’s The Silver Tassie at ENO, Howard K. Stern in Turnage’s Anna Nicole at London’s Covent Garden and Jaufré Rudel in Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de loin for the highly acclaimed premieres in Santa Fe, Paris and Helsinki. He sang the role of Mr. Fox in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr Fox at L.A. Opera. Concert appearances include the title role in Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero (New York Phil with Alan Gilbert and the BRSO) and Chou en Lai in Adams’ Nixon in China with the BBC Symphony at the Proms under the composer’s baton.

An acclaimed lieder singer, Gerald Finley works regularly with pianist Julius Drake; recent appearances include concerts at the Schubertiade, recitals throughout Europe, a residency at Wigmore Hall and Carnegie-Zankel Hall and acclaimed performances at the Salzburg Festival, Edinburgh and Tanglewood. He has appeared on stage with Sir Antonio Pappano, Malcolm Matineau, Simon Lepper and Michael McMahon, among others. Gerald Finley also regularly gives masterclasses, including at the Juillard School of Music, with the Jette Parker Program for Young Artists at the Royal Opera Covent Garden and with the Lindemann Program at the Met.

His numerous CD releases are dedicated to songs by Barber, Britten, Ives, Ravel and Schumann’s song cycles Dichterliebe and Liederkreis Op. 24 and 39, all together with Julius Drake for Hyperion, and have been widely praised, including three Gramophone Awards in the solo vocal category. The release of Schubert’s Winterreise won a Canadian Juno Award in 2015 and last season’s release of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin completed their Hyperion Schubert trilogy. His CD Great Operatic Arias in English, released by Chandos, won the Canadian Juno Award for Best Album in the Vocal Performance category. In 2012, the DVD release of Doctor Atomic, with Gerald Finley as J. Robert Oppenheimer, was awarded the Grammy for Best Opera Recording.

Gerald Finley was born in Montreal and began his musical training as a boy singer in Ottawa before completing his studies at the Royal College of Music, King’s College, Cambridge and the National Opera Studio. He is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music. In 2014, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for the charity Help Musicians UK. In 2017 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire, having previously been appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. There is also a Canadian stamp dedicated to Gerald Finley, honoring Canadians in the opera world.