Jessica Pratt │Javier Camarena │Toufic Maatouk

‍JESSICA PRATT  

Jessica Pratt has been described as a soprano with ‘gleaming sound, free and easy high notes, agile coloratura runs and lyrical grace’ and is considered one of today’s foremost interpreters of the bel canto repertoire.

British-born and Australian raised she now lives in Florence and completed her vocal studies in Rome with Gianluigi Gelmetti and Renata Scotto, currently working with Lella Cuberli. She has won many international vocal competitions, including the Australian Singing Competition, the Vienna State Opera Award and the Rome Opera Award and in 2013 the prize for coloratura sopranos, La Siola d’Oro.

Since her European debut in 2007 as Lucia di Lammermoor she has sung at prestigious venues including the Teatra alla Scala, the Zurich Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Deutsche Oper Berlin with such conductors as Kent Nagano, Colin Davis, Christian Thielemann, David Parry, Wayne Marshall, Donato Renzetti, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Daniel Oren and Nello Santi. Her roles have included Gilda to Leo Nucci’s Rigoletto in Parma and Seville, Matilde in Guillaume Tell with Juan Diego Florez as Arnold in Lima, Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi in Reims, Giovanni d’Arco in Martina Franca, Lucia in Berlin, Milan, Rome, Amsterdam and Lima, Amina in La sonnambula in Bari, Inès in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine at La Fenice in Venice, Violetta in La traviata in Melbourne, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare in Turin, Amenaide in Tancredi at the Opéra de Lausanne, Zenobia in Aureliano in Palmira at the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival, Elvira in I puritani in Florence and Melbourne, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Arena di Verona, Semiramide in Marseille, Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello in Barcelona, Rosmonda d’Inghilterra at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, and her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte.  

In 2016 she released her first solo album, Serenade, and other DVD/Blu-ray and CD recordings include Rossini’s Otello and Vaccai’s La sposa di Messina, Rossini’s Adelaide di Borgogna, Cirio in Babilonia and Aureliano in Palmira, Donizetti’s Viva la mamma and Bellini’s La sonnambula.

JAVIER CAMARENA  

Recognised as the Male Singer of the Year by the International Opera Awards in 2021, Javier Camarena has become one of the world’s most popular and sought-after tenors. Born in Xalapa in Mexico he first studied at the Universidad Veracruzana before graduating with honours from the University of Guanajuato and winning first prize in Mexico’s Carlo Morelli National Singing Competition. He made his professional debut at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City as Tonio in La Fille du régiment before being invited to join Zurich’s International Opera Studio and becoming a member of the opera house’s ensemble from 2006 to 2014.

Camarena’s principal rules include Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola and the title role in Le Comte Ory, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Arturo and Edgardo in Lucia di Lamermoor, Gualtiero in Il pirata, Des Grieux in Manon, Alfredo in La traviata, Fenton in Falstaff, working with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Benini, Bruno Campanella, Giuseppe Finzi, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Evelino Pidò and Franz Welser-Möst.  

He has been given the Opera News Award (2020), the Bellas Artes Opera Medal, the ISPA Distinguished Artist Award and the Mozart Medal (all in 2019) and in 2014 his hometown of Xalapa awarded him the Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada medal as distinguished citizen.  

His recordings include Recitales (2014), a live recording of arias by Rossini, Scarlatti and Donizetti with songs by Mexico’s Agustín Lara, María Grever and others; Serenata (2015), a collection of songs by Lara and other Mexican composers; and an album of traditional children’s songs entitled Javier Camerena canta a Cri Cri (2015). His album Contrabandista (2018) explores the life and music of the legendary Spanish tenor Manuel García. He has also appeared on numerous operatic DVD/Blu-ray releases, including Così fan tutte (2010), Falstaff (2012), Rossini’s Le Comte Ory and Otello (2014), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2014) and a second version of Falstaff with Zubin Mehta conducting the Vienna Philharmonic (2014), as well as Schubert and Mozart masses under Claudio Abbado recorded at the Salzburg Festival (2013).

KOREAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ARTS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA  

The Korean National University of Arts Symphony Orchestra (KNUA) was founded in 1993 in conjunction with the establishment of the Korea National University of Arts. Since then it has become acclaimed for its performances, contributing significantly to the profile of classical music in Korea and holding annual concerts at venues including the Seoul Arts Centre and the Lotte Concert Hall. In addition to engagements in its home country, the orchestra has performed internationally in Germany, Russia, China and the United States.  

During the Korea-Russia summit in 1999 the orchestra collaborated with the Moscow State Conservatory and in 2001 collaborated on concerts with both the Moscow State Conservatory and the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory, to widespread enthusiasm.

In April 2022 the KNUA Symphony Orchestra participated virtually in the Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw and in 2023 the orchestra was honoured to be invited to give the opening concert of the Festival and was named as the guest nation of the event.  

To mark the 30th anniversary of the university in 2023 the KNUA Symphony Orchestra, together with the KNUA Grand Choir, performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Lotte Concert Hall. This monumental performance, involving over 400 students and alumni, was praised for surpassing the perceived limits of university orchestras and for elevating the standard of classical music in Korea.

TOUFIC MAATOUK

Toufic Maatouk has emerged as a conductor and musical leader of distinction, his journey beginning in 2005 when he assumed the roles of artistic director and choir master of the Antonine University, revealing his passion for choral music. In 2012 he embarked on significant new chapter in his career by taking on the position of artistic director of the Beirut Chants Festival in Lebanon.

After refining his conducting technique under the mentorship of Ennio Nicotra and Donato Renzetti, Maatouk continued to expand his musical horizons, making significant contributions as a guest conductor with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013 and with the Romanian Radio Orchestra since 2017, solidifying his stature in the realm of orchestral conducting.

Maatouk’s dedication to musical excellence has led to leadership appointments such as programming executive manager and deputy executive director at the Abu Dhabi Festival and the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts foundation in the United Arab Emirates. He also assumed the position of head of academy at the Saudi Music Hubs in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In recognition of his contribution to the arts, Maatouk has received prestigious orders and distinctions: in 2020 he was made a Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by the President of the Italian Republic, and in 2023 the French Ministry of Culture made him a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Maatouk has worked with orchestra, festivals and theatres around the world, including the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, the Romanian Radio Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo, the Orchestra Giovanile Mediterranea, Roma Sinfonietta and Sinfonica San Remo. He has also performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Académie de l’Opéra de Paris, with festivals including the Baalbeck International Festival, Al-Bustan Festival in Lebanon, Festival d’Ile de France and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and with artists including Joyce El Khoury and Maria Agresta.  

He has been a jury member for the Ottavio Ziino International Lyric Competition and the Voce Verdiane International Competition. He holds a Ph.D in musicology from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome and published with Guethner Editions in France.

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