Marek Janowski has been Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin from 2002 to 2016. Between 1984 and 2000, as Musical Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Marek Janowski took the orchestra to a position of pre-eminence in France, as well as abroad. From 1986 to 1990, in addition to his position in Paris, Janowski was Chief Conductor of the Gürzenich-Orchester in Cologne. From 2000 to 2005 Janowski served as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and from 2001 to 2003 he also held the position of Chief Conductor with the Dresdner Philharmonie. Marek Janowski’s guest conducting takes him to orchestras in the USA including the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and in Europe with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Born in Warsaw in 1939, Janowski grew up in Germany and studied violin and piano as well as conducting in Cologne. His artistic path led him from assistant positions in Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg to his appointment as General Music Director in Freiburg im Breisgau (1973-75) and Dortmund (1975-79). He made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1976 and last conducted the orchetra in June 1994 in works by Haydn, Weber and Schumann.
María José Siri studied at the School of Lyric Singing in Montevideo, the Conservatoire Les Halles in Paris, and also in Nice and Vienna under Ileana Cotrubaş. After initial engagements in South America, the Uruguayan soprano made her debut at numerous internationally renowned opera houses from 2008, including La Scala, the Vienna and Berlin state opera houses, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Brussels opera house La Monnaie and the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen where she sang the title roles of Aida,Tosca and Suor Angelica and also appeared in operas such as Eugene Onegin,La Bohème and Un ballo in maschera. Other opera engagements have taken María José Siri to the Arena di Verona (Aida,Don Giovanni) the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (Il trovatore) the Teatro Comunale Bologna (Il trovatore,Un ballo in maschera,Attila), the Teatro Regio Torino ( Tosca,Andrea Chénier,Simon Boccanegra,Otello) and the opera house in Bilbao (Don Carlos). Engagements in the 2016/2017 season include the opening night of La Scala in the title role of Madama Butterfly, Verdiʼs Requiem at the Bolshoi Theatre, Manon Lescaut in Turin, Geneva and Naples, Andrea Chénier in Rome and Tosca in Dresden and Berlin. María José Siri has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Bruno Bartoletti, Zubin Mehta, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo, Donato Renzetti and Pinchas Steinberg. The singer now makes her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Daniela Barcellona comes from Trieste where she studied singing under Alessandro Vitiello. After participating successfully in several international competitions, the mezzo-soprano was invited to the Rossini Festival in Pesaro in the summer of 1999, where her acclaimed role debut in Tancredi launched a meteoric international career. Daniela Barcellona is now regarded as one of the leading performers of the Italian bel canto repertoire. Roles such as Maffio Orsini (Lucrezia Borgia), Marquise Melibea (Il viaggio a Reims), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Ottone (Adelaide di Borgogna), Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), Adalgisa (Norma), Romeo (I Capuleti ei Montecchi) and Isabella (Lʼitaliana in Algeri), plus the title roles in Sigismondo and Tancredi have taken her to opera houses such as the Arena di Verona, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Wiener Staatsoper, the Teatro Real in Madrid, Bayerische Staastsoper, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Opéra de Paris. In the course of her career, the singer, who has extended her repertoire in recent years to include numerous roles ranging from the Baroque to the French repertoires, has worked with renowned conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano and Alberto Zedda. Daniela Barcellona’s most recent appearance with the Berliner Philharmoniker was in Verdiʼs Requiem at the end of January 2001. The conductor was Claudio Abbado.
Roberto Aronica was born in Civitavecchia, north west of Rome, in 1969. He studied under Carlo Bergonzi and subsequently graduated from the master class of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. The tenor made his opera debut as the Duca di Mantova (Rigoletto) at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile in 1992, after which Roberto Aronica made an international name for himself, especially in the Italian repertoire. He has appeared for example in roles such as Alfredo (La Traviata), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Nemorino (Lʼelisir dʼamore), Roberto Devereux (Roberto Devereux), Macduff (Macbeth), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) in Toulouse, Florence, Amsterdam, Bologna, Venice, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, Zurich Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Londonʼs Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, Wiener Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin where he has worked together with such conductors as Roberto Abbado, Semyon Bychkov, James Conlon, Daniele Gatti, James Levine, Christian Thielemann and Renato Palumbo. Roberto Aronica is also in demand worldwide as a concert singer. He now appears with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the first time.
Riccardo Zanellato studied singing under Arrigo Pola and Bonaldo Giaiotti and obtained a diploma in classical guitar at the Conservatorio di Musica Antonio Buzzolla in Adria. The Italian bass, who has won several international singing competitions, made his stage debut in Donizettiʼs Dom Sébastien in Bologna and Bergamo. He then made an international name for himself, especially in Verdi roles such as Attila, Barbarossa (La battaglia di Legnano) and Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino) in Parma, and Sparafucile (Rigoletto) at La Scala, Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra) in Rome, Zaccaria (Nabucco ) at the Savonlinna Festival and in Copenhagen, Ramfis (Aida) in Genoa, Milan, Naples and Antwerp, Ferrando (Il trovatore) in Lausanne, Banco (Macbeth) at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, in Lyon and Bologna, Count Walter (Luisa Miller) in Lyon and Barcelona plus Samuel (Un ballo in maschera) at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Engagements have also taken the singer to many other major opera houses in Italy and beyond, as well as the festivals in Salzburg, Ravenna, Pesaro and Macerata. Riccardo Zanellato also regularly appears on the concert stage in works such as Beethovenʼs Ninth Symphony and Verdiʼs Messa da Requiem as a guest artist with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de France and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The singer, who has worked with conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Muti and Yuri Temirkanov, now appears with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the first time.
The Rundfunkchor Berlin(Berlin Radio Choir) is a regular guest at major festivals and the chosen partner of international orchestras and conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann and Daniel Barenboim. In Berlin the choir has long-standing partnerships with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and the Berliner Philharmoniker. The exceptional breadth of its repertoire, its stylistic versatility, delight in experimentation, stunning responsiveness and richly nuanced sound all contribute to making it one of the world’s outstanding choral ensembles. Its work is documented by many recordings and awards, including three Grammy Awards. With its experimental project series, in collaboration with artists from diverse disciplines, the Rundfunkchor Berlin is breaking down the classical concert format and adopting new modes of choral music for a new audience: e.g. the interactive scenic version of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem staged by Jochen Sandig / Sasha Waltz & Guests attracted great attention. With annual activities such as the Sing-along Concert and the “Liederbörse” (Song Exchange) for children and young people or the education programme SING! the choir invites people of various walks of life to the world of singing. Academy and Schola support the next generation of professionals. Founded in 1925 the ensemble was shaped by conductors including Helmut Koch, Dietrich Knothe, Robin Gritton and Simon Halsey (2001-2015). As of the 2015/16 season Gijs Leenars took over as new principal conductor and artistic director. The Rundfunkchor last appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker in December 2016 with Bruckner’s F minor Mass conducted by Christian Thielemann.