Emmanuelle Haïm conducts an early Handel oratorio

“I’m obsessed with music – and relatively stubborn. If I want something badly, I have to have it at some point.” Emmanuelle Haïm has single-mindedly pursued her childhood wish of becoming a conductor – although she first studied piano, organ and harpsichord. As musical assistant to William Christie, ensemble conducting finally became her focus: “I simply realised that it was now time to grow up and do what I had wanted to do since I was a child.” What followed was a dream start, with the French musician assisting Sir Simon Rattle, who she met at the Salzburg Festival in 1999: “He was such an incredible conductor who got so much out of the people there – with his enormously charismatic manner. There was nothing brutish about his authority at all. I liked that very much. He also had a refreshingly new approach to Early Music. [...] After that, it was clear to me: I had to do it the same way.” A year later, Emmanuelle Haïm founded the Concert d’Astrée, which quickly established itself as a leading international Baroque ensemble. Today she is considered one of the most sought-after conductors of our time – and not only in the field of Baroque repertoire – and makes guest appearances with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berliner Philharmoniker and many others.

Elsa Benoit received singing and piano lessons at an early age and gained her first stage experience as a member of the Rennes and Angers-Nantes opera choruses while studying musicology. She trained as a soprano at the Dutch National Opera Academy from 2011 to 2013. After two years at Bayerische Staatsoper’s Opera Studio, an engagement at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt followed. Elsa Benoit then joined the ensemble of Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, where she appeared in roles such as Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Frasquita (Carmen), Musetta (La Bohème), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Emilie (Les Indes galantes). Today Elsa Benoit appears regularly at leading opera houses and concert halls.

“You have given birth to an opera singer,” the doctor predicted to Julia Lezhneva’s mother because her newborn screamed so loudly. And in fact, Julia Lezhneva went on to study singing at the conservatory in Moscow, the Cardiff International Academy of Voice and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. In particular, the mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova and Marc Minkowski, who familiarised her with Baroque music, were key to her career. Today, thanks to her bright, clear and very flexible voice, the Russian, who gives concerts all over the world, is considered the ideal interpreter for virtuoso vocal parts of the Baroque and First Viennese School periods. “Music has made me a better person,” says Julia Lezhneva, who made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2019. “Through it, I have learned to love nature and people more.”

Iestyn Davies studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge before training as a singer at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2015, he delighted London audiences in the role of Farinelli in Claire van Kampen’s play Farinelli and the King at the Globe Theatre. Guest engagements have taken the countertenor to leading opera houses such as the Royal Opera House and English National Opera in London, the Metropolitan Opera New York, Houston Grand Opera, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Davies’ repertoire, which ranges from the Baroque to the present, includes roles such as Unulfo (Rodelinda), Eustazio (Rinaldo), Apollo (Death in Venice) and Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). The singer has also performed at prestigious festivals as well as at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Centre in New York, and the Wigmore Hall in London.

Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani first studied violin before changing to singing at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in his home town of Florence. In 2001, the Italian tenor made his debut as soloist in Charpentier’s Te Deum at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence. He has won prizes at various competitions, including the 39th Toti Dal Monte International Opera Competition in Treviso, where he sang the role of Enrico in Haydn’s La vera costanza. Today, Giustiniani takes on the great roles of his vocal field at leading international opera houses, such as Ferrando (Così fan tutte) and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) at the Teatro La Fenice, Ozia (La Betulia liberata) at the Salzburg Festival and at the Ravenna Festival, Il Conte and Torribio (I due Figaro) at the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Ravenna Festival and the Teatro Colón, as well as Camille de Rosillon (The Merry Widow) at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona.