's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands 5-6 October 2024
Hosted by the International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch
Dear Members, dear Friends and Colleagues,
it isa great pleasure to welcome to our 2024 Regional Conference in s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands! On occasion of the 70th anniversary of the International Vocal Competition (IVC) we are thrilled to have the opportunity to get together once again thisyear,to discusscurrent issues, to learn about the latest developments, and to make plansfor the future
Since IVC is a vocal competition, there will be a special focuson voice, with prominent guest speakersand exciting topicssuch asSustainabilityof the Opera. And with legendary soprano Dame Gwyneth Jones, we will have a truly iconic visitor alongside IVC Artistic Director Andrew Watts, who himself isa frequent visitor to the major opera stagesaround the world
Capital city of North Brabant and birthplace of the great Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, ´s-Hertogenbosch hasa cozy, well preserved old town and makesfor a perfect weekend escape. Only one hour away from Amsterdam´sSchiphol Airport by Intercity train, it iseasily accessible aswell.
You will find some basic information about the conference in these pagesin order to plan your itinerary and consider a place to stay The WFIMC office aswell asour colleaguesin the Netherlandsare at your disposal for any information and help you may require
Yourssincerely
Peter Paul Kainrath, President Florian Riem, SecretaryGeneral
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Saturday, 5 October
2024
Arrival at 's-Hertogenbosch
see "Access"page in thisbrochure for information on hotelsand transportation. All eventstake place at the Theater aan de Parade
13:00-14:00 Registration- meet and greet Casinozaal
14:00 Welcome by Peter Paul Kainrath and Andrew Watts
14:15-15:15 Keynote and Seminar ?? The Future of Competitions?: Casinozaal
Guest: Sir David Pountney
Hosts: Florian Riem and Peter Paul Kainrath
In a world where equalityispushed to the forefront- are competitionsa good thing?A provocative discussion against the background of recent defunding of competitionsin the Netherlands
15:30-16:45 Dame Gw yneth Jones in conversation w ith Andrew Watts Pleinzaal
Guest: Dame Gw yneth Jones
Host: Andrew Watts, Artisticand General Director of IVC
The iconicsoprano looksbackat her career and discussesthe highs and the lowsand sharesher hopes for the future of opera and the vocal arts
17:00-18:00 WFIMC Dialogue - Federation updates Pleinzaal
18:00 -19:00 Pre-Competition drinks and snacks, hosted by the IVC
19:00 Finals of the 57th Edition of the IVC Competition DressCode: "dressto impress!" (party attire)
22:00 Competition results and drinks - 70th Birthday Party of the IVC
Sunday, 6 October 2024
09:00-10:00 Coffee and Netw orking Pleinzaal
10:00-11:30 Roundtables Pleinzaal
Voice - moderated by Andrew Watts
Piano - moderated by Artur Szklener and Rob Hilberink Strings- moderated by Glen Kw ok
11:30-12:00 Coffee
12:00-13:30 Seminar ? ?The Sustainability and Survival of Opera?: Pleinzaal
Panel Discussion with Karen Stone (General Director of Opera Europa); Monique Wagemakers (Opera director); Tim Redmond (Conductor); Andrew Watts (Countertenor and General and Artistic Director IVC); Sir David Pountney (Opera director), David Stern (Conductor, Music Director, Palm Beach Opera)
13:30 Farew ell Luncheon hosted bythe IVC Pleinzaal Foyer
All information subject to change
CONFERENCE VENUE
Theater aan de Parade
Parade 23,5211 KL
's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Sir David Pountney
Sir David Pountney became internationally known through hisproduction of Katya Kabanova at the 1972 Wexford Festival Between 1975 and 1980, he wasDirector of Productionsfor Scottish Opera.Productionsthere featured a Janá?ek cycle in collaboration with Welsh National Opera.
He directed the world premiere of David Blake?sToussaint in 1977 (English National Opera) and went on to become ENO?sDirector of Productionsin 1980, directing over 20 operas, and took a leading part in making ENO a powerful engine of radical theatrical experiment
Sir David hasdirected over 20 world premieres, including three by Peter Maxwell Davies, for which he also wrote the libretto.He hastranslated operasinto English from Russian,Czech, German and Italian, and continuesto be an enthusiastic libretto writer
Other highlightsof hiscareer include Leipzig Opera for Meistersinger,Israeli Opera for Le Nozze di Figaro,The Passenger (Houston, New York and Chicago); a new Philip Glassopera,Spuren der Verirrten (Linz),and Die Zauberflöte for the lake stage in Bregenz,where he wasIntendant from 2003 - 2013.
From 2011 to 2019, Sir David wasthe Artistic Director of the Welsh National Opera, where he directed Berg?sLulu,Rossini?sGuillaume Tell, Mosè in Egitto, aswell as Pelléaset Mélisande,In Parenthesis(world premiere), Elena Langer?sopera Figaro getsa Divorce (world premiere),Un Forza di Destino,and, during the last season, Janá?ek?sHouse of the Dead, which he also took to the Brno Festival in the Czech Republic
Sir David hasworked regularly in Zurich,at the Vienna State Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper,aswell asat opera housesin America and Japan. He received a Janá?ek medal for hisJaná?ek cycle in Walesand Scotland, and a Martin? medal for his productionsof Julietta and GreekPassion (Opera North and BregenzFestival) His productionshave twice won an Olivier award
Sir David wasknighted for servicesto Opera in 2019, he isa CBE, a Chevalier in the French Ordre desArtset Lettres,hasthe Cavalier?s Crossof the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland,and wasawarded the EhrenkreuzdesBundesOesterreich in 2014. Sir David wasalso awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Cardiff University in recognition of hiscontribution asan artist and cultural leader,and an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Philharmonic Society, an honour shared with Verdi,Wagner and Sondheim
Dame Gw yneth Jones
Dame Gwyneth Joneswasborn in Wales, Great Britain After studiesat the Royal College of Music,London-, The Accademia Chigiana Siena, the International Opera Studio in Zurich and with Maria Carpi,she made her debut at the Zurich Opera House in 1962. She hasbeen singing at the Royal Opera Covent Garden since 1963 and ismember of the Vienna State Opera,the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 1966
Dame Gwyneth Jonesisone of the most successful and versatile opera singersin the world In Vienna,Munich, London, Parisand at the METin New York, she hastriumphed especially in operasby Richard Strauss. Salome, Helen of Egypt (both recorded), Ariadne, and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (on CD and Video, conducted by CarlosKleiber) are among her most successful roles. Since adding Elektra to her repertoire in 1983, she hasbeen sensationally successful, wherever she isperforming thisopera.
At the Bayreuth Festival, she hasproved to be an outstanding interpreter of Richard Wagner: she sang Sieglinde, Eva, Senta and Kundry She wasthe first singer ever to sing both Elisabeth and Venus(Tannhäuser) together,at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus In 1976, she wasBrünnhilde in the successfully filmed new production of the Ring desNibelungen (Boulez/Chèreau) for the centenary celebration of the Bayreuth Festival. The gramophone recording received the Grammy award. In 1980, she became a brilliant Isolde,and in 1991 added Ortrud to her repertoire.
In the venue of itspremiere performance (Theater an der Wien), Dame Gwyneth Jones sang Beethoven?sFidelio for the celebration of the 200th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven in a new production with Leonard Bernstein She was also featured in the film Leonore with Karl Böhm, with whom she recorded it aswell.
She hassung in all the important opera housesthroughout the world: Vienna State Opera, London Royal Opera Covent Garten,at the MET, in Paris,La Scala di Milano, in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg,Barcelona,BuenosAires,Tokyo, San Francisco,Chicago and at the Festivalsin Bayreuth, Salzburg, Verona,Edinburgh,Orange, Peking, Hong Kong, and Seoul Dame Gwyneth Joneshasworked with great conductorslike Abbado, Barbirolli,Bernstein, Böhm, Boulez,Davis,Giulini,Haitink, Kempe, Kleiber, Krips,Kubelik, Leinsdorf,Levine, Maazel, Mehta,Muti, Ozawa,Sawallisch, Solti,Thielemann, von Dohnanyi and with producerssuch asChéreau,Everding, Friedrich,Hartmann, Kupfer, Ponnelle, Rennert, Ronconi, Schenk, Serban,Visconti, W.Wagner, and Zefirelli.
Besidesa great number of other international awards, Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II appointed her Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1986
SPEAKERS
Karen Stone
General Director, Opera Europe
From January 2023 Karen Stone hasbeen appointed director of Opera Europa. Opera Europa isthe leading service organisation for professional opera companiesand opera festivalsthroughout Europe.It currently servesover 233 membersfrom 44 countries Karen Stone previously worked for Theater Magdeburg where she held the position of Intendantin for 13 years Before that, she had been General Director at The DallasOpera and Generalintendantin at Oper Grazand Opera Director at Oper Köln, aswell ashaving held variouspositionsin theatresin Germany and the United Kingdom, and enjoying an international career asa stage director.
Monique Wagemakers
Opera Director
For a long time, Monique Wagemakers hasbeen among the leading opera directorsin the Netherlandsand far beyond Monique Wagemakersstudied at the Brabant Conservatoire in Tilburg. She made several productionsfor Dutch National Opera,initially asassistant director,later also asindependent director,such asDon Giovanni, La Traviata, Salome and a successful Lucia di lammermoor.In addition, Monique Wagemakersmade numerous productionsfor Dutch Touring Opera and a large number of foreign opera theatressuch asBarcelona, Chemnitz, Hannover,Mannheim, Madrid, Mainz, Nürnberg, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Vancouver. She hasalso worked successfully asa (co-)director and choreographer for the Glyndebourne Festival and the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam.
Tim Redmond
Conductor
Timothy Redmond conductsopera and concerts throughout Europe and in the US.He isProfessor of Conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a regular guest conductor with the London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, co-founder of the international conducting masterclassesand And Other Dutiesand isconductor and co-creator of the Royal Albert Hall?sMyGreat Orchestral Adventure? concert series.He hasappeared in the UK with the BBC Symphony, Concert, Philharmonic and Scottish Symphony Orchestras,the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Britten Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra,Hallé, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and among others
Andrew Watts
Countertenor/ General and Artistic Director, IVC
Few countertenorshave pushed the boundariesof repertoire and sound more than Andrew Watts. A dramatic voice unlike any other and extraordinary stagecraft and presence make him a unique performer not only of partstraditionally associated with the voice type, but also a pioneer of 20th and 21st-century repertoire A regular guest at Covent Garden, La Scala,La Fenice, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper and many others, Andrew Wattsisa much sought-after soloist around the word
Andrew Watts wasappointed General and Artistic Director of the International Vocal Competition in 2023
David Stern
Conductor
David Stern isan international conductor, creator of original projects, champion of rare worksand mentor to tomorrow?ssingers Newly appointed Music Director of the Palm Beach Opera after 10 yearsof serving asChief Conductor, he hasalso been Music Director of the Israel Opera in Tel Aviv, the Opera St Gallen in Switzerland, and previously led the Philharmonie Südwestfalen in Germany. In 2003 he founded Opera Fuoco, the independent, Paris-based opera company, adding to it its much lauded Young Artistsprogram in 2008. The program hassince nurtured some of the most important voicesin Europe today The company hasjust begun a three-year residency at the Parisarea Opéra de Massy for bi-annual productionswhich serve asa platform for young artiststo collaborate with renowned or emerging stage directors, choreographers,choruses, and ensembles.
ACCESS
Airports near 's-Hertogenbosch
Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) 93km
A direct Intercity train from the airport train station to 's-Hertogenbosch takesabout 1 hour Trainsrun every 30 mins(see www ns nl/en)
A one-way full fare will cost ?19 10
Eindhoven (EIN) *nearest airport to 's-Hertogenbosch,30km
Take a busfrom Eindhoven airport to Eindhoven Central Station (400 or 401) and change to train from Eindhoven Central Station to 's-Hertogenbosch.It takesabout 1 hour and will cost ca. 11?.
CONTACTS & INFO
Information International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch (073) 69 00 999
WFIMC Secretariat
Jinyoung Kim +82 10 8777 6356
Hana Saito +41 76 74 79 300
Florian Riem +41 78 25 25 331
Hotels The Den s-Hertogenbosch
Magistratenlaan 54,5223 MD 's-Hertogenbosch
Phone: +31 (0) 73 2065 000
Golden Tulip Hotel Central
Burgemeester Loeffplein 98,5211 RX 's-Hertogenbosch
Phone: +31 73 692 6926
Venue: Theater aan de Parade
Parade 23, 5211 KL, s-Hertogenbosch
's-Hert ogenbosch
Train St at ion
Hot el The Den
Golden Tulip
Hot el Cent ral
Theat er aan de Parade
