Albina Shagimuratova

Soprano

Albina Shagimuratova has been hailed as the “Coloratura Wonder Woman” (Die Welt) and by Bachtrack as “a rare and exceptional talent; one that only occurs once a decade”. Since first coming to international attention as the Gold Medal winner in the 2007 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Albina has performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, Lucerne Festival, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, plus the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres. She is regarded as one of the world’s leading interpreters of the role of the Queen of the Night since she made her European opera debut at the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Riccardo Muti. “Every inch a queen” was the reaction to her role debut of Rossini´s Semiramide at the BBC Proms which was recorded for Opera Rara and won the ICMA award. She also has recorded the role of Neala in Opera Rara’s recording of Donizetti’s Il Paria.

Recently Albina returned to Bayerische Staatsoper as Konstanze in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, as well as Wiener Staatsoper and Lyric Opera Chicago as Violetta (La traviata). In addition, Albina returned to the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres for performances of Il viaggio a Reims, Rigoletto and Lucia di Lammermoor. In concert, Albina performed Britten’s War Requiem with the Orchestre de

Paris, conducted by Daniel Harding. Her future engagements include Il pirata with Stichting Omroep Muziek in Amsterdam and La traviata in Liège.

The Russian coloratura soprano is a graduate of the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Studio and has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Tugan Sokhiev, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Mark Elder, Ivor Bolton, Nicola Luisotti and Daniel Harding.

Nicola Alaimo baritone

Premio Abbiati winner of 2016, Nicola Alaimo is among the most appreciated interpreters of the international music scene, applauded in prestigious theatres and festivals around the world: Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Salzburg Festival, La Monnaie, Concertgebouw, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House, Teatro Real, Deutsche Oper and the Rossini Opera Festival. The great success of his interpretation of the title role in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell has seen acclaimed performances in opera houses worldwide.

Recent engagements include: Cenerentola, Turco in Italia and a Rossini Gala with Cecilia Bartoli directed by Gianluca Capuano; Simon Boccanegra (title role) in Antwerp; Adriana Lecouvreur in Palermo; La forza del destino at the Metropolitan Opera; La bohème in Bologna; Il trovatore in Montecarlo; Falstaff in Budapest; La cena delle beffe, Le comte Ory, Il pirata at La Scala; and Messa di Gloria by Puccini in Madrid. He has collaborated with conductors including Maurizio Benini, Bruno Campanella, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Daniele Gatti, James Levine, Michele Mariotti, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Evelino Pidò, and Jean-Christophe Spinosi.

At the Rossini Opera Festival, he received ovations in La Cenerentola, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Matilde di Shabran, Guglielmo Tell, Gazzetta, Turco in Italia, and Torvaldo e Dorliska. He made his debut at the Arena di Verona as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia. His recording credits include an album of Rossini arias titled Largo al Factotum released by Bongiovanni, and the 2014 Prix de l’Académie du Disque Lyrique award-winning recording of Donizetti’s Belisario with Opera Rara.

Future engagements include Falstaff in Venice and Tokyo; La forza del destino in Paris; Il barbiere di Siviglia in Monte Carlo; L'Italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola in Zürich; Nabucco and Roberto Devereux in Geneva; Simon Boccanegra in Florence; I Due Foscari in Chicago; La Cenerentola and Adriana Lecouvreur in Toulouse, and Guillaume Tell in Liège.