Christophe Gay

bass Cabriolo

Antoinette Dennefeld

mezzo-soprano Régina

After studies at Nancy Conservatoire under the tutorship of Christiane Stutzmann, Christophe Gay was a winner in the Opera category at the 'Les Symphonies d'automne' competition in Macon, and was named as Adami's 'Classical Revelation' in 2004.

Following his debut at Nancy Opera in Dallapiccola's Il prigioniero, he was much applauded in Paris at the Cité de la Musique, the Opéra Comique and the Aixen-Provence Festival (in L'Orfeo under René Jacobs), and at the opera houses of Lyon, Lille, Nantes, Rouen, Toulon, Avignon and Strasbourg.

His repertoire is varied, from Baroque operas to largescale 19th- and 20th-century repertoire. He is also in demand as a concert artist, with highlights including Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Fauré's Requiem, Bacalov's Misa Tango, Charpentier's La Pastorale, Gounod's Mors e Vita, Puccini's Messa di Gloria and Orff's Carmina Burana, among many others. Recent operatic highlights include Les Contes d'Hoffmann (directed by Laurent Pelly) in Lyon and Tokyo; L’Italienne à Alger, L'Étoile and Les Mamelles de Tiresias in Nancy; King Arthur in Versailles, Platée in Stuttgart; Don Giovanni in Saint-Céré; Fortunio in Limoges and Rennes; the world premiere of Christian Lauba's La Lettre des sables in Bordeaux; Lakmé in Toulon; the creation of Mimi at the Bouffes du Nord Theater; and Carmen at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Current and future projects include Messager's Coups de roulis with Les Frivolités parisiennes; L’Heure espagnole with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra; Roméo et Juliette in Québec; Lehár's Giuditta at the Opéra National du Rhin; and Die Fledermaus in Lille.

Born in Strasbourg, Antoinette Dennefeld studied at the University Marc Bloch in Strasbourg and the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne, receiving her Master of Music (Voice) in 2011 with high honours, as well as the Max Jost Award, the Friends of the OSR Award and the Paderewski Prize. The same year, she won the Grand Prix at the International Singing Competition of Marmande and the Third Prize and Public’s Choice at the International Singing Competition of Geneva.

In concert, Antoinette has performed as soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Dixit Dominus. In Lausanne she sang solo roles in Bach’s St John Passion with Ton Koopmann, and in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. With the Sinfonietta of Lausanne she performed as soloist in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, and has also sung Lieder from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Since 2009 she has performed in recital with pianist Lucas Buclin as 'Duo Almage'.

Recent and future projects include the title role in Offenbach's La Périchole at the Théâtre des ChampsElysées, in Dijon and in Toulon; Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) with the Orchestre National de France; Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) in Paris; Idamante (Idomeneo) in Nancy; and Adalgisa (Norma) in Marseille. In concert, she will sing Ravel’s Shéhérazade in Nuremberg and Massenet’s Grisélidis in Montpellier and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

tenor Prince Casimir Katia Ledoux contralto Paola

Josh Lovell

Canadian tenor Josh Lovell, whose voice has been described by the Chicago Classical Review as ‘a consistent cause for joy’, is the winner of the 39th Belvedere Singing Competition and an ensemble member of the Wiener Staatsoper. In the 2022/23 season he makes house debuts at the Teatro alla Scala as Ferdinand in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest, at Oper Leipzig as Don Ottavio in a new production of Don Giovanni, and with Deutsche Oper Berlin as Gérald in Lakmé at the Philharmonie. He also returns to the Wiener Staatsoper for guest performances as Telemachus in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Lukas in Die Jahreszeiten and Ernesto in Don Pasquale Recently he stepped in for an ill colleague as the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Tonight is his debut with Opera Rara.

An avid and experienced concert artist, Josh has given numerous performances of the works of Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Britten, Vaughan Williams and Bach. Most notably, he sang opposite Susan Graham and Nathan Gunn as part of the Jazz Trio in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti during a ‘Celebrating 100 Years of Bernstein’ concert at Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has also appeared with Music of the Baroque, performing Bach’s Coffee Cantata conducted by Jane Glover; and Messiah with The International Music Foundation, as well as the Apollo Chorus of Chicago. He also debuted as the Evangelist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir in Canada, and sang selected Bach cantatas as well as the Magnificat with Baroque ensemble I Musici de Montréal. Future engagements include debuts at the Canadian Opera Company and the Opéra National de Paris.

This season Katia Ledoux will return to Opernhaus Zürich as Gertrude in Ted Huffman’s new production of Roméo et Juliette and to Oper Stuttgart as Ježibaba in Rusalka; as a soloist of Volksoper Wien she will perform Venus in Orphée aux enfers. Future engagements also include Rameau’s Platée for Opernhaus Zürich.

In March 2022 Katia was engaged by the Opera Forward Festival in Amsterdam to create the role of Proserpine for the world premiere of Manfred Trojahn’s Eurydice – Die Liebenden, blind, directed by Pierre Audi. Another recent world premiere was Makuba in Neo Muyanga’s How Anansi Freed the Stories of the World for Dutch National Opera.

Following her splendid 2019 debut at Dutch National Opera as Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande, conducted by Stéphane Denève and staged by Olivier Py, she returned to perform the alto solo in Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle under Andrea Battistoni. As a member of the International Opera Studio of Zurich, in the 2020/21 season she sang the role of the Innkeeper in Barrie Kosky’s new production of Boris Godunov.

Born in Paris, Katia later moved to Austria, where in 2008 she won First Prize in the ‘Prima la Musica’ competition. In 2009 she was admitted to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, later studying at the Kunstuniversität Graz. In 2018 she won the Press Prize in the ‘s Hertogenbosch IVC Contest, and in 2019 was a prizewinner at the 38th Belvedere Competition and the Nordfriesische Liedpreis at Husumer Liedkunst Wettbewerb.