Italian mezzo Cecilia Bartoli was born on June 4, 1966 in Rome. Cecilia Bartoli performed for the first time in public at the age of nine. Her career therefore started very early: Cecilia Bartoli was noticed in French and Italian television shows. She made her professional debut at the Verona Arena in 1987. Noticed by Herbert von Karajan and Daniel Barenboim, Cecilia Bartoli performed on the greatest opera stages, Pesaro, San Carlo in Naples, Opéra-Bastille in Paris, Scala in Milan, Festival de Salzburg, particularly brilliant in the characters of Rossini and in the baroque operas. In 2012, Cécilia Bartoli became Artistic Director of the Salzburg Pentecost Festival.

Soprano Elena Stikhina (*1986) is one of the outstanding young artists of our time and has already caused an international sensation in her field: after winning the prestigious Operalia Singing Competition in 2016 – an award that in the past has already been the career springboard for many glorious artists of our times – performances at the Opéra de Paris, the Deutsche Oper Berlin as well as the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the Dresden Semperoper soon followed. In the 2018/2019 season, Stikhina made her successful debuts in the U.S., both at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where she gave the title role in Giacomo Puccini’s ´Suor Angelica`, and as ´Tosca` at Boston Lyric Opera. In the summer of 2019, the Russian-born singer gave her much acclaimed premiere at the Salzburg Festival with the role of Medee – standing in for Sonya Yoncheva. With this, at the latest, Stikhina is about to establish herself from an outstanding young artist to one of the future big stars in the musical sky.

Sonya Yoncheva has been at home on the international opera stages for over ten years. Born in Bulgaria in 1981, the soprano first studied voice and piano in her hometown of Plovdiv before switching to the Geneva Conservatory for her master’s degree.In 2010, Yoncheva won the "Operalia" competition, further awards such as the ECHO Klassik in the category Newcomer of the Year (2015) as well as the Reader’s Prize of "The International Opera Awards" (2019), followed. Her engagements have taken the soprano to all the renowned houses of our time: the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Berlin and Vienna State Operas, and the Opéra de Paris, to name but a few.Her multifaceted repertoire spans works from almost all eras - this demands a great deal of flexibility from the voice, but that is precisely the singer’s main secret, as she revealed in an interview with Oper! magazine. Among others, the soprano shone in the title roles in "Tosca", "Alcina", "L`incoronazione di Poppea", as well as Mimi ("La bohème"), Marguerite ("Faust") or Violetta ("La traviata").In addition to her stage activities, Sonya Yoncheva has released three successful solo albums exclusively on Sony Classical: "Paris, mon amour" (2015), "Händel" (2017) and "The Verdi Album" (2018).

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1972, bass-baritone Erwin Schrott is one of the leading Mozart interpreters of our time. In 1998 he won the singing competition "Operalia" and began his international stage career. His leading roles include Don Giovanni, Figaro and Leporello (Don Giovanni) - with which he made his celebrated debut at the Salzburg Summer Festival in 2008. His other repertoire includes the role of Escamillo (Carmen), Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’amore), Procida (Les Vêpres siciliennes), Banquo (Macbeth), Méphistophélès (Faust) and the title role of Attila. In addition to opera productions, Schrott also performs in concert.His performance at Berlin’s Waldbühne in summer 2012 together with (his then partner) Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann caused quite a stir and was broadcast live in 20 countries. Further engagements have taken Schrott to many of the great houses of our time, including the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Vienna State Opera or the London Royal Opera House at Covent Garden or the Bavarian State Opera.

Tenor and conductor Placido Domingo was born on January 21, 1941 in Madrid, Spain. His parents, both zarzuela singers, took him to live in Mexico. At the age of 14, Placido Domingo returned to the Mexico City Conservatory where he studied piano, singing as well as musical composition and conducting. In 1965, Placido Domingo went to the United States, which was a turning point in his career. In 1967, he returned to Europe to devote himself to the Verdian repertoire. More than an opera performer, he is gradually becoming a popular star. At the same time as his singing career, Placido Domingo discreetly began a career as a conductor in the 1980s. He notably directed a televised production of Johan Strauss’s La Chauve-Souris at Covent Garden in 1983. Interested in discovering new talents, Placido Domingo created in 1993 the Operalia Prize, a singing competition intended to promote the most promising young singers. Many laureates have become famous, such as Nina Stemme, Rolando Villazón, Joyce DiDonato, Erwin Schrott or Sonya Yoncheva. Over time, Placido Domingo finds the baritone range with which he began, which allows him to continue to expand his repertoire since 2010.