Download The speakers

The speakers
Pierre Audi
Artistic Director of the Netherlands Opera
Brought up in Beirut and Paris, Pierre Audi founded the Almeida Theatre in London and its Festival of
Contemporary Music in 1979, which he directed until he was appointed Artistic Director of the
Netherlands Opera in 1989. Many of his productions, introduced there, have gone on to win acclaim
on other stages, including his cycle of all four Monteverdi operas. He also staged the first Netherlands
production of Wagner’s Ring and has established a repertoire of contemporary music theatre works
and world premieres. As guest director, he has worked for the Bavarian State Opera, Sweden’s
Drottningholm Court Theatre, the Salzburg Festival, the Paris Opera, Theater an der Wien, LA Opera
and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. In addition to his responsibilities at the Netherlands Opera, Pierre
Audi was appointed Artistic Director of the Holland Festival in 2004.
George Benjamin
Composer and conductor
George Benjamin studied in Paris with Messiaen and at Cambridge University with Alexander Goehr.
His music has continued to be performed worldwide at major venues and festivals since his debut at
the 1980 BBC Proms. Major recent retrospectives of his work have been given in London, Tokyo,
Berlin, Madrid and elsewhere. He regularly visits the Tanglewood Festival, USA, and was composerin-residence at the 2008 Lucerne Festival. He conducts London Sinfonietta, Ensemble
Modern, BBCSO, Berlin Philharmonic and the Concertgebouw amongst other orchestras, and
has given many world premieres. His first opera Into the Little Hill, written with British playwright Martin
Crimp, has received international acclaim since its premiere at Opera Bastille as part of the 2006
Festival d'Automne. He is Henry Purcell Professor of composition at King's College, London. His
music is recorded by Nimbus and published by Faber Music.
Calixto Bieito
Director and Artistic Director of Teatre Romea
Calixto Bieito was born in Miranda de Ebro, Spain. He graduated in Hispanic Philology and Art History
at the University of Barcelona and in Stage Direction at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. Since
1999 he has been Artistic Director of Barcelona's Teatre Romea. His career as stage director for both
theatre and opera has brought him to work continuously in many European countries. Best Artist of the
Edinburgh Festival's Herald Archangel Award for Hamlet in 2003, winner of the Barcelona Theatre
Critics Prize for Plataforma with the ensemble of Teatre Romea in 2007, he was also included in the
list of most important artists of Opernwelt's 2007 Yearbook. His recent opera stagings include Elektra
in Freiburg, Der fliegende Holländer in Stuttgart and Lulu in Basel. He has also been invited to give
lectures and courses in prestigious schools in Germany, Spain and the UK.
Giovanni Cozzi
President of Emerging Pictures
Giovanni Cozzi co-founded Emerging Pictures in 2001 with the goal of creating a new platform for the
distribution of independent - international films and special programmes by utilising the efficiencies of
digital cinema technologies. Today, the company manages international digital cinema distribution of
programmes from the Teatro alla Scala, the Salzburg Festival, Teatro Regio di Parma, Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino, the Mariinsky Kirov Ballet, the Boshoi and several other European cultural
institutions. Emerging Pictures also continues to distribute independent films, concerts, syndicated
festivals and other specialty content to its network of digital cinemas. Prior to Emerging Pictures,
Giovanni Cozzi had been President of a specialty consumer electronics company, Vidikron.
Martin Crimp
Playwright
Martin Crimp began writing for theatre in the 1980s. His plays include The City (2008), Fewer
Emergencies (2005), Cruel and Tender (2004), Face to the Wall (2002), The Country (2000), Attempts
On Her Life (1997), The Treatment (1993), Getting Attention (1992), and No One Sees the Video
(1991). He has close relationships with London’s Royal Court Theatre, and National Theatre, which in
2007 produced the UK’s first major revival of Attempts on her Life. Widely translated, his work has
been seen on numerous European stages including the Bouffes du Nord, Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, the
Vienna Festwochen, and Berlin's Schaubühne, as well as at the Sala Beckett in Barcelona. In 2006 he
wrote his first text for music, Into the Little Hill, for composer George Benjamin, which was
commissioned by the Festival d’Automne à Paris. Martin Crimp has also translated works by Koltès,
Genet, Ionesco, Marivaux and Molière.
Hanne Deneire
Composer
Hanne Deneire studied composition at Antwerp's Royal Conservatory with Wim Henderickx and Luc
Van Hove. She has composed for chamber ensembles like Oxalys, Hermes, Enigma and the
Philharmonic Youth Orchestra of Flanders. In 2004 the Flemish Radio Choir created Purgatorio and
Rana, music for bass clarinet and piano, was created in 2006 in Nagoya, Japan. The same year, her
first string quartet Axon was created by the Quince Quartet. She is currently writing a community
opera project in collaboration with Dimitri Leue, an initiative of Brussels' La Monnaie. In 2009 she is
composer-in-residence of Ensemble Hommages. Muziektheater Transparant will also take her under
its wings as one of its composers; and she has just started a professional development at Guildhall,
London. Beside composition, she tries to help disadvantaged children through art. She teaches at the
Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and started as a music therapist in 2006.
Bernard Foccroulle
General Director of the Aix-en-Provence Festival
Bernard Foccroulle has pursued an international organist career since the mid-1970s, playing a large
repertoire of works from the Renaissance to present times. He performed dozens of world premieres,
and recorded over 30 CDs, including Bach's complete organ works on ancient, carefully selected
instruments. In recent years, he has mainly focused on the North German school, from Scheidemann
to Buxtehude. He also composed organ and chamber music. He has continued as an organist over
the 15 years he spent at the head of Brussels' La Monnaie, and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival since
2007. From his arrival there, he has particularly encouraged educative actions and the Festival's
accessibility to all. Founder of the Belgian association ‘Culture et Démocratie’, co-author of La
naissance de l’individu dans l’art with Robert Legros and Tzvetan Todorov, he is also Honorary
President of Opera Europa.
Luca Francesconi
Composer and conductor
Luca Francesconi studied piano at the Milan Conservatory, composition with Azio Corghi, Karlheinz
Stockhausen and Luciano Berio, and jazz in Boston. He was Berio's assistant between 1981 and
1984. In 1990 he founded AGON Acustica Informatica Musica, a production and new technology
music research centre. He is now Artistic Director (music) of the Venice Biennale. His works have
been commissioned and produced by Ircam, WDR, ASKO Ensemble, and have been performed by
orchestras such as Filarmonica della Scala, Oslo Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Israel
Philharmonic, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, BBC Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica della
RAI. He has written a new opera for Magdalena Kožená for the 2009 Aix-en-Provence Festival. A
theatre work based on Quartet by Heiner Müller will be premiered in 2010. He is also a conductor and
Head of composition at Malmö's Musikhögskolan.
La Fura dels Baus
Collective of creative directors
La Fura dels Baus started in Barcelona in 1979 and up until 1983 was performing street theatre. It
explored the classical idea of a total performance, using all kinds of resources and theatrical
techniques. It most notably contributed to redefine the theatrical space, interacting with the audience
in the area usually reserved for them and adapting each performance to the location. In the 1990s it
diversified its creative labour and experimented with digital theatre, street actions, contemporary
musical projects, opera and corporate events. In 1992 it created the opening ceremonies for
Barcelona’s Olympic Games, seen by more than 500 million viewers. L’Home del Mileni, staged for
the celebrations of the year 2000 in Barcelona, brought together over 20,000 people and shows La
Fura’s extraordinary path in the creation of massive performances.
Orlando Gough
Composer
Orlando Gough writes music mostly for the theatre - operas, plays, dance pieces, music theatre,
directs the extraordinary choir of diverse soloists The Shout, and devises and directs large-scale sitespecific choral pieces. His recent work includes The Singing River, for 12 choirs, 18 boats, two cranes
and a locomotive; the oratorio The Most Beautiful Man From The Sea; Swarm, for marauding chorus;
the music theatre pieces Critical Mass and One, Two for six pairs of identical twins; the opera The
Finnish Prisoner; Open Port, the closing event of Stavanger2008 European Capital of Culture, for 750
singers, brass band and wooden trumpets; and Raketensymphonie, the opening event of Linz09
European Capital of Culture, for voices and fireworks. He has just written a piece for children, On The
Rim Of The World, commissioned by all UK's major opera houses. He is also an associate artist of the
Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
Tony Hall
Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House
Former Chief Executive of BBC News, Tony Hall was appointed Chief Executive of the Royal Opera
House Covent Garden in 2001. There, he has focused on widening access to opera with Family
Performances, the £10 Student Standby scheme, performance broadcasts in cinemas and on the
internet, free outdoor performance screenings throughout the UK and other special events. He has
provided secure income foundation to Covent Garden benefiting the company’s artistic activities by
increasing revenue streams from Covent Garden’s partners and commercial activities, including the
purchase of Opus Arte in 2007. He has also engaged in a partnership with the National Centre for the
Performing Arts in Beijing to encourage cultural and skills exchange. He is currently developing the
Covent Garden Production Park in Thurrock, creating new facilities for set building teams and for
education which will be central to the area’s urban regeneration.
Truze Lodder
Managing Director of the Netherlands Opera and Het Muziektheater
Truze Lodder started her career with the cruise company Holland-America Line before becoming
Head of Financial Management Radio and Television at the Dutch public broadcasting company
AVRO. She held several management positions in advertising and communications between 1984 and
1987, when she was appointed Managing Director of the Netherlands Opera, and in addition of Het
Muziektheater in 1992 (since 2006 Chair). She is a Board member of several Dutch institutions,
including the Yo! International Youth Opera Festival and the Maastricht University.
James MacMillan
Composer and conductor
James MacMillan read music at Edinburgh University and took Doctoral studies in composition at
Durham University with John Casken. The successful premiere of Tryst at the 1990 St Magnus
Festival led to his appointment as Affiliate Composer of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In addition to
The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, which launched his international career at the BBC Proms in 1990,
his orchestral output includes Veni, Veni, Emmanuel which has received over 400 performances.
Between 1992 and 2002 he was Artistic Director of the Philharmonia Orchestra's Music of Today
series of contemporary music concerts. He is internationally active as a conductor, working as
composer and conductor with the BBC Philharmonic between 2000 and 2009, and appointed Principal
Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic from 2010. His music has been
programmed extensively at international music festivals and he was awarded a CBE in January 2004.
Joan Francesc Marco
General Director of Gran Teatre del Liceu
Joan Francesc Marco's whole career is linked to cultural management in the public sector and the
organisation of various Culture departments in the administration. In 1990 he was appointed Managing
Director of Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y la Música (INAEM) and launched a programme
devoted to renovating over 50 theatres in Spain. He has been Counsellor of the Hospitalet de
Llobregat Town Hall since 1995, and was Deputy for Cultural Affairs and President delegate of the
Institut del Teatre at the Region of Barcelona until 2003. He was Managing Director of Teatre Nacional
de Catalunya from 2004 to 2007, when he became consultant for the project ‘Sabadell Town of Music’
engaged by the municipal government of Sabadell. As a knowledgeable expert in the world of
international opera, he had already had contacts for many years with Gran Teatre del Liceu before
becoming its General Director in July 2007.
Joan Matabosch
Artistic Director of Gran Teatre del Liceu and President of Opera Europa
Joan Matabosch was appointed Artistic Director of Gran Teatre del Liceu in 1996. Before entering the
prestigious Catalan opera house, he studied Mass Media and Sociology in Barcelona and Madrid, and
at the Conservatori del Liceu. He began his career at Gran Teatre del Liceu as a Dramaturg; he then
became an assistant to the Artistic Direction, before taking his current position. Thanks to his artistic
choices, he gave a new impetus to the Liceu’s programming by welcoming famous singers and
creative directors on stage. He has published various books and articles and has been the curator of
exhibitions about Music and the History of the Liceu. Joan Matabosch has been the new President of
Opera Europa since September 2008.
Sir Brian McMaster
Chairman of the UK’s National Opera Studio
Brian McMaster was born in Hitchin, England. He read Law at Bristol University, Comparative Law at
Strasbourg University and qualified as a solicitor, before studying on the first Arts Council of Great
Britain course in Arts Administration. He was appointed Director of the Edinburgh International Festival
in 1991and has been the longest serving Director since the Festival started in 1947. Prior to this, he
was Managing Director at the Welsh National Opera (1976-91), Controller of Opera Planning at
English National Opera (1973-76) and a member of the International Classical Division of EMI
Records. He served as Artistic Director of the Vancouver Opera from 1984 to 1989. He is currently
Chairman of the National Opera Studio and has served as a judge for the Cardiff Singer of the World
Competition since its inception.
Gerard Mortier
Director of the Paris Opera
Gerard Mortier, born in Ghent, began his career as assistant to the Director of the Festival van
Vlaanderen. He then became Artistic Administrator for Christoph von Dohnanyi in Düsseldorf,
Frankfurt and Hamburg, and for Rolf Liebermann in Paris. In 1981 he was appointed General Director
of Brussels’ La Monnaie and made it a European mecca for opera-lovers. Ten years later, he took on
to modernise the Salzburg Festival, with growing success over his ten seasons in Austria. He then
created the international arts festival RuhrTriennale 2002-04, before becoming Director of the Paris
Opera. During his career, he has premiered 180 new productions, commissioned ten world premieres
and worked with artists such as Philippe Boesmans, John Adams, Ricardo Muti, Valery Gergiev,
Patrice Chéreau, Peter Sellars and Michael Haneke. At the end of this season, he will leave Paris for
Madrid's Teatro Real where he will be Artistic Director from September 2010.
Miguel Muñiz de las Cuevas
General Manager of Teatro Real Madrid
Miguel Muñiz was appointed General Manager of Teatro Real in 2004. Previously he has held several
significant positions in private and public sector organisations. In the public sector he served as
Secretary-General of Economy and Planning in the Ministry of Economy and worked for the National
Institute of Statistics. He was also President of the Official Credit Institute, the State's Financial
Agency, a position which he occupied for ten years. In the private sector he has been member of the
Executive Committee of Telefonica, member of the Board of Directors of the Argentaria Bank, the
European Investment Bank, the National Industrial Institute and Caja Madrid Bank. He was also
Professor of economic theory at the Autonomous University of Madrid and founding member of
'Cambio 16' Journal. He has been Board member of the Madrid Opera Association, and founding
President of Ópera XXI, which gathers the professional opera companies and festivals throughout
Spain.
Enric Palomar
Composer
Native to Badalona, Enric Palomar studied at the Barcelona Conservatory. He has written numerous
chamber works, including the operas Ruleta, with a libretto by Anna Maria Moix and Rafael Sender,
and Juana, based on the life of Juana I of Castile, with a libretto by Rebecca Simpson, premiered at
Oper Halle in 2005 and afterwards staged at Teatre Romea in Barcelona and Staatstheater
Darmstadt. His new composition, La cabeza del Bautista, based on a play by Ramón Valle-Inclán, will
be premiered on 20 April at Gran Teatre del Liceu. He is also actively involved in jazz and popular
music, especially flamenco. His works include Lorca al piano, a gypsy suite with flamenco and opera
voices, and Poemas del exilio which was awarded the City of Barcelona Prize. Besides his composing
activities, he is currently the Artistic Director of Barcelona's Taller de Musics.
David Pountney
Intendant of the Bregenz Festival
David Pountney became internationally known through his production of Katya Kabanova at the 1972
Wexford Festival. From 1975 to 1980 he was Director of Production at Scottish Opera before joining
English National Opera where he directed over 20 operas. From 1992 he worked as a freelance
director in Zürich, Vienna, Munich, Leeds and Cardiff, as well as in America and Japan. He has
directed over ten world premieres, including two by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for which he also wrote
the libretto, and has translated many operas into English. He has been awarded many prizes, notably
for his Janáček cycle in Wales and Scotland and his productions of Julietta and Greek Passion at
Opera North and the Bregenz Festival. He was made a CBE and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et
Lettres in 1993. He has been Intendant of the Bregenz Festival since 2003.
Artur Serra
Deputy Director of the i2CAT Foundation
Artur Serra obtained a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Barcelona. Interested in
technology, particularly in computer science and the internet, he has led several studies in those fields
from the beginning of the 1990s. Between 1995 and 1998 he made research for a project on computer
supported cooperative work (COMIC) and a project against social exclusion (EPITELIO). He was a
founding member of the Centre for Internet Applications at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in
1997, as well as of i2CAT, the first second-generation internet project in Spain, started in 1999. In
2003 he became Deputy Director of the i2CAT Foundation, a platform for collaborations carrying out
strategic research into advanced internet in Catalonia. He collaborates with the Liceu in the context of
the Anella Cultural project, aiming to connect Catalonia's bigger cultural installations with territorial
institutions in order to promote cultural creation and dissemination in Catalonia and beyond.
Marco Stroppa
Composer, researcher and professor
From 1980 to 1984 Marco Stroppa worked at the computer music centre of the University of Padua
where he produced Traiettoria, for piano and computer. In 1982 Pierre Boulez invited him to Ircam
where he worked as a composer and researcher. He founded a composition workshop in 1987 at the
International Bartók Festival and managed it for 13 years. He taught composition at the CNSM of Paris
and Lyon and has been Professor of composition at Stuttgart's Musikhochschule since 1999.
Composing for both acoustical instruments and new media, his interest in sound and space has led
him to rethinking the placement of the instruments on stage to achieve a spatial dramaturgy
highlighted by the unfolding of the music. For music drama, he wrote two radio operas and a
'comœdia harmonica' for actress, contrabass and electronics. He is preparing a new music theatre
piece, Re Orso, to be premiered in 2011 at Opéra Comique, Paris.
Maria Sundqvist
Librettist and director
Educated as ensemble conductor and composer, Maria Sundqvist is probably the best acclaimed
Swedish librettist of today. She has written a large number of librettos for Norrlandsoperan,
GöteborgsOperan and Malmö Opera - among others The Town Musicians, music by Jonas Forssell,
The Portrait by Catarina Backman, Corpses/Thieves and Dollys Beautyshop by Thomas Lindahl. She
has been the Artistic Director of and directed many productions for Uthållighetens orkester,
Otålighetens teater och Ung Opera at Malmö Musikteater. She has directed many productions for a
young audience but is also well known for her stagings of works by Schwitters, Schönberg etc. In May
2002 she was awarded the Swedish Prix d’Assitej for ‘her respect for young people and their ability to
understand and appreciate music drama within an advanced musical context’. Since 2002 she is the
Artistic Director of Operaverkstan, the youth department of the Malmö Opera.
Manfred Trojahn
Composer and conductor
Manfred Trojahn studied orchestral music in Braunschweig and composition with Diether de la Motte
in Hamburg. He has received numerous scholarships and prizes, including the Stuttgart Award for
Young Composers in 1972 and the Bach Prize Scholarship, Hamburg in 1975. He composes for
orchestra and chorus, as well as songs and chamber music for various forces. His works are
performed by leading orchestras and conductors and renowned soloists. Since the 1990s he has
focused on music theatre. His operas Enrico (1991), Was ihr wollt (1998) and Limonen aus Sizilien
(2003) have received new productions in Germany and Austria. His new composition of the recitatives
of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito was premiered in Amsterdam in 2002, and his latest opera La grande
magia created in 2008 in Dresden. As a conductor, he works with leading orchestras and ensembles,
and also teaches composition at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf.
Carlos Wagner
Director
Born in Venezuela, Carlos Wagner studied fine arts and dance in Barcelona and Munich before
completing an acting course at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has already
directed numerous productions in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the UK. He has
directed the world premieres of Gènesi 3.0 at Teatre Romea Barcelona, The Phantom Palace in New
Haven and Stuttgart, and Enric Palomar's Juana in Halle and Barcelona. Fluent in several languages,
he has written singing translations of Tristan und Isolde and Mefistofele for English National Opera.
After the creation of La cabeza del Bautista on 20 April at the Liceu, his future plans include La Vie
parisienne and Carmen in Nancy, a revival of Adès's Powder her Face at Covent Garden and of The
Rape of Lucretia in Nantes.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza
Honorary President of Fedora
Born in Barcelona, Federico Mayor was a Professor of biochemistry and Rector of Granada University
from 1968 to 1972. Successively Member of the Spanish and European Parliaments, Advisor to the
President of the Government and Minister of Education and Science, he was elected Director-General
of UNESCO in 1987. During his two mandates, UNESCO created the Culture of Peace Programme, to
promote education, science, culture and a ‘moral and intellectual solidarity’. In 1999 the United
Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace,
which embodies his greatest aspirations. Back in Spain, he continues the task begun at UNESCO, by
chairing the Foundation Culture of Peace, to promote in every area of human life the transition from a
culture of violence and imposition to one of peace and tolerance. Former President of Fedora, he has
published four books of poetry and various essays on political science and international relations.