MENTORS 2024
Christiane Iven
CHRISTIANE IVEN
Christiane Iven is a German opera and concert singer who has made a significant impact as a voice professor and mentor. After an extensive career performing internationally, she transitioned into teaching, becoming a professor of voice at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich. Her deep understanding of vocal technique and dramatic interpretation has made her a respected educator, shaping new generations of singers. Beyond her academic role, she also works as a director and vocal coach, bringing her stage experience into the realm of artistic development.
Johannes Martin Kränzle
Johannes Martin Kränzle
Born in Augsburg, first studied violin and music theatre directing, and after studying singing with Martin Gründler in Frankfurt, received his first opera engagements in Dortmund, Hanover and at the Frankfurt Opera. He has developed into one of the leading cavalier and character baritone players of his generation. Guest productions regularly take him to the major stages such as the Salzburg, Bayreuth, Bregenz, Glyndebourne and Lucerne Festivals or the opera houses in London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Zurich and Geneva, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, San Francisco or New York. The baritone regularly devotes himself to concert singing, giving recitals and oratorio concerts. In 1997 his composition, the chamber opera Der Wurm was awarded a prize and premiered at the composition competition in Berlin. Since 2016 his latest composition Lieder um Liebe has received many performances at home and abroad.
Wolfram Rieger
Wolfram Rieger
Wolfram Rieger studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich with Erik Werber and Helmut Deutsch, and attended several masterclasses with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He began teaching at the Munich Hochschule in 1991 while still a student. In 1998 he became a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin and regularly holds masterclasses throughout Europe and Japan. He is frequently invited to important venues and festivals around the world, such as the Feldkirch and Vilabertran Schubertiades, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Vienna Musikverein. He has accompanied Brigitte Fassbaender, Barbara Bonney, Juliane Banse, Michelle Breedt, Thomas Hampson, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Matthias Goerne, and Thomas Quasthoff, among others.
Alumni 2024
Èlia Farreras-Cabero, soprano (Catalonia)
Èlia Farreras-Cabero, born in 1999, studied with Elisenda Cabero at the Escola de Música i Conservatori Professional de Sabadell. She is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Britta Schwarz. She complements her studies with great specialists, including Wolfram Rieger, Martin Bruns, Christoph Prégardien, Thomas Quasthoff, Lluís Vilamajor or Ulrich Messthale. She has performed in such emblematic halls as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Palau de la Música Catalana, L'Atlantida in Vic or La Farándula in Sabadell.
Lucas Huber Sierra, piano (Madrid)
Lucas Huber Sierra was raised in Madrid, where he began his musical training. He completed his studies in Cologne and Lübeck with the highest marks in the classes of Joseph Anto Scherrer and Konrad Elser. Further mentors include Claudio Martínez Mehner, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Anthony Spiri, Thomas Quasthoff and Christoph Prégardien. During the academic course 24/25 he is a scholarship holder of the Heidelberger Frühling lied academy, under the artistic direction of Thomas Hampson. In addition to his occupation as a piano teacher, he works as an accompanist at the HfM Hanns Eisler for the voice class of Stephan Rügamer. As a prize winner of major international competitions, Lucas has recorded for broadcasts by various German radio stations. Currently, he is studying song accompaniment with Wolfram Rieger in Berlin.
Inés López, mezzosoprano (Madrid)
Born in 1999, she will graduate from the Madrid School of Singing (ESCM) in 2022 and will receive the Lola Rodríguez Aragón End-of-Career Award from the Friends of the ESCM Association. She has also been awarded the 2nd Prize and the New Talent Prize at the 3rd National Singing Competition "Ciudad de Albacete", the Zarzuela Prize at the 39th International Singing Competition "Ciudad de Logroño" and the 2nd Prize and the Zarzuela Prize at the 2nd International Singing Competition "Alcalá de Henares". She was a finalist in the 9th International Singing Competition "Alfredo Kraus" and has been a beneficiary of the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in opera at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart. In the field of lied, she was selected as a LIFE New Artist at the Victoria de los Ángeles Lied Festival and collaborates with pianist Jesús López Blanco.
Jesús López Blanco, piano (Lugo)
With a degree in Piano and Music and History and Music Sciences from the University of La Rioja, this Galician pianist (Lugo, 1990) specializes in chamber music and vocal accompaniment. He studied the master's degree in Lied “Victoria de los Ángeles” at the ESMUC with a scholarship from the Fundació Victoria de los Ángeles, and a master's degree in Liedgestaltung at the Hochschule für Musik de Freiburg im Breisgau. Guardonat as a member of singing and piano duos in various competitions, his activity as an interpreter has played in Germany, Italy, France and Spain, participant in festivals such as Volcadiva, LIFE Victoria or the Schubertíada, and accompaniment by Josep Ramon Olivé, Cecilia Rodríguez, Belén Roig, Sebastià Peris, or Rocío Pérez. Currently, the interpretive facet is compatible with teaching at the Conservatori Superior de Música de les Illes Balears and the Escola Superior de Canto de Madrid.
Aleksandra Myslek, piano (Poland)
The prize-winner of national and international competitions, including the Robert Schumann International Competition in Poland and Frédéric Chopin International Competition in Hungary, and having won two of the chamber music prizes at the Royal Academy of Music, Aleksandra established herself as a sought-after chamber musician and now cooperates with both instrumentalists and singers. Aleksandra is a staff pianist at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as well as a frequent guest at the Royal Academy of Music, where she works as an accompanist and a piano and ensemble tutor for the Widening Participation Department. She was a Santander Encuentro de Música, Leeds Lieder, and Solti Accademia Young Artist and is a Britten Pears Young Artist 2023-24. 2024 is a year of her Carnegie Hall debut as a participant of the Renée Fleming Song Studio.
Teodora Oprișor, piano (Romania)
Romanian pianist Teodora Oprișor specializes in collaborating with singers. Passionate about the art song repertoire, she has performed recitals in major venues and festivals such as the Wigmore Hall, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, LIFE Victoria Festival or Musée d’Orsay. Having studied piano performance at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, she then pursued her Master’s Degree in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She is a former scholar of the Heidelberg Lied Academy, the Académie Orsay-Royaumont and the Yehudi Menuhin LIFE Music Now Foundation. Teodora performs regularly with her duo partner, baritone Michael Arivony. Together, they have won the 1st prize at the International Student Lied Duo Competition in Groningen (2020), 3rd prize at the Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg (2019). Teodora is currently based in San Sebastián (Spain), where she is the pianist of the Orfeón Donostiarra choir.
Florian Stoertz, baritone (Germany)
Florian Stoertz won in 2023 the International Handel Singing Competition, the Helmut Deutsch Song Competition and the Prix de mélodie at the International Voice-Piano Competition 'Lili et Nadia Boulanger' in Paris. On the recital stage, Florian’s recent appearances include French song concerts at Salle Cortot and Wigmore Hall, as well as at song festivals in Zeist and Leeds. The current season further sees his recital debut alongside pianist Helmut Deutsch at the International Music Festival Zell am See. Operatic roles include, among others, Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro), Masetto and Commendatore (Don Giovanni). Florian is an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Music, London where during his studies he was awarded first prizes for both opera and song recitals, as well as the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme. Having enjoyed his musical upbringing in the vocal music scene around Trier Cathedral (Germany), he is now based in London.
Eva Zalenga, soprano (Germany)
Born in Biberach (Baden-Württemberg), she received her first singing lessons at a very young age. At the age of fourteen, she gave her first solo concerts and received a "Jugend musiziert" prize. She studied in Dresden and Leipzig; her training was complemented by masterclasses with Vesselina Kasarova, Rudolf Piernay, Christine Schäfer, and Hedwig Fassbender, among others. Eva Zalenga is the winner of the SWR Junge Opernstars 2023, a competition where she also received the Emmerich Smola Förderpreis and the Orchestra Prize of the Deutschen Radio Philharmonie. In 2023, she also won the International Music Competition Vienna. She recently debuted as Sophie (Werther) and Adele (Die Fledermaus) and is a member of the opera companies at the theaters of St. Gallen and Regensburg. Passionate about song, her debut CD will soon be released, featuring pianist Doriana Tchakarova, which includes recordings of premieres and rarely recorded romantic pieces.
The biographies presented on this page were written at the time of the corresponding edition. Over time, the paths of the artists and professors have evolved, and therefore, the biographies here do not reflect the full extent of their current journeys.
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