MENTORS 2025
Olaf Bär
Olaf Bär
Olaf Bär is a German baritone renowned for his interpretation of lied and opera. He trained at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden and made his debut in 1981. Between 1985 and 1991, he was a member of the Semperoper in Dresden, establishing himself as one of the great lyric baritones of his time. His international career has taken him to stages such as Covent Garden, Vienna, Milan, and Glyndebourne, working with conductors like John Eliot Gardiner and Georg Solti. His voice has been compared to that of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. In addition to his operatic career, he has recorded works by Bach, Brahms, Schubert, and Wagner, among others. He is also active as a teacher, sharing his experience with young singers and contributing to the training of new generations.
Christiane Karg
Christiane Karg
Born in Bavaria, she studied at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She has performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Opéra National de Paris , the Lyric Opera Chicago, the Met in New Yor , La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Berlin State Opera or the Bavarian State Opera, as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna and Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) or Micaëla (Carmen). She continues to cultivate her passion for song with regular guest appearances at the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, as well as at London's Wigmore Hall. She has also given numerous recitals at the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and at the Salzburg Festival. She is the artistic director of the KunstKlang festival in Feutschwangen. For her services, she received the Brahms Prize of the Brahms Society of Schleswig-Holstein, the Bavarian Culture Prize in the category of art, and the Bavarian Order of Merit.
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 2025
Llum Colomer, piano (Catalonia)
Born in Barcelona, she began her piano studies at the age of six with the Suzuki Method; she later studied at the Liceu Conservatory of Music with pianist Alba Ventura. She recently completed the Lied Master's Degree "Victoria de los Ángeles" at ESMUC, being awarded as best Lied pianist in the first edition of the AESPIRE Award. On the other hand, she is currently studying harpsichord at the Toulouse Regional Conservatory and the Badalona Professional Conservatory. She has been awarded and granted scholarships on several occasions; among the awards stands out the first prize in the accompanist pianist category at the Stockholm International Music Competition. As a soloist (pianist and harpsichordist) and chamber musician, she has performed in various venues in Catalonia, France and Italy.
Jana Corominas, soprano (Catalonia)
Jana Corominas, born in 2002, is a mezzo-soprano from Barcelona. She began her musical studies at the age of five following the Suzuki method and completed her professional degree in Singing with Marisa Roca at the Liceu Professional Conservatory in 2020. In 2024 she graduated from the Liceu Superior Conservatory under the teaching of baritone Joan Martín Royo, with whom, together with Marta Pujol, she is currently completing her master's degree in Singing Interpretation at the same center. She was a finalist for the Salvat Bach Scholarship 2024. She has complemented her singing training with masterclasses and courses with great professionals such as Sophie Koch, Didier Laclau-Barrère, Emma Kirkby, Mireia Barrera, Marta Infante, Carmen Bustamante, Valerie Guillorit and Wolfram Rieger, among others.
Noëlle Drost, soprano (Nederland)
Dutch soprano Noëlle Drost (1999) graduated with the highest distinction from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague in 2023, and is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. Next to this, she participated in masterclasses with among others Philippe Herreweghe, Elly Ameling, Graham Johnson and Brigitte Fassbaender. She was invited with pianist Jorian van Nee to the masterclasses of the International Liedfestival in Zeist in 2021 and was a young artist during the Leeds Lieder Festival (UK) in 2023. Noëlle has won multiple prizes, including at the International Student LiedDuo Competition and the Prinses Christina Competition. She performed in several concert halls like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and in the Hertz-zaal in TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. She also performed at the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, the dutch national radiochannel ‘Radio 4’ and for the SWR in Stuttgart.
Belén García, soprano (Valencian Community)
Belén García (Alicante, 2000) began voice studies at 14 with mezzo-soprano Concha Marcos de León. In 2019, she started her degree at ESMUC with soprano Enedina Lloris, graduating in 2023 with honors and the Anna Riera Scholarship. She then pursued the official Lied Master “Victoria de los Ángeles” at ESMUC with Francisco Poyato. Currently, she is studying for a Postgraduate in Lied at Universität Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria) with Pauliina Tukiainen. She has performed at various festivals and concerts. In 2024, she debuted at Palau de la Música Catalana with OSVA at the “Life Victoria” festival, where she was also a “Life New Artist.” She has given recitals with “Juventudes Musicales de España” and was a finalist in their 106th singing competition.
Maximilian Kromer, piano (Austria)
As soloist, chamber musician and Lied accompanist, Maximilian Kromer has been the guest of multiple concert venues, such as the Viennese Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Konzerthaus Dortmund or the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and of music festivals in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Rheingau, the Tonhalle Maag in Zurich or the Mozartwoche in Salzburg. In 2023 he presented the release of a CD with baritone Daniel Gutmann, published by Gramola, including musical settings by Robert Schumann of poems by Heine. The same label has recently also presented Kromer’s debut solo album with recordings of virtuoso Viennese piano works. Since 2022 he has been in vivid musical exchange with one of the leading authorities in Lied accompaniment, Helmut Deutsch. Furthermore, the young pianist can look back on numerous concerts with outstanding musical partners such as Rolando Villazón, Daniel Müller-Schott or Michael Schade.
Tobias Lusser, baritone (Austria)
He began his musical training at the age of five, studying cello and piano. Later, he studied organ at the Konservatorium für Kirchenmusik in St. Pölten, where he received his first singing lessons. Since 2020, he has been studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. He has won awards such as the Carl-Orff Singing Competition, the Fritz Wunderlich Special Prize or the “Prima la Musica” competition. Since 2023, he has been a fellow of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now program and the Richard Wagner Association in Munich. In 2022, he made his opera debut as Papageno (The Magic Flute). In concert, he has sung Carmina Burana or Mozart's Requiem; this season he will also sing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the German Requiem, and will offer lied recitals with pianist Maximilian Kromer, with works such as An die ferne Geliebte, Dichterliebe and other lieder by Schumann, as well as lieder by Schubert, Wolf and Schönberg.
Jorian van Nee, piano (Nederland)
Jorian van Nee was born in 1999. He follows lessons from Frank Peters at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and also followed lessons and masterclasses from several pianists, including Ronald Brautigam and Jan Wijn. He played with various orchestras, including Sinfonia Rotterdam, the Yehudi Menuhin orchestra, and the Residentie Orkest in The Hague. In 2013, he won the first prize as well as a first prize at the composition competition at the Prinses Christina Concours. In 2015, he won the best accompaniment prize at the same competition. He also won prizes at the Young Pianist Foundation, the Peter de Grote Festival and, together with singer Noëlle Drost, at the International Student Lied Competition. Also with Noëlle, he participated in the Leeds Lieder Festival in 2023 and the International Lied Festival in Zeist in 2021. He has a Bechstein grand piano on loan from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds.
Esther Vilar, piano (Catalonia)
Born in Barcelona, she graduated in piano performance at ESMuC under the guidance of Jordi Camell and obtained the Lied Master's degree 'Victoria de los Ángeles'. She has been a collaborative pianist in this Master's program and received lessons from Francisco Poyato, Pep Surinyac, Anne Le Bozec, Pauliina Tukiainen, Wolfram Rieger, Roger Vignoles, Sholto Kynoch and Graham Johnson, among others. She has been awarded Best Lied Pianist and received the Yamaha Award at the II AESPIRE Prize. She has participated in the Mastercourse of the Oxford International Song Festival and in the 14th Liedakademie of the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen, and has been a ‘LIFE New Artist’ at the ‘LIFE Victoria’ Lied Festival. She holds a degree with honours in Literary Studies and a Master's degree in Theory of Literature and Comparative Literature from the University of Barcelona.
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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