MENTORS 2026
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.
Wolfgang Holzmair
Wolfgang Holzmair
Wolfgang Holzmair is an Austrian baritone acclaimed for his expressive interpretations of lieder and opera. He studied in Vienna with Hilde Rössel-Majdan and Erik Werba, and earned a master’s degree from the Mozarteum University Salzburg. His international career includes recitals in London, New York, Moscow, and Seoul, and operatic roles in works by Mozart, Wagner, Strauss, Debussy, and Britten. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, under conductors like Boulez, Haitink, and Harnoncourt. His recordings focus on Schubert, Mahler, French mélodie, and music by composers persecuted under the Nazi regime. Since 1998, he has taught at the Mozarteum, where he became professor of interpretation and stylistics. He regularly gives masterclasses across Europe and North America and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in London. In recent years, he has focused on mentoring young singers and curating recital programs with historical and artistic depth.
Wolfram Rieger
Wolfram Rieger
Wolfram Rieger studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich with Erik Werba and Helmut Deutsch, and attended several masterclasses with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Hans Hotter 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 2026
Katharina Bierweiler, mezzosoprano (Germany)
Born in 2004, Katharina has been awarded fellowships by the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie, the Deutschlandstipendium and the Fundación Riemschneider. Her musical training began with the Cantus Juvenum children's choir in Karlsruhe, and at the age of 17 she continued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, where she has been pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Opera Singing since April 2023. She has received several awards, including the Second Prize and the Ehrbar Saal Prize at the 5th International Helmut Deutsch Lied Competition, the first Prize at the International Junior Charles Wood Song Competition in Armagh, Northern Ireland (2025), and the Third Förderpreis from the Walter Kaminsky Foundation at the 53rd Bundeswettbewerb Gesang in Berlin (2024). For three consecutive years, she has been a scholarship recipient of the Riemschneider Foundation. On stage, she has performed roles such as Flora (The Turn of the Screw), Yniold (Pelléas et Mélisande), Aricia (Trois Opéras-Minute), the Slave (Salome), and the Second Boy (Die Zauberflöte).
Klara Brockhaus, soprano (Germany)
Born in Hanover, she studied voice at the universities of Berlin, Rostock, and Munich, completing her master’s degree in Music Theatre/Opera at the Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich. Recently, she transitioned to the soprano fach. Her stage roles include Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Polinesso (Ariodante), or Tolomeo (Giulio Cesare). Alongside her operatic work, Klara Brockhaus is deeply dedicated to Lied and concert repertoire. She gives regular song recitals, and together with her Lied pianist Rodolfo Focarelli won a special prize at the international “Bolko von Hochberg” Song Competition in Görlitz–Zgorzelec. She is a scholarship holder of the Johann Adolph Hasse Society Munich, the Bayreuth Scholarship 2024, and the Sir Elton John Global Exchange Programme.
Carlos Bujosa, piano (catalonia)
Carlos Bujosa Salazar (Tarragona, 2000) made his debut as a soloist with orchestra at the age of fifteen and has performed in concert halls and festivals throughout Europe. He has received over ten national and international awards and has been supported by institutions such as AIE or Deutschlandstipendium. He has taken part in productions at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and regularly collaborates with the contemporary dance company Antonio Ruz. He studied piano at the Conservatori del Liceu with Alba Ventura and Stanislav Pochekin thanks to a scholarship from the Fundació Ferrer de Música, and later completed a Master’s degree in Piano Performance at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. He is currently studying at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, specializing in chamber music and Lied with Avedis Kouyoumdjian and Markus Hadulla, and has received artistic influence from Julius Drake and Malcolm Martineau.
Adrià Crespo, piano (Ctalonia)
Born in 1997, Adrià Crespo Aguilera is a pianist and music educator specialising in classical and contemporary repertoire. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance at ESMUC and a Master’s degree in Advanced Piano Performance Studies at the same institution, supported by a scholarship from the Frederic Mompou Foundation. He has furthered his training through international programmes such as the Jaques-Dalcroze International Summer Course (2024), the Akademifestivalen chamber music programme at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (2025), and the 29th Wolfram Rieger International Lied Course (2025) with soprano Marta Esteban Ferrera. Since 2019, he has developed a career as a piano teacher and performer, active in solo recitals, chamber music and accompaniment. He has recently begun postgraduate studies at the Music and Arts University of Vienna (MUK).
Marta Esteban, soprano (Catalonia)
Born in Terrassa in 1998, she graduated in Classical and Contemporary Voice at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu, supported by a scholarship from the Ferrer de Música Foundation, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Performance at the same institution, funded by the Conservatori del Liceu Foundation. In the field of lied, she has furthered her training at the Wolfram Rieger International Lied Course. She has received several awards, including the 3rd prize at the 2025 Germans Pla–Ciutat de Balaguer International Singing Competition and the 3rd prize at the 29th Josep Mirabent i Magrans Competition, and was a semifinalist in the 112th Juventudes Musicales de España Singing Competition. In 2024 she took part in the Bachakademie Stuttgart and made her debut at the Grec Festival. She has collaborated with professional ensembles such as the Chamber Choir of the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Francesc Valls Choir, Ensemble O Vos Omnes and the Cererols Choir. In the 2025–26 season she will make her debut at the Teatro de la Zarzuela.
Rodolfo Focarelli, piano (Italy)
Born in Rome in 1992, he began playing the piano at the age of nine. He studied for his Bachelor's and Master of Music degrees at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, and also completed a second Master's degree in Instrumental Accompaniment; subsequently, he studied Lied interpretation at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. He has won awards in competitions, including a first prize at the German National Youth Music Competition (Jugend musiziert) in the piano trio category and a special prize at the Bolko von Hochberg Lied Competition in Görlitz. As a soloist, he performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto Op.23 in 2015 with the National Ukrainian Radio Orchestra. He has given recitals in Berlin, Glasgow, Padua, Rome, Munich and Venice. Rodolfo is a piano accompanist with the Münchner Konzertchor and has worked with, among others, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Münchner Oratorienchor, and the Chor der Klangverwaltung.
Bruno Meichsner, baritone (Germany)
Bruno Meichsner was born in Berlin and discovered his passion for singing in 2005 through the Berlin Boys’ Choir. He completed his vocal studies in 2025 at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. As a concert singer, he performs major roles of various oratorios and masses in venues such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin and the Pierre Boulez Saal. His operatic roles include Papageno (The Magic Flute), Pasquino (Il mondo della luna) and Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) He was scholarship holder of the Lied Academy at the Heidelberger Frühling for the 2023/24 season and returned to the Lied Festival as an alumnus in 2025. Bruno Meichsner is a multiple winner of the 7th International Haydn Singing Competition for Classical Song and Aria, where he was awarded, among others, the 1st main prize. He has been a permanent member of the Rundfunkchor Berlin since the 2023/24 season.
Jyri Mishukov, piano (Finland)
Jyri Mishukov is one of Finland’s leading collaborative pianists. Trained at the Joensuu Conservatory and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he spent a year as an exchange student at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. He later completed the Konzertexamen in lied at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe. He has taken part in advanced training programmes such as the Deutsche Liedakademie in Trossingen and the Savonlinna Music Academy. In 2024 he was selected for the “Young Artists” project of the Zeist International Lied Festival. He has received scholarships from institutions including the Pro Musica Foundation, the Sibelius Academy and the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now programme. Despite his youth, Mishukov has already gained extensive pedagogical and practical experience, and has worked as a collaborative pianist and lied coach in the voice department of the Sibelius Academy. In September 2025 he won the second special prize for pianists at the Helmut Deutsch International Lied Competition.
Alba Valdivieso, soprano (Catalonia)
Alba Valdivieso Passolas (Barcelona, 2002) began her musical training as a violinist and received solid choral experience in ensembles such as the Orfeó Català, the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya, and the Cor Jove Nacional de Catalunya. In 2023, she made her solo debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Filles del Món by Marian Márquez. Since then, she has performed numerous operatic roles with orchestra, including Mimì (La Bohème), Suor Angelica, Alice (Falstaff), Lulu, Beketaten (Akhnaten), and Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea). She has received awards in numerous international competitions, notably the Mirna Lacambra Competition or the Juventudes Musicales de España Competition. She completed her vocal studies at the Conservatori del Liceu supported by a scholarship from the Fundació Ferrer de Música, and is currently pursuing operatic studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.
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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