Jury 2026

Baritone Sergei Leiferkus is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished artists on the international opera scene. His remarkable ability to convey both nobility and villainy has made him renowned for roles such as Scarpia (Tosca), Iago (Otello), Rangoni (Boris Godunov), Telramund (Lohengrin), and Alberich (Der Ring des Nibelungen). He has appeared on the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Royal Opera House, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Opéra Bastille, as well as at leading festivals such as Salzburg, Glyndebourne, and Edinburgh.

His extensive repertoire includes around 50 roles, among them Eugene Onegin, Nabucco, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Don Giovanni, and Parsifal, with a special emphasis on Russian music from the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent additions to his repertoire include Berg’s Lulu, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and contemporary works by Peter Eötvös and Alexander Raskatov. In concert, he has performed with leading orchestras and conductors such as Abbado, Gergiev, Levine, Mehta, and Muti, and is particularly celebrated for Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13. He is currently Artistic Director of Cascais Opera – International Vocal Competition, alongside pianist Adriano Jordão.

Belgian-Portuguese mezzo-soprano Catarina Sereno graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London as a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholar, after beginning her studies at the School of Arts, Catholic University of Porto. She refined her training with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sarah Walker, Malcolm Martineau and Elizabeth Connell, and was an ENOA scholarship holder. Having started her career as a lyric soprano before transitioning to mezzo-soprano repertoire, she has performed roles such as Maria in Maria de Buenos Aires (Piazzolla), Irma in Louise (Charpentier), Tatyana in Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky), Pamina in The Magic Flute, Medoro in Orlando Generoso (Steffani), and Poulenc’s monologue La Voix Humaine. In contemporary opera, she has stood out as Circe in Viagron (Gieshoff) at the Tête-à-Tête Festival and as Voce 4 in Laborintus II (Berio) with LSO St Luke’s. Catarina regularly collaborates as a freelance ensemble singer with La Monnaie and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, working with directors such as Alain Platel, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Damiano Michieletto and Olivier Py. As an oratorio soloist, she has performed works by Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi, including live broadcasts on BBC Radio 4. Passionate about the recital format and repertoire, she has appeared at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, St Martin-in-the-Fields, United Musicians of Brussels, and the Aveiro Music Festival – Olhares de Outono/Antena 2.

Ivan van Kalmthout was the Artistic Director of the Teatro Nacional São Carlos in the 2023-2024 season and programmed in the 2024/25 season the first Mahler VIII concert in Portugal after 33 years and Robert Carsen’s acclaimed production of Jenufa, which were very well received. Previously, for six years, Ivan van Kalmthout was in charge of the «International Vocal Competition», in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), a competition that has existed since 1954 and has already awarded great singers such as for instance Thomas Hampson, Dame Sarah Connolly, Pretty Yende. He has twice been a member of the jury of this illustrious competition, having participated in the same capacity, in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002, in the 2nd edition of the China International Singing Competition, in the Bulbul Opera Competition in Baku (Azerbaijan) in 2020, and in the Marie Kraja International Singing Competition in Tirana (Albania) in 2022. He has extensive experience in the management of opera houses throughout Europe, having been interim artistic director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona (and before that, for ten years, deputy artistic director). All this experience has given him a deep knowledge of repertoire, singers, conductors and stage directors. He was also opera director at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden im Schillertheater in Berlin and the Director of Daily Operations at the Hamburg National Theatre. At the theatres where he worked, he was involved in the two opera studios for young singers that were part of the ensemble. Ivan van Kalmthout began his career at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp/Ghent, where his last position was as a casting officer.

Jennifer Larmore is an American mezzo-soprano, two-time Grammy Award winner, Chevalier of the French government, recipient of the Richard Tucker Award, and a member of the Georgia Hall of Fame. A voice teacher, author, and actress in the Netflix series King the Land, she possesses a wide-ranging repertoire, beginning with Baroque and bel canto coloratura roles and later expanding to works from the Romantic and Contemporary periods.

She has performed at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Covent Garden, and has collaborated with renowned orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Muti, Bernstein, Abbado, and Barenboim.

Together with double bassist Davide Vittone, she founded the ensemble Jennifer Larmore and OpusFive, a string quintet performing arias, songs, cabaret, operetta, film music, and Broadway repertoire, with concerts in cities such as Venice, Dublin, Paris, and Seville.

Jennifer has recorded over 100 CDs and DVDs for labels such as Teldec, RCA, Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, and Opera Rara. She is internationally recognized for her teaching and masterclasses around the world. Author of the book Una Voce, she explores the world and psychology of the artist. She currently lives in Paris with her husband, Davide Vittone, and their dog, Buffy.

Born in Romania, Liliana Bizineche developed a passion for singing from an early age, inspired by her parents. At 17, she began studying with Valentina Cretoiu and graduated from the Cluj Faculty of Music in 1980, later perfecting her technique with Ileana Cotrubas, Regina Reznik, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Renée Jacobs. As a soloist at the Romanian National Opera in Cluj, she performed leading roles in operas by Mozart, Bellini, Bizet, Rossini, Puccini, Verdi and Mussorgsky. She gained international recognition, winning prizes in major competitions in Athens, Barcelona, Leipzig, Geneva, Rio de Janeiro, Munich, Budapest, ’s-Hertogenbosch and Paris, including the First Prize from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Alice Tully Prize.

Her international career began in 1981 at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, performing Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther alongside Alfredo Kraus. She has appeared on major opera stages worldwide, collaborating with Shirley Verrett, Ileana Cotrubas, José Carreras, Ferruccio Furlanetto and others, under conductors such as Michel Corboz, Mstislav Rostropovich, Antonio Pappano, Kurt Masur and Yehudi Menuhin. She has recorded works by Beethoven, Honegger, Schumann, Perrin, Handel and Schubert, including Verdi’s Requiem live in Terezin. Currently, she teaches lyric singing at the University of Évora, guiding undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students, giving international masterclasses, and dedicating her research to vocal interpretation and singer training.

Baritone Sergei Leiferkus is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished artists on the international opera scene. His remarkable ability to convey both nobility and villainy has made him renowned for roles such as Scarpia (Tosca), Iago (Otello), Rangoni (Boris Godunov), Telramund (Lohengrin), and Alberich (Der Ring des Nibelungen). He has appeared on the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Royal Opera House, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Opéra Bastille, as well as at leading festivals such as Salzburg, Glyndebourne, and Edinburgh.

His extensive repertoire includes around 50 roles, among them Eugene Onegin, Nabucco, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Don Giovanni, and Parsifal, with a special emphasis on Russian music from the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent additions to his repertoire include Berg’s Lulu, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and contemporary works by Peter Eötvös and Alexander Raskatov. In concert, he has performed with leading orchestras and conductors such as Abbado, Gergiev, Levine, Mehta, and Muti, and is particularly celebrated for Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13. He is currently Artistic Director of Cascais Opera – International Singing Competition, alongside pianist Adriano Jordão.

Born in Rome, he studied piano, composition, choral music and orchestral conducting at the Santa Cecilia Academy. He trained with Zoltán Peskó, Vladimir Delman and Rudolf Barshai and won 3rd prize at the Arturo Toscanini Competition in Parma. From 1995 to 2001, he was music director at the Ankara Opera Theater, and from 2001 to 2005 he held the same position at the Istanbul State Opera. His past and most recent engagements include: Lucia di Lammermoor in Buenos Aires and Bari; La Gioconda in Santander; Andrea Chénier in Berlin and Catania; Macbeth in Lisbon; Aida in Copenhagen and Caracalla; Il trovatore, Anna Bolena and Ernani in Catania; Tosca in Florence and Bari; Turandot in Copenhagen, Verona and Catania; Aroldo in Bilbao; Il barbiere di Siviglia in Tokyo, Valencia and Verona; Carmen in Copenhagen and Avenches; Faust in Tokyo and Santander; Un ballo in maschera in Salerno and Lisbon; Madama Butterfly in Ancona; Medea on the As. Li.Co. circuit; Norma in Trapani and Spalato; Attila in Lecce and Rome; Otello in Lisbon; Manon Lescaut in Torre del Lago; Nabucco in Caracalla and Lisbon; Rigoletto in Tokyo; Falstaff in Shanghai; and La forza del destino in Lisbon. He is currently principal conductor of the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra.

Belgian-Portuguese mezzo-soprano Catarina Sereno graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London as a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholar, after beginning her studies at the School of Arts, Catholic University of Porto. She refined her training with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sarah Walker, Malcolm Martineau and Elizabeth Connell, and was an ENOA scholarship holder. Having started her career as a lyric soprano before transitioning to mezzo-soprano repertoire, she has performed roles such as Maria in Maria de Buenos Aires (Piazzolla), Irma in Louise (Charpentier), Tatyana in Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky), Pamina in The Magic Flute, Medoro in Orlando Generoso (Steffani), and Poulenc’s monologue La Voix Humaine. In contemporary opera, she has stood out as Circe in Viagron (Gieshoff) at the Tête-à-Tête Festival and as Voce 4 in Laborintus II (Berio) with LSO St Luke’s. Catarina regularly collaborates as a freelance ensemble singer with La Monnaie and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, working with directors such as Alain Platel, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Damiano Michieletto and Olivier Py. As an oratorio soloist, she has performed works by Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi, including live broadcasts on BBC Radio 4. Passionate about the recital format and repertoire, she has appeared at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, St Martin-in-the-Fields, United Musicians of Brussels, and the Aveiro Music Festival – Olhares de Outono/Antena 2.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Christina Scheppelmann has held artistic leadership positions in four countries on three continents. She has been General Director of Seattle Opera since 2019 and will become General and Artistic Director of La Monnaie in Brussels in 2025. Fluent in five languages, Scheppelmann began her career as a child in the Hamburg State Opera’s children’s choir and later studied banking before moving into arts administration. After working in Milan, she joined the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, later assisting Lotfi Mansouri at San Francisco Opera, and serving for over a decade as Director of Artistic Operations at Washington National Opera. In 2012, she became the first Director General of the Royal Opera House Muscat (Oman), helping to establish it as a major cultural destination in the Gulf region. From 2015 to 2019, she served as Artistic Director General at the Gran Teatre del Liceu before taking the helm in Seattle. Throughout her career, Scheppelmann has been a strong advocate for contemporary opera and emerging artists, creating initiatives such as the Creation Lab and the American Opera Initiative. She was awarded the title of Commendatore by the Italian government for her contribution to promoting opera and Italian culture worldwide.

Eline de Kat is Déléguée Artistique at Opéra de Monte-Carlo, responsible for the casting of singers, conductors, artistic planning, organization of auditions and assistance to the artists amongst other responsibilities. She has worked with artists such as Roberto Alagna, Bryn Terfel, Angela Gheorghiu, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Marcelo Alvarez and Sonya Yoncheva. Eline was Orchestra Manager of the Musiciens du Prince-Monaco from 2019 to 2023, Artistic director of FIPAC (Formation Internationale Professionnelle des Artistes de Choeur) between 2018 and 2019 and Artistic Consultant of the Chorégies d’Orange between 2017 and 2022. Other notable positions include Artist Manager at Prima International Artists Management (2000-2001), Artist Manager at IMG Artists New York (1997-2000), Artist Manager at Allied Artists (1996), Artist Manager at Stage Door Opera Management, Modena (1991-1996). In addition to her broad professional endeavors, Eline de Kat has a special interest in Mountain walking, traveling, oriental dancing, world music and literature.

A native of Elgin, Illinois (USA), Erik Malmquist began his musical studies on violin at the age of three, earning an undergraduate degree in music from Luther College and a masters in violin performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He then moved to New York City, working as a freelance violinist, mainly associated with Manhattan Concert Productions (2013-14). He began his career as an artist manager at Zemsky Green Artists Management, in New York, where he worked from 2014 to 2019, while concurrently serving as the general manager for New York City’s Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity (Upper West Side). Starting in December 2019, he then served as the executive director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, remaining in the post until June 2021, when he accepted an invitation from the Bavarian State Opera (Munich) to become their head of casting, a post he still holds. Mr. Malmquist has served as a member of the jury for the Metropolitan Opera Competition Grand Finals, the Paris Opera Competition, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation and Cascais Opera - International Vocal Competition.

Ferruccio Furlanetto is one of the most celebrated bass opera singers of his generation, known for his powerful voice, magnetic stage presence, and profound interpretations. Born in 1949 in Sacile, Italy, he made his professional debut in 1974 and quickly rose to international prominence. His early appearances at La Scala (1979), the Metropolitan Opera (1980), and the Vienna State Opera (1985) launched a remarkable global career. Furlanetto’s vast repertoire spans from Mozart to Verdi, Donizetti to Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky. His interpretations are praised not only for their vocal depth but also for their dramatic and psychological complexity. He has performed at major opera houses and festivals worldwide, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Salzburg Festival, Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. In recognition of his outstanding artistic achievements, he was awarded the honorary title of Kammersänger by the Vienna State Opera. Furlanetto is also a distinguished concert artist, with a repertoire including Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, often performed with leading orchestras and conductors. Beyond the stage, he has served as an Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations, reflecting his belief in music as a universal language and a tool for cultural dialogue. With a career spanning over five decades, Ferruccio Furlanetto continues to be a commanding presence in the opera world, admired for his vocal mastery, artistic integrity, and enduring passion for the art form.

Born in 1968 in Hässleholm, Sweden, Fredrik Andersson has been Programme Director of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (RSPO) and of the Konserthuset Stockholm since 2015. Recognised for his strategy of expanding and diversifying the orchestra’s musical repertoire, he has focused on discovering and revealing works by women composers. The RSPO’s long tours of Europe and Asia under the direction of its principal conductors have also been one of the hallmarks of his direction. Fredrik Andersson has held various positions in other prestigious institutions and orchestras in his country, including with the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm between 2007 and 2015, the Västerås Sinfonietta between 2003 and 2007, and the NorrlandsOperan (Swedish Opera Company in Umeå) in 2002 and 2003. His passion for music began at an early age: it was as a trombonist that Fredrik Andersson stood out at the beginning of his career, studying with legendary Swedish jazz musician Nils Landgren. After military service in the Royal Swedish Army Band, he studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm 1988-92. Member of the jury for the Swedish Grammy Awards and the Swedish Music Publishers’ Prize for several years, he was also a member of the jury for the Carl Nielsen International Flute Competition in 2019 and 2022. Fredrik Andersson is the current Director of Music at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Ivan van Kalmthout was the Artistic Director of the Teatro Nacional São Carlos in the 2023-2024 season and programmed in the 2024/25 season the first Mahler VIII concert in Portugal after 33 years and Robert Carsen’s acclaimed production of Jenufa, which were very well received. Previously, for six years, Ivan van Kalmthout was in charge of the «International Vocal Competition», in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), a competition that has existed since 1954 and has already awarded great singers such as for instance Thomas Hampson, Dame Sarah Connolly, Pretty Yende. He has twice been a member of the jury of this illustrious competition, having participated in the same capacity, in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002, in the 2nd edition of the China International Singing Competition, in the Bulbul Opera Competition in Baku (Azerbaijan) in 2020, and in the Marie Kraja International Singing Competition in Tirana (Albania) in 2022. He has extensive experience in the management of opera houses throughout Europe, having been interim artistic director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona (and before that, for ten years, deputy artistic director). All this experience has given him a deep knowledge of repertoire, singers, conductors and stage directors. He was also opera director at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden im Schillertheater in Berlin and the Director of Daily Operations at the Hamburg National Theatre. At the theatres where he worked, he was involved in the two opera studios for young singers that were part of the ensemble. Ivan van Kalmthout began his career at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp/Ghent, where his last position was as a casting officer.

Few artists of her generation are as successful as Juliane Banse in so many areas of diverse repertoire. Her operatic repertoire ranges from Feldmarschallin, Figaro-Gräfin, Fiordiligi, Donna Elvira, Vitellia to Genoveva, Leonore, Tatjana, Arabella, Marschallin, Grete (Schreker’s Der ferne Klang) and Schneewittchen (in Heinz Holliger’s Schneewittchen). Born in southern Germany and raised in Zurich, the soprano first took lessons with Paul Steiner, later with Ruth Rohner at the Zurich Opera House, and then completed her studies with Brigitte Fassbaender and Daphne Evangelatos in Munich. Since the winter semester 2020/2021, she has been teaching as a professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and in the winter semester 2023 she has taken over the direction of the singing class at the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid. She also gives master classes in Austria and abroad and participates as a jury member in international competitions. The artist worked with numerous renowned conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Kent Nagano, Riccardo Chailly, Bernard Haitink, Franz Welser-Möst, Claudio Abbado and Manfred Honeck. Lieder recitals have always been her passion and have taken her to the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus Vienna, Kölner Philharmonie, Berlin’s Boulez Hall and Madrid, among others.

Karen Stone is Executive Director of Opera Europa. She studied singing and piano at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia, Rome. Beginning her career as assistant director in Germany, she went on to become staff producer at the English National Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Bayerische Staatsoper. In 1995 she became Deputy Opera Director and director of the Opera Studio and subsequently Opera Director in Cologne. In 2000 she was designated Generalintendantin in Graz, Austria; in 2003 she took over as General Manager of The Dallas Opera, USA, where she was also part of the team working on the design and building of the new Winspear Opera House. In 2009 she returned to Germany as Generalintendantin of the theatres and orchestra in Magdeburg. Karen Stone has been a member of the jury of several international singing competitions including the Voci Verdiane, in Busseto and Xi’an (China), AsLiCo, Belli and Giuseppe di Stefano in Italy, the Competizione dell’opera, Dresden, the International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the Moniuszko Competition, Warsaw. She has been a member of the jury for the European Opera Directing Competition and the Ring Award. As a freelance stage director Karen Stone has worked in many opera houses including Houston Grand Opera; Los Angeles Opera; New Zealand Opera; Opera de Colombia, Bogotá; Opéra de Nice, and the Opéra de Monte Carlo.