Rossini’s Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo
An early extravaganza

The soprano Eleonora Bellocci was born in Florence and graduated with honours from the Luigi Cherubini Music Conservatory in 2019. She was First Prize winner at the International Singing Competitions ‘Carlo Guasco’ and ‘Giulio Neri’, and is a recipient of the International Belcanto Prize at the Rossini in Wildbad festival. Among her recent and future engagement are Elisetta in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto at Teatro Regio Torino; Ofelia in Faccio’s Amleto at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, and Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff in Luxembourg and Caen.

Sevillian soprano Leonor Bonilla has been awarded prizes at numerous prestigious competitions, including First Prize at the Concurso Internacional de Canto de Opera de Tenerife. Bonilla has performed throughout Europe, including at the Teatro Cajasol and Teatro de La Maestranza in Seville and Teatro Calderon in Valladolid. She has also appeared in numerous performances of oratorios by Haydn, Vivaldi and Handel, and recent engagements include a gala performance at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Mezzo-soprano Marina Comparato made her debut in Il barbiere di Siviglia in London in 1996. A winner of many prestigious competitions, she has appeared in numerous international venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and in 2018 made her debut as Carmen at Teatro La Fenice in Venice conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. Her vast repertoire spans from the Baroque to contemporary works.

The tenor Mert Sungu made his debut as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, tackling further principal roles during 2014–16 at the Semperoper. Guest engagements brought performances at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; in Pavia, Como, Brescia, Bologna and the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris; as Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the State Opera in Istanbul; and in Les Pêcheurs de perles in Trieste and in Il viaggio a Reims in Rome.

Critically acclaimed American tenor Joshua Stewart’s recent engagements include his debut with the Birmingham Opera Company in the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s Lazarus and the role of Giove in Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo at Rossini in Wildbad. Stewart has performed at various international festivals, worked with many renowned conductors, and has had the honour of performing for several world leaders. A native of New Orleans, and with musical roots in jazz, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, and is the recipient of several awards and fellowships.

The Gorecki Chamber Choir was founded in 2013 by the Passionart Society in connection with the first performance of church music by Henryk Gorecki. The concert was recorded and aired on Polish radio and the BBC. In subsequent years the choir has given concerts of sacred music throughout Poland, under the direction of, among others, Jose Cura and Daniel Smith. The choir made its debut at Rossini in Wildbad in 2017.

The Virtuosi Brunensis chamber orchestra was established in 2007 from two of the best-known Czech orchestras – the Brno Janaček Theatre Orchestra and the Brno Philharmonic. Under the guidance of artistic director Karel Mitaš the orchestra has appeared, among other engagements, at the Bad Hersfeld Opera Festival and at Rossini in Wildbad where it has recorded Rossini’s Otello, L’Italiana in Algeri, Semiramide and Guillaume Tell, Vaccaj’s La sposa di Messina and Mercadante’s I briganti for Naxos, among others.