Agnieszka Rehlis studied at the Lipinsky Academy of Music in Wroclaw and subsequently attended masterclasses with Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa, Adele Stolte, Christian Elsner and Gerhard Kahry. She made her stage debut in 1996, in Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor at Wroclaw Opera, with which she was a soloist from 1996 to 2007, singing a wide range of roles including Fenena (Nabucco), Flora (La traviata), Meg Page (Falstaff), Magdalena (Rigoletto), Siebel (Gounod’s Faust), Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro) and Dorabella (Così fan tutte). In opera she has also toured Germany, and appeared in the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, France, Italy and Taiwan. Last season she was acclaimed in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia with Polish National Opera. Agnieszka Rehlis is also active in the concert hall, with a repertoire of over 60 oratorios and cantatas, from Bach to Penderecki, including the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Symphony No. 9, the Stabat maters of Rossini, Dvorák and Pergolesi and choral works by Bach, Haendel and Haydn. Among the festivals at which she has appeared are the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Chopin Festival, George Enescu International Festival, Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, and the Rheingau and Schleswig-Holstein festivals. Notable concert performances have included Mahler’s Second Symphony in Beijing and the world premiere of Penderecki’s Eighth Symphony in Luxembourg. Among her recordings are the world premiere of Paderewski’s Manru and DVDs of Penderecki’s Symphony No. 7 and Credo.

David Pountney became internationally known through his production of Katya Kabanova at the 1972 Wexford Festival. Between 1975-80, David Pountney was Director of Production for Scottish Opera. His productions there featured a Janacek cycle in collaboration with Welsh National Opera of Jenufa, House of the Dead, The Makropulos Case, Katya Kabanova and The Cunning Little Vixen. He produced the world première of David Blake's Toussaint in 1977 at English National Opera and went on to become Director of Productions in 1980, directing over twenty operas including Rusalka, Osud, The Midsummer Marriage, Doctor Faust, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Hansel and Gretel, The Adventures of Mr Broucek and The Fairy Queen. He has directed over ten world premieres, including two by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for which he also wrote the libretto, and has translated many operas into English from Russian, Czech, German and Italian. As a freelance Director from 1992 he has worked regularly in Zürich, at the Vienna State Opera, at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich as well as opera houses in America and Japan, and in the UK has a long-standing association with Opera North and WNO. He received a Janacek medal for his Janacek cycle in Wales and Scotland, and a Martinu medal for his productions of Julietta and Greek Passion at Opera North and the Bregenz Festival. His productions have twice won an Olivier award. He recently directed "Chorus!" at the Houston Grand Opera,  Agrippina and Die Frau ohne Schatten in Zürich and Tristan und Isolde in Cologne. Future plans include Weinberg’s Die Passagierin for the Bregenz Festival, Les Troyens for Deutsche Oper Berlin and Kommilitonen - a new work by David Pountney and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for the Royal Academy in London and the Juilliard School in New York. David Pountney was made a CBE and a Chevalier in the French Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1993.

Marie-Jeanne Lecca was born and educated in Bucharest, she now lives in London. Her set and costume designs include: Thérèse Raquin (World Premiere in Dallas), Falstaff, The Stone Guest, Pelléas & Mélisade (ENO) and Carmen (Houston, Seattle, Minnesota). Recent costume designs include: Frau ohne Schatten (Opernhaus Zürich), Carmen (Bolskoi Opera), Khovanschina (Welsh National Opera), Die Soldaten (Ruhr Triennale), the Ring Cycle, Wozzeck, The Greek Passion (Royal Opera House – joint winner Olivier Award), Julietta, The Dwarf and Seven Deadly Sins (Opera North, South Bank Show Award), Moses und Aron, Faust, Katya Kabanova (Bayerische Staatsoper Munich), Maskarade, West Side Story (Bregenzer Festspiele), Turandot (Salzburger Festspiele) Agrippina, La Juive, L’Étoile, Peter Grimes, Macbeth (Opernhaus Zürich), Jenufa and Rienzi (Wiener Staatsoper), Salambo (Opéra national de Paris), The Turn of the Screw (La Monnaie, Brussels), The Nose (De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam), Der Freischütz, The Adventures of Mr. Brouček (ENO). She received the Martinu-Medal for Julietta and The Greek Passsion and was nominated by "Opernwelt" magazine as "Costume Designer of the Year" for Maskarade. Her theatre work includes sets and costumes for As You Like It and La Bête Humaine (Nottingham Playhouse) and costumes for The Taming of the Shrew (RSC) and Napoleon (West End). She was part of the British team that won the "Golden Triga" at Prague Quadriennale, 2003.

Born in Kasakhstan, Greek soprano Elena Kelessidi made her Covent Garden debut as Violetta La Traviata, which lead to the start of her international career. Other theatres in which she has appeared include L’Opéra Bastille; Metropolitan Opera; Wiener Staatsoper; Bayerische Staatsoper; Berlin Staatsoper; De Nederlandse Opera; Canadian Opera Company; Dallas Opera; Portland Opera; Hamburgische Staatsoper; L’Opéra de Monte Carlo; The Baltimore Opera Company; Tokyo Bunkamura Hall; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Opernhaus Zürich. Wiener Festwochen; Opéra de Montpellier and Megaron Mousikis, Athens. She has performed the roles of Liù Turandot; Cleopatra Giulio Cesare; Shamakhan Tzaritza Le Coq d’Or; Mimi La Bohème; Giuletta I Capuleti e i Montecchi; Amina La Sonnambula; Tatiana Eugene Onegin; Gilda Rigoletto; Susanna Le nozze di Figaro; Marguérite Faust; Micaëla Carmen; Desdemona Otello; Euridice Orfee et Euridice; Donna Anna and Zerlina Don Giovanni. She appears regularly in concert and made her recent Portuguese debut as Gilda at Casa da Musica in a concert performance of Rigoletto. Other recent appearances include a recital in London for the Rosenblatt recital series and her Indian debut in Mumbai in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. This season she appeared again at Greek National Opera in the roles of Gilda Rigoletto and as Violetta La Traviata. Her recent CD: A Russian Romance, in which she is accompanied by Malcolm Martineau, is available on the Onyx label.

With more than 150 productions to his credit, and over 20 years of experience, Fabrice Kebour has become one of Europe's leading lighting designers. Over the past 20 years, Fabrice Kebour's lighting designs have been seen in Japan, the Middle East, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and England, as well as the USA and Canada. He was the lighting designer for the 2006 opening and closing ceremonies of the 15th Asian games, and has designed for top opera houses such as the Kennedy Center, the Wiener Staatsoper, l’opéra comique, the Bregenzer Festpiele, the Arena di Verona, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie. Fabrice Kebour has twice received nominations for best lighting design, in the prestigious French Molière theatrical awards, and is now president of the French lighting designer's association "Union des Créateurs Lumière".

Tobias Hächler was born in Basel and followed his vocal studies at the Academies of Music in both Hamburg and Cologne. He attended Master Classes given by Kurt Moll, Christoph Prégardien and Franz Grundheber. The baritone is price winner at the Concours Ernst Haefliger and received the scholarship of the Armin-Weltner-Foundation by Alexander Pereira/Opernhaus Zürich. After guest productions at the Schlossoper Haldenstein, the Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and Lucerne Festival Tobias Hächler became a member of the Opera Studio of the Theater Basel, where he participated in productions such as Zaide (Mozart), Don Carlo (Verdi), L’Amour des trois oranges (Prokofjew), Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Honegger) and Mario und der Zauberer (Oliver). Since the 2007-08 season he has been a member of the ensemble of the Theater Luzern as 1st baritone including the title role of Don Giovanni, Conte Almavia in Le Nozze di Figaro, Rodolfo in Leoncavallo’s Boheme, Ford (Falstaff), Ramiro (L’Heure Espagnole) + Ariane (Theseus), Falke (Die Fledermaus) and Jan (Der Bettelstudent). In April-May 2010 the baritone performed Life in the world creation of The Rage of Life at the Flanders Opera Antwerp, a production that will also bring him to the State Theatre Stuttgart in fall 2010.

Helen Field remains one of the most versatile and distinguished artists of her generation. Recent roles include Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro at La Monnaie, Salome for Welsh National Opera and Gräfin (Soldaten) in Germany and New York. Her international appearances have included the Governess in Britten The turn of the Screw in Cologne, Dresden, Montpellier, Amsterdam, Schwetzingen and Barcelona; Gilda Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York; Cio-Cio San Madama Butterfly at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Desdemona Otello in Brussels; Aithra (Aegyptisch Helena) at Avery Fisher Hall and Jenufa in Liege, Düsseldorf and Toronto. Born in North Wales, Helen Field studied at the Royal College of Music, London. She began her career as a recitalist and in operatic roles including, "Vixen", Mimi, Tatyana, Jennifer (Midsummer Marriage) and Marguerite (Faust). She received 2 Olivier nominations for outstanding operatic achievement. She has sung Salome in Brussels, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Covent Garden, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Nürnberg, Scottish Opera, Holland, Frankfurt and Toronto. As a keen contemporary music artist she has been involved in many significant world-premieres, including Tippet New Year, Birtwistle The second Mrs Kong for Glyndebourne, James McMillan Ines de Castro. Elsewhere on the concert platform, she has appeared with many of the world's major orchestras, including Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder with Gunther Wand in Hamburg and at the BBC Proms and Mahler Symphony No. 4 at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin opening.

He studied Fine Arts and Design at the University of Pretoria and designed extensively for opera, ballet and theatre in South Africa, where his recent credits include Show Boat and Die Fledermaus. Previously in Bregenz: Maskarade in a co-production with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, with Dir. David Pountney. Other collaborations with Dir. David Pountney include Chorus, Houston Grand Opera; Osud (Vienna State Opera), Eight Little Greats (Opera North) Smetana’s The Devil’s Wall (Prague), Turandot (Salzburg Festival), Anything Goes (Grange Park Opera), L’Amore dei Tre Re, Zemlinsky’s Der Kreidekrei, Johann Strauss’s Simplicius, Pfitzner’s Die Rose vom Liebesgarten, L’Etoile and Agrippina (Zürich) and Khovanshchina (WNO). Current and recent work includes: Les Troyens, Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Dec 2010; Il Trittico, Lyon, both with Dir. David Pountney; Boys in the Photograph, Musical by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (Johannesburg Civic Theatre), Dir. Janice Honeyman; Thaïs (Göteborg Opera), dir. Nicola Raab;  Artaxerxes, (Royal Opera, London), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Opera North) both with Dir. Martin Duncan. Other productions include: Cinderella, Zurich Ballet; Beethoven’s Fifth, Vienna State Ballet; Macbeth and Romeo and Juliette, (Opera North); Beatrice and Benedict (Chicago Opera Theatre), Dir. Nicola Raab; Otello (Parma, Monte Carlo, Los Angeles); Don Carlos, Welsh National Opera, Canadian Opera, Houston, Dir. John Caird. Costumes for the Vienna New Year’s Day Concert 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2010.

Svetlana Doneva was born in Bulgaria and studied at the Academy of Music in Sofia and attended  from 2002-03 the International Opera Studio in Zurich. Svetlana Doneva made her debut at the opera house in Sofia as Gretel (Humperdinck), Gilda and in St. Zagora as Lucia (Donizetti), Mimi und Violetta. In 2002/03 she was engaged as a cover for Edita Gruberova singing the role of Maria Stuarda (Donizetti) at the Zurich Opera. This was followed by singing Musetta in Palma de Mallorca and Violetta and Gilda in Barcelona, role she also sang in Rome. During the 2003/04 season she sang Lina in Verdi's Stiffelio on tour in Switzerland and Konstanze in Entführung aus dem Serail in Aachen und Karlsruhe. In Marseille Svetlana Doneva was invited to sing Traviata in December 2005, and in May 2006 the artist sang with great personal success her first Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Thomas Hengelbrock at the Festival of Feldkirch. The same role again with René Jacobs at the Festival für Alte Musik in Innsbruck and in 2008 with B. de Billy in Salzburg. At the Francfort Opera the artist sang Traviata, Konstanze, Ginevra in Händel's Ariodante, in 2008 Euridice in Gluck's Orpehus und Euridice with Thomas Hengelbrock in Paris and Epidaurus. As a concert singer, Svetlana Doneva has appeared in Zurich with Händel's Messiah, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, the Requiem by Brahms and Rossini's Petite messe solennelle.With the Balthasar Neuman Ensemble she gave concerts with Händel's Alcina in Freiburg and Ludwigsburg, with J. Nott Beethoven 9 in Bamberg, Carmina Burana with L. Zagrosek in Berlin and Händel's Solomon with A. Spering in Madrid. Forthcoming events include: Donna Anna and Euridice in Geneva, Regina in Hindemith's Mathis der Maler with Ch. Eschenbach at the Paris Opera Nationale, Katja in Die Passagierin, world creation at the Bregenz Festival, co-production with the Teatro Real Madrid, New York and Warschaw.

Teodor Currentzis is the Music Director of the Novosibirsk State Opera and Orchestra and is the founder and Artistic Director of the period instrument ensemble Musica Aeterna. He is now recognized as one of the most influential conductors in Russia and has been appointed as one of the top five conductors for the Bolshoi opera. Following his successful debut at Paris Opera in 2008, Teodor returned in 2009 with a critically acclaimed production of Verdi’s Macbeth. In the next two seasons, he will make his debut in Zurich Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Madrid Opera. He recently debuted at the International Festival Baden-Baden and will return there each season to conduct various Mozart operas. In 2009/10, Teodor made a successful debut with SWR Baden-Baden and has been immediately reinvited for further concerts each season. Future orchestral debuts include NDR Hamburg, Orchestre National de Lyon, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Madrid Opera Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. During his time in Novosibirsk, Teodor has created Musica Aeterna which now sells out concerts in both their home, Moscow and abroad. Next season they will travel to the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam with plans to go to Berlin, Paris and London in 2011/12. They have an exclusive recording contract with Alpha Records and their most recent release, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14, has already been well-received.