Featured Artist

René Pape

Born in Dresden, Pape has been a member of the Berlin State Opera since 1988, but considers New York’s Metropolitan Opera his operatic “home away from home.” Since his house debut in 1995, he has appeared every season at the Met, in 18 roles and more than 160 performances, including four major debuts: Méphistophélès in Faust, Gurnemanz in Parsifal, Escamillo in Carmen, and the Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila. But it was at the famous Unter den Linden – home of the Berlin State Opera – where Pape honed most of the great roles of his career. Music Director

Featured Artist

Pier Giorgio Morandi

Pier Giorgio Morandi played for ten years as principal oboist in Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He studied composition at Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan, and orchestra conducting at Salzburg Mozarteum with M° Ferdinand Leitner. During the years spent at La Scala, Morandi was assistant conductor of  M° Riccardo Muti and later of M° Giuseppe Patanè, from whom he gained a lot of experience in refining the stylistic Italian repertoire and in learning all the secrets of the Italian operatic tradition. In 1987 he studied in Tanglewood, USA, with M° Leonard Bernstein and M° Seiji Ozawa. In the