Katharina Konradi, Sophie Rennert, Mauro Peter, Simon Keenlyside, Joseph Middleton
Biographie Katharina Konradi, Sophie Rennert, Mauro Peter, Simon Keenlyside, Joseph Middleton
Katharina Konradi
was born in Bishkek and is the first soprano from Kyrgyzstan to have an international career as a Lied, concert and opera singer. Her “crystal-clear” voice and “dazzling vocal technique,” (Backtrack) has a “fascinating palette of colour shades,” (Das Opernglas) which she employs for roles such as Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Gilda (Rigoletto) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), and on the concert and recital stage. Her love of singing developed in childhood, and her move to Germany with her family at age 15 – and subsequent German citizenship – nurtured her love of classical music. Balancing her time between opera, Liederabend and concert work, recent engagements include performances at the Bayerische Staastoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and Opernhaus Zürich, recitals at Wigmore Hall and Konzerthaus Wien, and concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, and Munich Philharmonic.
Konradi’s opera appearances in her 2025/26 season includes a return to the Semperoper Dresden in one of her signature roles, Pamina, in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. She will also sing the role of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier with the Wiener Staatsoper on tour in Japan, and reprise the role in concert performances at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Highlights from her concert appearances include the London Symphony Orchestra’s season opening concert at the Barbican Centre with Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, ‘Kaddish’ under Antonio Pappano, and Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in Japan, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the DSO at the Philharmonie Berlin and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Haydn’s Nelsonmesse with the Wiener Philharmoniker at the Musikverein Wien and Die Schöpfung with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Liederabend also form an integral part of her season, with appearances at Les Arts Valencia, Wigmore Hall, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, among others. Her latest recording, a collection of Lieder by Liszt with pianist Daniel Heide, Un Cycle Imaginaire, will be released by Universal Music in the Fall of 2025.
Sophie Rennert
The Austrian mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert joined the Munich Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in the 2022-23 season to sing roles such as Dorabella (“Così fan tutte”), Charlotte (“Werther”) or Nicklausse (“The Tales of Hoffmann”. In the summer of 2023 she embodies the title role in “Juditha Triumphans” by Vidaldi at the Festival of Early Music in Innsbruck, sings Schumann’s “Paradise and the Peri” under Hartmut Haenchen in Utrecht and returns to the Schubertiade.
Recently, she also thrilled audiences in Rameau’s “Hippolyte et Aricie” under Bernhard Forck at the Nationaltheater Mannheim as “Phèdre, who sounds as passionate as broken, animated and then again rigid and icy cold.” (Mannheimer Morgen, 2.5.2021). In the summer of 2022 she performed at the Salzburg Festival as 2nd Lady in Mozart’s “Magic Flute”, at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music together with Claudio Osele and Le musiche nove or at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg. with Helmut Deutsch and Graham Johnson.
Sophie Rennert has performed with Martin Haselböck in Grafenegg and the Vienna Musikverein, in the Vienna Konzerthaus, with Jordi Savall at the Styriarte, with Ottavio Dantone and the Accademia Bizantina, with Ruben Dubrovsky and the Bach Consort Vienna. She sang in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Orchestre de Monte-Carlo, or recitals at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Brucknerhaus Linz or the Zeist Festival.
In the recent past her repertoire spanned all epochs, styles and genres: from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Gothenburg to Mozart’s Requiem with the Orquesta Nacional de España in Madrid and the Missa Solemnis in Birmingham to the CD recording “Von den Göttern weiß ich nichts” with contemporary vocal works by Uli Rennert. She embodied the title role in Handel’s “Lotario” at the Göttingen Handel Festival, the part of Andronico in Vivaldi’s “Tamerlano” with the ensemble Les Accents in Dortmund, Piacere in Haendel’s “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” with the Accademia Bizantina, Idamante in Mozart’s “Idomeneo” at the Salzburg Landestheater, Angelina in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” at the Nationaltheater Mannheim and Blumenmädchen in Wagner’s “Parsifal” at the Bayreuth Festival to Harper Pitt in “Angels in America” by Peter Eötvös at the Neue Oper Wien.
In 2017/18, the young mezzo-soprano was selected for the “Great Talents” series of the Wiener Konzerthaus. From 2014 to 2016 she was a member of the ensemble of Konzert Theater Bern. In 2013 Sophie Rennert was a member of the “Young Singers Project” at the Salzburg Festival.
Sophie works with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg or the Bruckner Orchestra Linz under conductors such as David Afkham, Ivor Bolton, Semyon Bychkov, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Ádám Fischer, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Hartmut Haenchen, Philippe Jordan, Alessandro de Marchi, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Mark Piollet or Andreas Spering.
Her discography includes, in addition to the aforementioned CD of contemporary vocal works, Leopold Mozart’s Missa Solemnis with the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic and Handel’s Lotario from Göttingen. A CD of Brahms songs accompanied by Graham Johnson was recently released on hyperion, as well as the recording of Vivaldi’s Tamerlano with the Accademia Bizantina under Ottavio Dantone on naïve classique.
Sophie Rennert is the winner of the 2nd prize and the audience prize of the 7th International Cesti Competition for Baroque Singing in Innsbruck 2016 and a prize winner of the International Mozart Competition Salzburg.
In addition to violin and piano lessons, Sophie Rennert began her vocal training with her mother, soprano and vocal coach Sigrid Rennert. In 2014, she graduated with honors from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Karlheinz Hanser, as well as Prof. Charles Spencer. She attended master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender, Ann Murray and Helmut Deutsch.
Mauro Peter
was born in Lucerne and completed his studies at the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Munich. In 2012 he won both first prize and the audience prize at the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau and made his highly acclaimed recital debut at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg with Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin. He has since appeared as a regular guest at the festival and in leading concert halls and opera houses internationally such as Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, Brucknerhaus Linz, HET Concertgebouw, at the Canadian Opera Company, Bavarian State Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra national de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro Real in Madrid, Theater an der Wien, Zurich Opera House and the Salzburg Festival.
Highlights of the previous seasons were his role debuts at the Musikverein für Steiermark as Eisenstein in a semi-staged version of Strauss' Fledermaus and his first Loge with Concerto Köln in a concert performance of Wagner's Rheingold conducted by Kent Nagano. He also sang Mendelssohn's ‘Lobgesangs-Symphonie’ with the Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra conducted by Trevor Pinnock in Tokyo and with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marie Jacquot at the Vienna Musikverein and made his debut with Verdi's Requiem in Lucerne.
In the 2024-2025 season, Mauro Peter performed Mahler's Das Lied der Erde for the first time. Other highlights included New Year's Eve concerts at the Berlin State Opera under the baton of Christian Thielemann, two operetta concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst at the Musikverein Vienna and Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Concertgebouw and Gewandhaus Leipzig. On the opera stage, he made his role debuts as Max in Weber's Der Freischütz at the Bregenz Festival and as the Prince in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges at the Semperoper Dresden. At Kioi Hall Tokyo, he appeared in a semi-staged version of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte under the musical direction of Trevor Pinnock and at his home theatre in Zurich with the tenor part in a staged version of Mendelssohn's Elijah.
Highlights of the coming season include his staged role debut as Loge in Das Rheingold at the Cologne Opera under the direction of Marc Albrecht. He also sings Zender's Winterreise in the ballet version by Christian Spuck at the Berlin State Opera. Mauro Peter will be touring as Tamino in a semi-staged version of Mozart's Magic Flute with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under the direction of Tarmo Peltokoski and will also perform this role at the festival in Aix-en-Provence. On the concert platform, Mauro Peter can be heard in Haydn's The Creation at the Musikverein für Steiermark and the Palace of Arts in Budapest - both times under the direction of Adam Fischer. He will also sing Haydn's Nelson Mass with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at the Vienna Musikverein and Bach's St Matthew Passion with the with the Bergen Philharmonic in Bergen.
Mauro Peter is particularly devoted to the Lied repertoire, having appeared in varied recital programmes at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin, Cologne Philharmonie, the Prinzregententheater in Munich, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Verbier Festival, Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival. Last season, she gave an acclaimed recital with Die schöne Müllerin at the Tōkyō Bunka Kaikan and, together with Louise Alder and Joseph Middleton, celebrated great success with Hugo Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch at London's Wigmore Hall and Vienna's Musikverein. They will perform this work again in Amsterdam in March 2026.
Following a recording of Die schöne Müllerin live from Wigmore Hall, he went on to release a debut album for Sony Classical in 2015, featuring some of Schubert’s Goethe settings, and a recording of Dichterliebe and a selection of other Schumann lieder in 2016.
Simon Keenlyside
Renowned British baritone Simon Keenlyside was born in London and honed his vocal skills at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Since his debut at the Staatsoper Hamburg, where he portrayed Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Keenlyside has graced the stages of leading opera houses across the globe. His close affiliations include the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas.
His extensive repertoire encompasses a diverse array of roles, showcasing his versatility and artistry. From Prospero in The Tempest to Posa in Don Carlo, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, and Papageno in The Magic Flute. Keenlyside has demonstrated his mastery of characters like Amfortas in Parsifal, Wolfram in Tannhäuser, and Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. Notable among his portrayals are the title roles in Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, Wozzeck, Billy Budd, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Rigoletto.
Recent highlights in his illustrious career include compelling performances as Rigoletto and Macbeth at the Royal Opera House, Iago in Verdi’s Otello at the Grange Park Opera, and Balstrode in Peter Grimes at Paris National Opera. He sang Golaud at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and at the Liceu in Barcelona, Count Almaviva at the Teatro alla Scala Milan, Ford in Falstaff at the Salzburg Festival, Macbeth and Rigoletto at the Vienna State Opera, Amfortas at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Iago, Macbeth, Giorgio Germont as well as Amfortas at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
Beyond the operatic realm, Simon Keenlyside is highly sought after as a recitalist, captivating audiences with his renditions of Lieder and songs. His recitals have resonated in renowned venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Palace of the Arts in Valencia, La Monnaie, Konzerthaus Vienna, and Zurich Opera House. In the 2023/24 season, audiences can anticipate his enthralling recitals at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Opernhaus Zurich, Grand Théâtre de Genève, and Grange Park Opera.
A frequent guest on the concert stage, Keenlyside collaborates with leading conductors and performs with esteemed orchestras, including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, City of Birmingham Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra. He has graced the stages of the Czech, Vienna, and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras.
Simon Keenlyside’s discography is a testament to his musical prowess, featuring recordings of Schumann Lieder with Graham Johnson, four recital discs with Malcolm Martineau showcasing Schubert, Strauss, Brahms Lieder, and a collection of English songs titled Songs of War, which earned the Solo Vocal Award at the 2012 Gramophone Awards. His vocal-symphonic recordings include Britten’s War Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Paul McCreesh, and Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Sir Simon Rattle, as well as Carmina Burana with Christian Thielemann. Opera enthusiasts can enjoy his recordings of the title roles in Macbeth (conducted by Edward Gardner), Don Giovanni (Claudio Abbado), and Billy Budd (Richard Hickox), as well as Marcello in La Bohème (Riccardo Chailly), Papageno in The Magic Flute (Charles Mackerras), Count Almaviva in the Grammy award-winning Le Nozze di Figaro under René Jacobs and Prospero in Adès’ The Tempest, which won the 2013 Grammy Awards‘ Best Opera Recording and the Echo Klassik Award 2014 (Music DVD Recording of the Year).
Sir Simon’s contributions to the world of music have garnered prestigious honors. He was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2003, and in June 2018, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed a knighthood upon him. In 2017, he received the title of Austrian Kammersänger at the Vienna State Opera. The accolades continue, with a 2006 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and the 2007 ECHO Klassik award for Male Singer of the Year.
Joseph Middleton
is widely regarded as one of the most exceptional and creative pianists of his generation, specialising in song accompaniment and chamber music at the highest international level. Hailed by Gramophone as "the absolute king of programming", and by the New York Times as “the perfect accompanist”, he collaborates with many of the world's foremost singers, performing at venues and festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia. A passionate advocate for the power of song, Joseph is the Artistic Director of Leeds Song, praised by The Guardian for its "world-class" programming and by The Times as a "Northern powerhouse of song”. He also curates series for BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, and the University of Cambridge, where he founded and directs their Lieder Scheme. Joseph is Musician in Residence at Pembroke College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Professor of Ensemble Piano, and was made a Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge by Lord Chris Smith. Joseph is the first —and to date, only—accompanist to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award, the UK's most prestigious recognition for a classical musician. He has enjoyed fruitful partnerships alongside Sir Thomas Allen, Louise Alder, Mary Bevan, Ian Bostridge, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Marianne Crebassa, Veronique Gens, Iestyn Davies, Fatma Said, Huw Montague Rendall, Christiane Karg, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Elsa Dreisig, Angelika Kirchschlager, Katharina Konradi, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, John Mark Ainsley, Ann Murray DBE, James Newby, Mark Padmore, Konstantin Krimmel, Mauro Peter, Miah Persson, Sophie Rennert, Dorothea Röschmann, Carolyn Sampson, Nicky Spence and Roderick Williams. His award-winning discography on Warner, Harmonia Mundi, BIS, Chandos and Signum, amongst others, includes multiple honours: the Diapason d’Or, Edison Award, and Prix Caecilia, alongside nominations for Gramophone, Opus Klassik, BBC Music Magazine, and International Classical Music Awards. Committed to expanding the song repertoire, he has commissioned and premiered works by composers including Thomas Adès, Helen Grime, Mark - Anthony Turnage, Hannah Kendall, Errollyn Wallen, Mark Simpson and Nico Muhly.
