Anna Stéphany
Anglo-French mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany made her Royal Opera debut in the 2016/17 Season as Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier).

Stéphany was born in north-east England and studied at King’s College London and the National Opera Studio. She joined the ensemble of Zürich Opera House in 2012, with her roles for the company including Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) and Siébel (Faust). Further roles include Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) for Théâtre du Châtelet, Annio (La clemenza di Tito) for Bavarian State Opera, the title role in Charpentier’s Médée for Chicago Opera Theatre and Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) for the Bolshoi Theatre and Royal Swedish Opera.

In concert, Stéphany has performed with such ensembles as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia Orchestra, Ensemble Pygmalion, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble and La Scintilla, with conductors including William Christie, Laurence Cummings, Thomas Hengelbrock, Jakub Hrůša and Raphaël Pichon. Further performances include at the 2016 BBC Proms with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Gabrieli Concert in Schaffhausen and Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra. Her recordings include the title role of Handel’s Serse with Christian Curnyn and Early Opera Company, nominated for a Gramophone Classical Music Award.

Christian Curnyn
is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading conductors specialising in the Baroque and Classical repertoire. In 1994, Christian founded the Early Opera Company, with whom he set out to reinvigorate the Baroque repertoire. Christian and the EOC appear regularly at Wigmore Hall and St John’s Smith Square for the London Festival of Baroque Music. They have also performed at the BBC Proms as well as at the Cheltenham, Spitalfields, York Early Music and Kilkenny Arts Festivals. The EOC made their debut at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw with a double bill of Dido and Aeneas and Blow’s Venus and Adonis in 2018.

Highly regarded for his energetic conducting and creative vision, Christian has conducted Handel’s Saul and Giulio Cesare for Opera North, Die Zauberflöte and Handel’s Amadigi for Garsington Opera, Handel’s Semele for Scottish Opera and Grange Park Opera, for whom he has also conducted Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and Cavalli’s Eliogabalo. He is a regular at English National Opera where successes have included Olivier Award-winning productions of Handel’s Partenope and Rameau’s Castor et Pollux (dir. Barrie Kosky), After Dido (Katie Mitchell’s realisation of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Charpentier’s Medée, and Handel's Rodelinda. For The Royal Opera, Covent Garden he has conducted Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse at The Roundhouse, Cavalli's L'Ormindo to inaugurate their series at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s The Globe, where he returned for Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo, which was nominated for an Olivier Award. Most recently he conducted Apollo e Dafne and a concert production of Handel’s Ariodante at the Royal Opera House.

Christian’s work in Europe and beyond includes Partenope with Opera Australia, Vivaldi’s Farnace and Handel’s Ariodante for Landestheater Salzburg, Cavalli’s La Calisto and Gluck’s Ezio for Frankfurt Opera, Castor et Pollux and Zoroastre by Rameau at Komische Oper Berlin, Rameau’s Platée, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Handel’s Alcina at Stuttgart Opera, Mozart Idomeneo for Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos and Le nozze di Figaro at Theater Basel. In the USA Christian has conducted Partenope and Cosi fan Tutte for New York City Opera, Handel's Tolomeo for Glimmerglass Opera, and Cavalli's Giasone and Charpentier’s Medée for Chicago Opera Theater.

Specialist early music ensembles among Christian’s regular collaborators include Academy of Ancient Music, AKAMUS, English Concert, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Irish and Wroclaw Baroque orchestras. Alongside this work he takes a particular interest in performing Baroque and Classical repertoire with modern forces, including collaborations with Bournemouth Symphony, Ulster, Hallé, Scottish Chamber Orchestra (including a recording on the Decca label with Nicola Benedetti), Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Ensemble Resonanz and Essen Philharmoniker. He has also conducted a Messiah tour in Australia with the Tasmanian, West Australian and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include concerts with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchester, BBC NOW, and Komische Oper Berlin, Acis and Galatea with his Early Opera Company for the Buxton Festival, a new production of Handel’s Orlando for Oper Halle which will also celebrate the 100th year of the Halle Festival, Semele with AKAMUS and Opera Collective Ireland and a return to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for a new production of Handel’s Alcina. With the Early Opera Company he will conduct concerts at the Wigmore Hall, Bruges and Amsterdam Concertgebouw and St John Smith Square as well as releasing their recording of Handel’s Amadigi on Chandos Records. His extensive discography with the Early Opera Company for the Chandos label includes their 2005 recording of Partenope which won widespread critical acclaim, and their recording of Semele was chosen as a Best Recording of 2008 by The Sunday Times, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine and awarded the 2008 Stanley Sadie Handel Prize. Further releases include Il Trionfo del Tempo for Wigmore Live, Eccles’ The Judgement of Paris, (awarded a Diapason D’or), Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera, Handel’s Flavio, Alceste (winner of the Opera award in the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2013), Serse, and most recently Acis & Galetea (winner of the Opera category of the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards).