Artists
Following his First Prize triumph at the 2018 Queen-Elisabeth-Competition, Samuel Hasselhorn has quickly established himself internationally as a versatile artist who is equally at home in the genres of opera, Lied, and oratorio. He was a permanent member of the Vienna State Opera‘s ensemble for two years, where he interpreted the title role in Don Giovanni, Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore), Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos) or Schaunard (La Bohème). At the Staatstheater Nuremberg, he made his role debuts as Pelléas (Pelléas et Mélisande) and Ford (Falstaff). He is esteemed internationally as a lied recitalist, and regularly works with renowned pianists such as Helmut Deutsch, Malcolm Martineau, Ammiel Bushakevitz or Joseph Middleton. Recitals have taken him to the Hamburg State Opera, the Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart, the Theater an der Wien, the Schubertíada or the Wigmore Hall.
Born in Darmós, Tarragona, she entered the world of art with dance (classical and Spanish), piano, and choral singing. She graduated from the Liceu Conservatory of Barcelona with a degree in singing and interpretation and made her operatic debut in 2013 at the Rossini Opera Festival as Folleville (Il viaggio a Reims). After receiving recognition in numerous competitions, including the contest Tenor Viñas (2016), where she received eight awards, she has performed in numerous renowned theatres and festivals, including the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Teatro Real, the Teatro Regio, the Teatro Verdi, the Tchaikovsky Theater, the Teatro del Maggio, and the Salzburg Festival, singing the roles of Norina (Don Pasquale), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte) or Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos). She has also a significant concert activity, including symphonic repertoire, oratorio, song, and recital.
Simon Lepper read music at King’s College, Cambridge before studying piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music and later at the Fondation Royaumont. He is Assistant Head of Keyboard (collaborative piano) and a vocal repertoire coach at the Royal College of Music, London. Since 2003 he has been an official accompanist for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Performance highlights included an invitation from the Wigmore Hall to present a three concert project on the songs of Joseph Marx; recital tours with Stéphane Degout; performances of the Schubert song cycles with Gerald Finley and Mark Padmore, recitals with Christiane Karg or an all-Schubert programme with Ilker Arcayürek. Recent highlights include recitals with Masabane Cecilia Rangnawasha, a recital in Santa Fe and his Korean debut with Benjamin Appl as well the complete Messiaen songs with Gweneth-Ann Rand at the Aldeburgh Festival.
After graduating from elementary school in Jeju Island, Soohong Park went to Detmold Germany at the age of 12 and joined as Jungstudent at Hochschule für Musik Detmold. After completing both Bachelor and Masters degrees in 2016, he moved to London in order to study further at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. As Guildhall Artist, he has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and Barbican Hall in London, and has performed regularly with the orchestras in Germany and England. In 2018, he attended IMS Prussia Cove in the UK and in the following year, he was the finalist of Isang Yun International Music Competition in Tongyeong, South Korea. In 2020, he was the winner of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama's most prestigious Gold Medal Competition. He has two masters degrees in both chamber music and vocal accompaniment, and an Artist Diploma degree as a soloist.
He discovered his passion for chamber music and vocal accompaniment during his studies in Dresden at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, and focused on these genres since fleeing the former German Democratic Republic in 1989. From 1997, Vienna has been the musical home of the pianist. He was the artistic partner of Siegfried Jerusalem and has accompanied a host of renowned singers, including Diana Damrau, Edita Gruberová, Günther Groissböck, Robert Holl and Marlis Petersen. He has performed at many major concert venues, among them the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Musikverein Vienna, Semperoper Dresden, Philharmonie Berlin, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Carnegie Hall and La Scala Milan, and is a frequent guest at international festivals such as Klangbogen-Festival at Theater an der Wien, Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, Salzburg Festival and Münchner Opernfestspiele.