Project Category: Singer

Kezia Bienek

British-born and of Mauritian and Lithuanian heritage, Kezia Bienek moved to London from Gloucestershire at the ag of 16 to study musical theatre at the BRIT School. During that time, she was drawn to opera and went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She completed her studies at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School of the Royal College of Music in 2015. She is a Solti Te Kanawa Academia di Bel Canto alumna, and worked with many wonderful singers in various masterclasses during her training, notably Brigitte Fassbaender, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Richard Bonynge and Sir Thomas Allen.

Current and recent engagements include the title role in Carmen and Beppe in L’amico Fritz for Opera Holland Park, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Second Lady in The Magic Flute for Welsh National Opera and Silvia (The Messenger) in Orfeo at Opera North, as well as a return to Glyndebourne Festival in 2024.

In 2018, she made her Glyndebourne Festival debut as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare and later that year as Dorothée in Cendrillon (directed by Fiona Shaw) in her début for Glyndebourne on Tour. In 2019 she appeared as Second Lady in The Magic Flute for her debut with the Welsh National Opera, to which she soon returned to sing Forester’s Wife (and cover Fox) in The Cunning Little Vixen. Other opera engagements have included La Frugola in Il tabarro and Gianetta in Don Bucefalo for the Wexford Festival Opera; Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw for the Barnes Festival; Iside in Giove in Argo and Tauride in Arianna in Creta for the London Handel Festival; Concepcion in L’heure espagnole and Doralice in La gazzetta with the Royal College of Music; Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro with the British Youth Opera; and Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Glyndebourne Youth Opera.

This is her debut with Opera Rara.

André Henriques

Bass-baritone André Henriques has a degree in Voice from the School of Music at the Conservatório Nacional (Portugal) where he studied with António Wagner Diniz. Receiving a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he continued his studies in Opera Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where he studied with Donald Maxwell. Currently, he is a student of Lúcia Lemos.

Among the various projects in which he has featured, the highlight was the world premiere of Canção do Bandido by Nuno Côrte-Real and Pedro Mexia, directed by Ricardo Neves-Neves in a co-production between the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos and the Teatro da Trindade/Força de Produção, where he sang the role of Macaco. Other highlights include the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by Pedro Amaral; and the bass-baritone soloist in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, conducted by Leonardo Garcia Alarcón.

Recently, he sang the bass in Miguel Azguime’s A Laugh to Cry in O’culto da Ajuda conducted by Pedro Neves; Bellini Belcanto in The Ring of the Unicorn, in a production by the Teatro do Eléctrico; Don Parmenione in L’occasione fa il ladro by Rossini at the Sintra Music Festival; and Don Alvaro in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims at the Centro Cultural de Belém.

This is his debut with Opera Rara.

Lluís Calvet i Pey

Lluís Calvet i Pey began his studies at the Conservatori Professional de Sabadell with singing teacher Elisenda Cabero. In 2017 he was awarded the Young Promise scholarship by the Fundació de Música Ferrer-Salat to study at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu with singing teacher Maria Dolors Aldea, vocal coach Marta Pujol and chamber music teacher Alan Branch.

In 2019, he participated in projects with the MA Opera course at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu, playing the role of Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, under the stage direction of Paco Azorín. In September 2020, he moved to Cardiff, Wales, to begin his final year of undergraduate studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMC) and remained for studies at the Royal Welsh College’s David Seligman Opera School, with singing teacher Adrian Thompson and vocal coach Nicola Rose. Lluís Calvet i Pey was awarded a scholarship to complete his MA in Advanced Opera at the RWCMD by the Clive Richards Foundation and the John & John Foundation.

Recently he was awarded the Eva Kleinitz Scholarship and has been offered a place in the International Opera Studio at Staatstheater Hannover. In summer 2023, he took part in L’Academia Rossiniana di Pesaro playing the role of Lord Sidney in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims.

This is his debut with Opera Rara.

Sergey Romanovsky

Russian tenor Sergey Romanovsky has quickly established himself as one of the most interesting voices of his generation. He studied at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory and the Academy of Choral Arts in Moscow and is the winner of numerous competitions, including the 2005 International Bella Voce Competition in Moscow.

Recent roles have included Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Raoul in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots at Semperoper Dresden and the title role in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux. Romanovsky has performed at opera houses around the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Alfredo in La traviata); Teatro alla Scala (Libenskof in Il viaggio a Reims); Opernhaus Zürich (Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles); Bregenzer Festspiele (Duca in Rigoletto); Dutch National Opera (Rodolfo in La bohème); the Rossini Opera Festival (Leicester in Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, Néoclès in Le siège de Corinthe, and Agorante in Ricciardo e Zoraide); and Wexford Festival Opera (Giasone in Medea) to name a few.

Recent concert engagements include Verdi’s Requiem (his debuts with Vlaanderen Opera and the Berliner Philharmoniker); Mascagni’s Messa di Gloria (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam); and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle (Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia).

Romanovsky has collaborated with conductors including Lorin Maazel, Evelino Pidò, Leo Hussain, Alberto Zedda, Christophe Rousset, Michele Mariotti, Daniele Callegari, Antonio Fogliani, Yuri Bashmet, Ottavio Dantone and stage directors Robert Carsen, Denis Krief, Stefano Mazzonis Di Pralafera and Luca Ronconi.

Nicola Alaimo

Winner of the 2016 Premio Abbiati prize, Alaimo performs regularly in prestigious theatres and festival around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala in Milan, Salzburg Festival, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Deutsche Oper in Berlin and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. The great success of his interpretation of the title role in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell has seen acclaimed performances in opera houses worldwide.

Recent engagements include: La Cenerentola, Il Turco in Italia and a Rossini Gala with Cecilia Bartoli directed by Gianluca Capuano; Simon Boccanegra (title role) in Antwerp; Adriana Lecouvreur in Palermo; La forza del destino at the Metropolitan Opera; La bohème in Bologna; Il trovatore in Monte Carlo; Falstaff in Budapest; La cena delle beffe, Le comte Ory and Il pirata at La Scala; and Messa di Gloria by Puccini in Madrid. He has collaborated with conductors including Maurizio Benini, Bruno Campanella, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Daniele Gatti, James Levine, Michele Mariotti, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Evelino Pidò and Jean-Christophe Spinosi.

Future engagements include Falstaff in Venice and Tokyo; La forza del destino in Paris; Il barbiere di Siviglia in Monte Carlo; L’Italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola in Zürich; Nabucco and Roberto Devereux in Geneva; Simon Boccanegra in Florence; I due Foscari in Chicago; La Cenerentola and Adriana Lecouvreur in Toulouse and Guillaume Tell in Liège.

Toby Spence

An honours graduate and choral scholar from New College, Oxford, Toby Spence studied at the Opera School of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

In concert, Toby has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra under von Dohnanyi, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic under Rattle, the San Francisco Symphony under Tilson Thomas, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Pappano, the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Gergiev, the London Symphony Orchestra under Davis, the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Nezet-Seguin, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Dudamel, and at the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals under Norrington and Mackerras. Toby sang an acclaimed Madwoman in Britten’s “Curlew River” for the Edinburgh Festival, where he has also appeared in recital. Other recitals include the LSO St Lukes, Opera de Lille and the Wigmore Hall, and he has made numerous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, BMG, Philips, Opera Rara, Collins, Linn Records, Hyperion and EMI.

For the English National Opera, Toby has sung Fenton, Ferrando, Tamino, Candide, Paris (“La Belle Hélène”) and Faust, and for the Royal Opera, Kudryash, Simpleton (“Boris Godunov”), Ferdinand (“The Tempest”), Count Almaviva, Ramiro and Tom Rakewell. He has also sung with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Paris Opera, the Monnaie, Brussels, the Netherlands Opera, the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Santa Fe Festival, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera.

Pietro Spagnoli

Rome-born baritone Pietro Spagnoli made his debut in 1987 at the Teatro Comunale in Pergolesi’s Livietta e Tracolla, Florence. Since then he has performed widely in Italy and beyond, including Milan, Rome, Berlin and New York, with festival appearances in Salzburg and Pesaro. His repertoire includes roles such as Dandini in La Cenerentola, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and Leporello in Don Giovanni. Besides recording work for the Erato, Naxos and Harmonia Mundi labels, he sang the role of Filidoro in Donizetti’s La romanzesca e l’uomo nero, Elvida and Francesca di Foix for Opera Rara.

Victoria Simmonds

Victoria Simmonds studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. From 2000-2005 she was a company principal at ENO singing roles including Nancy T’ang/Nixon in China, Cherubino/Figaro, Zaida/The Turk in Italy, Pitti-Sing/The Mikado, Ascanius/The Trojans, Rosina/The Barber of Seville, Dorabella/Così fan tutte, Hermia/A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Zerlina/Don Giovanni. For Opera North she created the title role in Jonathan Dove’s highly acclaimed The Adventures of Pinocchio. She has also sung for Grange Park Opera, Garsington Opera, Opera Holland Park and the Buxton Festival and sang the title role of Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall. Abroad she has sung with the Netherlands Opera, Stuttgart and Halle Opera companies and Wellgunde/Das Rheingold with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle at the Aix Festival. In concert, she has sung in Le Comte Ory and the title role of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Concertgebouw, and has worked with the Philharmonia, the Hallé, the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals and for the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis at the BBC Proms. Recordings include Bellini’s Il pirata for Opera Rara, Janacek’s Katya Kabanova (Varvara) for Chandos and Cefisa in Ermione by Rossini for Opera Rara.

Enkelejda Shkosa

Born in Tirana, Albania, in 1969, mezzo-soprano Enkelejda Shkosa made her debut in Strasbourg in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. She went on to study in Milan and won the Leyla Gencer international vocal competition in Istanbul in 1996. She has sung in all the major Italian opera houses and in Il viaggio a Reims at the Pesaro festival. Further afield, she sang in Jonathan Miller’s revived Royal Opera production of Cosi fan tutte in 1998, Verdi’s Otello under Sir Colin Davis in 1999, and was Angelina in La Cenerentola at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels in 2000. She can be heard in the role of Emilia on Opera Rara’s recording of Rossini’s Otello and on La Potenza d’Amore.

Brindley Sherratt

Born in Lancashire, bass Brindley Sherratt studied at the Royal Academy of Music, of which he is now a Fellow and Visiting Professor At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden his roles have included Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Sparafucile (Rigoletto) and Ramfis (Aida) and in Salzburg he has sung Balducci (Benvenuto Cellini) with Gergiev, Hobson (Peter Grimes) with Rattle and Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro) on tour to Japan. At the Glyndebourne Festival he has appeared as Rocco (Fidelio), Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni) and Superintendent Budd (Albert Herring). A favourite at the English National Opera, his many roles there have included Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Pimen (Boris Godunov) and Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra). Other operatic engagements have included Sarastro at the Hamburg State Opera; Sarastro and Banco (Macbeth) for the Opéra de Bordeaux; Pimen for the Opéra de Nice; Rocco in Seville; Il Commendatore and Claudio (Agrippina) in Santa Fe; Pogner (Die Meistersinger von Nürnburg) for the Welsh National Opera and Fasolt (Das Rheingold) and Filippo (Don Carlo) for Opera North. In demand on the concert platform he has appeared at the Bregenz, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg and Three Choirs Festivals and at the BBC Proms. Brindley has appeared on a number of Opera Rara recordings, including Bellini’s Il pirata, Donizetti’s Imelda de’ Lambertazzi and Maria di Rohan, Meyerbeer’s L’Esule di Granata and from the Il Salotto series La Partenza and Rossini Songs.