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 TheCunning 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.
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.
Lluís Calvet i Pey was a finalist and winner of numerous prizes in the 2024 Concurs de Cant Tenor Viñas, including the Placido Domingo Prize, the Zarzuela Prize, and the Audience Prize. He was also one of the finalists in the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition 2023 and won second prize at the Concours de Cant les Corts de Barcelona in 2020.
The Catalan baritone studied singing at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona with Maria Dolors Aldea and at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama with Adrian Thompson.
He gained his first stage experience in university productions at both institutions and in the Festival Internacional de Teatro clásico de Mérida with Paco Azorín. He also received the Eva Kleinitz scholarship from Opera Europa in 2022.
In the summer of 2023, he took part in L’Academia Rossiniana di Pesaro playing the role of Lord Sidney in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims.
From 2022 to 2024 he was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Hanover State Opera, where he played roles such as William in The Fall of the House of Usher, Sciarrone in Tosca, Ruggiero in La Juive, Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and Ping in Turandot. During this time he also appeared as a guest at the Ruhrtriennale Festival as the little prisoner in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead and at the Stuttgart State Opera as Chou En Lai in Adam’s Nixon in China.
In the 2024-25 season, he joins Staatsoper Hannover Ensemble where his roles will include Silvio in Pagliacci, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Mr. Kallenbach in Satyagraha, Schaunard in La bohème and all men roles in Maria de Buenos Aires.
He debuted with Opera Rara, recording Publio from L’Esule di Roma by Donizetti and conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
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.
