HSBC Laureates

2011 promotion

Andreea Soare

Soprano

From the age of 7 Andreea Soare studies the violin, the piano, the guitar and, later, also singing. Very soon, she arrives first in numerous music competitions. As a singer of popular Romanian songs, she performs several shows and takes part in television and radio broadcasts in Romania, France, England, Switzerland, Belgium and Russia. In 2004, she wins First Prize at the International Festival of French Song, “Chants, sons sur scène”, at Baia Mare, and represents her country at the Francofolies in La Rochelle. In September 2004, she enters the class of Marie-Madeleine Koebelé at the Strasbourg conservatoire and takes part in numerous events, including the gala evening of the Tour de France in 2006, the concert celebrating the entry of Romania into the European Union (concert at the Council of Europe) and the award ceremony of the Prix Goncourt. Furthermore, she participates in a touring project of the Théâtre National Le Maillon in Strasbourg. Parallel to her studies at the conservatoire, she obtains in 2008 a bachelors degree in musicology from the University Marc Bloch in Strasbourg. The same year, Andreea Soare is admitted at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique in Paris (CNSMP), where she enters the singing class of Isabelle Guillaud. She also receives tuition by Susan Manoff, Olivier Reboul, Vincent Vittoz, Claude Lavoix, Anne Le Bozec, Kenneth Weiss and many more. In 2010 and 2011, she performs as a soloist under the baton of Marc Minkowski, Patrick Cohen-Akénine, Mélanie Thiébaud, Nicolas Chalvin, Catherine Simonpietri and Philippe Cambreling. In 2011, she wins the Clermont-Ferrand international singing competition and is awarded the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The same year, she sings the roles of First Lady and First Boy in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, in a production by Emmanuelle Cordoliani, and is selected to participate in the Académie Européenne de Musique of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. During her stay at the Mozart/Haendel Academy in Aix-en-Provence she sings arias and opera scenes by Mozart (Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Elettra in Idomeneo, First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro) and Haendel (title role in Alcina). She receives the award of the Friends of the Festival d’Aix. At the end of September 2011, she is finalist in the competition of the Centre français de promotion lyrique, held at the Opéra Bastille. In October 2011, she enters the young artists programme (Atelier Lyrique) of the Opéra national de Paris.

Léa Trommenschlager

Soprano

Born in France in 1986, Léa Trommenschlager receives a comprehensive musical education from an early age and discovers her passion for opera when participating in a production of Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel at the Opéra National du Rhin in 2000. In 2005, she enters the Strasbourg Conservatoire, where she receives tuition from Professor Henrik Siffert. She also follows courses in jazz singing with Claudia Solal, and in chamber music and interpretation with Armand Angster and Denis Dercourt. During her studies, she takes part in numerous projects, be it in a duo, in chamber music or with an orchestra. In 2010, she performs a recital with pianist Erika Hashimoto at the Alger National Opera (Algeria) within the framework of the Alger International Festival of Symphonic Music. Equally passionate about early music, she joins the baroque ensemble Plurium for a tour through the south of France during the summer of 2010. After perfecting her skills for two years with soprano Françoise Kubler, who also initiates her to the modern and contemporary repertoires, and after obtaining her Strasbourg diploma with honours, she is received at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin in 2010, where she pursues her studies under Norma Sharp. She also continues to benefit from tuition by Jacques Chuilon in Paris and receives advice from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Christine Schäfer. Among her many recitals, one may particularly highlight her appearances at the Konzerthaus Berlin, both for an evening dedicated to Italian Opera and for a recital of Bach Cantatas under the baton of Raphael Alpermann.  In summer 2011, she takes part in the Académie européenne de musique of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Future plans include the Countess in Schubert’s opera Die Verschworenen (transl. The Conspirators) at the HAU-Theater in Berlin in October 2011.

Rupert Charlesworth

Tenor

Rupert currently attends the opera school of the Royal Academy of Music under the tuition of Philip Doghan and Iain Ledingham. He receives support from the Josephine Baker Trust and Mr and Mrs Sommerville. So far in his career he has performed with such noted musicians as Laurence Cummings, Graham Johnson and Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, in such prestigious venues as St John’s Smith Square and the Wigmore Hall. Rupert’s previous operatic engagements include Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement (Prince Philippe) for Kings College Opera, The Poison Garden (Narrator) by Heudieres & Evans for Grimeborn, Gianni Schicchi (Gherardo) by Puccini, La Vera Costanza (Count Enrico) de Haydn, Manon (Le Chevalier des Grieux) de Massenet and Handel’s Aics and Galatea (Damon) for the Festival d’Aix en Provence and the Teatro Malibran in Venice. His recordings include The Sealed Angel (Delphian), and Rogier: Missa Ego Sum Qui Sum (Hyperion). Rupert is also in demand as oratorio soloist, regularly performing works including the Requiem Mass and Mass in C minor (Mozart), St Matthew and St John Passions (J.S.Bach), The Messiah (Handel), Vespers della Beata Virgine (Monteverdi) and Dies Natalis (Finzi). He is also a soloist for the Royal Academy, Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata series. Future engagements include performing the role of Tamino in the RAO production of Die Zauberföte and a Handel Messiah with Laurence Cummings in December 2012.

Damien Pass

Bass-baritone

Native from Australia, Damien Pass holds a Masters Degree in music from the Yale School of Music. During his studies he receives the Marten Bequest Travelling Grant, the Mary Patricia Bell Grant and, from 2002 to 2004, the Arden J. Yockey Grant. From 2006 to 2007, he takes part in the Gerdine Young Artists’ Program of the Opera Theater of Saint Louis and participates in the Music Academy of the West, where he receives tuition by Marilyn Horne. During this period, he performs numerous roles at the Teatro Colón, the Glimmerglass Opera, the Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Opera North, Opera Commonwealth in Massachusetts, Yale Opera as well as at Oberlin Opera. In 2008, he wins the auditions at the Metropolitan National Council of Saint-Louis, as well as the CCM Opera Competition, the Dayton Opera Competition and the Sony Music Australia Talent Award. He arrives first at the Connecticut Opera Competition and second at the Marilyn Horne Song Competition. In 2009/2010, he enters the Atelier Lyrique of the Opéra national de Paris, where makes his debut as Flemish Deputy in Verdi’s Don Carlos. He performs the roles of Lucas (Les Troqueurs by Antoine Dauvergne) and Marquis (Mirandolina by Martinů) at the MC93 in Bobigny at gives opera and Lieder recitals at the Palais Garnier, the Villa Medicis in Rome and the Amphitheatre of the Bastille Opera in Paris. During the 2010/2011 season, he returns to the Opéra national de Paris, where he sings the role of Frank Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street scene. He portrays Don Inigo in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole at the Maison de la musique in Nanterre and the Imperial Theatre in Compiegne. In October 2011, he takes part in the soloists’ concert of the Atelier Lyrique at the Auditorium du Louvre, where he performs Four popular American songs by Aaron Copland. In the summer of 2011, he participates in the residency “Contemporary Music” organized by the Académie européenne de musique of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. In October 2011, he returns to the Atelier Lyrique of the Opéra national de Paris, where he takes up the roles of Second Nazarene in Strauss’s Salome and the Journalist in Berg’s Lulu.

Michalis Boliakis

Pianist

Born in Athens in 1986, Michalis Boliakis studies the piano from 2011 to 2004 at the National Conservatoire of Athens under the tuition of Elena Mouzalas, who holds a First Prize of the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris (CNSMP). During his studies, he also improves his knowledge of harmony, counterpoint and fugue, following the composition class by Alkis Papadopoulos. In 2005, he moves to Paris, where he works first with Chantal Riou, before collaborating for four years with Bruno Rigutto at the CNSMP. During this time he discovers his passion for opera accompaniment, which leads him to join the vocal coaching classes by Angéline Pondepeyre and Erika Guiomar at the CNSMP. In 2007, he receives the excellence award at the Athens Conservatoire’s national competition, the academic bursary of the Leventis Foundation and the academic bursary awarded by the Greek state to a young pianist, selected nationally. He gives numerous concerts in Paris and the Paris region, in Tours, Rouen, but also in Athens and Rome. In July 2010, he is invited to the Festival de Nohant, dedicated to Chopin’s music, and takes part in the masterclass by Yves Henry, where he performs a recital. In December 2010, he interprets the First Piano Concerto by Brahms with the Orchestra of the RATP (transl. Independent Parisian Transport Authority) under the baton of Martin Lebel, a piece he reprises in April 2011 with the Athens National Orchestra at the Megaron. In June 2011, he is invited to perform at the Open Piano Day of the 28th Chopin Festival in Paris. As a vocal coach and repetitor, he takes part in two Mozart productions staged at the CNSMP: Le Nozze di Figaro in 2010, conducted by Kenneth Weiss, and in The Magic Flute in 2011, under the baton of Yann Molénat. In January 2011, he plays the piano part in Ô mon bel inconnu by Reynaldo Hahn at the Opéra Comique, with Emmanuel Olivier in the pit.

Quatuor Girard

The Quatuor Girard is composed of four brothers and sisters from Avignon, born into a very musical family. The idea to form the Quatuor Girard and to fully dedicate themselves to the repertoire for string quartets, comes up during their studies at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris. In 2008, the ensemble enters the final course for string quartets at the Conservatoire, under the tuition of François Salque. In 2010, the four young musicians enter the class of the Quatuor Ysaÿe at the Conservatoire de Région de Paris. Thanks to the support of the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), led by Hatto Beyerle, founder of the Alban Berg String Quartet, the Quatuor Girard benefits from the advice of Peter Cropper, Marc Coppey, Jean-François Heisser, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Johannes Meissl and Christophe Richter. In September 2010, it is awarded the Académie Ravel Award of the town Saint-Jean-de-Luz. In June 2010, the string quartet is invited to take part in the Musical Forum of the Normandie and, in September 2010, the Musical Academy of Villecroze. The Quatuor Girard performs in France and abroad: in Paris at the Opéra Comique, at the Salle Pleyel and the Grand Salon des Invalides, at the music Festival of Albret in Nérac, at the Moments Musicaux in Gerberoy, at the Festival of La-Chaise-Dieu, at the Festival du Val d’Aulnay, but also in Switzerland, Austria and England. The Quatuor Girard is supported by the Association Hélène Berr and in December 2011, receives a grant from the Musical Academy of Villecroze. Since February 2011, Hugues Girard plays on a Nicolo Gagliano violin of 1735, lent by the Zilber Foundation.