Arie Van Lysebeth was the President of the Jury of the Queen Elisabeth Competition from 1996 to 2018. He took up the violin at the age of four. He completed his higher education at the Brussels Conservatory in music theory, bassoon, chamber music, and orchestral conducting. Following a competition, he was appointed bassoon soloist of the Belgian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, he came joint first in the Prague International Bassoon Contest. He also studied conducting under Bruno Maderna in Salzburg and under Pierre Boulez in Switzerland. Starting in 1970, he conducted the Flemish Chamber Orchestra, both in Belgium and abroad. As a guest conductor, he has appeared with the major Belgian orchestras as well as with symphony orchestras in the United States of America, Argentina, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany. He has performed with many famous soloists, including Igor Oistrakh, José Van Dam, Murray Perahia, and Augustin Dumay. From 1995 to 2004 he was the regular conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Brussels Conservatory, where he taught chamber music for many years (1970-1994) and served as director (1994-2003). From 2004 to 2014, he was the artistic director of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.

The soprano June Anderson graduated with honours from Yale University in French Literature. She began her career in 1978 with the New York City Opera as the Queen of the Night and then began her European career in Rome with Rossini’s Semiramide. She soon made her debuts at the Paris Opera (Robert le Diable), Covent Garden (Semiramide), La Scala Milan (La Sonnambula), and the Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto). Her Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, and Norma in particular were hailed in all the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America. She has collaborated with many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti, and Kazushi Ono. In recent years she has expanded her repertoire to include many 20th-century and contemporary works, such as operas by Richard Strauss, Francis Poulenc, Hans Werner Henze, and John Adams. Her extensive discography encompasses a wide variety of music from Albinoni and Pergolesi to Beethoven, Wagner, and Orff, as well as many operas by Verdi and Rossini and lesser-known French operas. She received a Grammy Award for her recording of Candide, conducted by its composer, Leonard Bernstein. In France she has been made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.

Born in Marseilles, Renée Auphan began her career there as an assistant director at the city’s opera house. Employed later by the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, she took on its entire management for five years. At the same time, she also studied singing and music; she made her operatic debut at the Opéra Comique and appeared soon after in the Monte Carlo and Marseilles opera houses. She went on to perform as a soloist at the Opéra de Paris, including during the period when Rolf Liebermann was its director. After retiring from her singing career in 1983, she was appointed to head what was known at the time as the Festival de Lausanne, which she transformed into a season of opera and ballet. This led to the establishment of the Opéra de Lausanne, of which she was director from 1984 to 1995. In 1993, she was awarded French-speaking Switzerland’s Prix des Belles-Lettres for her book Mezza voce. Between 1995 and 2001, Renée Auphan ran the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, before being appointed in 2009 to head the Opéra de Marseille, where she has directed a number of productions, including Massenet’s Manon, Sauguet’s La Chartreuse de Parme, Jean-Michel Damase’s L’Héritière, and Tomasi’s Sampiero Corso, as well as reviving Lausanne and Tours production of Honegger and Ibert’s L’Aiglon; this year, she will also revive La Traviata. She is an Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and an Officier de l’Ordre du Mérite.

In the course of a successful career that has spanned 25 years so far, Maria Bayo has built up an international reputation and has performed with some of the world’s most renowned conductors and directors. Although her voice has led to a preference for the works of Mozart, Rossini, and the French school, her repertoire includes more than 80 roles, from the operas of the 17th and 18th centuries (such as those of Cavalli, Graun, Nebra, Haendel, and Gluck) to 20th-century works by Debussy, de Falla, Stravinsky, Poulenc, and others. Her extensive discography also bears witness to her interest in - and her efforts to revive - unfamiliar operas and forgotten zarzuelas. In lieder and oratorio, she has appeared to acclaim at Lincoln Center (New York), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Wigmore Hall (London), the Musikverein (Vienna), and other celebrated venues in Paris, Rome, Brussels, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Salzburg, Warsaw, Moscow, Tokyo, and elsewhere. She has received numerous awards, including the Premio Nacional de Música in 2009 for her role in championing and promoting Spanish music. She was recently awarded the Traetta Prize in recognition of her efforts to rediscover the European roots of the music of the 18th century.

In an international career that has spanned 50 years, Teresa Berganza has travelled the world, performing in its leading opera houses and concert halls, including the Paris Opera, La Scala in Milan, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan in New York, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Rome Opera, and others in Vienna, Hamburg, Stockholm, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, etc. ; she has performed under celebrated 20th-century conductors such as C.M. Giulini, H. von Karajan, G. Solti, Z. Mehta, C. Abbado, D. Barenboim, and R. Muti. Her stage presence and interpretive ability have been repeatedly acclaimed and have led to her being sought after by directors such as F. Zeffirelli, J.P. Ponnelle, G. Strehler, and P. Faggioni. Her roles have included Cherubino, Zerlina, Dorabella, Rosina, Angelina, Isabella, La Périchole, Charlotte, and Carmen. Her vast repertoire ranges from the masters of the Italian Baroque to the composers of the 20th century, with a predilection for Spanish music. In parallel with her career as a soloist, she has given numerous master classes in major Spanish and international centres, including Madrid, Santander, Paris, St Petersburg, and Rome. The recipient of a hundred different distinctions, Teresa Berganza attaches particular importance to her election as the first female member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.

After studying at the University of Music in Bucharest, Marius Brenciu made his debut as Don Ottavio (in Don Giovanni) in 1997. He has taken part in numerous competitions and has won many prizes, including 2nd Prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2000 and the Singer of the World prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 2001. He has worked under distinguished conductors such as C. Abbado, L. Maazel, Z. Mehta, V. Gergiev, K. Petrenko, M. Jansons and S. Ozawa. He has appeared with great orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the NDR Sinfonieorchester, the BBC Philharmonic, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. He has sung in La Bohème in Hamburg, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, and Brussels ; in La Rondine at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and in Paris and Toulouse ; in Simon Boccanegra in Hamburg ; in La Traviata in Berlin, Rome, Brussels, San Diego, and Montpellier ; in Eugene Onegin in Vienna, Tokyo, Geneva, Zurich, and Munich ; and in L’Elisir d’amore in Berlin and Tel Aviv. He has worked with stage directors such as F. Zeffirelli, P. Stein, N. Joel, K. and U. Hermann, and A. Homoki. He has recorded for EMI, the BBC, the SWR, NHK, and Radio France. He lived in Brussels for a number of years and has become a Belgian citizen.

Interweaving roles as pianist and Sony Award-winning broadcaster with equal aplomb, Iain Burnside is also a master programmer with an instinct for the telling juxtaposition. He has performed in recital with many of the world’s leading singers. His discography of over 50 recordings straddles an exuberantly eclectic repertoire ranging from Beethoven and Schubert to Schoenberg, Copland and beyond, with a special place reserved for the highways and byways of English Song, as acclaimed performances of Britten, Finzi, Ireland, Butterworth, Parry and Vaughan Williams have proved. In 2014, Delphian released Burnside’s complete Rachmaninov songs with seven outstanding Russian artists. For Guildhall School of Music and Drama Burnside has written and devised a number of highly individual theatre pieces. His play A Soldier and a Maker was performed at the Barbican Centre and the Cheltenham Festival, and broadcast on Radio3 as part of the BBC’s World War One season. In demand as a teacher and animateur, Burnside also works at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the National Opera Studio. He is International Visiting Artist at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin.

Peter de Caluwe studied literature and the history of the theatre at the Universities of Ghent, Brussels, and Antwerp. In 1986, Gerard Mortier invited him to join him at La Monnaie, where he worked as a dramatic adviser and was also in charge of contacts with the press, public relations, and projects for young people. In 1989, Pierre Audi and Truze Lodder asked him to join their team in Amsterdam. In 1994, he was appointed director of casting, and later artistic director. Since 2007, he has been general and artistic director of La Monnaie ; a third term in this position will prolong his stay with the company until 2025. In October 2011, under his management, La Monnaie/De Munt was named Opera House of the Year by the German specialist magazine Opernwelt. In November 2011, Radio Klara and Muziekcentrum Vlaanderen named him Musical Personality of the Year. He was the first person to be awarded an honorary master’s by the Brussels Ecole supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc. From 2011 to 2013, he was President of Opera Europa. In 2013, the Vlaamse Vereniging voor Bestuur en Beleid chose him as Manager of the Year.

Marc Clémeur studied theatre studies and musicology in Cologne, before going on to work as a stage direction assistant to Götz Friedrich in Amsterdam, Bayreuth, and Düsseldorf. He became a producer of classical music for Belgian radio and television in 1977. In 1984, he was appointed director of the Vlaams Filharmonisch Orkest ; and in 1989, director general of the Vlaamse Opera, which, under his management, built up an international reputation. In 2009, he became general director of the Opéra National du Rhin, where he oversaw an original project, with a particular focus on contemporary composers. He devoted a cycle to Janáèek, which was directed by Robert Carsen, and also staged rarely seen French works. Under his leadership, the Opéra Studio has trained a number of singers who today are invited on stages worldwide. After a long career in the musical world, Marc Clémeur is now frequently asked to be an artistic adviser to opera houses and competitions and is often invited to serve as a member of the jury of prestigious international competitions. He is the director of Génération Opéra in Paris, which notably organises the Voix Nouvelles competition, and artistic adviser to the Opera Pienza competition.

Helmut Deutsch is one of the world’s most sought-after and most renowned lieder accompanists. He was born in Vienna, where he studied at the Konservatorium, the Music Academy, and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst. He was awarded the Vienna Composition Prize in 1965 and became a professor at the age of 24. Although he is a distinguished chamber musician, playing with eminent instrumentalists, he has concentrated primarily on lieder accompaniment. When he began his career, he first accompanied the soprano Irmgard Seefried, before going on to partner Hermann Prey for twelve years. He went on to play in the most prestigious venues, working with renowned singers such as Jonas Kaufmann, Diana Damrau, Piotr Beczala, Camilla Nylund, Michael Volle and Mauro Peter. Helmut Deutsch has recorded more than 100 CDs. In recent years, he has been particularly keen to develop young talent : after a period as a professor in Vienna, he has continued to teach, mainly at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, where he was professor of lieder interpretation for 28 years. He is also a guest teacher in a number of other schools and gives numerous masterclasses in Europe and in the Far East.

Serge Dorny studied music at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent and history of art, archaeology, musicology, and communication sciences at Ghent University. In 1983, he joined the La Monnaie opera house as a musical dramaturge, under Gerard Mortier, before joining the Festival of Flanders, of which he became the artistic director in 1989. He was later appointed general director and artistic director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He was the general director of the Opéra de Lyon from 2003 to 2021, and began his tenure as general director of the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2021. He is a member of the board of directors of the Bayerische Rundfunk and of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and serves on the juries of several international competitions. Serge Dorny was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Université de Montréal, and is also a Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur, a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and an Officier de l’Ordre de la Couronne de Belgique. His published works include L’avenir d’un passé (with Johann Thieleman) and Penser l’opéra à présent.

Thanks to a grant from the British Council and the Fondation de la Vocation, Sophie Karthäuser went on to further training with Noëlle Barker at the Guildhall School in London. She has been invited to perform with prestigious ensembles such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Les Arts Florissants, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Les Talens Lyriques, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, and the Belgian National Orchestra. Sophie Karthäuser had played numerous parts in Mozart productions at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Opéra de Lyon, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Theater an der Wien, and the Opéra National du Rhin. Her discography, often acclaimed in the musical press, includes arias by Mozart with Kazushi Ono and the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, La Finta Giardiniera (with René Jacobs), and songs by Poulenc, Wolf, and Debussy. She is one of the guest teachers of Udo Reinemann’s international masterclasses and has also served on the jury of the Concours International Nadia and Lili Boulanger in Paris.

Considered one of the best opera tenors of today, Christoph Prégardien regularly performs with world-class orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Vienna Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. His vast discography, often praised by critics, includes collaborations with numerous famous artists such as Andreas Staier, Michael Gees, Julia Kleiter, Julius Drake, Christoph Schnackertz, and his son Julian Prégardien. His experience singing the Evangelist parts and his close relationship with conductors such as Nagano, Chailly, Herreweghe, Harnoncourt, Luisi, and Gardiner laid the perfect foundations for his passion for conducting works by Bach, which he has immersed himself in since 2012 in partnership with Le Concert Lorrain, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Balthasar Neumann Choir, the Dresdner Kammerchor, Collegium Vocale Gent, the RIAS Kammerchor, and others. Christoph Prégardien also devotes a great deal of his musical life to teaching; he has taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne since 2004 and teaches masterclasses all over the world.

The bass baritone José Van Dam is one of today’s greatest singers. Since his debut in Paris, he has been a regular guest at the world’s most prestigious opera houses and festivals (including the Paris Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala in Milan, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Metropolitan Opera, the Teatro Colón, and the festivals of Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, and Orange). His roles have included Falstaff, Simon Boccanegra, Philippe II (in Don Carlos), Don Giovanni, Boris Godunov, Amfortas (in Parsifal), the Flying Dutchman, and Wozzeck, to name but a few. His performance in the title role of Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise was warmly received in Paris and Salzburg, at its premiere. His operatic career has not prevented him from branching into oratorio and lieder. He has also sung under Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Georg Solti, and Seiji Ozawa, among others. He has appeared in films, most notably in the famous Le Maître de Musique. José Van Dam has received the titles of Kammersänger of the city of Berlin and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. In 1998, he was ennobled by King Albert II.