Thomas Hampson
Baritone

Thomas Hampson, America’s foremost baritone, has received international honors and awards for his captivating artistry and cultural leadership. Lauded as a Metropolitan Opera Guild “Met Mastersinger” and inducted into both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Gramophone’s “Hall of Fame,” Hampson is one of the most respected and innovative musicians of our time. With an operatic repertoire of over 80 roles sung in all the major theaters of the world, his discography comprises more than 170 albums, which include multiple nominations and winners of the Grammy Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque. He received the 2009 Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award from the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, and was appointed the New York Philharmonic’s first-ever Artist-in-Residence. In 2010, he was honored with a Living Legend Award by the Library of Congress, where he has served as Special Advisor to the Study and Performance of Music in America. Furthermore, he has received the famed Concertgebouw Prize.

Highlights of Hampson’s seasons included his return to the Wiener Staatsoper in his signature role of Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s “La Traviata”, and to Teatro alla Scala for a role debut, Altair in Strauss’ “Die ägyptische Helena”. In future seasons, at Opernhaus Zürich, he will create the role of Jan Vermeer in the world premiere of Stefan Wirth’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.

Notable engagements on the concert stage include opening the Oslo Philharmonic’s season in August 2020 with their new Chief Conductor, Klaus Mäkelä and performing at Vilnius Festival in Spring 2021.  Hampson also takes part in the Gewandhausorchester’s Mahler Festival, appearing in recital with pianist Wolfram Rieger, and performing Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with Daniel Harding and the Wiener Philharmoniker. He appears on tour with Dennis Russel Davies and the MDR Leipzig in the Philharmonie Berlin and Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. Hampson also takes his “No Tenors Allowed” programme to the Carmen Wüerth Forum, with bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. In the Pierre Boulez Saal he begins his return as Artistic Curator for the “Schubert Week” at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.

Elena Bashkirova
Piano

The pianist Elena Bashkirova once said, “Chamber music is music’s soul,” and this belief is evident in her work as a soloist, accompanist, ensemble musician, and program planner. Her approach to all aspects of music is one of empathetic collaboration and communication.

Among the highlights of the 2020/21 season for Bashkirova – subject of course to the uncertainties of the pandemic – are recitals in St. Petersburg, in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, and at the Ruhr Piano Festival. Song recitals with Georg Nigl and Martina Gedeck are planned in Munich, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and at the Heidelberg Frühling festival. As a soloist, Elena Bashkirova will perform Mozart’s Concerto in G Major KV 453 and Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Odessa Philharmonic, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and the Sofia Philharmonic. A South American tour is planned, as well as chamber music concerts in Paris, Geneva, and other cities with international soloists from the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival.

Bashkirova comes from a Russian musical dynasty going back generations. Born in Moscow, she began her studies at the age of 15 in the class of her father, the legendary piano pedagogue Dmitry Bashkirov. Together with violinist Gidon Kremer, with whom she has often performed as a duo and has made a number of recordings, Elena Bashkirova left the Soviet Union in 1978 and moved to Paris. She has been influenced by her work with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sergiu Celibidache, and Michael Gielen. Since 1992, she has lived in Berlin with her husband, Daniel Barenboim.