Riccardo Muti, born July 28, 1941 in Naples, is an Italian conductor of Neapolitan and Apulian origin. He is invited to conduct the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2018 and 2021. Riccardo Muti is one of the most regular guest conductors of the New York Philharmonic and the National Orchestra of France.

Child prodigy, virtuoso pianist, Daniel Barenboim (born in 1942) shines on five continents as a conductor and pianist. An excellent teacher and exceptional conductor, Daniel Barenboim has left his mark on the world of classical music since the 1970s. In 1999, his major project of reuniting Israeli and Palestinian musicians, the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, was born. Series of works by Beethoven collected under the title Beethoven for All, then Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. In 2014, the conductor with triple Argentinian, Israeli and Palestinian nationality conducts the New Year’s Concert in Vienna for the second time. Daniel Barenboim has been at the helm of the Berlin Orchestra since 1992 and his contract is extended until 2027.

The violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is without doubt one of the most internationally renowned German classical music stars of our time. In her more than 40 years of concert activity, her program has regularly included not only the classical repertoire but also highly acclaimed world premieres and film scores. In addition to her own stage career, which has taken her to all the major renowned stages over the years, Mutter is also committed to promoting young musical talent through her own foundations.
The violinist has received numerous international awards for her outstanding musical and social commitment and her cultural achievements, including four Grammy Awards as well as the Mendelssohn Prize, the Great Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Great Austrian Medal of Honor, and the French Order of the Legion of Honor.
Like all artists, Anne-Sophie Mutter has been affected by the pandemic-related break in performance. In order to draw attention to the disastrous situation in the music business, Mutter, together with some of her scholarship recipients, performed sporadically at church services and solicited donations for the emergency relief fund of the German Orchestra Foundation.

French conductor Marc Minkowski was born on October 4, 1962 in Paris. His passion for music began when he was a college student at the Ecole Alsacienne. In 1979, even before his majority, Marc Minkowski joined the Lille orchestra under the direction of Jean-Claude Casadesus. Marc Minkowski performed very quickly in many orchestras, in particular among pioneer ensembles of the Baroque revival such as Les Arts Florissants or the Clemencic Consort in Vienna. Marc Minkowski quickly took an interest in conducting, which he studied in the United States at the Pierre Monteux Conducting School. At only nineteen, Marc Minkowski founded Les Musiciens du Louvre, an ensemble which took an active part in the Baroque revival, before broadening its repertoire by approaching works by Mozart, Rossini, Offenbach Wagner and many others. Marc Minkowski has been director of the Opéra national de Bordeaux since September 2016, his contract is extended until August 2022.

Born in Paris in 1985, Benjamin Bernheim is a lyric tenor whose debut album was released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2019 and has since been followed by a second in 2022. Bernheim is considered an outstanding interpreter of the Italian and French repertoire. After completing his studies, he was accepted into the Zurich Opera Studio. In 2012 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival, after which he also appeared at the Whitsun Festival in Salzburg. Striking stations in his burgeoning career included the Semperoper Dresden, the Zurich Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House and the Teatro alla Scala. In 2019, the young artist made his acclaimed role debut as Duca in “Rigoletto” at the Bavarian State Opera, after causing a sensation as Alfredo in a sensational production of “La Traviata” at the Opéra de Paris with his stage partner Pretty Yende as Violetta. Don’t miss this enchanting voice and make your own impression of this brilliant tenor to whom the future belongs!

Asmik Grigorian, born May 12, 1981 in Vilnius in a family of lyrical artists, has been a soloist of the Vilnius City Opera since its inception in 2006. She has twice received the Golden Stage Cross (the highest honor for singers in Lithuania ): in 2005, on the occasion of her debut in the title role of La Traviata, and in 2016, for her portrayal of Mrs Lovett by Sweeney Todd.
Her international career took off in 2016 when she performed the title role of Madame Butterfly at the Stockholm Opera House where she was once again a guest for Fedora directed by Christof Loy. In the 2019-2020 opera season, Asmik Grigorian performs Chrysothemis at the Salzburg Festival in a new production of Elektra directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski.