Andris Nelsons was born in Riga in 1978. His mother founded one of the first music orchestras in Latvia and his father was conductor cellist. As a youth, Andris Nelsons studied piano and mastered the trumpet by the age of 12. He also sings as a bass baritone for his mother’s orchestra, and is particularly passionate about early music. Andris Nelsons is studying conducting with Alexander Titov in St. Petersburg. He caught the attention of Mariss Jansons when he was urgently called to the post of 1st trumpet of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra while on tour. Jansons becomes his mentor and Andris Nelsons has worked with him in conducting since 2002. In 2003 Andris Nelsons was appointed Principal Conductor of the Latvian National Orchestra and remained in office for four years. His passion for opera led him to conduct large orchestras such as the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra or the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra as well as major events such as the Bayreuth Festival or the New Year’s concert in Vienna.

The soprano Aušrine Stundyte (*1976) began her vocal studies in her hometown at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and later continued them at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, a city rich in music tradition. The opera and concert singer had her first engagements at the stages in Leipzig, Cologne and Lübeck, and guest appearances took her to Lisbon and Palermo, among other places. This was followed by appearances at the opera houses in Amsterdam, Berlin, Madrid, Munich, Lyon, Vienna, Zurich and at the festivals in Aix-en-Provence, St. Gallen, Salzburg and Savonlinna. 
Stundyte`s broad repertoire of roles includes opera classics by Giacomo Puccini (Tosca, Manon Lescaut) and Giuseppe Verdi (Elisabeth in ´Don Carlos`, Amelia in ´Un ballo in Maschera`, Desdemona in Othello) as well as modern opera literature, for example by Béla Bartók (Judith in ´Bluebeard’s Castle`) and Erich W. Korngold (Marietta in ´Die tote Stadt`).
At Salzburg Festival 2021 and under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, the soprano will again sing the title role of Elektra with which she successfully debuted in Salzburg in 2020.

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.

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!