The conductor, together with the artists in residence of the Academy, invites the audience to discover how Mozart created the characters of his operas, from Bastien and Bastienne to Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. Picture: © Studio j'adore ce que vous faites ! / OnP

Mozart, l’art du Portrait

The conductor, together with the artists in residence of the Academy, invites the audience to discover how Mozart created the characters of his operas, from Bastien and Bastienne to Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. Picture: © Studio j'adore ce que v

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg. A child prodigy (he took his first harpsichord lessons when he was 4 and began composition at 6), he quickly became famous, thanks to the many tours he made with his father, Leopold, who was himself vice chapel-master at the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, as well as a mentor and teacher to his son. At the age of 16, Mozart was appointed concertmaster to the new Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus von Colleredo. He was commissioned to compose works to the tastes of his day and asked to perform. But he quickly grew tired of the confining environment of Salzburg and, in 1777, he resigned his position at the court. In 1779, he became the resident organist at the Salzburg cathedral, then settled in Vienna. He performed for the Court, gave music lessons and piano concerts, while being vice chapel-master at the cathedral. His Don Giovanni was a huge success in Prague but was poorly received in Vienna. Mozart's health was declining and he spent the last years of his life in poverty. He died on the night of 5 to 6 December 1791: he was not yet 35 years old. He was buried in a common grave, due to sanitary measures but also because of his family's destitution. In spite of his early death, Mozart created in 30 years one of the greatest legacy in music history, comprising classical masterpieces in almost every musical genre: opera, sacred music (including his famous Requiem), symphonic, concert or chamber music... His operas include some early works such as La Finta semplice, Mitridate re di Ponto, Lucio Silla, or La Finta giardiniera. Composed in 1781 Idomeneo started to reveal Mozart's personality. Then Il Seraglio, composed the next year, marked his true independence as an artist and the beginning of his mature masterpieces: Le Nozze di Figaro in 1786, Don Giovanni in 1787, The Magic Flute in 1791. With La Clemenza di Tito Mozart returned to the seria genre.

Born in Russia, Kseniia Proshina began her vocal studies in Raisa Gladkova's class at the Samara Academy of Arts and graduated in 2016. She performed the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden and Sonya Gurvich in The Dawns Here Are Quiet by Kirill Molchanov. Since 2014, she has been focusing on the Italian repertoire with Alessandro Svab at the Accademia Lirica Santa Croce in Trieste, Italy. She sang the roles of Gilda in Rigoletto, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Adina in L'Elisir d'amore. She won the first prizes at the Saveliy Orlov and Hramov competitions in Samara. In 2018, she was a finalist in the “Toti Dal Monte” international song competition and won several prizes in competitions such as the Tenor Viñas in Barcelona and the Klaudia Taev in Pärnu Estonia. More recently she won the first prize at the Gianluca Campochiaro Competition in Italy. Beginning of the season 2019/20, she took part in the Paris Opera Academy’s Chinese Tour and performed at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, at the Shenyanget Poly Theater, and the Nanjing Jiangsu Art Theater. Kseniia Proshina joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2019. In 2021, she sang Lucia Britten’s Rape of Lucretia at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, conducted by Léo Warynski and staged by Jeanne Candel, and she was a laureate of the AROP Award. Beginning 2022, she sang Amore in L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Palais Garnier.

Proshina

Timothée Varon began singing at the CRD of Pontivy in the class of Agnès Brosset. He soon joined the chorus of Rennes Opera and the vocal ensemble Mélisme(s). He then entered the National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Lyon (CNSMDL) in the class of Françoise Pollet and then was taught by Mireille Delunsch. He took part in many master classes and benefited from the guidance of Alain Garichot, Jean-Luc Chaignaud and Daniel Salas.&nbsp;He gave recitals at Rennes Opera in Beethoven's Scottish Songs and in a programme of French melodies at the Lyon Opera. He sang Carmina Burana and Schubert's Stabat Mater with the Vannes Symphony Orchestra. With the CNSMDL opera workshop, he sang the Clock and the Cat in L'Enfant et les sortilèges, roles that he he took back on the stage of the Palais Garnier on January 2020.&nbsp;In 2018, he won the second prize at the Arles competition, as well as the Revelation Prize at the fourth edition of the Raymond Duffaut – Young Talents contest and is awarded Classical Revelation by the ADAMI. During a stage workshop directed by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser at Royaumont Abbey, he sang Belcore in L'Elisir d'amore, Morales in Carmen and the title role of Don Giovanni.&nbsp;For his first season at the Academy, he sang Eisenstein in Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus at the MC93 in Bobigny and then on tour. In August 2019, he played Papageno at the Opera pa Skäret in Sweden. Timothée Varon joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2018.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Varon

From South Carolina, Aaron Pendleton studied music at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, at Johnson C. Smith University and at the State University of Arizona. He attended various masterclasses included those of Sherrill Milnes. In 2019, he took part in the creation of 27 by Ricky Ian Gordon at the Opera of Las Vegas. At the Opera Studio of Las Vegas University, he sang Leaf in State of Grace by Linda Lister, Sky’s father in No Guarantees by Cynthia Wong and the Marquis de la Force in the Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc. In 2020, he performed the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte and Olin Blitch in Susannah by Carlisle Floyd. First price of the Metropolitan Opera Competition in Arizona and finalist in Denver (Colorado) in 2019, Aaron Pendleton joined the national Opera Academy in September 2020.

Aaron Pendleton © Studio J'adore ce que vous faites

Julius Bernad began the violin at the age of 5. He studied at Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris s where he graduated from a master’s degree in 2020. At the same time, Julius Bernad performed in orchestras or in Chamber music ensembles for various festivals such as the Verbier Festival, the Festival Pablo Casals, Festival de Flaine. He joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2019.

Julius Bernad © Studio J'adore ce que vous faites

Born in Paris, Yoan Brakha began the violin at the age of 8. He received numerous prizes for young violinist and obtained with congratulations his diplomas from the Aulnay-Sous-Bois Conservatory and the Schola Cantorum of Paris. He studied at the Universität Der Künste in Berlin and alongside Marc Danel at the Conservatoire national supérieur de Musique de Lyon where he graduated a master’s degree. Soloist for the Orchestre de Chambre de Montpellier and the Orchestre du Centre Philharmonique, he shared the stage with artists like Marc Danel, Yovan Markovitch, Jean Sulem, Claudio Bohotquez, Christoph Richter, Konstantin Bogino, Miguel Da Silva and Tanja Becker-Bender. Laureate of the Société Générale Musical Sponsorship and the ADAMI fund, he performed in many European countries: Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), Crans-Montana festival (Switzerland), Ortús Chamber Music Festival (Ireland) and works with international artists like Shlomo Mintz, Hagai Shaham, Jean-Marc Phillips, Olivier Charlier, Silvia Marcovici, Guillaume Sutre and Bruno Pasquier. Yoan Brakha joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2019.

YOHAN BRAKHA 

Roxanne Rabatti started the violin at the age of 5 in Rodez and obtained her Musical Studies Diploma at the Conservatory of Toulouse at the age of 17. She entered the Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSMDP) in 2015 where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2017 in the class of Boris Garlitsky and her master’s degree in 2020 in the class of Alexis Galpérine.&nbsp;Committed to orchestral playing and and chamber music ensembles, she joined the Youth French Orchestra for three years. She co-created the Kalik Quartet in 2018 and worked alongside Jean Sulem in the department dedicated to the string quartet at the CNSMDP. Teaching occupies an important part of her musical evolution, she has given violin classes at the Conservatory of Villeneuve-la-Garenne since 2016.&nbsp;Roxanne Rabatti joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2020.

Roxanne Rabatti ©

Marie Ducroux studied the violin at CRR of Boulogne-Billancourt from witch she graduated in 2016. She entered Christophe Poiget’s class at the Pôle Sup’ in 2018. From 2017 to 2018, she was a member of the French Youth Orchestra as lead second violin. In 2018, she entered Sabine Toutain and Christophe Gaugué’s classes of viola at the CNSMDP and won the first prize of the National Competition for Young Viola Players. Finishing her training at the CSNMDP, she joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2020. During her first season in residency, she won the second edition of the Musician’s Prize of the Fondation-Signature.

Marie

Madeleine Rey studied the viola at the CRR of Lyon between 2010 and 2015. At the same time, she graduated from Sciences Po Lyon with a master’s degree in cultural management. She entered the HEMU of Geneva where she specialized in string quartet.&nbsp;After she graduated in 2018, she entered the Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique et de Danse where she obtained her master’s degree in 2020.&nbsp;She joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2020.

Madeleine Rey 

Johann Causse studied the cello at the Conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt in Jean Ferry’s class before graduating with a master’s degree from Michel Strauss’ class at the Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique et de Danse. He followed the master classes of various international cellists like Alexander Baillie and Yvan Chiffoleau.&nbsp;As a member of the Ensemble Stanislas, he has performed works by Messiaen, Schubert, Mendelssohn and DeVienne. As a soloist, he has performed Dvořák, Brahms and Beethoven’s concertos with the Coalescence Orchestra.&nbsp;He joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2020.

Johann Causse

Julien

Zi An Wu began her music studies in partnership with the National Taiwan Normal University between 2008 and 2014. She entered the CRR of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés where she graduated in 2016. She then graduated from Conservatoire national Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in 2018. She joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2019.

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