Wolfgang Holzmair was born in Vöcklabruck in Austria and studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts with Hilde Rössel-Majdan (voice) and Erik Werba (lied).

Particularly noted for his intelligent and committed performances of Lieder, Wolfgang Holzmair performs in recital throughout the world. In 2003/4 he appeared, inter alia, in London, Lisbon, New York, Ottawa, Graz, Vienna, and at the Risör and Bregenz festivals. 2004/5 included recitals in New York, Washington, Dublin, London, Vienna and at the Bath Festival (UK), Menuhin Festival (Switzerland) and Carinthian Summer Festival (Austria), and in 2005/6 again Lisbon, London, New York, Washington, but also Dublin, Galway, Strasbourg, Geneva amongst others. Pianists he works with regularly include Imogen Cooper, Till Fellner, Russell Ryan, Roger Vignoles and Gérard Wyss.

Holzmair is also active in the opera world. He recently appeared as Pelléas at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Paris) under Haitink, as Enrico in Haydn’s Isola disabitata in Lyon under Holliger, as the Count in Capriccio in Cagliari under Frühbeck de Burgos, Speaker of the Temple in Die Zauberflöte at Opéra Bastille (Paris). In addition to the title role in a new Casanova opera composed for the Menuhin Festival Gstaad by Daniel Schnyder, Wolfgang Holzmair’s forthcoming roles include Papageno in Dallas, Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier in Seattle, and Don Alfonso (Cosi) in Lyon under William Christie.

Equally in demand on the concert platform, he has sung with leading European and American orchestras, such as the Israel Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Cleveland and Concertgebouw Orchestras, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, etc. under eminent conductors including Blomstedt, Boulez, Chailly, von Dohnany, Frühbeck de Burgos, Haitink, Harnoncourt, Norrington, Ozawa. In 2003/4 he sang Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Minnesota Orchestra under Kreizberg, orchestrated Schubert songs with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall under Norrington, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Vienna Festival. Recent appearances include the Irish Chamber Orchestra under McGegan, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin at the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt and in Berlin, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under Kreizberg. Future performances include Krenek Lieder with the Netherlands Philharmonic under Kreizberg, Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Hickox, and with the Minnesota Orchestra under Litton.

Wolfgang Holzmair has an extensive discography, and his recordings have met with critical acclaim. His numerous recordings include lieder by Clara and Robert Schumann and Eichendorff songs by various composers, all with Imogen Cooper (Philips), various Schubert recordings with Gérard Wyss (Tudor), Pelléas et Mélisande with Haitink and the Orchestre National de France (Naive), and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with Herbert Blomstedt (which won a Grammy award).

Since 1998 he has taught lied and oratorio at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and given master classes in Europe and North America.

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Hermine Haselböck studied singing at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Rita Streich. She continued her studies with Ingeborg Ruß at University of Music in Detmold and graduated with the performers’ diploma. Master classes with Kurt Equiluz, Kurt Widmer, Edith Sélig-Papée, Sena Jurinac, Marjana Lipovsek, Christa Ludwig and the cooperation with Gustav Kuhn at the Accademia di Montreal led to important artistic impulses. Hermine Haselboeck was awarded the Pasticcio-Preis of Austrian Radio OE1 for her internationally acclaimed CD-debut „Songs by Zemlinsky“ in 2004 and she is laureate of the International Alexander Zemlinsky Award 2005. In the same year she sang a Zemlinsky recital-tour in the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Washington), made her recital-debut at Wiener Musikverein and is invited to debut at New York Carnegie Hall, singing Goethe Lieder by Hugo Wolf, in 2007. 

In 2006 she cooperates with Bertrand de Billy, Fabio Luisi, Manfred Honeck, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Tomas Netopil, the Haydn Orchestra Trient and Bozen, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Wien, Camerata Salzburg, MDR Sinfonieorchester and Dresdner Philharmonie making her debuts at Teatro di San Carlo Napoli, KlangBogen Festival Wien, Kunstfest Weimar, MDR Musiksommer and International Brahms Festival.

Upcoming opera engagements include Keith Warner’s production of Flammen by Erwin Schulhoff, 2. Dame in  Zauberflöte at Theater an der Wien with Fabio Luisi conducting and the same role at Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg as well as Donizetti’s Adelia in two concert-performances under the baton of Gustav Kuhn. These concerts will be recorded by BMG-Sony Classics.

Other opera roles include Haensel in Haensel and Gretel (Wiener Volksoper), Mercedes in Carmen (with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at Styriarte Graz) and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte (Concertgebouw – Amsterdam). She appeared together with orchestras like Wiener Symphoniker, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, N.Ö. Tonkünstlerorchester, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Kammerphilharmonie and the Wiener Bachsolisten and at festivals like Festival St. Gallen, Musica Mallorca, Haydnfestspiele Eisenstadt, or Mostly Modern, New York City.

Susanna Phillips

Alabama native Susanna Phillips has attracted special recognition for a voice of striking beauty and sophistication. In the banner year of 2005, she was the winner of four of the world’s leading vocal competitions – Operalia (both First Place and the Audience Prize), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards and the George London Foundation. She joined the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists beginning in the 2005/6 season.

In the summer of 2006, Susanna Phillips made her Santa Fe Opera debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in a new Tim Albery production conducted by William Lacey. During the 2006/7 season, she will sing Diana in a new Robert Carsen production of Iphigenie en Tauride at Lyric Opera of Chicago opposite Susan Graham. She will sing student performances as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus there as well as understudying the roles of Blanche de la Force, Juliette and Rosalinde. In the summer of 2007, she will return to Santa Fe Opera as Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte again conducted by Lacey in a production by James Robinson. She also sings her first performances of the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor in a concert version in her native Huntsville, Alabama.

Her busy 2006/7 concert season includes Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasy at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York under Kent Tritle. She sings Mozart’s Mass in c with the Huntsville Symphony, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Santa Fe Symphony and Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem with the Santa Barbara Symphony. She also appears opposite baritone Wolfgang Holzmair in Wolf’s Spanisches Liederbuch at New York’s Weill Recital Hall and under the auspices of the Vocal Arts Society of Washington, DC.

As a 2005-2006 member of LOCAA, Ms. Phillips sang Frasquita (Carmen), Pamina and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) as well as Countess Ceprano (Rigoletto). She covered First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Micaela (Carmen) and Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice).

Recent concert and oratorio engagements include Carmina Burana, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, the Fauré and Mozart Requiems, and Handel’s Messiah. In April 2004, Ms. Phillips made her Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson and Rob Fisher with the New York Pops. Ms. Phillips’ recent operatic roles include Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Ermione (Oreste), Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Juliette (Romeo et Juliette).

Ms. Phillips has sung in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, and Alice Tully Hall under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, Wednesdays at One, Sacred Music in a Sacred Place, and The Mozart-Haydn Festival in Mexico City.

Ms. Phillips is also the winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and was awarded grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation. Most recently, Ms. Phillips was the first prize winner of the American Opera Society Competition and the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago.

 

Russell Ryan, born in North Dakota, began his piano studies at age six. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory, he also attended master classes at the Juilliard School and studied at Vienna’s University for Music and the Performing Arts, graduating with honors in piano chamber music under Professor Georg Ebert. Mr. Ryan was an accompanist at the Wiener Singverein, and has been on the staff of the vocal department at the University for Music and the Performing Arts since 1985. He has instructed and accompanied master classes in Lieder, chamber music, opera and musical theatre. As soloist, accompanist and chamber musician, he has frequently appeared in Europe, Israel and Japan and the US; for four seasons, he served as both soloist and accompanist at the San Francisco Bach Festival. Mr. Ryan has also performed in many radio and television productions in Austria, Scandinavia, Japan and the US.