Since 2013, Tobias Hasan has been the Artistic Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Before his appointment in Berlin, he served as Casting Director and Head of Recruitment at the Hamburg State Opera. 

After completing his vocal studies at the Mozarteum University, he joined the Salzburg Festival and worked in the press offices of TELDEC, Deutsche Grammophon, DECCA and EMI Classics in Salzburg. 

Tobias Hasan is a regular jury member of the Tenor Viñas International Singing Competition in Barcelona, as well as Operalia by Plácido Domingo, the Salzburg Mozart Competition, and the Moniuszko Competition in Warsaw. 

He works closely with maestro Daniel Barenboim, as well as Christian Thielemann, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano and Simon Rattle.

Robert Körner studied ballet at the Palucca School in Dresden and at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He further expanded his professional training by completing a programme in cultural management at FernUniversität Hagen.

After his ballet career he worked as Artistic Administrator at the Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück. In 2001, he was appointed Director of Artistic Administration of the Theatre in Dortmund, where he also served as Casting Director. During his tenure, he was involved in several major artistic projects, including Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, several world premieres, and the celebratory 2004/2005 season marking the theatre’s centenary.

Since 2007, Robert Körner has worked as Director of Artistic Production of the Opéra National de Lyon, overseeing artistic planning, casting, production, and overall programming. Under his leadership, the company has developed important co-productions with many of the world’s leading opera houses and festivals, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Royal Opera House Muscat, the Wiener Festwochen, the Holland Festival, and the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Athens, and Tokyo. He has also supervised the production of numerous CD and DVD recordings, television broadcasts, and video streams, while coordinating extensive international tours throughout Europe, Asia, the Americas, and New Zealand.

Since 2020 he is responsible for the Casting at the Wiener Staatsoper with nearly 50 different operas and 250 performances every season.

Robert Körner has furthermore served as a jury member for numerous international vocal competitions.

Jennifer Larmore  is an American mezzo-soprano, a Grammy winner with over one hundred recordings to her name, a Chevalier of the French government, Richard Tucker winner, Georgia Hall of Fame inductee, voice teacher and an author! Add straight actress to the list with her appearance in a Netflix series entitled King the Land aired in July/August 2023. 

Miss Larmore began her career as "Rosina" in Il Barbiere di Siviglia" in San Diego in 1981. She made her European operatic debit at Opera de Nice in 1986 with Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito and went on to sing at virtually every major opera house in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Paris Opera, Tokyo, Berlin Deutsche Oper, and London Covent Garden.

 During her forty-five year career, she recorded widely for Teldec, RCA, Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Arabesque, Opera Rara, Bayer, Naive, Chandos, VAI and Cedille in over one hundred CDs as well as DVDs of “Countess Geschwitz” in Lulu, Jennifer Larmore in Performance for VAI, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Netherlands Opera), L'Italiana in Algeri (Opera de Paris), La Belle Hélène (Hamburg State Opera), Orlando Furioso (Opera de Paris) and Jenufa (Deutsche Oper Berlin). She has recorded three charming books on tape as narrator for Atlantic Crossing Records with stories by Kim Maerkl entitled Mozart's Magical Night with Hélène Grimaud and the Bavarian State Orchestra, Puccini’s Enchanted Journey with story by Kim Maerkl, and The King’s Daughter with story and music for flute and string orchestra by Kim Maerkl with the flute player Natalie Schwaabe.

In 1994 Jennifer won the prestigious Richard Tucker Award. In 1996 she sang the Olympic Hymn at the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics in Atlanta. In 2002, “Madame” Larmore was awarded the Chevalier des arts et des lettres from the French government in recognition of her contributions to the world of music. In 2010 she was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in her home state of Georgia. 

With the pianist Antoine Palloc, she has made many International recital tours, including appearances in Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Vietnam, Vienna, London, San Juan, Prague, Melbourne, Brussels, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Sao Paolo, Athens and Copenhagen, as well as all the major American venues.

Jennifer debuted "Madelon" in Andrea Chenier and the “Countess" in Pique Dame both for the Deutsche Oper, Berlin in 2024, as well as the Countess for Opera Regio di Torino in May, June 2025. She will sing “Mother Goose” in "The Rake’s Progress” for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in December 2026 and make her final goodbye to the stage with “Herodias” in Salome at Teatro Regio Torino in April 2027. 

Miss Larmore is an advocate for young singers having taught and given masterclasses for twenty six years all over the world. She is a visiting professor at The Palau des Artes in Valencia, Spain, the Anton Rubinstein Academy in St Petersburg, Russia, and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.

Peter Mario Katona is Director of Casting at The Royal Opera. He joined the Company in 1983 as Artistic Administrator. Throughout his time with The Royal Opera he has been involved in planning and casting all of the Company’s performances, in collaboration with Music Directors Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, since 2002 with Antonio Pappano and since the start of the current season with Jakub Hrůša.

Born in Berlin, Katona grew up in a musical family. His mother Marianne Warneyer was a leading soprano with the Stuttgart Opera, and his father, Hungarian-born Julius Katona, sang in opera houses across Germany, most notably Hamburg and Berlin. Katona studied Music and German literature at the University of West Berlin and began his career as a classical music critic before becoming assistant to Christoph von Dohnányi, Music Director of Frankfurt Opera, in 1968. In 1977 he became Head of Artistic Management, Planning and Casting at Hamburg State Opera, a position he held until his move to Covent Garden.

Over the past many years in his work for The Royal Opera Katona has given important early career opportunities to a number of the world’s leading opera singers. He has also been a frequent jury member in many international singing competitions, most notably Domingo's Operalia, and other major competitions in Barcelona, Toulouse, Athens and Warsaw. He has built a reputation as one of the most experienced and respected casting directors working today.

Artistic Director of Teatro Real in Madrid since the 2013–2014 season. Artistic Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona from 1997 to 2013. Previously, he was Deputy Artistic Director and Head of the Dramaturgy Department of the same theatre and also worked as a journalist and critic of opera, theatre, music and dance for various publications. He studied piano, singing and harmony at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona, as well as Information Sciences at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He was founder and president of Opera Europa and serves on the juries of prestigious international music and opera competitions.

Recognised at the highest international level as one of the UK’s leading accompanists, Malcolm Martineau has performed worldwide alongside the world’s greatest singers, including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Florian Boesch, Elīna Garanča, Dame Sarah Connolly, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Fatma Said, Patricia Nolz, Erin Morley, Dame Felicity Lott, Anne Sofie von Otter, Günther Groissböck and Sonya Yoncheva.

He has appeared at the world’s principal venues including Alice Tully Hall, Barbican Centre, Berlin State Opera, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Mariinsky Theatre, Metropolitan Opera, Munich Opera, Paris Opera and Salle Gaveau, Royal Opera House, La Scala, Sydney Opera House, Teatro Real, Salzburg Mozarteum, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Musikverein and State Opera, Walt Disney Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Zurich Opera amongst others. Malcolm has also appeared at the Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, and Salzburg Festivals. He has presented his own series at the Wigmore Hall and at the Edinburgh Festival.

As a prolific recording artist, Martineau’s discography of over 100 CDs includes the following award-winning recordings: The Vagabond with Sir Bryn Terfel (Gramophone Award), Songs of War with Sir Simon Keenlyside (Grammy and Gramophone Awards), Schumann and Mahler Lieder with Florian Boesch (BBC Music Magazine Award), Mahler Lieder with Christiane Karg (Diapason d’or), and El Nour with Fatma Said (Gramophone Award).

Malcolm is a Professor of Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music and an Honorary Doctor and International Fellow of Accompaniment at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He was made an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours for his services to music and young singers.

After completing his studies in Humanities and Political Science, Christian Schirm was course coordinator at the Diplomatische Akademie in Vienna from 1982 to 1987. He later collaborated closely with Hugues Gall at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and subsequently at the Opéra National de Paris, where he was responsible for the Palais Garnier and the Dramaturgy Department. Gerard Mortier appointed him Director of the Atelier Lyrique in 2004, and Stéphane Lissner appointed him Artistic Director of the Académie de l’Opéra de Paris in 2015.

Sebastian F. Schwarz is a musician and cultural manager born in Germany. He is currently serving as Casting Manager of Teatro alla Scala of Milan while hosting the monthly podcast series Opera Road Trip for OperaVision.

Previously he has held senior positions at some of Europe’s most prestigious opera institutions, including Superintendent and Artistic Director of the Teatro Regio di Torino and General and Artistic Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has also served as Artistic Director of the Festival della Valle d’Itria and of the Accademia del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti,” Deputy Artistic Director of the Theater an der Wien, and Artistic Director of the Wiener Kammeroper, where he founded the first Young Artist Program in the city of Vienna.

Alongside his leadership roles, Schwarz is deeply committed to the training of new generations of artists and cultural managers. He teaches and mentors within Opera Europa’s Opera Management and Career Management Courses, and collaborates with numerous international Young Artist Programs and universities.

He is co-founder and Artistic Director of the Pietro Antonio Cesti International Competition for Baroque Opera (Innsbruck Festival of Early Music), and jury member of major international singing competitions. He is Vice President of the Internationale Richard Strauss-Gesellschaft and a board member of the Europäische Musiktheater-Akademie.

In 2015, he was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy by the President of the Italian Republic.

Brian Speck is the Artistic Administrator of The Metropolitan Opera, where he hears hundreds of singers each year for consideration in Met productions and is responsible for casting many roles in the company’s repertory every season.

Before joining the Met, he served as Director of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Studio at Houston Grand Opera for eight years, recruiting singers and pianists and supporting the artistic and career development of the programme’s artists. He is a regular advisor for competitions such as the Met’s Laffont Competition, Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Opera Index, and others. During his time at HGO, he led a programme to offer online auditions for artists, increasing access for singers in the opera industry, and was a leader in OPERA America’s Performer Development Network.

Before his appointment with the Butler Studio, he worked as an Artist Liaison and Manager at HGO, supporting the company’s guest artists and managing rehearsal planning and scheduling. He began his career in administrative positions with Aspen Opera Theatre. He is also trained as a baritone and holds music degrees from Rice University and Pepperdine University.

Since 2003, she has been at the forefront of China’s most important cultural events, playing a key role in the artistic management and production of the country’s largest and highest-level cultural projects in the 21st century, including the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the opening ceremony of Expo 2010 Shanghai China, as well as productions from various artistic disciplines at the NCPA. As an NCPA producer, she has so far produced a total of 90 performances, including operas, plays and ballets presented by the institution, collaborating with internationally renowned artists such as Zubin Mehta, Plácido Domingo, Myung-whun Chung, Valery Gergiev, Wim Wenders and Zhang Yimou, among others.

She received the Sino-American cultural exchange scholarship awarded by the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) of the Rockefeller Foundation, through which she resided in New York City as a visiting researcher at Lincoln Center.

Her monograph, The Dramatic Situation of Opera – An Analysis of Wagner’s Opera “The Ring”, has been published by San Lian Life Publishing House, one of China’s most influential and historically significant publishing houses.