ELINA GARANČA

With a remarkable career spanning decades, Elīna Garanča is an internationally renowned mezzo-soprano. Her journey, from Riga (Latvia) to the most prestigious opera stages in the world, has been characterised by extraordinary artistic quality and constant dedication. Critically acclaimed and capable of captivating audiences everywhere, she has established herself as a prominent figure on the classical music scene.

Among the numerous roles she has performed, she is especially celebrated for her portrayal of Bizet's Carmen, a role she has sung in most major international theatres, such as the Wiener Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Berlin Staatsoper, the Arena di Verona and the Metropolitan Opera, always to great critical acclaim. The New York Times described her as ‘the best Carmen of the last 25 years’.

Among her most recent projects, she performed Mahler's Rückert-Lieder at the opening concert of the Lucerne Festival, with Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. After her debut at the Bayreuth Festival last year in the role of Kundry, Elīna Garanča returned this summer at the Festspielhaus, where the Süddeutsche Zeitung described her as ‘today's Kundry’.

In September 2005, Elīna Garanča became an exclusive artist on the Deutsche Grammophon (DG) label and, over the course of two decades of collaboration, has released nine solo albums. Two of them, Romantique and Meditation, received the ECHO Klassik award. With her most recent recording, When Night Falls (2024), the mezzo-soprano explores the multiple facets of the night and establishes a bridge between the music of her childhood and a global audience.

She has received numerous national and international recognitions, and particularly values the title of Kammersängerin, awarded by the Wiener Staatsoper in recognition of her loyalty to the theatre, where she has performed more than 160 performances of 18 different roles since her debut in 2003.

Elīna Garanča performs regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Carnegie Hall New York and Wigmore Hall London, and continues to give concerts, recitals and festival performances around the world.

Born in Bavaria in 1977, Matthias Schulz studied piano at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. He has a long-standing relationship with the Salzburg Festival, where he works as a project manager and head of concerts and media, and where in 2009 he was appointed head of concert planning. In this position, he actively participated in the design of programmes and in the coordination and interconnection of all the festival's productions, with a special focus on contemporary musical theatre.

In 2012, he took up the positions of artistic director and executive director of the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg. In addition to the festival's programming and concert series, he was responsible for the financial and human resources areas, as well as fundraising, marketing, press relations and audiovisual productions.

Between 2017 and 2024, he served as artistic director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. During this period, he expanded the theatre's core repertoire with numerous world premieres and promoted successful formats dedicated to early music and experimental musical theatre. He placed special emphasis on supporting young talent and increasing the accessibility of opera through innovative formats and attracting new audiences. He also oversaw the musical director transition, from Daniel Barenboim to the appointment of Christian Thielemann as general music director.

Since August 2025, Matthias Schulz has been artistic director of the Zurich Opera. As a pianist, chamber musician and accompanist, he collaborates closely with artists such as Elīna Garanča and Michael Volle. In addition, he is a member of the boards of directors of several festivals, a jury member of international competitions and a member of the boards of trustees of the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Liz Mohn Foundation.