Anke Vondung

Born in Speyer Anke Vondung completed her studies at the High school for Music in Mannheim under Prof. Rudolf Piernay. In 1998 she sang the role of Cecilio in Mozart's Lucio Silla as part of an international project at the European Opera Center directed by Brigitte Fassbaender. Between 1998 and 1999 she won numerous first prizes at prestigious competitions such as the Belvedere in Vienna, the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy competition and she was awarded a scholarship at the Ravinia-Festivals in Chicago.

From 1999 to 2002 she was under contract at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, where she had the opportunity to sing many important roles such as Oktavian, Sesto and Hänsel. In 2000 she made her debut at the Théatre Chatelet in Paris as Hänsel, and debuted at the Staatsoper München in 2001 as Siebel in Gounod's Faust, in 2002 she sang Alkmene in Die Liebe der Danae at the Salzburg Festival and Fyodor in Boris Godunov at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. In 2002 she returned to the Landestheater in Salzburg as Dorabella in Così fan Tutte as part of the Mozart-Festwochen. 

From 2003 to 2006 she was a member of the Staatsoper Dresden, where she now sings regularly as a guest.  Other important engagements include the Grand Theatre in Geneva, Die Ägyptische Helena at the Salzburg Festival, Dorabella at the Glyndebourne Festival, the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam as Clairon in Capriccio, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Cherubino and Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito.

Her most popular role has become Oktavian in Der Rosenkavalier which she has sung in the Opéra Bastille in Parigi, the Staatsoper in Berlino, in San Diego and in Dresden.

In autumn 2009 she toured tour the USA with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine and made her debut as Frika in 2011 at Montreal under the baton of Kent Nagano. She sang Carmen and Clairon at the Semperoper in Dresden and repeated the same roles at the Flanders Festival under Marc Albrecht.

Her most recent engagements have been Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust in Palermo conducted by Roberto Abbado and a genial production by Terry Gilliam (awarded the South Bank Sky Arts Award by the British press), Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito in Dresden, Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald by Gruber at the Bregenz Festival and Theater an der Wien.

Anke Vondung is also active in the concert repertoire and Lieder. She has worked with conductors such as James Conlon, Helmuth Rilling, Sir Roger Norrington, Philippe Herreweghe, Edo de Waart, Gerd Albrecht, Kent Nagano, Philippe Jordan, Ivan Fischer, Armin Jordan, Manfred Honeck, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Alexander Shelley, Howard Arman, Lothar Zagrosek, Peter Schneider, Jun Märkl and Enoch zu Guttenberg.

Christoph Berner

One of the most interesting pianists of his generation, Christoph Berner was awarded a prize as the best Mozart and Schumann interpreter in the 2003 Geza Anda Competition in Zurich. He studied at the Vienna University of Music and then studied under Maria Tipo in Fiesole. He won the Bösendorfer Competition in 1995 and was awarded second prize in the Beethoven competition in Vienna in 1997.

He has performed at the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna and at important festivals such as Karinthische Sommer and Schubertiade.

His career has taken him to Japan, the USA where he played a highly successful concert at Carnagie Hall, Marocco and all over Europe.

As a concerto soloist, he has played with the National Orchestra of Toulouse, the Bremen Philharmonic, The Dresden Philharmonic, the Goteborg Symphony Orchestra, The Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and with conductors including Neeme Jarvi, Michel Plasson, Thomas Zehetmair, Johannes Wildner and Denis Russel Davis.

In 2005 he went on tour with the Moscow Tchaikovsky Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Fedossiev and the Bergen Philarmonic under Andrew Litton, and performed with the Trondheim Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra..