opera

Jessye Norman (born September 15, 1945) is an American opera singer. Norman is one of the most admired contemporary opera singers and recitalists, and one of the highest paid performers in classical music. A true dramatic soprano with a majestic stage presence, Norman is associated in particular with the roles of A

Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) assumed his post as the San Francisco Symphony's (SFS) eleventh Music Director in September 1995, consolidating a strong relationship with the Orchestra that began with his debut here in 1974 at the age of twenty-nine. Along with his post here in San Francisco, MTT serves as Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, a national training orchestra for the most gifted graduates of America's conservatories, which he founded in 1988 and as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, where he served as Principal Conductor for seven years.

Having won all of the major singing awards at Feis Ceoil, Dublin and having represented Ireland at the BBC’s Cardiff ‘Singer of the World’ competition, he began his solo career in 1990 with the release of his first best-selling album ‘Because’. Since then he has recorded six solo albums, one of which, ‘Whatever You Believe’, (produced & conducted by the renowned Mike Batt), was a Christmas Number 1 in 1992, selling more than 100.000 units in the island of Ireland alone.

Elīna Garanča (born September 16, 1976) is a Latvian mezzo-soprano. Born into a musical family in Riga, Garanča entered the Latvian Academy of Music in 1996 to study singing with Sergej Martinov. She continued her studies in Vienna with Irina Gavrilovici and in the United States with Virginia Zeani. Garanča began her professional career at the Südthüringisches Staatstheater in Meiningen and later worked at the Frankfurt Opera. In 1999 she won the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Helsinki, Finland