FACULTY | PRODUCTION TEAM
Jesús León, Director and Founder
Our Founder and General Director of the Vienna Opera Academy and Festival is from Sonora, Mexico. He studied in the United States at the UCLA Opera Studio, the Boston Opera Institute and was a member of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera. In Italy he studied at the Solti Accademia di bel Canto, and for two years under the guidance of the soprano Mirella Freni at her Modena Academy with a Nicolai Ghiaurov scholarship. He specializes in bel canto roles and has sung the lead tenor roles at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Opéra de Nice, Opera de Toulon, Maggio Musicale Florentine in Florence, Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Opera di Firenze, Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Korea National Opera Seoul, Daegu Opera House, Theatre du Châtelet, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Atlanta Opera and has just returned from singing Alfredo at Minnesota Opera. He currently lives in Vienna.
Toby Purser, Music Director
Toby Purser’s combination of passion and intellect, structure and freedom, poetry and drama have earned him attention and praise from opera critics including The Times (“such musical energy”), The Telegraph (“galvanising”), and WhatsOnStage (“scintillating precision”).
Newly appointed as Head of Conducting at London’s Royal College of Music, Toby Purser’s conducting is recognised for its combination of passion and intellect, poetry and drama. In 2019, his operatic collaborations were nominated for an Olivier Award (Best New Opera Production – Britten The Turn of the Screw with ENO/Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and an International Opera Award (Best Rediscovered Work – Stanford The Travelling Companion with New Sussex Opera). Recognised as a world leader in the conducting community, at the beginning he the Covid pandemic he launched Conductors in Isolation, an online forum which now has over 1600 members worldwide.
Alessandro Pagliazzi, Conductor
Maestro Alessandro Pagliazzi (conductor / pianist) was born in Florence, Italy as son of opera singer parents.
His artistic career began at the “Nico Malan Opera Theatre” in Cape Town in “Carmen” and “Aida”. Since then, Alessandro Pagliazzi has directed numerous concerts and opera productions. One of the highlights of his artistic career was his engagement at the “Bolshoi Theatre” in Moscow, where he was the choir conductor and assistant to the chief conductor. There he conducted Puccini’s “Turandot” and “Falstaff” with great success. He worked as an opera conductor in Austria, as 2nd Kapellmeister at the Baden stage, in St. Margarethen, Gars am Kamp, Bratislava, Kosice, Neuchatel (Switzerland) and also in Norway, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania and Greece.
He was often invited as a juror at international competitions and to do singing masterclasses in Switzerland, Norway and Lithuania. Also he works as a vocal coach in Vienna and performs with distinguished artists like KS. Peter Dvorsky and KS. Neil Shicoff.
Viktoria Loukianetz, Soprano and Vocal Teacher
Victoria Loukianetz was born in the Ukrainian city of Kiev and stafted her musical education at the early age of five with piano lessons. She began to study voice at the age of 14 and went on to complete her degree in vocal peformance at the Kiev Conseruatory of Music in 1989. In the same year she began her professional career at the Kiev National Opera, making her debut as Marfa in Rimki-Korsakov's Jhe Tsar's Bride*. She rnade her debut in the same role at the BolshoiTheatre in 1993. In 1990 she won first prize at the "Min-On' international singer competition in Tokio and at the international "Mozart Competition" in Vienna. In 1991 she was awarded first prize at the international "Maria Callas - Competition" in Athens.
Debuts in Italy, France, Portugal, Japan and Greece followed. Victoria LoukianeE fi rst
attracted international recognition for her debut peformance of Violetta in the new production of "La Traviata'conducted by Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Music Festival. As a permanent member of the Vienna State Opera company she has become a
favourite of Viennese audiences playing Violetta, Oscar in -Un ballo in maschera*, Adina in .L'elisir d?more", Gilda in ,,Rigolettoo or Queen of the Night in ,,The Magic Flute".
Victoria Loukianetz has played in the world's most distinguished opera houses:
Vienna, Berlin, New York, Paris, Tokio, Cologne, Bregenz Hamburg, Milan,
Neapel and London.
Helen Lepalaan, Artistic Director from Estonian Opera
Member of Association of Estonian Professional Musicians. Mezzo-soprano Helen Lepalaan graduated in singing from Estonian Academy of Music with Ludmilla Issakova in 2000. She continued her singing studies in 2000/2001 with Udo Reinemann at Amsterdam Conservatory and in 2001–2004 under the guidance of Mya Besselink at Maastricht Academy of Music. She has improved privately her skills with Monika Hauswalter and Charlotte Margiono. Her present singing couch is Snezaana Stamenkovic..
Her opera roles also include Pastuchina (Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa, Opera Zuid), Blanche (Sergei Prokofiev’s The Gambler), Carmela (Manuel de Falla’s La vida breve), Cherubino (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro), 2nd Lady (Mozart’s The Magic Flute), Kate Pinkerton and Suzuki (Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Idée Fixe, Belgium), Polina (Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, Estonian National Opera), Olga (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin), Volpino (Joseph Haydn’s The Apothecary), Valet (Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka), Clarice (Rossini’s La pietra del paragone), Maddalena (Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, Royal Opera of Wallony), Frugola (Il tabarro), Abtiss (Sour Angelica) and La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi) from Giacomo Puccini’s Il trittico (Zuidi Ooper), among others.
Helen Lepalaan has received high critical acclaim for her performances in the international press.
Noe Colin, Bass-baritone and Vocal Coach
The artist received highest acclaim for his portrayal of DON MAGNIFICO at the Helsinki National Opera, the Teatro Principal de Palma de Mallorca, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico and the Vienna Popular Opera. Here, he was also very successful as DULCAMARA, a role which he also sang at the Teatro Colón de Bogotá. As DON PASQUALE he succeeded at the Vienna Popular Opera, at the Linz Municipal Theatre and the Opera House Wuppertal. The bass-baritone is also a very much sought-after LEPORELLO (sung i.a. at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Teatro Cuyas in Las Palmas and athe Czech National Theatre in Brno). Recently he portrayed SANCHO PANZA in Don Quichotte at the Prague State Opera.
His vocal and acting abilities allow the Mexican-born singer to portray the most versatile roles, ranging from serious to comical. That’s why his repertoire includes not only parts like SR. GIORGIO in ‘I Puritani’, ZUNIGA in ‘Carmen’, RAIMONDO in ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’, FALSTAFF, TIMUR in ‘Turandot’, BARTOLO in ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’, DON ALFONSO in ‘Cosi fan tutte’, but also VARO in Händel’s’ Ezio’, PIZARRO in ‘Fidelio’, SARASTRO in ‘Die Zauberflöte’ and many others.
Pantelis Polychronidis, Pianist Repetiteur
Dr. Pantelis Polychronidis is a collaborative pianist, educator and scholar who performs regularly in both the U.S. and Europe. He is Senior Lecturer at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (Department of Voice/Opera) and also teaches at Vienna Konservatorium.
He served as an Assistant Professor in Residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and in 2012 he was a Martin Luther King, Jr.-César Chávez-Rosa Parks Visiting Professor of Music at the University of Michigan. Dr. Polychronidis was on the Collaborative Piano Faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria and often performs at the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Baden bei Wien, of which he is an alumnus.
Combining the best elements of the European and American musical traditions, he is equally at home in the art song and the operatic repertoire as well as in chamber music. He has been in demand as a collaborative pianist and coach, and has performed in Austria, Germany, Greece, Holland, Slovakia, Belgium, England and the U.S. Polychronidis is one of the official Pianists for the Hilda Zadek International Voice Competition, the Belvedere Voice Competition and the Johannes Brahms International Competition in Poertschach, Austria.
Jeremy Cooke, Pianist Repetiteur
Jeremy Cooke was born in Colchester, Essex in 1970. After reading music at New College, Oxford he spent
two years on the piano accompaniment course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with the
assistance of the Countess of Munster Trust. His teachers there included Graham Johnson, Nelly Ben-Or and
Gordon Back, and he played for masterclasses given by Elisabeth Soderstrom and Kurt Equiluz as well as
participating in an exchange with the Paris Conservatoire.
Jeremy has performed widely accompanying for many recitals, competitions and concerts with soloists such
as David Wilson-Johnson and the cellist Michael Evans. He has also worked as a repetiteur for European
Chamber Opera, Garsington Opera, Pimlico Opera, Grange Park Opera and the Royal Opera House.
Karin Hofer, Head of Operations and Arts Manangement
Karin Hofer is a classically trained Italian pianist, piano pedagogue and opera chorus singer with German as her mother tongue and Italian as a second language. At the Wiener Festspiele she holds a leading position in Communication and Performing Arts Management. She has worked at the Salzburger Festspiele, Easter and Whitsun Festival in the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden (D), Oper im Steinbruch St. Margarethen, Bregenzer Festspiele, Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, Grand Theater de Luxembourg, Theater an der Wien, Wiener Konzerthaus, Musikverein Wien, Berliner Philharmonie, deSingel Antwerpen, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Styriarte and in the Gustav Mahler Choir of the Vienna State Opera. She acquired her third bilingual (English, Italian) Master’s degree in Performing Arts Management at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala di Milano in June 2020. In autumn 2021 she also completed the academical specialication for Music Theater Mediation at the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Komische Oper Berlin and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin with honors.
Aliopera Artist Management
aliopera was established in 1985. It’s an agency for opera singers, conductors, directors and opera professionals of all types. It is based in Milan and provides world wide service in the field of opera. Our contacts with the best theatres around the world guarantee a complete service from promotion to finalising the contract.
aliopera has chosen to represent a limited and select number of clients, affording each individual maximum attention. The agency provides both a professional and caring service to every client throughout his or her career.