ANDREA BOCELLI
Andrea Bocelli was born in Lajatico, Italy, in rural Tuscany. He spent much of his childhood listening to old recordings and radio broadcasts, and developed an early fascination with opera. He began his vocal studies with Luciano Bettarini, teacher of many well known singers including Ferruccio Tagliavini, Ettore Bastianini, and Franco Corelli. After attending a master class of Mr. Corelli’s, Mr. Bocelli made his stage debut in Verdi’s Macbeth in 1994, with performances in Pisa, Mantova, Lucca, and Livorno, led by Claudio Desderi. This decisive debut was followed by the CD, Viaggio italiano, with Vladimir Fedoseyev, released through Sugar in 1995. His first operatic concerts of international importance were at Cagliari, Sardinia, and at the Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago in the summer of 1997, where he sang arias and duets from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Tosca. In 1998 he appeared in the role of Rodolfo opposite soprano Daniela Dessi in Puccini’s La bohème in Cagliari. That same year he joined Zubin Mehta for a concert in Tel Aviv and released the album, Verdi, one of his biggest successes.

Mr. Bocelli made his debut at the Arena di Verona in 1999, in Lehár’s The Merry Widow, conducted by Anton Guadagno, and in October of the same year, his U.S. debut in Massenet’s Werther in Detroit, with Steven Mercurio conducting and mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves in the role of Charlotte. Other collaborators have included Lorin Maazel (Classical tour, Munich 1999, and Verdi’s Requiem, Verona 2000); Seiji Ozawa (Paris 2000); Valery Gergiev (Verdi’s Requiem, recorded in London, 2000); and Zubin Mehta (Tel Aviv 2000 and Verdi’s Requiem in Munich, 2001, marking the centenary of the composer’s death). Mr. Bocelli’s close collaboration with Myung-Whun Chung, principal conductor of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, culminated with the release of the Sacred Arias CD and a television special that was broadcast worldwide. He has also collaborated with Eugene Kohn and Plácido Domingo.

In January 2001 Mr. Bocelli made his first appearance at Verona’s Teatro Filarmonico in the title role of Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and in summer 2002, as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Torre del Lago. In autumn 2003 he joined forces with Lorin Maazel to release Sentimento, an album of songs exploring the early 20th-century musical tradition of songs for voice and violin; the album won two Classical Brit Awards: Album of the Year and the Biggest Selling Classical Album of the Year. He has also performed Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence; Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle at the Teatro San Carlo in Napoli and at the Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania; and Bizet’s Carmen (as Don José) at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. He opened the 2008–09 season performing Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle at the Washington Opera led by Plácido Domingo, and Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana at the San Antonio Opera and at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.

Mr. Bocelli’s discography includes La bohème conducted by Zubin Mehta (2000, Sugar/Philips Classic), Verdi’s Il trovatore, Cavalleria rusticana, and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, conducted by Steven Mercurio (2004, Sugar/Decca); Tosca with soprano Fiorenza Cedolins, conducted by Zubin Mehta (2003, Sugar/Decca); Massenet’s Werther, conducted by Yves Abel (2005, Sugar/Decca); and Carmen with mezzo-soprano Marina Domashenko, bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, and soprano Eva Mei (2008, Sugar/Decca). Upcoming is Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, led by Marco Armiliato. Mr. Bocelli made his Philharmonic debut in September 2006, in a concert led by Asher Fisch.

ASHER FISCH
Israeli-born Asher Fisch has conducted the world’s great opera houses, and is currently principal guest conductor of the Seattle Opera. A former music director of both the Vienna Volksoper and the New Israeli Opera, he makes frequent guest appearances throughout Europe and the United States. During the 2009–10 season he will conduct a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde for the Seattle Opera, and will make his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in a program featuring Daniel Barenboim as piano soloist. He also will lead concerts with the Kansas City Symphony, and in Naples, Genoa, and Bologna, Italy.

Mr. Fisch has appeared for many years at the Vienna Staatsoper, conducting symphonic opera repertoire that includes Verdi’s Falstaff and R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. He made his debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper last season, and is scheduled to conduct five productions there in 2009–10, including Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, R. Strauss’s Salome and Ariadne auf Naxos, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and a new production of Palestrina, the opera rarity by Hans Pfitzner. He has also been a regular guest conductor at the Berliner Staatsoper, conducting a broad repertoire of core Romantics works in addition to Mozart operas. Similarly, he has conducted repertoire ranging from Mozart to

Berg in other leading European opera houses such as Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, Paris Opéra, Dresden Semper Oper, Hamburg Staatsoper, Leipzig Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he conducted the concert gala celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the Royal Opera House, which was recorded and released by EMI Records. He has also conducted at The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Houston Grand Opera.

Mr. Fisch has conducted the orchestras of Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta, Houston, St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C. In Europe, he appears regularly with the Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, and the Staatskapelle Dresden, which he led on an acclaimed tour of Italy in 2002. In Asia, he has conducted the NHK Orchestra of Tokyo. Mr. Fisch began his conducting career as Daniel Barenboim’s assistant and Kapellmeister at the Berlin Staatsoper, and has been championed by Mr. Barenboim ever since. He is also an accomplished pianist, and has directed Mozart piano concertos and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue from the keyboard. He continues to perform in chamber concerts and vocal recitals. Mr. Fisch last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in September 2006 for the concerts with Andrea Bocelli.