Opera Category and Final Audition Jury

Since 2013, Tobias Hasan has been the Artistic Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Before his appointment in Berlin, he served as Casting Director and Head of Recruitment at the Hamburg State Opera.

After completing his vocal studies at the Mozarteum University, he joined the Salzburg Festival and worked in the press offices of TELDEC, Deutsche Grammophon, DECCA and EMI Classics in Salzburg.

Tobias Hasan is a regular jury member of the Tenor Viñas International Singing Competition in Barcelona, as well as Operalia by Plácido Domingo, the Salzburg Mozart Competition, and the Moniuszko Competition in Warsaw.

He works closely with maestro Daniel Barenboim, as well as Christian Thielemann, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano and Simon Rattle.

Sophie Joyce is Casting Director at the Opéra national de Paris. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She is currently also a member of the global preselection committee for the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition.

Renowned for her ability to discover and nurture extraordinary talent, she worked for 10 years until 2016 at the English National Opera, where she was Casting Director and Director of the ENO Harewood Artists Program. Earlier in her career, she served as Casting Administrator and Young Singers Program Manager for the company, as well as Assistant Company Manager.

From 2016 to 2018, she worked as an opera consultant, advising young artists at the Royal College of Music in London and establishing a new Vocal Department for Keynote Artist Management. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Birmingham, she began her career at IMG Artists in 2004, working with some of today’s most prominent singers on the international stage.

Robert Körner studied ballet at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden and the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Cologne. He later broadened his professional training by completing a degree in cultural management at the FernUniversität in Hagen.

Following his career as a ballet dancer, he worked as Artistic Administrator at the Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück. In 2001, he was appointed Director of Artistic Administration at Theater Dortmund, where he also served as Casting Director. During his tenure, he was involved in several major artistic projects, including Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, numerous world premieres, and the commemorative 2004/2005 season celebrating the centenary of the opera house.

Since 2007, Robert Körner has served as Director of Artistic Production at the Opéra National de Lyon, overseeing artistic planning, casting, production, and overall programming. Under his leadership, the company has developed major co-productions with leading international opera houses and festivals, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, Royal Opera House Muscat, Wiener Festwochen, Holland Festival, and the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Athens, and Tokyo.

He has also supervised the production of numerous audio and video recordings, television broadcasts, and live streams, while coordinating extensive international tours across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and New Zealand.

Since 2020, he has been Head of Casting at the Vienna State Opera, overseeing nearly 50 different operas and 250 performances each season.

In addition, Robert Körner regularly serves as a jury member at prestigious international singing competitions.

Jennifer Larmore is a Grammy Award–winning American mezzo-soprano with more than one hundred recordings to her name. Named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, winner of the Richard Tucker Award, inductee into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, vocal pedagogue, and author, she can also count actress among her credentials, having appeared in the hit Netflix series King the Land, broadcast in July and August 2023.

Ms. Larmore began her career as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in San Diego in 1981. She made her European opera debut at the Opéra de Nice in 1986 with Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and went on to perform at virtually every major opera house worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, Paris Opera, Tokyo, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London.

Throughout her forty-five-year career, she has recorded extensively for Teldec, RCA, Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Arabesque, Opera Rara, Bayer, Naïve, Chandos, VAI, and Cedille, contributing to more than one hundred CDs. She has also appeared on DVD in Lulu (as the Countess Geschwitz), Jennifer Larmore in Performance for VAI, Il barbiere di Siviglia (Netherlands Opera), L’Italiana in Algeri (Paris Opera), La belle Hélène (Hamburg State Opera), Orlando Furioso (Paris Opera), and Jenůfa (Deutsche Oper Berlin).

In addition, she has recorded three charming audiobooks as narrator for Atlantic Crossing Records with stories by Kim Maerkl: Mozart’s Magical Night with Hélène Grimaud and the Bavarian State Orchestra; Puccini’s Enchanted Journey; and The King’s Daughter, featuring text and music by Kim Maerkl for flute and string orchestra alongside flutist Natalie Schwaabe.

In 1994, Jennifer was awarded the prestigious Richard Tucker Award. In 1996, she sang the Olympic Hymn at the closing ceremony of the Atlanta Olympic Games. In 2002, “Madame” Larmore was honored by the French government as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in recognition of her contributions to music. In 2010, she was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in her home state.

With pianist Antoine Palloc, she has toured extensively around the globe, performing in Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, across Vietnam, Vienna, London, San Juan, Prague, Melbourne, Brussels, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, São Paulo, Athens, Copenhagen, and major concert halls across the United States.

In 2024, she made role debuts as Madelon in Andrea Chénier and the Countess in The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame), both at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She also performed the Countess at Teatro Regio di Torino in May and June 2025. In December 2026, she will sing Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, before giving her final stage performances as Herodias in Salome at Teatro Regio di Torino in April 2027.

Ms. Larmore is a dedicated mentor to young singers. For twenty-six years, she has conducted masterclasses worldwide and currently serves as guest teacher at Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Spain, the Anton Rubinstein Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.

Peter Mario Katona is the Director of Casting for The Royal Opera. He joined the company in 1983 as Artistic Administrator and has since played a central role in artistic planning and casting across all productions. He has worked closely with successive music directors, including Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Antonio Pappano (from 2002), and currently Jakub Hrůša.

Born in Berlin into an operatic family, Katona was surrounded by music from an early age. His mother, Marianne Warneyer, was a principal soprano at the Stuttgart State Opera, and his Hungarian-born father, Julius Katona, enjoyed a long career at major German opera houses, notably in Hamburg and West Berlin. After studying music and German literature at the Free University of West Berlin, he began his career as a classical music critic. In 1968, he became assistant to Christoph von Dohnányi, General Music Director at Frankfurt Opera, and in 1977 was appointed Head of Artistic Management, Planning and Casting at Hamburg State Opera, remaining there until moving to Covent Garden.

Over the decades, his work at The Royal Opera has been instrumental in launching the international careers of countless prominent singers. He is also a regular adjudicator at major international vocal competitions, including Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, as well as renowned competitions in Barcelona, Toulouse, Athens, and Warsaw, making him one of the most experienced and respected figures in operatic casting today.

Artistic Director of the Teatro Real in Madrid since the 2013–2014 season. He was Artistic Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona from 1997 to 2013. Previously, he served as Deputy Artistic Director and Head of the Dramaturgy Department at the same theatre, and worked as a journalist and music, theatre, opera, and dance critic for various publications. He studied piano, singing, and harmony at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona and Journalism at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He was a founder and President of Opera Europa and regularly serves on juries of prestigious international musical and vocal competitions.

Recognized internationally as one of the UK’s leading song accompanists, Malcolm Martineau has performed worldwide with many of the greatest international singers, including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Florian Boesch, Elīna Garanča, Dame Sarah Connolly, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Fatma Said, Patricia Nolz, Erin Morley, Dame Felicity Lott, Anne Sofie von Otter, Günther Groissböck, and Sonya Yoncheva.

He has appeared at major venues worldwide, including Alice Tully Hall, Barbican Centre, Berlin Staatsoper, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Mariinsky Theatre, Metropolitan Opera, Munich Opera, Paris Opera and Salle Gaveau, Royal Opera House, La Scala, Sydney Opera House, Teatro Real, Salzburg Mozarteum, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Musikverein and Staatsoper, Walt Disney Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Zurich Opera, among many others. Malcolm has also appeared at the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, and Salzburg, and has presented his own series at Wigmore Hall and the Edinburgh Festival.

A prolific recording artist, Martineau’s discography exceeds 100 CDs and includes award-winning recordings such as The Vagabond with Sir Bryn Terfel (Gramophone Award), Songs of War with Sir Simon Keenlyside (Grammy and Gramophone Awards), Schumann and Mahler lieder with Florian Boesch (BBC Music Magazine Award), Mahler songs with Christiane Karg (Diapason d’or), and El Nour with Fatma Said (Gramophone Award).

Malcolm is Professor of Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music and holds an Honorary Doctorate and International Fellowship of Accompaniment from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He was appointed OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music and young singers.

Sebastian F. Schwarz is a German-born musician and cultural manager. He currently serves as Casting Director at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and hosts the monthly podcast series Opera Road Trip for OperaVision.

Previously, he held senior leadership positions at some of Europe’s most prestigious opera companies, including General Director and Artistic Director of the Teatro Regio di Torino and General Director and Artistic Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has also served as Artistic Director of the Festival della Valle d’Itria and the Accademia del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti”, Deputy Artistic Director of Theater an der Wien, and Artistic Director of the Vienna Chamber Opera, where he founded Vienna’s first Young Artist Programme.

Alongside his executive duties, Schwarz is actively committed to educating and mentoring future generations of artists and cultural managers. He teaches and mentors on Opera Europa’s Opera Management and Career Development courses and collaborates regularly with international young artist programmes and universities.

He is co-founder and Artistic Director of the Pietro Antonio Cesti International Baroque Opera Competition (Innsbruck Festival of Early Music) and frequently serves on juries of major international vocal competitions. In addition, he is Vice President of the Internationale Richard Strauss-Gesellschaft and a board member of the Europäische Musiktheater-Akademie.

In 2015, he was awarded the title of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by the President of the Italian Republic.

Brian Speck is the Artistic Administrator of The Metropolitan Opera, where he hears hundreds of singers each year for consideration in Met productions and is responsible for casting many roles in the company’s repertoire each season.

Prior to joining the Met, he served as Director of the Sarah and Ernest Butler Studio at Houston Grand Opera for eight years, recruiting singers and pianists and supporting the artistic and career development of artists in the program. He is a regular adjudicator for competitions including the Met’s Laffont Competition, Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, Opera Index, and others. During his tenure at HGO, he led initiatives to offer online auditions, expanding access for singers across the opera industry, and held leadership roles within OPERA America’s Performer Development Network.

Prior to his appointment with the Butler Studio, he served as Company Manager and Artist Liaison at HGO, supporting the company’s guest artists and managing rehearsal planning and scheduling. He began his career in administrative roles with the Aspen Opera Theater. Also trained as a baritone, he holds music degrees from Rice University and Pepperdine University.

Director of the Artistic Administration and Production Department at the China National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and PhD in Theatre Aesthetics from the Central Academy of Drama, China.

Since 2003, she has been at the forefront of China’s most significant cultural events, playing a key role in the artistic management and production of major cultural projects in 21st-century China, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Opening Ceremony of Expo 2010 Shanghai China, as well as multidisciplinary productions at the NCPA. As an NCPA producer, she has produced 90 productions across opera, drama, and dance, collaborating with renowned international artists such as Zubin Mehta, Plácido Domingo, Myung-whun Chung, Valery Gergiev, Wim Wenders, and Zhang Yimou, among others.

She was awarded a Sino-American cultural exchange fellowship by the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) of the Rockefeller Foundation, during which she was a visiting scholar at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Her monograph, The Dramatic Situation of Opera – An Analysis of Wagner’s Opera “The Ring”, was published by San Lian Life Publishing House, one of China’s most prestigious and influential publishers.