Liedakademie

The Japanese pianist Aozora Deguchi completed her master's degree in song interpretation at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with distinction and is currently continuing her studies in chamber music at the University of Music and Dance Cologne.

Her passion for song has led to numerous collaborations with singers and a busy concert schedule. She received the Live Music Now Munich scholarship in 2024.

Her artistic development is supported by renowned programmes, including the Ozawa-Matsumoto Festival (2023, 2025) with Mitsuko Shirai and the SongStudio at Carnegie Hall in New York (2025) with Renée Fleming.

Aozora Deguchi has performed in Munich in the song classes of Gerold Huber and Christian Gerhaher, as well as in various concerts with Rudi Spring, Tobias Truniger, and Fritz Schwinghammer. She also does piano accompaniment at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.

The Catalan soprano Èlia Farreras-Cabero was born in 1999 and studied at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin with Prof. Martin Bruns and Prof. Britta Schwarz. She previously studied singing at the Sabadell Conservatory (Barcelona) with Elisenda Cabero, her mother. She received important artistic impulses through master classes with renowned singers and teachers such as Wolfram Rieger, Graham Johnson, Thomas Allen, Christoph Prégardien, Thomas Quasthoff, Hedwig Fassbender, Götz Payer and Anne le Bozec.

She has received several awards for her musical performance, including the prize for best song interpretation at the Concurs de Joves Cantants de Girona 2025. In 2023 Èlia received a scholarship as part of the Schubertíada's "Lied the Future" programme and was invited as a Young Artist at the Leeds Lieder Festival. She has also been a Germany Scholarship holder since 2022. As a concert and opera singer, she has already performed in renowned venues such as the Deutsche Oper, the Palau de la Música Barcelona, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Atlàntida de Vic.

Mark Grishin, Bariton, wurde 2004 in Freiburg im Breisgau geboren. He began his musical career as a violinist and was a member and soloist of the Freiburg Cathedral Boys' Choir.

In 2023, Mark Grishin was awarded 1st prize in the national "Jugend musiziert" competition. He has also received the CYMC Prize, the Walter and Charlotte Hamel Foundation Prize and a scholarship from the German Foundation for Musical Life.

Mark Grishin has been studying singing at the Detmold University of Music in the class of Prof. Alexis Wagner since 2024. He also received artistic inspiration from Prof. Ulrich Rademacher, Prof. Hanno Müller-Brachmann and Lukas Enoch Lemcke.

Mark Grishin has performed as a soloist in Freiburg Minster, among other venues, and has already established himself as a sought-after interpreter of sacred music. He has worked with orchestras such as the Bergische Symphoniker, the JSO Düsseldorf, the Detmolder Kammerorchester and various chamber and project orchestras.

Concert appearances have already taken him to the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the Landestheater Detmold and Rheinsberg Castle. His solo engagements have taken him on concert tours through Germany, England and China.

Julika Hing is a German-American mezzo-soprano who, as a pioneer of innovative concert formats, sets contemporary impulses. Since 2019 she has been studying at the Karlsruhe University of Music with Prof. Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Prof. Maria Venuti and most recently Prof. Christiane Libor. In the summer of 2023, she reached the final of the German Music Competition and was awarded a prize for "outstanding performance". As a result, Deutschlandfunk dedicated a radio portrait to her and she was included in the German Music Council's concert promotion program. Since then, she has been touring Germany with her Lied chamber music concerts. In September 2025, she will perform her song

Duo partner Julius von Forstner in the final of the International Vocal Competition `s Hertogenbosch. In summer 2025, Julika Hing was a scholarship holder of the Junge Oper Weikersheim and sang the role of Orlofsky under the direction of Dirk Kaftan and Dominik Wilgenbus (director). In 2024 she appeared on stage as Dorabella (production of the Junges Kollektiv MusikTheater), and in fall 2025 she will be heard as Clytemnestra from Iphigenia in Aulis by C. W. Gluck. (Production of the Karlsruhe University of Music)

In addition to her commitment to the music of past centuries, Julika Hing is dedicated to contemporary music and the realization of interdisciplinary projects. Her performances at the R!SK Festival, the founding of the six-piece ensemble Delta Real and her collaboration with the Junges Kollektiv MusikTheater have been particularly influential in this regard. Her artistic development has been enriched by master classes with Bernarda Fink, Prof. Anne Le Bozec and Prof. Regina Werner-Dietrich.

Hazuki Hirano has been studying for a Master's degree in Opera at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 2024, where she is being trained by Prof. E. Lienbacher, C. Meier and R. Schwab. She also completed parts of her training at the Tokyo University of the Arts. She completed her bachelor's degree at Tokyo Gakugei University. She also took part in Marlis Petersen's master class as part of the Richard Strauss Days in Germany.

She has appeared as a soloist in La Folle Journée Tokyo (2024), Mozart's Missa brevis KV 140 in Vienna (2025) and in Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Handel's Messiah and Brahms' Neue Liebeslieder. In the coming season, she will once again sing the 9th Symphony with the Krakow Orchestra. She was last seen on stage in 2025 at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn as La Badessa and Suora Zelatrice (Suor Angelica) and as Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi). She can soon be seen as Dorabella (Così fan tutte) and Hansel (Hansel and Gretel).

She won the Tama Fresh Competition (2023), the Yokohama Debut Concert (2021) and the Tokyo Shinbun Prize at the 12th Int. Singing competition in Tokyo.

The Finnish soprano Emmi Kauppinen was born in Helsinki, where she began her musical career playing the violin and singing in the children's choir of the Finnish National Opera.

She is currently studying for a Master's degree in Lied & Oratorio at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in Angelika Kirchschlager's class and in Edith Lienbacher's singing lessons. In 2023, she completed her Bachelor's degree at the Royal College of Music Stockholm with a Bachelor of Arts.

In addition to lieder, Emmi Kauppinen is particularly interested in early music and contemporary music. She is currently studying historical performance practice singing as a minor subject with Michael Schade and previously took part in a special program for historical vocal practice at the Stockholm University of Arts, where she was heard as Venus in John Blow's "Venus and Adonis" at the Drottningholm Theatre.

Her most recent opera roles include her first title role Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn Vienna (2023) and the Stadttheater Berndorf (2024). In the summer of 2024, she made her debut at the Old Theater Vadstena (Sweden) in the world premiere of Anna Einarsson's opera "Photographers".

In April 2025, Kauppinen embodied the role of Kreusa at the mdw Vienna in a production that combined music from the "Medea" settings by Aribert Reimann, Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Luigi Cherubini.

Originally trained as a pianist at the Centro Integrado de Música Padre Antonio Soler under the guidance of Isabel Villa, Javier Gómez Dólera and Lydia Rendón, she later studied composition and orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid with the composers Bruno Dozza, Fernando Villanueva and the maestros Juan Luis Martínez Navarro and Mariano Lises.

She is active in the field of vocal accompaniment and took part in the world premiere of Barbieri's unpublished opera "Il Buontempone", for which she was also responsible for the orchestral reduction of the score. In 2022, she was selected as an accompanist for the second edition of the "Crescendo" program, initiated by the Royal Theater of Madrid, and was subsequently hired as a répétiteur for the Real Junior production "A.I.D.A" in November 2022.

She began her vocal studies with Fabiana González Ordóñez and Carolina Alcaide and continued with Bridget Clark and Joaquín Pixán. She has appeared as Second Woman in the Santander Opera Studio and as Scolastica in Barbieri's Il Buontempone.

As a solo pianist she received the 1st prize at the Hazen Competition (2009) and was selected for the Maastricht Awards of Music in the piano category (2025). In a duo with soprano Annya Pinto, she won the 1st prize at the Certamen Internacional de Lied y Canción de Concierto Francisco Torrecillas (2021), the 2nd prize ex-aequo at the Certamen Pedro Bote (2021), the special prize for the best performance of a work by Anton García Abril at the X Anton García Abril International Chamber Music Competition and recently the 1st prize at the Vocal International Competition AMAO. The duo was also selected for the International Lied Festival Zeist in May 2025, where they had the opportunity to work with Christoph Prégardien, Hans Eijsackers and Susan Manoff.

She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at major venues such as the Royal Theater of Madrid, the National Auditorium of Spain, the Jovellanos Theatre, the Campoamor Theatre and the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven.

Elise Carlotta Kliesow, born on October 1, 2005 in Hamburg, grew up in Düsseldorf, where she studied singing at the Robert Schumann Hochschule. Since October 2023, she has been studying for a Bachelor's degree in singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Karlheinz Hanser, with a semester abroad at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome.

She was a member of the Düsseldorf Children's Opera Choir for fifteen years. At the age of eight she was already on stage as a shepherd boy in Puccini's Tosca, and later as a boy soprano in Bernstein's MASS at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. She was sponsored by the cities of Hamburg and Düsseldorf; in 2021 she gave a recital at the Florianstadl in Andechs.

She is a multiple 1st prize winner in the "Jugend musiziert" competition. She attended master classes with Thomas Hampson, Edda Moser and Claudia Visca.

In 2023, she made her debut as the Christ Child in Walter Braunfels' "Der Gläserne Berg" at the Mercatorhalle Duisburg. She appeared as Sandmann and Taumann at the Schönbrunn Palace Theater and the Stadttheater Berndorf. After roles as Yniold and Papagena, she will be heard as Gretel at Schönbrunn Palace Theater at the end of 2025.

Born in Porto in 1997, he began his musical career at the Conservatório de Música do Porto and the Escola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espectáculo Porto. After graduating, he completed a Master's degree at the Freiburg University of Music with Gilead Mishory. During his studies, he had the opportunity to work with renowned artists such as Anne le Bozec, Burkhardt Kehring, Alexander Fleischer, Julius Drake, Bernarda Fink and Roger Vignoles.

In 2023, he reached the semi-finals of the Nadia and Lili Boulanger competitions, a testament to his emerging talent on the international stage. He has already performed in major venues such as the Casa da Música and the Teatro Louletano and has established himself as a promising pianist.

He is currently deepening his skills in song interpretation at the Mozarteum University under the direction of Prof. Pauliina Tukiainen. His career is characterized by a comprehensive artistic education and valuable encounters in the song repertoire, which have shaped him into a versatile and expressive artist.

Tia Pikija (born 2001 in Varaždin) is currently studying for a Master's degree in Lied-Oratorio-Concerto at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Prof. Florian Boesch and Claudia Visca.

She has won prizes at ten international competitions, including Iuventus Canti (Slovakia), Antonín Dvořák Competition (Czech Republic), Triomphe de l'Art (Belgium) and the Haydn Competition for Lied and Aria (Austria, 2024). She was the youngest finalist at the Franciszek Mirecki Opera Competition 2023 (Poland).

Her most recent opera roles include Sandmännchen/Taumännchen (Hänsel und Gretel, 2021), Anina/Flora (La Traviata, 2023), Zerlina (Don Giovanni, 2023), Ännchen (Der Freischütz, Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen, 2023), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel, 2023), Anna-Marie (Betrothal by the Lantern, Rheinsberg, 2024), Pamina (The Magic Flute, May 2025), Medea (Medea Project, April 2025), Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica, March 2025) and Mara (Povratak razmetnoga sina, February 2025).

As a soprano soloist, she can be heard regularly in concert works, including Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Rutter's Magnificat and Requiem and Papandopulo's Croatian Mass. She works with the Sono Artists Agency (Samantha Farber).

The young bass Aaron Selig has been studying with Prof. Lars Woldt at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich since fall 2025. Prior to this, he completed his Bachelor's degree at the Berlin University of the Arts under Prof. Albert Pesendorfer. He also received important artistic impulses from Brigitte Fassbaender, Christiane Iven, René Pape, Ludovic Tézier, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Wolfram Rieger and Eric Schneider, among others.

He is a multiple prizewinner of the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin, the singing competition of the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and the Academia Vocalis Tirol as well as a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Association Berlin-Brandenburg. His previous opera and concert engagements include the bass solo in Mozart's Requiem under Marc Minkowski at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, the bass solo in Bruckner's Te Deum at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Jesus roles in Bach's Passions at the Gedächtniskirche Berlin and Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Stadttheater Bad Hall.

In the 2025/26 season, he will make his debut at the Semperoper Dresden in humanoid by Leonard Evers.

Ettore Maria Strangio completed his bachelor's degree in piano at the "Gesualdo da Venosa" Conservatory in Potenza (Italy) in 2015. In 2015 he was admitted to a postgraduate course in piano at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music in London with a scholarship. He has performed several times as a soloist and chamber musician in various European concert halls, including King's Place in London, the "Haus der Stadt" theater in Düren (Germany), the Auditorium Gaber in Milan, the Bechstein Centrum in Cologne, the Woefl Haus in Bonn and the Antoniter Zentrum in Cologne. He has performed as a soloist with the orchestra "Magna recia" and the orchestra of the "Conservatorio Gesualdo da Venosa" in various cities in Italy. He has won first prizes and scholarships at international competitions in Italy such as the "Euritmia" competition in Povoletto, the "Vietri sul mare Piano Competition" and the "Giulio Rospigliosi" in Lamporecchio. He attended master classes with Michele Marvulli, Benedetto Lupo, Andrzej Jasinskj, Aldo Ciccolini, Enrico Pace and Claudio Martinez Mehner.

The latter awarded him a scholarship as the best young pianist on the course and invited him to perform at the Fortezza Vecchia in September 2016 as part of the Livorno Music Festival.

In October 2017, he began a master's degree in piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne under the direction of Prof. Claudio Martinez-Mehner, which he completed in October 2020. In December 2019, he will be performing at the WDR Funkhaus in Cologne (Westdeutscher Rundfunk), where he will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the WDR. On the occasion of the Bonn composer's birthday, he performed some of Beethoven's songs for trio and voice live on the radio. He then completed a master's degree in chamber music under the direction of Prof. Anthony Spiri, which he completed in October 2022, and a master's degree in song interpretation under the direction of Prof. Stefan Irmer, which he completed in February 2025. In January 2025, together with baritone Ferdinand Krumbügel, he also won second prize in the "Franz Müller Heuser" Lied competition organized by the Musikhochschule's Liedakademie in Cologne. As the winner of this competition, he received a scholarship and was invited to perform at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media in June 2025 as part of the "Her*hits" festival, which is dedicated to music by female composers.

The German mezzo-soprano Laura Streckert grew up near Karlsruhe. Just beginning her career, she has already sung on stages such as the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, the Badisches Staatstheater as part of the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe, the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Beethovenfest Bonn. In 2024, at the age of 20, she made her debut at the Heidelberg Theater and Orchestra as a street singer in Britten's "Death in Venice". In 2025, she returned there as a shepherdess in "Jenůfa" by Janáček. Concert highlights include her collaboration with orchestras such as the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock or the Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe and conductors such as Marcus Bosch, Lionel Meunier, Mino Marani, Daniel Carter and Georg Fritzsch. She has won prizes at the Beethoven-Bonnensis Competition in Bonn, the Handel Youth Competition in Karlsruhe and the Rainer Koch Memorial Prize for young musicians. Since 2023, she has also been supported by the Gerhard Janssen Scholarship, established by the Baden Cultural Fund. Laura has been studying with Prof. Christiane Libor and Stephan Klemm at the Karlsruhe University of Music since 2022.

The American baritone Thomas Hampson is undoubtedly one of the most innovative and multifaceted musicians of our time. He can look back on a unique international career as an opera, concert and lieder singer, recording artist and "ambassador of song". As a celebrated baritone, passionate teacher and pioneer in digital music education, he has been committed to the mediation and further development of art song for decades.

Since 2011 he has directed the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie where he accompanies young song singers and pianists from all over the world on their way. He is dedicated to educating and artistically shaping the next generation - with the aim of imparting not only technical and interpretative skills, but also a deep understanding of the cultural and social significance of song. Questions of artistic identity and self-image also play a central role - especially in that sensitive phase between graduation and the start of a career.

This commitment is complemented by the Hampsong Foundation, which he founded in 2003 and which is dedicated to promoting classical song in all its facets. With projects such as Song of America and an extensive digital education platform, it creates access to historical contexts, cultural narratives and artistic practice – always with a view to a globally networked song culture.
Thomas Hampson was awarded the Heidelberger Frühling Music Prize in 2021 for his decades-long commitment to the art song.

Bulgarian pianist Elitsa Desseva specializes in collaborations with singers and is considered one of the leading song pianists of her generation. She performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall, the Schubertiade Vilabertran, the Pierre Boulez Saal and the Musikverein Wien and has won prizes at international song competitions in London, Stuttgart, Graz, Lyon and Dortmund, among others.

As Director of Studies at the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie, she shapes the year-round support program by individually supervising the scholarship holders and coordinating the artistic content of the modules. Under their guidance, there is a particular focus on innovative teamwork and creative development. In discussions about song art and networking, the young artists can further develop and elaborate their artistic vision.

Pianist Susan Manoff studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the University of Oregon. She performs regularly at festivals and concert halls such as the Wigmore Hall, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Musikverein in Vienna. Her love of theater inspired her to participate in a wide variety of programmes combining text and music.

Susan Manoff was assistant choir director at the Paris Opéra and currently teaches at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris. She was appointed Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2011.
She gives master classes all over the world and is dedicated to exploring the relationships between singers, pianists, composers and lyricists.