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Nicholas Spanos The renowned Greek countertenor Nicholas Spanos studied with Helen Lionna and Aris Christofellis in Greece. In 2000 he continued his studies at the University of Maryland School of Music (U.S.A.) in the studio of Linda Mabbs, as a scholar of the "Friends of Music" society of Athens. He graduated in 2002 with a Master's Degree on Voice/Opera Performance. He participated actively in many Vocal master classes taught by prominent teachers, such as Kurt Equiluz, Delores Ziegler, Anna Tomowa - Sintow and Michael Chance. He has been acclaimed for his appearance in opera, oratorio and recital. Both Greek and international Press commented on his vocal and stage presence very favorably. He collaborated often with the National Opera of Greece, the Athens Megaron Concert Hall, the Athens State Orchestra, the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, the Orchestra of Colours, the Bach Sinfonia (U.S.A.) as well as smaller old music ensembles both in Greece and in the U.S. Since 2002 he has been a regular collaborator of the "Ex Silentio" and "Latinitas nostra" early music ensembles. In November 2002 he was awarded the "Best Young Artist of the Year" award by the Association of Theatre and Music critics of Greece, for his interpretation of the role of Arsamene in Händel's "Serse" at the National Opera of Greece. He has participated in the CD recording of Händel's "Oreste" (2004) and "Tamerlano" (2006) by the German label MDG. In the autumn of 2006 he was awarded first prize at the "TECHNI" National Competition for Lyric Singers, held in Thessaloniki.

Orchestra of XXI century 21st Century Orchestra was founded in 2005 by the distinguished conductor Pavel Ovsiannikov, Merited Artist of Russia. The Orchestra represents a variety of musical styles and genres in a harmonious way. Its impressive repertoire includes classical symphonies (notably by Tchaikovsky), some of the world's most famous ballets (Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote etc.) along with musicals and pop songs. The Orchestra had many highly successful tours all over Russia, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, as well as abroad. It performed with distinction on such stages as the Bolshoi Theater, the State Kremlin Palace and the Moscow House of Music. The strength of the Orchestra varies from 30 to 90 musicians, in accordance with the given tasks. The Conductor, Pavel Ovsiannikov, formerly headed the President's Orchestra of the Russian Federation for over 26 years, taking part in many remarkable concerts and official events. He often performed abroad, and especially in Cyprus. Among the stars he worked with were Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli and Montserrat Caballe.

Claudia Patacca The Dutch soprano Claudia Patacca (Italian father) graduated from the Conservatory in Enschede, Holland. She continued her studies at the International Opera Center in Amsterdam and won the Tubantia Prize. Claudia gave concerts in the Netherlands, USA, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, Italy and Austria. She is also a professor of classical singing and opera at the Enschede Conservatory. Claudia appeared at De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, La Monnaie in Brussels, Operhaus Frankfurt, Operhaus Halle, Dutch Touring Opera Compagnie (Nationale Reisopera) and Opera Zuid Maastricht, as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Ninette in Love for Three Oranges by Prokofiev, 1e Dame in Die Zauberfl?te, Sand and Taumännchen in Hänsel und Gretel, Blumenmädchen in Parsifal with such conductors as Simon Rattle, Antonio Pappano, Kenneth Montgomery and Ton Koopman. She also appeared on stage as Violetta in La Traviata, Euridice in Orfeo by Glück, Ann Truelove in The Rake's Progress by Stravinsky, Fatime in Abu Hassan by Von Weber, Marthe in the modern opera Marthe by Willem Dragstra, with such conductors as Jaap van Zweden, Neil Stullberg and Jan Willem de Vriend. In the near future she will also sing Madame Silberklang in Mozart's Der Schauspieldirector, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and Ortlinde in Die Walküre.

Anna La Fontaine Born in Austria, the soprano Anna la Fontaine took piano, violin and ballet lessons from a very young age. She studied classical singing with Simon Schouten in the Netherlands and music theory at the Utrecht Conservatoire, as well as drama in Munich and Amsterdam. Anna la Fontaine made her first encounters with the world of opera as a member of the "Arnold Schoenberg Chor" in a production of "Die Fledermaus" by J.Strauss at the Salzburg Festival. At the Pax 2005 Festival in Augsburg she premiered as a soloist in the music-theatre production "Garten Eden", and had her opera debut as Axinia in the scenic world première of J.Mattheson's "Boris Goudenow" (1710), staged to great acclaim in Hamburg, St. Petersburg and Moscow. As a concert singer, Anna la Fontaine's record includes performances of Fauré's Requiem, Blackford's Mirror of Perfection and Gounod's Requiem as well as a wide variety of works by Bach, Haendel, Pergolesi, Monteverdi, Purcell, Vivaldi and Mendelssohn. Her operatic repertoire stretches from Ilia and Idamante in Idomeneo, Susanna, Cherubino and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni to Belinda and Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. She gives many recitals in the Netherlands, France and Italy with programs reaching from C.Huygens through Schubert and Schumann to Webern.

Yurlov Russian State Academic Capella Founded in 1919, the State Yurlov Choir Cappella is one of the oldest and best-recognised musical institutions in Russia, and one of the most distinguished choirs in Europe and the world at large. It arose from an ensemble founded near Moscow in 1900, which soon became one of the best church choirs in the capital. After the revolution of 1917 it was transformed into the Concert Symphony Choir of the Commissariat of Education. The most important period for the Cappella is connected with the name of Professor Alexander Yurlov (1927-1973), a truly outstanding musician. Since 1958 he headed the Cappella and worked tirelessly on vocal perfection of the choir, its composition and repertoire. Owing to his titanic efforts the Cappella achieved its highest artistic level. Despite his early death, the Maestro's contribution was so great that his name ushered in a new age in Russian music. Yurlov was the first to open a vast world of Russian choral compositions, unknown to both Russian and foreign audiences. In 1973 Yury Ukhov became the head of the Cappella and kept this post until 1981. He successfully preserved the artistic potential of the Choir and developed the ideas of A. Yurlov. For more than 23 years the Cappella was directed by Professor Stanislav Gusev. A distinguished choirmaster and talented musician, he combined internal power and emotional intensity with the strictness and plasticity of external form. The main interests of the Cappella always had to do with Russian music, and a lot of masterpieces performed by its singers remain unsurpassed. The Cappella often performed with such eminent conductors as E. Svetlanov, G. Rozhdestvensky, Y. Temirkanov, V. Gergiev, as well as P. Kogan, V. Ashkenazy and other brilliant musicians. The repertoire of the Cappella is vast, from medieval Russian Orthodox chants through Bach to Rachmaninoff and modern composers. In 2004 Gennady Dmitriak was appointed artistic director and chief conductor of the Cappella. He is widely acknowledged as one of the best Russian choir conductors and a worthy successor of his teacher, A. Yurlov. A graduate of the Gnesin Musical Academy and the Tchaikovsky State Conservatoire in Moscow, he worked as leading conductor at the Moscow Chamber Music Theatre, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Academic Theatre and the New Opera in Moscow as well as at the Garcia Lorca Opera and Ballet Theatre in La Havana, Cuba. Owing to Dmitriak's great professionalism and creative potential, the Yurlov Cappella reached new heights and today performs a wider range of works than ever before.

Clemens Löschmann The tenor Clemens Löschmann was born in Berlin, where he studied with Professor Johannes Hoefflin at the Academy of Music and took master classes with Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He was awarded scholarships from the Gotthardt-Schierse-Stiftung, Komische Oper Berlin and Richard-Wagner- Stiftung. He took part in numerous opera productions at several opera houses and with distinguished companies, including Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna and Zurich. Clemens Löschmann was engaged at the Opera House in Bremen and worked as a guest artist at internationally renowned theatres, including Komische Oper Berlin, the Oper Frankfurt/Main, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Within the classic and contemporary oratorio and concert repertoire Clemens Löschmann is a soloist in great demand for all major tenor roles of his type. The great evangelist and tenor parts of Bach's oratorios and cantatas are central for his concert repertoire. Besides the classic lied- repertoire, Clemens Löschmann has dedicated himself to contemporary compositions in his recitals. Concert trips have taken him through many countries. He participated in numerous premieres as well as in many radio, television and CD productions. Clemens Löschmann holds a teaching assignment at the Academy of Music in Bremen.

Act 1 Island of Crete, shortly after the Trojan War. Ilia, daughter of the defeated Trojan King Priam and taken to Crete, loves Prince Idamante, son of Idomeneo, but she hesitates to acknowledge her love. Idamante frees the Trojan prisoners in a gesture of good will. He tells Ilia, who is rejecting his love, that it is not his fault that their fathers were enemies. Trojans and Cretans together welcome the return of peace, but Electra, daughter of the Greek King Agamemnon and jealous of Ilia, does not approve of Idamante's clemency toward the enemy prisoners. Arbace, the king's confidant, brings news that Idomeneo has been lost at sea while returning to Crete from Troy. Electra, fearing that Ilia, a Trojan, soon will be Queen of Crete, feels the furies of Hades tormenting her. Idomeneo is not lost at sea, but instead is saved by Neptune (god of the sea) and is washed up on a Cretan beach. There he recalls the vow he made to Neptune: to sacrifice, if he should arrive safely to land, the first living creature he should meet. Idamante approaches him, but because the two have not seen each other for a long time, recognition is difficult. When Idomeneo finally realizes the youth he must sacrifice for the sake of his vow is his own child, he orders Idamante never to seek him out again. Grief-stricken by his father's rejection, Idamante runs off. Cretan troops disembarking from Idomeneo's ship are met by their wives, and all praise Neptune. Act 2 At the king's palace, Idomeneo seeks counsel from Arbace, who says another victim could be sacrificed if Idamante were sent into exile. Idomeneo orders his son to escort Electra to her home, Argos. Idomeneo's kind words to Ilia move her to declare that since she has lost everything, he will be her father and Crete her country. As she leaves, Idomeneo realizes that sending Idamante into exile has cost Ilia her happiness as well as his own. Electra welcomes the idea of going to Argos with Idamante. At the port of Sidon, Idomeneo bids his son farewell and urges him to learn the art of ruling while he is away. Before the ship can sail, however, a storm breaks out, and a sea serpent appears. Recognizing it as a messenger from Neptune, the king offers himself as atonement for having violated his vow to the god. Act 3 In the royal garden, Ilia asks the breezes to carry her love to Idamante, who appears, explaining that he must go to fight the serpent. When he says he may as well die as suffer the torments of his rejected love, Ilia confesses her love. They are surprised by Electra and Idomeneo. When Idamante asks his father why he sends him away, Idomeneo can only reply that the youth must leave. Ilia asks for consolation from Electra, who is preoccupied with revenge. Arbace comes with news that the people, led by the High Priest of Neptune, are clamoring for Idomeneo. The High Priest tells the king of the destruction caused by Neptune's monster, urging Idomeneo to reveal the name of the person whose sacrifice is demanded by the god. When the king confesses that his own son is the victim, the populace is horrified.Outside the temple, the king and High Priest join with Neptune's priests in prayer that the god may be appeased. Arbace brings news that Idamante has killed the monster. As Idomeneo fears new reprisals from Neptune, Idamante enters in sacrificial robes, saying he understands his father's torment and is ready to die. After an agonizing farewell, Idomeneo is about to sacrifice his son when Ilia intervenes, offering her own life instead. The Voice of Neptune is heard. Idomeneo must yield the throne to Ilia and Idamante. Everyone is relieved except Electra, who longs for her own death. Idomeneo presents Idamante and his bride as the new rulers. The people call upon the god of love and marriage to bless the royal pair and bring peace.