Der Cornet

The German mezzo-soprano, Stefanie Irányi, grew up in the Chiemgau area of Bavaria. She studied at the University Music School (Musikhochschule) in Munich and was a prize-winner of many music competitions, including the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau and the National Song Competition in Berlin.

In 2006, during her studies, she had a successful debut at the opera house in Turin, Italy, in a new production of Giancarlo Menotti’s The Consul. This was followed by engagements in leading Italian and European opera houses and concert stages.

She has performed with conductors Asher Fisch, Jakob Hrusa, Thomas Herrewege, Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle amongst others.

This season Stefanie Irányi has made her critically acclaimed debuts in the role of Brangäne in a new production of Wagner‘s opera Tristan und Isolde at the Bari Opera House. “Splendid voice and phrasing”, “Solid, precise, deeply immersed in the character” , “Beauty of timbre, abundance of colors and important volume over the entire range as well as an irresistible stage presence” were some of the press reactions to this performance.

She also sang the role of Fricka in Das Rheingold in a concert performance under the baton of Kent Nagano, and Luciano Berio‘s Folk Songs in the chamber music series of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Other highlights included a concert performance of the first act of Wagner‘s Die Walküre with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Alexander Liebreich, where she has made her debut in

the role of Sieglinde. She will return to sing this role with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in the next season. She will also perform the role of Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier in

Bologna, a Verdi Requiem performance in Basel, Mahler‘s Second symphony with the Israel Symphony Orchestra and Mahler‘s Third symphony with the Madrid OSRTVE Orchestra. She is also engaged to sing in the world premiere of Nicola Campogrande‘s new symphony. The new work will be featured in concerts in Milan, Rome, Turin, Paris and Warsaw.

The mezzo-soprano has a special love of German art song. Mostly accompanied by Helmut Deutsch, she has given song recitals at various festivals in Austria and Germany. This coming season they will perform song recitals at the Art Song Festival in Sindelfingen and at the Brucknerhaus in Linz. About a performance of Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder, which are seldom heard in Israel, the newspaper « Haaretz » wrote: « …Stefanie Irányi is a wonderful singer. It was pure pleasure to listen to her. Her lovely sounding voice and her natural musicality give expression to every syllable… »

The artistic output of Stefanie Irányi is documented by CD’s such as a live performance of Das Rheingold with Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, a duet-CD with Michael Volle produced by Brillant Classics, and recordings of Simon Mayr’s operas, including Ginevra di Scozia, recorded by the Bavarian Radio in 2013. Also in 2013, she recorded Verdi’s Rigoletto with Leo Nucci for a DVD produced by the Festival Verdi Parma. Her first solo CD called Lamenti appeared with arias from operas by Hasse, Haydn and Händel, recorded with the Hofkapelle Munich. This recording was highly praised in the magazine Opernglas.

In the theatre, Gilles Privat mainly works with Benno Besson, Matthias Langhoff, Alain Françon, and Jean Liermier, as well as with Dan Jemmett, Didier Bezace, Hervé Pierre, Jacques Rebotier, Claude Buchwald, Jean-François Sivadier, André Wilms, and Clément Hervieu-Léger.

He regularly collaborates with musicians such as Sonia Wieder-Atherton, Liv Heym, Fabrizio Chiovetta, and Alexandre Tharaud for concerts or readings.

From 1996 to 1999, he was a member of the Comédie-Française. In 2008, he received the Molière Award for Best Supporting Actor for L’Hôtel du libre échange. In 2023, he was awarded Best Actor by the French Critics’ Union for his role as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot.

In film, he has appeared in works by Coline Serreau, Chantal Akerman, James Huth, Jérôme Bonnel, Ronan Lepage, Klaudia Reynicke, Clovis Cornillac, Eric Besnard, Andreas Fontana, and Lionel Baier.

Born in 1988 and active in France and Switzerland for the past fifteen years, Alexandre Pateau is one of the most sought-after translators in the French-speaking publishing world. A lover of classical poetry, theater, and opera, his work focuses on the orality and musicality of language, with a particular affinity for the connections between text and music. Notably, he produced a new complete translation of The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, published by L’Arche in June 2023. This translation served as the basis for a major production by the Comédie-Française, premiered at the Aix-en-Provence Festival of Lyric Art in July 2023.

The centenary of Rainer Maria Rilke’s death in 2026 offers Alexandre the opportunity to present two new translations to French-speaking audiences—two interpretations of the poet who first awakened his vocation: the correspondence between Rilke and painter Paula Modersohn-Becker, to be published in January by Éditions Zoé, and The Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke, for which the Geneva-based translator is preparing a new version. This latter work is being developed in collaboration with conductor Thierry Fischer and actor Gilles Privat, at the invitation of the Odyssée Frank Martin.