Currently Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Antonio Pappano is the youngest conductor ever to have been invited to this position. Previously, he has been Music Director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels and the Norwegian Opera, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in London of Italian parents but living in the United States from the age of 13, Pappano’s work as pianist and assistant conductor rapidly led to his engagement in theatres throughout the world. Most notably, he was assistant to Daniel Barenboim for several productions at the Bayreuth Festival.

Concurrently with his obligations at the Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano is Music Director of the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Founded in 1908, the world-renowned Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has been conducted by some of the major musical figures of the 20th century, including Sibelius, Mahler, and Strauss, and later Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, and Kurt Masur.

Sir Antonio Pappano has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia since 2005. The highly successful collaboration has brought the Orchestra to music festivals like the Proms in London and the Lucerne and Salzburg Festivals, as well as concert halls including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Musikverein in Vienna. The Orchestra has its home in the impressive Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.

Although she tends to avoid the limelight, Argentine pianist Martha Argerich is widely recognized as one of the great piano virtuosos of our time.

Argerich was still in her teens when she won both the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition. In 1965, she triumphed at the seventh International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Since then, she has become one of the foremost pianists in the world, performing primarily concerto and chamber music repertoire, but also giving the occasional solo recital.