Wednesday, February 18

INTERVAL
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Szabolcs Brikner, tenor

Education
Degree in clarinet performance at the Franz Liszt Academy (Budapest)
Master classes at the Hochschule für Musik in Augsburg with, among others, Hans Joachim Beyer and Edith Wiens.
Private lessons with Nicolai Gedda. Other teachers of his include Renata Scotto, Otto Schenk, Robert Holl, Júlia Hamari, Éva Marton and Mitsuko Shirai.

Awards
First Prize winner of the 2008 Queen Elisabeth de Belgique singing competition, Szabolcs Brickner has previously won two national Hungarian voice competitions and gained second prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini International Singing Competition in 2004.

Performances
He has performed under the baton of Kazushi Ono, Günter Neuhold, Nicolas Chalvin, Daniele Callegari, Stefan Klingele, Helmut Rilling, Nicola Luisotti and many others, with the La Monnaie De Munt Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Hungary, the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dohnányi Symphony Orchestra of Budafok. In 2007 he has appeared at the Budapest Opera House as Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. Next season he will perform there under the baton of Adam Fischer (Lenski in Tchaikovsky’s Eugen Onegin).

Paolo Olmi, conductor

Education
Studied under Massimo Pradella and Franco Ferrara in Rome

Debut
1986 at the Teatro Comunale, Bologna

Performances
Moses in Egypt , Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

Moses in Egypt , Bayerischer Staatsoper Münich

William Tell , Théâtre des Champs Elysées

Nabucco , Royal Restival Hall London

Turandot , Barcelona Opera

Manon Lescaut , Teatro Colon di Buenos Aires

Le siège de Corinthe , Tatro Carlo Felice di Genova

Rossini Stabat mater , Arena di Verona

Verdi Requiem , Royal Festival Hall London

Moses in Egypt , Royal Opera House, London

Le nozze di Figaro , Opéra de Lyon

Madambro Butterfly , Royal Danish Opera

Don Pasquale , Chicago Lyric Opera

La Fanciulla del West , Deutsche Opera Berlin

Aida , Deutsche Opera Berlin

La Forza del Destino , Deutsche Opera Berlin

Il Trovatore , Deutsche Opera Berlin

Il Barbiere di Siviglia , Hamburg State Opera

Un Ballo un Maschera , New National Theatre, Tokyo

La Bohème , Dresden State Opera

Aïda , Opera House Shanghai

1998 inaugural concert of the new Shanghai Theatre

Brought the first staged opera to India conducting La Traviata with Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

Orchestras
Royal Philharmonic

London Symphony

London Philharmonic

Philharmonic Chorus

BBC Symphony

RAI, Rome

Santa Cecilia Rome

Rotterdam Philharmonic

Orchestre National de France

Spanish Royal Opera House Orchestra

China Youth Orchestra

Recordings
Paolo Olmi made numerous live recordings of opera and concerts on CD and DVD including a highly acclaimed production of the Marriage of Figaro at the Lyon Opéra as well as the EMI CD/DVD recording of a gala concert with Angela Gheorghiu in Amsterdam in honour of the Queen of the Netherlands on the 25 years anniversary of her reign.

Highlights
Operatic and symphonic highlights have included concert performances of Verdi's Vespri Siciliani , Jerusalem , F alstaff and Adriana Lecouvreur with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, La Boheme and Barbiere di Seveglia at the Nancy Opera, as well as performances of Rossini's Stabat Mater with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in London and Rome .

Recent engagements include opera performances of Andrea Chenier , Macbeth , La Cenerentola and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Nancy Opera , concert performances of Guillaume Tell with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Don Carlos at the Toronto Opera Company and Aida at the Savonlinna Festival. Olmi returns to the Toronto Opera Company to conduct a production of Otello and he will lead performances of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore at the New National Theatre Tokyo. In 2006 Paolo Olmi took up the position of Music Director of Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique and the Opéra National de Lorraine Nancy.

* Third appearance in the Al Bustan Festival

The Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra was established in November 1998. The status of the Orchestra was completed by summer 1999 and the first rehearsals started on January 10, 2000. The Orchestra’s first concert was on February 28, 2000 and their debut as a National Orchestra at the Al Bustan Festival on February 22, 2000.
Walid Gholmieh, the President of the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music, is the founder and the principal conductor of the L.N.S.O. Other conductors are Wojciech Czepiel, Harout Fazlian and Michel Kayrallah.
The L.N.S.O gives 25 to 30 concerts per season. The Orchestra has various Chamber Ensembles that give 30 to 40 Chamber concerts per season.

Performances in International festivals
Al Bustan International Festival, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Baalbeck International Festival, 2002, 2004
Tyre International Festival, 2005
Tunis Al Madina Festival, 2005
Abu Dhabi – El Ain Festival 2008 with Conductor Sollak and the International Soprano Monica Yunus

Guest conductors performed with
Gerd Albrecht, Edmon Colomer, Eugene Kohn, Claire Levacher, Dmitri Jurowski, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Paolo Olmi, Alain Pâris, Tuomas Rousi, Ahmed El Saedi, Solhi Al Wadi, Jozef Wilkomirski, Alain Pâris, Miklos Sugar, Robert Lehrbaumer, Adrian Buciu, Jan Stvan, Guerassim Voronkov

Soloists performed with
Jad Azkoul - guitar, Isabel Bayrakdarian - soprano, Boris Berezovsky-piano, Andrzej Bialoko - organ, Wissam Boustani - flute, Tania Becker Bender - violin, Sandrine Chatron - harpe, Lluis Claret – cello, Placido Domingo - tenor, Nina Drath -piano, Mihai Francu - violin, José Maria Gallardo Del Rey - guitar, Kai Gleusteen- violin, Waldemar Gromolak - guitar, Peter Jablonski -piano, Deborah Nemtanu – violin , Barnabas Kelemen - violin, Nicolas Koexkert - Imré Kovacs- Flute -violin, Sefika Kutluer - flute , Piotr Kwasny-violin , Hisako Matsui - harp, Catherine Ordronneau – piano, Karol Radziwonowicz - piano, Thomas Rozenkranz, Marco Rizzi - violin, Atsuko Seta -piano, Elizabeth Sombart - piano, Krzysztof Smietana - violin, Rima Taweel - soprano, Alexandre Tchernichov - piano, Zareh Tcheroyan - violin, Shadi Torbey - bass , Alexandra Troussova - piano, Lorenzo Turchi - piano, Tjeerd Top - violin, Wouter Vossen – piano, Kirill Troussov – violin, Anne-Sophie Le Rol – violin, Armen Babakhanian – Piano, Marian Sobula – Piano, Marie Vermeulin – Piano, Monica Yunus - Soprano

Ensembles performed with
The Storioni Trio (piano, violin, cello), The Prague Chamber Choir, The Hungarian Radio Choir, Ensemble Amacord de Leipzig et Ines Agnes Krautwurst de Leipzig

Members of the Orchestra

Violin I: Michel Khairallah (Concert Master), Arakel Mikayelyan, Ondin Brezeanu, Mona Kosta Semaan, Anna Kharazyan, Rosana Panjarian, Elena Chiriac, Doina Scripcariu, Michel El Murr, Wael Semaan, Gilbert Kandalaft, Consuela Gogea, Cristina Maria Pirlea, Eylin Ter-Hovhannisyan, Sorn Dobre, Tony Moussa. Violin II: Anne Claire El Khoury, Antoine Khalifeh, Yepraksya Mikaelyan, Jaquline Tabet, Arthur Ter-Hovhanessian, Mohammed Hashim, Anis Hawi, Marina Cristina Cristea, Ali Faysal Hassan, Anita Hiripi, Mounir Makhoul, Garabet Basmadjian, Janine YOussef. Viola: Timea Szeles, Catalina Andrea Rupa, Aneta Nikliborg, Samir Amouri, Garik Gasparian, Lucian Cristea, VArdan Petrosyan, Niculina Toma, Rania Kallab,Anna Gyogohyan, Geanina Maria Botnariuk. Cello: Roman Storojenco, Alexandra Jaderian, Sergiu Zaré, Nastassia Yartsava, Narineh Haroutounian, Angela Hounanian, Magdalena Maria Sokola, Brigitte Muller, Ribal Kallab, Avetis Gyogehyan, Sarkis Kochkarian, Contrebasse: Onete Mihai, Bassam Saleh, Radu Rusoi, Gheorghe Oprea, Khachatur Savzyan, Zaher El Sebaily, Iskandar Asmar. Flute: Maté Szigeti, Nabil Mroué, Alin Tataru, Alice Farhat El Rayess. Oboe: Etienne Kupélian, Oleg Balanuta, Adrian Gheorghe Luncano, Maryam Ghandour. Trumpet: Ghenadie Gutan, Elie Njeim, Ion Todei, Rabah Mneimneh. Clarinet: Zsolt Szigeti, Octavian Gheorghiu, Talal Fakih. Bassoon: Sebouh Tekian, Elena Irina Samoila, Viacheslav Piankowsky, Mircea Albert Moisi. French Horn: Catalin Birsa, Ilarion Doltu, Bogdan Constantin Petrosanu. Trombone: Edgard Wadih, Florinel Barldeanu, Igor Vataman, Youssef Njeim, Michel Assaad. Tuba: Serguei Bolun. Percussion/Timpani: Mia Ionica Popescu, Malgorzata El Houssami,Ibrahim Jaber, Gabriel Florin Barani. Harp: Natalia Cutovoi, Anahid Hakhverdyan.