Christina Landshamer is a versatile artist who, as recitalist as well as with her varied concert and opera repertoire, is in international demand. Her collaborations with renowned conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Alan Gilbert, Marek Janowski and many others regularly result in concerts with major international orchestras – from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra to the Orchestre de Paris. In The States, this soprano has also appeared with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Montreal Symphony Orchestras.

Christina Landshamer has given opera performances at the Komische Oper Berlin, at the Theater an der Wien with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and also with Sir Simon Rattle at the Salzburg Festspiele. At the Nationaloper Amsterdam, she has sung ›Pamina‹ in Simon McBurney’s ›Zauberflöte‹ and ›Woglinde‹ in Wagner’s ›Rheingold‹ at the Bayerischen Staatsoper with Kirill Petrenko conducting. She has also performed in a spectacular La-Fura-dels-Baus production of Haydn’s ›Schöpfung‹ in Paris as well as at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. With her warm, lyric soprano voice, Christina Landshamer is as welcome as a Lieder singer at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade as she is in London, New York or Tokyo.

She has over 50 CD and DVD recordings to her name and was called to take up a professorship for Vocal Studies at the Trossingen College of Music in 2021.

Born in Leipzig, Patrick Grahl was initially a member of the St Thomas Choir, before going on to obtain his degree from Leipzig College of Music.  He received further direction for his artistic development through masterclasses with Peter Schreier and Karl-Peter Kammerlander, among others. While still a student, Grahl sang roles such as Alfred (›Die Fledermaus‹) and Tamino (›The Magic Flute‹), and has also performed the role of the Young Servant in Strauss’ ›Elektra‹ at the Opéra National de Lyon. He has been invited to perform as soloist for orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester, the Dresdner Philharmonic, the NDR Radio Philharmonic and also the London Symphony Orchestra, and has worked together with conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner and many more. In 2016, Patrick Grahl won First Prize at the ›International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition‹ in Leipzig.

This much sought-after singer is currently appearing in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the Kloster Concerts Maulbronn, is performing with  Christopher Moulds and the Chamber Orchestra of Basel, and will also be joining Benjamin Bayl on tour with the Collegium Vocale Ghent and CPE Bach’s ›The Saviour’s Last Sufferings‹. Equally important to Grahl are his chamber music projects and recitals such as with the Ensemble Barockwerk Ost, with whom he won First Prize in the 2014 ›Early Music Competition‹. Patrick Grahl will be making his Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen Debut at the Kissinger Sommer.

Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen, his only German orchestra, since 2004. One highlight of the collaboration were the celebrated concerts of the Beethoven cycle, which received critical acclaim worldwide. Järvi received numerous awards for the recordings, including the ›Echo Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹ and the prestigious ›Annual Prize of the German Record Critics‹.

Following the Beethoven project, he and the orchestra tackled the symphonic works of Schumann and Brahms, which received similarly enthusiastic reviews. Paavo Järvi is also Principal Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Advisor to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Järvi Summer Festival in Pärnu, Estonia, and since 2019/20 Artistic Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He regularly makes appearances as guest conductor with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, the Staatskappelle Dresden and the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago and the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, he was named ›Artist of the Year‹ by the renowned British magazine Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason. In 2019, he received the ›Opus Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹.

Bianca Andrew is originally from New Zealand and is a member of Opernstudios, the renowned talent forge at the Frankfurt Opera and it was there where, she gave her big-stage debut as Countess Ceprano (›Rigoletto‹) and as Anna (›Vasco da Gama‹) in early 2018. After completing her studies at the New Zealand School of Music, the mezzo soprano continued her vocal training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she graduated in 2017. Previous to this, in 2016, she won the much coveted Song Prize in the ›Kathleen Ferrier Awards‹ at London’s Wigmore Hall.

Bianca Andrew has performed with all New Zealand’s notable orchestras, with repertoire ranging from Handel’s Messiah to Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Together with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra, Andrew has recorded Robert Schumann’s ›Das Paradies und die Peri‹. Alongside other roles at the Frankfurt Opera, Andrew will be performing at the Bregenz Festival and will also be giving her debut at the English Garsington Opera Festival. She is currently touring New Zealand together with American Author Alex Ross and a programme of 20th Century Chamber Music. Her appearance at the Kissinger Sommer will be her debut with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.

The WDR Radio Choir is a professional ensemble of 44 singers. This prestigious choir’s profile is distinguished by its diverse repertoire and its specialisation in innovative works – both a cappella and accompanied. In its 70 year history, the choir has produced many remarkable concerts, radio broadcasts and video recordings, with a spectrum ranging from music of the Baroque and the Romantic periods, through to contemporary experimental compositions, as well as from choral symphonic works through opera to music for computer games. Through this rich history, this vocal ensemble can boast over 150 premieres of works by composers such as Schoenberg, Henze, Nono, Boulez, Zimmermann, Penderecki, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Höller, Eötvös, Hosokawa, Pagh-Paan, Zender, Tüür, Mundry, Hölszky und Odeh-Tamimi.

Constantly seeking new challenges, the WDR Radio Choir is permanently on the move, conquering new spaces and bringing some of the most complex musical scores to life. The joy of choir music and extending to all people the invitation to sing is one of the choir’s biggest goals and is an important an element in its routine as the children’s and family concerts. In 2012 the WDR Radio Choir received the Echo Klassik prize in the category best classical choral recording for its version of György Ligeti’s Requiem. The choir’s CD of Rachmaninov’s ›All-Night Vigil‹ has been staged as a film by WDR Television. The renowned Swedish choral conductor Stefan Parkman has been the WDR Radio Choir’s chief conductor since 2014.