French-Cypriot soprano Sarah Aristidou was a member of the International Opera Studio of Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden through the 2018/19 season, with roles including Première Servante de Dircé in Cherubini’s ›Médée‹ under Daniel Barenboim and Grande Prêtresse de Diane/Une Matelote in Rameau’s ›Hippolyte et Aricie‹ under Sir Simon Rattle.

Her professional début came in 2016 as Offenbach’s Eurydice (›Orphée aux enfers) at the Angers Nantes Opéra, where she was immediately reinvited as part of Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier’s new production of ›L’incoronazione di Poppea‹ under Gianluca Capuano.

Sarah created the role of Shoko in the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s ›Das Jagdgewehr‹ at the Bregenzer Festspiele, followed by performances at Aldeburgh Festival, to unanimous critical acclaim, »captur[ing] the adolescent rage of Shoko while mastering Larcher’s virtuosic demands.« (Financial Times, August 2018).

Recent performance highlights include a début with the Berliner Philharmoniker (›A Late Night‹ with Edgard Varèse, conducted by François-Xavier Roth), Maïma (Offenbach’s ›Barkouf‹) at Oper Köln, La Vierge in Honneger’s ›Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher‹ with NOSPR, her London debut with Classical Opera in a festival exploring Mozart and his contemporaries and St. John’s Passion, also with François-Xavier Roth, at Kölner Philharmonie with the Gürzenich Orchestra.

Justin Doyle has been principal conductor and artistic director of the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin since 2017. Born in Lancaster in 1975, he was initially a choirboy at Westminster Cathedral in London and later a choral scholar at the renowned King’s College in Cambridge. His international breakthrough as a conductor came in 2006 when he won second prize at the prestigious Cadaqués Orchestra International Conducting Competition in Barcelona and with it a scholarship with the BBC Singers, marking the beginning of their ongoing collaboration.

As a guest conductor, he has conducted ensembles such as the MDR Rundfunkchor, the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir and orchestras such as the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Freiburger Barockorchester and the Kammerakademie Potsdam. With the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, he has initiated an annual cycle of major new commissioned works, focusing on the works of Handel together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and expanding the choir’s repertoire in the polyphonic music of the Renaissance. Between 2018 and 2022, he was a visiting professor on the choral conducting programme at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin. In addition, Doyle was a visiting professor of choral conducting and early music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki between 2019 and 2024.

Justin Doyle recently made his debut this season at the Zurich Sing-Akademie. Future engagements include renewed collaborations with the Swedish Radio Choir, the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Swedish Radio Choir, the Eric Ericson Kammarkör and the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Dutch mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen has established herself on the international stage as a versatile soloist. In May 2016, she gave her celebrated debut as ›Turno‹ with René Jacobs in Agostino Steffani’s ›Amor Vien dal Destino‹ at the Berlin State Opera. She has also been on tour with Iván Fischer in Mozart’s ›The Magic Flute‹ and has performed Schumann’s ›Scenes from Goethe’s Faust‹ with Daniel Harding and the London Symphony Orchestra. Vermeulen’s engagements last season included touring in the role of ›Cherubino‹ in Mozart’s ›The Marriage of Figaro‹ as well as her debut as ›Donna Elvira‹ in ›Don Giovanni‹, both of which were with René Jacobs and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.

She appeared with the clarinettist Jörg Widmann at the Salzburg Mozart Week and performed with Masaaki Suzuki in Mozart’s C Minor Mass at the Paris Theatre des Champs-Elysées and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. It was with Daniel Harding performing this same work that she gave her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2018/19 she gave her debut as ›Abel‹ in Alessandro Scarlatti‘s Opera ›Il Primo Omicidio‹ at the Paris National Opera. A further house debut – this time at the Opera in Zurich – is planned for the 2020/21 season.

The RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin, founded 77 years ago, is one of the world’s leading professional choirs. Thirty-four professionally trained singers make up the multinational ensemble, which is known for its precise sound. Its repertoire ranges from historically informed Renaissance and Baroque interpretations to works from the Classical and Romantic periods, as well as regular world premieres.

Since the 2017–18 season, Justin Doyle has been principal conductor and artistic director of the ensemble which is one of the country’s most important touring choirs, enjoying up to 50 concerts per season on stages in Germany and around the world.  In its home city, the ensemble presents six subscription concerts, including the renowned New Year’s Concert.

Music education projects include choral sponsorships for Berlin school choirs and the RIAS Chamber Choir Studio under the direction of Justin Doyle. In addition, the ensemble organises the final concert of the German Prize for Choral Conducting every two years in collaboration with the German Music Council. It collaborates regularly with major ensembles such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Freiburger Barockorchester, as well as conductors such as René Jacobs, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Joana Mallwitz, Pablo Heras-Casado and Krista Audere. The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin is an ensemble of the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre gGmbH Berlin (ROC). Its shareholders are Deutschland Radio, the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Berlin and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.