ATELIER d'EXCELLENCE AdE
OUR TEAM
MARIA ZOI
Founder & Managing Director AdE, Opera singer
Maria has been described as a real mezzo-soprano and praised by critics for her versatility, wide vocal range and unique voice timbre. Her track record working as a performing artist from the age of fifteen has qualified her to understand the needs and demands of rising artists.
Maria has been pursuing a successful career as an Opera and concert singer and performed at top venues in Europe and the US. She graduated with the highest qualification degree in Classical Singing Meisterklasse Gesang from the University of Music & Performing Arts, Munich. She had completed studies in Communication and Mass Media at the National University of Athens and wrote her thesis on administration of cultural organizations.
During her career as a freelance Opera singer Maria has acted as her own agent on several occasions. She has founded and managed a Chamber Music ensemble in Germany. Among others she has also acted as unofficial agent for artist colleagues who sought her advice.
In addition to her singing career (see: www.mariazoi.info) Maria enjoys helping singers reach their potential and approximate artistic perfection. Her mission at AdE is to endow them with confidence and valuable insight in order to propel their careers.
SUNNYBOY DLADLA
Creative Director AdE, Opera singer
Sunnyboy's career as an operatic tenor has blossomed in several distinguished stages worldwide, such as The Zurich Opera House; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Oper Leipzig; Stuttgart Staatsoper; Opera North; Rossini Opera Festival; Staatstheater Wiesbaden; National Opera Bucharest; Bregenz Festpiele; Oslo Opera House; Theater an der Wien; Royal Albert Hall; Kennedy Center Washington DC; Lucerne Festival Orchestra; Grand Teton Music Festival; Toronto Symphony Orchestra among others. He has sung under the baton of Alberto Zedda, Christoph Eschenbach, Marc Minkowski, David Parry, Marco Armiliato, Riccardo Frizza, David Albrecht, Daniele Rustioni, Cristian Macelaru, Enrique Mazzola, Sir Donald Runnicles, Sir Simon Rattle and Nathalie Stutzmann.
Mr Dladla shares his personal perspective on the difficulties of starting a career: "My life has been a series of natural and spontaneous changes', as stated by Lao Tzu. I started from almost nowhere, that is Piet Retief, a small South African township and never thought I would get this far. Through music I have been fortunate to meet amazing people. Many of them believed in me and helped me change my life far in excess of expectations. To mention a few: Professor Angelo Gobbato gave me the opportunity to study at the University of Cape Town. My late beloved Professor Sidwil Hartman guided my career until his last breath. Rolf Beck and Christoph Böhmke guided me to continue my studies in Germany and start a career. Mrs Wendy Ackerman and Mr Raymond Ackerman who have supported me since the beginning of my music journey and often travel to Europe to watch me perform. The many talented musicians I have met and became close with remind me every day how to improve. An artist's life requires developing a balance between mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practicing patience and being persistent. I believe in giving as a way to thank those that have given to me. I have joined AdE with the objective of guiding young Opera singers to make the all-important first steps in their careers."
GIANNIS GIANNOPOULOS
Associate AdE, Conductor - Pianist
Giannis Giannopoulos is a London-based conductor/ pianist. He holds a piano performance degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London and a Masters degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Royal Birmingham Conservatory.
He has worked as an assistant conductor and repetitor to Maestros Fraser Goulding, Michael Seal (RBC), Razvan Luculescu (Clyde Opera), Philip Headlam (Berlin Italian Opera Group), Andreas Tselikas (The Medium Project), Philip Hesketh (Opera de Bauge) and Kelly Lovelady (Gothic Opera).
Giannis has worked as musical director in L’inganno felice/Rossini (Greek National Opera/Athens), Rigoletto/Verdi (Berlin Opera Group/Berlin), Les Contes d’Hoffmann/Offenbach (Passaggio Oper group/Berlin), Die Fledermaus/Strauss (Opera Diaspora/London), La Boheme/Puccini (Passaggio Oper group/Berlin), Cosi fan tutte/Mozart (Opera Kipling/Fringe Festival) and Il Pimpinone /Teleman (Corpus Animae/ Aegina International Music Festival).
Through his Corpus Animae group, he has been holding Opera Repertoire workshops in London, specialising in the Mozart/Da Ponte and bel canto operas, while working as a repetitor/coach in Morley College.
ARTISTIC CONSULTANTS
ALESSANDRO AMORETTI
Vocal coach - pianist
"Throughout my career I have been dedicated to helping the next generation of singers discover the joy and privilege of expressing themselves through Music"
Born in Livorno, Italy, Alessandro Amoretti is a very well renowned vocal coach and pianist accompanist in several prestigious international music institutions.
After having been Studienleiter (Head of Coaches) at the Opera Theaters in Bremen and Weimar, Germany, Alessandro has been freelancing since 2011. He has been working as vocal coach in several Opera Houses and Festivals as Glyndebourne Festival, Salzburg Festival, Bregenz Festival, BBC Proms, Vienna State Opera, Théatre des Champs Elysées, Theater Aachen, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Drottningholm Theater, Norrlands Opera, Royal Opera Stockholm, Royal Opera Copenhagen, National Opera Warsaw, Bolshoi Theater Moscow, Stanislavsky Theater Moscow, Shanghai Opera. Alessandro has been cooperating with conductors as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Gustav Kuhn, Arnold Östman, Marco Armiliato. In the last years he entertains a regular cooperation as musical assistent with Maestro Enrique Mazzola.
He has been giving masterclasses and vocal coaching in academic institutions as Opera Bastille Young Artist Program, Royal Danish Opera Academy, Sibelius Academy, Franz List Music Academy Weimar, Young Artist Program of the Bolshoi Theater Moscow, Strasburg Conservatory, Bremen Music Academy, University of South Carolina.
Maestro Amoretti is personal vocal coach of several internationally acclaimed singers, as Elena Maximova, Karine Babajanyan and George Gagnidze.
Aside from his coaching activity, Alessandro has been performing as pianist accompanist in USA, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, with institutions as Münchner Residenz and Accademia Chigiana.
As continuo player he has been performing with prestigious orchestras as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Radio France, Orchestre Nationale d'Île de France, Drottningholm Court Theater Orchestra among others.
RICARDO ESTRADA (Honorary Consultant)
Conductor - Vocal coach - Pianist
"It is our responsibility to keep Opera alive and this should be done with humility and courage"
Ricardo Estrada is one of Spain’s most sought-after operatic conductors and pianists. He has collaborated with distinguished organizations such as Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona, Teatro Real de Madrid and Palau de les Arts de Valencia.
As an assistant conductor he has collaborated with Roberto Rizzi, Renato Palumbo, Christopher Franklin, Ramón Tebar, Oliver Diaz, Josep Pons and Patrick Summers among others. Maestro Estrada has conducted several prestigious Symphony Orchestras such as the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Kiev Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Alicante, Orquesta Sinfonica de Mallorca, Panama National Symphony Orchestra, Bolivian National Orchestra, Orquesta de la Academia del Gran Teatro del Liceu, etc.
As a choir conductor he has conducted the Choir Intermezzo in various Galas and opera productions including the Madame Butterfly production at Oman Royal Opera House under the baton of Marco Armiliato.
Maestro Estrada has conducted numerous gala concerts and accompanied several renowned Opera singers, including Montserrat Caballe, Eva Maria Westbroeck, Josep Bros, Inva Mula, Ermonela Jaho, Pretty Yende, Katerina Tretyakova, Saioa Hernández, Sabina Puertolas, Celso Albelo, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Gregory Kunde, Norma Fantini, Lucio Gallo, Giacomo Aragall, Joan Pons, Luciano Ganci, Maria Katzarava, Nadine Sierra, Levy Strauss Sekgapane, Mario Chang, etc.
Operas he has conducted include Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, Don Carlo, Ballo in Maschera, Elisir d'Amore, Don Pasquale, Carmen, I Puritani, La Favorita, Katia Kabanova, Marina, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Il Signor Bruschino, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Romeo et Juliette, La Boheme, Orfeo, La Fille du Regiment, Das Liebesverbot, La Serva Padrona.
From 2021 he will assume the role of Principal Conductor of The Orquesta Sinfónica de Alicante (OFA).
His upcoming projects include among others conducting Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera Fuerteventura and an Opera Gala in Brazil.
ALEXIA VOULGARIDOU
Soprano
Critically acclaimed for her dazzling performances, is a regular guest at the most prestigious European and American opera houses, concert halls, and music festivals.
Ms. Voulgaridou began her musical studies in Athens and continued them at conservatory in Munich under the tutelage of Daphne Evangelatos, where she also participated in master classes with Astrid Varnay. She made her professional debut at the Prinzregententheater in Munich as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro under the baton of Sir Colin Davis.
Soon afterwards, she sang Sophie in a new August Everding production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Bavarian State Opera. Other roles followed, include Violetta in La Traviata, the three heroines in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Marzelline in Fidelio, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, in Hannover, Munich, Darmstadt, and Cologne. Soon after her great success at the Bregenz Festival as Mimi in La Bohème, she debuted in Geneva as Mimi and also sang the role in Munich.
In Italy she won extraordinary critical and popular acclaim for her Marguerite in Faust in Rome and for her first Anna Bolena at the Teatro Regio in Turin. She was invited to the Ravenna Festival for Faust and for concert performances of Mefistofele under the baton of Riccardo Muti, with whom she has also performed the Verdi Requiem.
Ms. Voulgaridou also performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Zurich under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst. She was heard as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra at the Grand Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse and in Santiago, Chile, in the title role of Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Teatro Regio in Turin, at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania as Marguerite in Faust, and as Mimi at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. Ms. Voulgaridou returned to the Hamburg State Opera as Nedda in I Pagliacci.
She also sang in Hamburg’s new production of Faust, Liu under Lorin Maazel in China and Micaela at La Scala in Milan. Other engagements included her first performances of the title role in Madama Butterfly and as Lucrezia in I Due Foscari in Hamburg, a new production of Carmen in Palermo, La Bohème at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and in Stuttgart as Luisa Miller.
AdE AMBASSADOR
ERMONELA JAHO
Soprano
“There is nothing more noble than sculpting the souls of people through Art. Singing has this unique power. Sharing this passion with the younger generation of singers is a privilege. We should all support future artists, as an investment in them is an investment in a better humanity” - Operawire October 21, 2020
Now resident in New York, Ermonela Jaho was born in Albania and first began to take singing lessons when she was just six. At 14, she was taken to the Tirana Opera House for the first time where she heard La traviata and decided to become an opera singer. At 19 she moved to Rome to continue her studies at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Over the next years, she won many singing competitions in Italy opening the doors to her singing career. Ermonela Jaho’s vivid interpretations and her exceptional identification with the roles she performs are highlighted in all her reviews. Over the last year, standing ovations have followed her from London, Paris, New York, Munich, Berlin, Madrid and everywhere else in between, with The Economist describing her as “Fiery angel… the world’s most acclaimed soprano”, Financial Times “she throws heart and soul into her singing. Don’t even try to resist!”, The Independent as “the best Madama Butterfly London has seen in years” and Australia’s Daily Telegraph describing her as “an unstoppable phenomenon”.
In demand across the world, Ermonela Jaho is particularly recognised for her portrayals of Violetta (La traviata), Madama Butterfly and Suor Angelica (Il trittico) and a lot of other roles were she leaves her indelible mark on everything she sings.
In the 2019-20 season, Jaho reprises the roles of Suor Angelica, Violetta and Mimi at Bayerische Staatsoper, Anna Bolena at Sydney Opera House, Liu in Barcelona’s Liceu, Desdemona at Royal Opera House in London, Adrienne Lecouvreur in Opera de Marseille (debut), Violetta in Monte-Carlo, Iris at Teatro Real in Spain, Mimi at Opera National de Paris etc.