Master Classes & Special Guests

Gary Matthewman is one of the UK’s leading song pianists. A regular artist at Wigmore Hall in London, other recent and forthcoming appearances include Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and in Strasbourg, Prague, Lucerne, Basel, Lisbon, Toronto, São Paulo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney. His UK Festival performances include Oxford Lieder, Leeds Lieder, Aldeburgh, Buxton and Glyndebourne.

Recent and future recital partners include Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Thomas Allen, Sumi Jo, Nuccia Focile, Mark Padmore, Ailyn Perèz, Kate Lindsey, Markus Werba, Dimitri Platanias, Sylvia Schwartz, Kate Royal, Andrei Bondarenko, Louise Alder, Adam Plachetka, Benjamin Appl, Sarah-Jane Brandon and Roderick Williams.

Gary has made numerous live broadcasts and recordings for BBC Radio 3, and his recent recording of Schubert’s Winterreise with Matthew Rose received widespread critical acclaim, featuring as Gramophone Magazine’s Recording of the Month and BBC Radio 3’s Disc of the Week. He is Professor of Vocal Repertoire at the Royal College of Music, and song coach for the Jette Parker Young Artists at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Roberta Cunningham is an American trained opera singer/voice teacher, currently living in Germany where she has resided since 1980. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and finally a Master’s Degree in Opera Performance. She continued her studies at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz in 1980 (1982 and 1983) and the Hochschule für Music und Darstellende Kunst in Hannover, Germany. Her career started at the Kammeroper in Vienna and continued at the Stadttheater in Hildesheim (1985 to 1990), Münster, (1990 to 1993) and the theater in Rudolstadt (1993 to 1995) with guest performances in Leipzig, Bremerhaven, Osnabrück, Gießen, Trier, Luzern, and Cairo. Her roles include Mimì, Manon Lescaut, Pamina, Fiordiligi, Vitellia, Desdemona, Luisa Miller, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Maddalena (Andrea Chénier), Rosalinde, Kurfürstin (Vogelhändler), among others. She has, as well, been a part of the ensemble for the Premiere German Production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (1997 to 2000). Roberta has been teaching for over 20 years and was an administrator, teacher and co-founder of the Neil Semer Vocal Institute. She is a sought-after speaker and masterclass leader and teaches privately in Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Mannheim, and Alzenau as well as in Aarhus, Denmark, Vienna, Austria, and in Dubai!

Roberta will host Tisch Talks – informal one-on-one Q&A discussions about living in Europe, singing for a living, audition repertoire, general advice for singers, etc. She will also present Living & Working in Europe lectures, Mindfulness for Singers classes, How to Create a German Résumé class, and the Breathing & Posture Workshop.

Teaching Philosophy
My teaching is very much informed by my experience of hearing countless singers each year in an audition & competition context, many of whom, for various reasons, fail to make the desired impact.

As singers, we are so often fixated with achieving particular results that we don’t truly manage to be in the moment. Because of this, a primary focus of my work is to explore how we can shift from “controlling the results” to “taking control of the process”.

As an efficiently functioning, well-calibrated technique is the indispensable basis for any sustainable singing career, singers often focus on technique in isolation. To my mind true (authentic) artistic expression is rarely integrated early enough into the technical process.

In my teaching I am interested in how we apply our technique in a musical context as a means of giving voice to our individual artistry. The vocalism of language is central to my work: how we use words not only to express but in order to achieve a genuine legato etc.. Sound alone is rarely the key.

I believe there is no one model of teaching “to fit all” – lessons are about finding a common language in a supportive environment that enables us to evolve and understand more.

A further priority of mine is to support students in compiling a coherent and personally representative audition list that also functions from a European perspective.

In terms repertoire, I have a real affinity for the music of the early nineteenth century in particular Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini (probably stemming from my fascination with freedom of breath as the basis of all expression) and German operatic and Lied repertoire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – the music that is still central to my performance career.

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From Ireland, Paul McNamara is based in The Netherlands where he is Artistic Leader of the Dutch National Opera Academy, the collaborative master’s in opera performance offered by the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in partnership with the Royal Conservatoire The Hague.

The tenor has appeared in opera houses throughout Germany and Austria performing roles such as Wagner’s Claudio (Das Liebesverbot), Erik, Tannhäuser, Loge, Tristan, Siegfried, Mime and Parsifal. In addition to operas by Berg, Braunfels, Schillings, Schreker, Strauss, Korngold and Zemlinsky, his extensive repertoire also includes work by Cavalli, Monteverdi, Mozart, Weber, Meyerbeer, Leoncavallo, Tchaikowsky, Janáček, Britten, Previn, Penderecki and John Adams.

He has been heard at major venues including Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, Teatr Wielki – the Polish National Opera in Warsaw, the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and with the Salzburg Festival at the Beijing Music Festival. A keen recitalist, concert appearances have taken him to many of the world’s leading venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and New York’s Carnegie Hall as well as to the Telemann Festival in Hamburg with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

Current and upcoming engagements include appearances with the Nederlandse Reisopera, the Berliner Staatsoper, Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken, the Opéra Royal de Versailles and Opéra national du Rhin, Strasbourg.

An alumnus of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Paul McNamara is an honours graduate of the University College Cork, the Cork School of Music and the Royal College of Music London. He is a casting consultant for the Stichting Omroep Muziek (Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir) and Opera Adviser to the Arts Council of Ireland (An Chomhairle Ealaíon).

Much demand as a teacher, career consultant and juror in international singing competitions, in addition to returning to AIMS, 2024 will see him give masterclasses in The Netherlands and Germany, as well as working with the singers at the Oberösterreichische Opernstudio in Linz.

Celebrated as one of the leading tenors of our time, the German-Canadian Michael Schade makes regular guest appearances on the most prominent opera stages and concert halls across Europe and North America. He has enjoyed a particularly close collaboration with the Vienna State Opera, while also appearing frequently at the Metropolitan Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Bavarian State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Liceu Barcelona, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra Bastille in Paris and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

His role debuts as Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) in Toronto and as Florestan (Fidelio) under Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Theater an der Wien were acclaimed by audiences and press alike. Other highlights have included Aschenbach (Death in Venice) and Peter Grimes in Hamburg, Max in Weber’s Freischütz at the Berlin State Opera and the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, and his role debut as Eisenstein in the traditional New Year’s Eve Fledermaus at the Vienna State Opera. This was followed by new productions of Strauss’ Elektra (Aegisth) in Toronto, as well as Strauss’ Daphne (Leukippos) and Erik in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Hamburg State Opera. Michael Schade was heard as Florestan under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Séguin in Montréal as well as with Paavor Järvi and the Tonhalle Orchestra in a concertante Fidelio.

In the spring of 2023, Michael Schade enjoyed great success as Herod in a new production of Strauss’ Salome at the Canadian Opera Company and made his Australian in autumn 2023 – in Melbourne, as Flamand in Strauss’ Capriccio under the baton of Simone Young, followed by the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo at Opera Australia. In April 2025, Michael Schade celebrated a great success as Hauptmanns in Berg’s Wozzeck at the Canadian Opera Company. In February 2026, he can be heard for the first time at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce.

For many years, Michael Schade has been a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival in new productions of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Purcell’s King Arthur, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Haydn’s Armida, Cherubini’s Medée, von Winter’s Das Labyrinth and in the title role of Schubert’s Fierrabras, as well as on the concert and Lied podium. From 2008 to 2010 he was Creative Director of his own Young Singers Project.

With a large concert repertoire ranging from Bach’s Passions to Mahler’s Lied von der Erde, Michael Schade regularly works with conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Iván Fischer, Valery Gergiev, Stefan Gottfried, Daniel Harding, Pablo Heras-Casado, Philippe Jordan, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nezet-Séguin, Peter Oundjian, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Robin Ticciati, Franz Welser-Möst and Simone Young. His music-making was strongly influenced by numerous performances with Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

At the beginning of the 2024-2025 season, Michael Schade could be heard with Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder with the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester under the direction of Alan Gilbert at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and at the Lucerne Festival, followed by Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with Concentus Musicus at the Vienna Musikverein and in Lausanne, Bruckner’s Te Deum at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Mozart’s Requiem in Wiener Neustadt. Together with Concentus Musicus, he sang Mozart/Händel arias at the Mozartwoche Salzburg and with Schubert arias at the Vienna Musikverein. In the 2025-2026 season, he can be heard in numerous recitals, as well as with Orff’s Carmina Burana under Andres Orozco-Estrada at the Rheingau Festival, in the Cologne Philharmonie in Lucerne and Antwerp, with the piece Der Stein der Weisen together with the Hofkapelle München under Rüdiger Lotter at the Theater an der Wien, with Verdi’s Requiem in Calgary, and with a Dowland programme together with Fahmi Alqhuai in Spain.

Equally as a lieder singer, the artist has been acclaimed at major venues including Vienna’s Musikverein, Konzerthaus and State Opera, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Verbier Festival, the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, the Grafenegg Festival, at the Vienna State Opera, and La Scala in Milan. Recent recitals have taken him to the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In the current season, Michael Schade will be giving recitals at the Brucknerhaus Linz, Thalheim Castle, in Bad Schönau, Melk and Wiener Neustadt.

Among his numerous recordings, those with Harnoncourt include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Grammy Award-winning), Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Orlando Paladino, Mozart’s Zaide and La clemenza di Tito. Other award-winning recordings include Mahler’s Lied von der Erde with the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez, Mozart’s Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, and Strauss’s Daphne conducted by Semyon Bychkov (Grammy nomination in 2005) and the live recording of a Mozart gala at the Salzburg Festival. Additional successes include Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin with Malcolm Martineau, Soirée Française and Mozart: Aria & Duetti, Die schöne Müllerin with Rudolf Buchbinder (live recording) and the DVDs of Arabella (Vienna State Opera), Das Labyrinth (Salzburg Festival) and the Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concert.

In 2007, the artist was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersänger (Chamber Singer). Since 2014, Michael Schade has been the artistic director of the International Baroque Days at Melk Abbey, which take place annually at Whitsun. In 2017 Michael Schade became an Officer to the Order of Canada (OC), and in 2019 took up the position as singing professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where he dedicates himself intensively to the next generation of singers in addition to numerous master classes.

2025 | 2026

Born in Denmark, Boje Skovhus studied at the Aarhus Music College and the Royal Academy for Opera of Copenhagen and in New York. He rose to opera stardom after a last minute appearance at the Vienna Volksoper when he substituted as Don Giovanni. Since then he has enjoyed a rapidly developing career on the world’s greatest opera stages.

He has been virtually adopted by the Viennese, and regularly performs at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. He sings the major baritone roles, such as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He has spurred a revival of Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Vienna Volksoper, and Royal Opera Copenhagen, and the little known baritone version of Massenet’s Werther. He also has made a specialty of Britten’s Billy Budd and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, including arias or scenes from them on his first opera disc (Sony Classics). Other leading baritone parts in his repertoire are Berg’s Wozzeck, Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero, Peter I in Zar und Zimmerman, Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, and Raimond in Othmar Schoeck’s Venus.

Skovhus also frequently appears on the recital stage and has recorded many recital discs. These include selections of Lieder by Hugo Wolf and Erich Korngold, a selection of songs by Robert and Clara Schumann (The Heart of the Poet), and the two great Schubert song cycles Schwanengesang and Die schöne Müllerin. After his 1997 New York recital at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center he was acclaimed as one of the great Lieder singers of his generation. He is particularly known for the energy and characterization he brings to the stage. He has appeared on many of the world’s great opera stages, including the Metropolitan in New York (debuting 1998 in Die Fledermaus), the Hamburg State Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra de Paris, Royal Opera Copenhagen, and the Bavarian State Opera.

He appears at major music festivals such as Die Salzburg Festspiel, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Edinburgh, the Vienna Festwochen, and the Feldkirch Schubertiade. On the orchestral concert stage, he has sung in Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s War Requiem, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Brahms’ Ein deutsche Requiem, and Schumann’s Scenes from Faust. This is Skovhus’ sixth time to give a master class at AIMS.

Recognised as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bär, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kozena, Solveig Kringelborn, Jonathan Lemalu, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Karita Mattila, Lisa Milne, Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Michael Schade, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Walker and Bryn Terfel.

He has presented his own series at the Wigmore Hall (a Britten and a Poulenc series and Decade by Decade – 100 years of German Song broadcast by the BBC) and at the Edinburgh Festival (the complete lieder of Hugo Wolf). He has appeared throughout Europe (including London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Opera House; La Scala, Milan; the Chatelet, Paris; the Liceu, Barcelona; Berlin’s Philharmonie and Konzerthaus; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein), North America (including in New York both Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall), Australia (including the Sydney Opera House) and at the Aix en Provence, Vienna, Edinburgh, Schubertiade, Munich and Salzburg Festivals.

Recording projects have included Schubert, Schumann and English song recitals with Bryn Terfel (for Deutsche Grammophon); Schubert and Strauss recitals with Simon Keenlyside (for EMI); recital recordings with Angela Gheorghiu and Barbara Bonney (for Decca), Magdalena Kozena (for DG), Della Jones (for Chandos), Susan Bullock (for Crear Classics), Solveig Kringelborn (for NMA); Amanda Roocroft (for Onyx); the complete Fauré songs with Sarah Walker and Tom Krause; the complete Britten Folk Songs for Hyperion; the complete Beethoven Folk Songs for Deutsche Grammophon; the complete Poulenc songs for Signum; and Britten Song Cycles as well as Schubert’s Winterreise with Florian Boesch for Onyx.

This season’s engagements include appearances with Simon Keenlyside, Magdalena Kozena, Dorothea Röschmann, Susan Graham, Christopher Maltman, Thomas Oliemanns, Kate Royal, Christiane Karg, Iestyn Davies, Florian Boesch and Anne Schwanewilms.

He was a given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. Malcolm was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder+ Festival.

Kammersängerin Linda Watson American dramatic soprano made her career based in Germany where she studied and began as a mezzo-soprano at the Theater Aachen. She has performed worldwide, including at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera and the Bayreuth Festival. She focused on dramatic roles by Wagner and Strauss, as well as Turandot. She was awarded the title Kammersängerin in Germany in 2004 and in Austria in 2020. Watson began her stage career as a mezzo-soprano at the Theater Aachen in 1992, followed by an engagement at the Aalto Theatre in Essen in 1995, combined with a guest contract at the Leipzig Opera, where she performed Wagnerian roles such as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde and Venus in Tannhäuser. She became a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1997. The same year, she first appeared as Venus at the Vienna State Opera, and a year later as Kundry in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival, conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli. From 2000 to 2005, she portrayed Ortrud in Lohengrin at Bayreuth.

From 2006 to 2010, she sang all three Brünnhilde roles in Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival, and also performed these roles in the new production at the Vienna State Opera, earning a solo Grammy Nomination. She subsequently appeared as Brünnhilde at many of the world’s great opera houses, including at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, even in a nine-hour compilation of all the Ring in one day. She added more dramatic roles to her repertoire, including Isolde, Elektra, and both the Dyer’s Wife and the Nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten. The credibility of her portrayals and her vocal bravura led to engagements worldwide, in Munich, Berlin, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona, at La Scala in Milan, Florence, Bologna, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She has worked with conductors including Claudio Abbado, Bertrand de Billy, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Hartmut Haenchen, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Antonio Pappano, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Christian Thielemann. In 2013 and 2014, the singer returned to the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein to perform as Marschallin, Elektra, Ariadne and Brünnhilde. At the Vienna State Opera, she was appointed Kammersängerin in January 2020. At La Scala in Milan, Linda Watson could be seen and heard in the 2020/21 season as Herodias in Salome.

In addition, Linda Watson is a professor of voice at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, and performs master classes worldwide.

Mariusz Kwiecien is recognized worldwide as one of the leading baritones before the public today. Known for his handsome voice, incisive musicianship and captivating stage presence, he performs with the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Bavarian State Opera, and with many other renowned theaters around the world. He is in demand for his portrayals of the title roles in Don Giovanni, King Roger, and Eugene Onegin, as well as for Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Riccardo in I Puritani, and Rodrigo di Posa in Don Carlo.

Clemens was born and schooled in Graz and has been associated with AIMS all his life. Completed BA, MPh and PhD studies in Musicology, Romance Languages and Organ performance. He is a freelance author, journalist, program annotator, narrator, and musician.

Since 2004, Clemens works as an artists’ agent representing an international group of vocalists.

He frequently collaborates with the most prestigious promoters, orchestras, festivals and opera houses around the World.

Artists he has worked with include Christa Ludwig, Elina Garanča, Rolando Villázon, Thomas Hampson, and actors Christoph Waltz and Vanessa Redgrave. On his roster are several former AIMSers whom he represents in various European countries.

He teaches audition training at the Graz Music University, in London, Washington DC, Buenos Aires, and many other places.