Gdańsk Music Festival – Opera Gala

PFB Orchestra
Daniel Smith - conductor

Soloists – scholarship holders of the sic itur ad astra foundation:

Inma Hidalgo – soprano
Sandra Šarikovaitė – soprano
Eglė Wyss – mezzo-soprano
Chuan Wang – tenor
Šarūnas Šapalas – baritone
Martin Mkhize – baritone

In the program: G. Rossini, V. Bellini, G. Verdi, Ch. Gounod, G. Puccini, U. Giordano, E. Korngold

Daniel Smith
Daniel Smith has an unbridled passion for music. He quickly gained worldwide recognition as the only conductor to win the four most prestigious international conducting competitions, including the International Conducting Competition. Grzegorz Fitelberg, where he also received the Golden Baton and the orchestra award, and the International Conducting Competition. Sir Georg Solti. Spotted by Maestro
Valery Gergiev, was invited as the first Australian to conduct the Mariinsky Orchestra. Featured in the magazine Team, he was personally invited back as a frequent guest conductor to the Mariinsky Theater. He then began his term as Direttore Principale Ospite at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.
Smith is a global citizen born in Australia and living in Italy. He proudly holds the Italian title of Cultural Ambassador of Australia. He lectures at many different, mainly European, artistic institutions, and obtained music diplomas from the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena, Trinity College in London, the University of Music in Bratislava, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen.
From behind the lectern, Smith easily infects both musicians and the audience with his symphonic musicality, energy and spirit. After a very successful debut with the Marian orchestra, he conducted the orchestras of the London Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Israeli Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra Rai lli, the Belgradian Philharmonic orchestra, a also at music events: Mozarteum Festspiele, Estate Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Aspen Music Festival and White Night Stars in Saint Petersburg.

Inma Hidalgo
The artist sang works by Rutter, Pàll Estherhazy, Rossini and Beethoven at the Teatre Individual in Palma de Mallorca, Brandenburg, Augsburg and the Berlin Philharmonic. His repertoire includes roles such as: Marcelina in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Paggio in Verdi's Rigoletto, Rosita in Luiza Fernanda by FM Torroba, Encarna in La Revoltos by R. Chapí, Irene in La Doña, Francisquita by A. Vives, the First Lady in The Magic Flute and Donna Elvira w Don Giovanni WA Mozart, Anna w nabuco Verdi, Rowan w The Little Sweep Britten.
At the Festival Musica Mallorca she performed the role of Mercedes in Bizet's Carmen, she also sang the part of Clotilde in normie Bellini conducted by Andres Salado, directed by Lorenzo Amato. She had the opportunity to sing in such halls as: the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Latvian National Opera, the Livings Arts Center in Toronto, Casa da Musica in Porto, the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo, the Old Theater in Vilnius, Dzintari Hall in Jürmale and Sala Kolarac in Belgrade.

Sandra Šarikovaitė
She was born in Kaunas. She is currently studying at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and one of the first to notice her talent was prof. Vincenzo Manno from Milan. From the beginning, it was led by the opera singer Egle Wyss, who is still her teacher and artistic inspiration. In recent years, her stage performances have also been influenced by Alessandro Misciasci. Her dramatic talent and vocal abilities were recognized by the Georg Solti Academy 2023, thanks to which she had the opportunity to work with teachers such as Leo Nucci, Richard Bonynge, Barbara Frittoli, Jonathan Palmera Lakeland, Jonathan Papp and Stefano Baldasseroni.
In January 2024, Sandra Sarikovaite joined the siaa foundation after a successful performance at the Opera Gala organized as part of the Christopher's Summer Festival 2023 at the Old Theater in Vilnius, where she performed with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonas Janulevicius.

Eglė Wyss
Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Egle Wyss impresses with her dramatic voice in works by Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Strauss. Her recent appearances include: Venus (Tannhäuser) at the New National Theater in Tokyo, Jeanne d'Arc (Die Jungfrau von Orleans) at Domstufen Festspiele Erfurt, Romeo (The Capulets and the Montagues) at the Lithuanian National Opera in Vilnius and Ebola (Don Carlos) at the Lithuanian National Opera, the Latvian National Opera in Riga and the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn.
At the Salzburg Easter Festival she performed alongside Jonas Kaufmann, and in 2024 she will perform as Mère Marie de l'Incarnation (Carmelite Dialogues) at Teatro Cervantes in Malaga, will make its debut at Teatro Comunale Bologna, MTS Belgrade, Teatro Sassari, and in 2025 will sing for the first time at Teatro della Scala in Milan.

Chuan Wang
He is the first Chinese tenor to perform on the stage of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He graduated from the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China and the Conservatorio di Milano in Italy. He has won awards at many international competitions, including: Bazzini International Opera Competition, Salvatore Licitra International Lyric Opera Competition, Tenor Viñas International Lyric Opera Competition, where he also received the Plácido Domingo special prize.
In April 2017, he joined the Teatro alla Scala program for young artists. his repertoire includes parts in such works as: Don Pasquale, L'Elisir d'Amore, Il Barbier di Siviglia, Cendrillon, Rigoletto, Gianni Schicchi, Ali Baba and Forty Thieres, II viaggio a Reims, Armida, Ermione, L'inganno Felice i Cavilla. In 2021, he performed as part of the Rossini Festival, and the most important events of the 2023-2024 season include: Turandot Puccini, Gianni Schicchi and the Italian Algiers Rossini at Teatro alla Scala and other prestigious stages in Europe.

Šarūnas Šapalas
He was born in Lithuania. He studied opera singing at the Vilnius Academy of Music and Theater under the supervision of Vytautas Juozepaitis. He later graduated from the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia, in the class of Dagmar Bezačinska. Šarūnas made his debut as Morales in the opera Carmen Bizet at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater in 2014.
In the same theater he performed parts in operas by Verdi, Puccini, Massenet, Bernstein and Šerkšnyte. In 2015, Šarūnas was recognized as most promising young singer of the year in Lithuania. In 2016, he also started cooperation with the Vilnius City Opera, where he sang the part of Sciarrone in Tosca Puccini and Wagner w Faust Gounouda. In May 2017, Šarūnas also introduced himself to the Slovak audience. He was invited to perform the part Alec Rachmaninoff's opera at the State Theater in Banská Bystrica. After his Slovak debut, he was praised by Slovak critics discovery of the year. At the Klaipėda Musical Theater he performed as Marcell and Shaunard w Boheme Puccini. In 2018, he made his debut in Portugal with an opera by Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin at the Viseu and Bataglia festivals. In 2021, he made his debut as Don Giovanni in Mozart's opera.

Martin Mkhize
South African baritone Martin Mkhize was a member of the opera studio of the Dutch National Opera. He performed there, among others: in The Barber of Seville, Madama Butterfly, Il Martimonio Segreto, Carmen, L'elisir d'Amore, Turandot. He took part in world premieres The portrait and How Anansi set the stories of the world free. Previously, he formed parties in Wedding Figaro and The Magic Flute, the Don Giovanni Mozart at the Cape Town Opera. He took part in various Foundation concerts. Martin Mkhize studied at the University of Cape Town, where he won first prize and the audience award in the Schock Foundation Competition.

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