André de Ridder is the Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of Theater Freiburg and designated Music Director of both English National Opera and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, titles he will assume from September 2027. He is in demand internationally for his impressive stylistic versatility, from baroque to contemporary music. His projects and collaborations take him to orchestras such as New York Philharmonic, Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Tonhalle Zurich, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Concertgebouworkest.

Over the course of the 2025/26 season, de Ridder will conduct titles such as Doctor Atomic, Iphigénie en Tauride and The Loser at the Theater Freiburg, and Mahagonny at the English National Opera.

De Ridder will also make guest appearances with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Belgian National Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Dublin, The Hallé, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He curates and performs at Oulu Festival and continues his curatorship of Unclassified Live at London’s Southbank Centre, a series of genre-defying performances featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The ‘livewire conductor’ (The Times) has formed close relationships with some of the most prominent opera composers of our generation, including Michel van der Aa, Daníel Bjarnason, Nico Muhly and Kaija Saariaho. De Ridder also recently performed repertoire works such as Bluebeard’s Castle (Philharmonia Orchestra) and Scenes from Goethe’s Faust by Schumann (Staatstheater Stuttgart), collaborating with directors such as Kasper Holten, Barrie Kosky and Enda Walsh. He made his debut at Oper Köln in performances of Der Meister und Margarita by York Höller.

De Ridder is an Artistic Director and co-founder of s t a r g a z e, performing projects ranging from Bach to avant-garde electronics, and contemporary classical music. The group has gained a significant following and is regularly invited by leading concert halls, including the Barbican Centre London, the Kölner Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

De Ridder’s discography includes an album of orchestral music by Bryce Dessner and Jonny Greenwood and the hugely successful Four Seasons Recomposed by Max Richter, both for Deutsche Grammophon. The Max Richter recording was awarded an ECHO Klassik Classic Without Borders award and has topped the classical charts in over twenty countries. For Transgressive Records, De Ridder also acted as producer on the release of Africa Express Presents: In C Mali. This followed a trip to Bamako, Mali, with Damon Albarn and his Africa Express project. In Mali, de Ridder initiated and led a recording of Riley’s In C with local musicians, joined by travelling Western artists, including Brian Eno and Damon Albarn.

De Ridder was Artistic Director of Musica Nova Helsinki 2017–2021, and in 2018 was the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for his innovative work as Artistic Curator of London’s Spitalfields Festival.

Anna Lapwood MBE is an organist, conductor and broadcaster. She is the official Organist of the Royal Albert Hall and is Artist in Association with the BBC Singers. In Spring 2025, Anna was included in the annual Sunday Times Young Power List, celebrating the 30 most powerful people under 30 in the UK. Anna completes her transformational decade as Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge in August 2025 with an all-night BBC Prom at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Anna made her debut at the BBC Proms in 2021 with The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder, as soloist in Saint-Saëns’ ‘Organ Symphony’, and gave her Proms recital debut two years later. She returned to the Proms in August 2025 to host a special all-night program, From Dark Till Dawn, featuring performances from Barokksolistene, Hayato Sumino and many more. A concerto soloist with leading orchestras and conductors, including the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano, Anna will serve as Artist in Residence with The Hallé throughout the 2025-26 season. Recent and forthcoming concerts include performances at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Sydney Opera House, Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles) and Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City).

Deeply committed to the creation of new work for organ and choir, Anna’s recent commissions include compositions by Kristina Arakelyan, Olivia Belli, Max Richter and Lucy Walker. Her desire to explore fresh creative pathways is likewise reflected in pioneering partnerships with, among others, Aurora, Florence and the Machine, Raye, Jules Buckley, Alison Balsom, Bonobo and Benedict Cumberbatch. She attracted capacity audiences in 2024 to her first UK tour promoted by AEG Presents and is set to headline a second nationwide tour for AEG during the Christmas season in 2025.

Anna’s debut solo organ album, Images, released on Signum Records in 2021, features her transcription for organ of the Four Sea Interludes from Britten’s Peter Grimes. Three albums with the Choirs of Pembroke College have also been released on Signum to great acclaim. Her exclusive relationship with SONY Classical was launched with an EP, Midnight Sessions at the Royal Albert Hall, followed in September 2023 by her debut album, LUNA, which rose to No.1 in the UK’s classical chart and became the year’s fastest selling classical album. Her latest album, Firedove, is scheduled for release in May 2025.

Anna is an ardent champion of the organ. A gifted communicator, hailed by Gramophone as ‘the dream ambassador for classical music’, she reaches a vast audience through her performances and via social media, attracting over two million followers across all platforms. Her online posts have already amassed tens of millions of views. Anna’s passion for the organ is matched by her mission to support girls and women in music. She became the first female in the 560-year history of Magdalen College, Oxford to be awarded an Organ Scholarship; since her appointment as Pembroke’s youngest ever Director of Music in 2016, she has run regular workshops for young organists around the UK, hosted the Cambridge Organ Experience for Girls and held an annual 24-hour ‘Bachathon’ to raise money to support musicians in Zambia.

After making her TV presenting debut as host of BBC Young Musician, Anna subsequently presented and guested on televised Proms for the BBC from the Royal Albert Hall. As a radio broadcaster, she is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and independent stations and has appeared in many international television and radio programmes and podcasts. Her six-part series for BBC Radio 3, A View From the Organ Loft, was broadcast in 2024 followed by a three-part series, The Royal Albert Hall of Fame, for Classic FM in 2025.

A persuasive advocate for music education, Anna is determined to bring music to children of all backgrounds. Her commitment to equality and diversity is evident throughout her life and work, not least in the new music that she has commissioned and programmes in her recitals across Europe and North America. Gregoriana, an anthology of twelve new organ pieces by female composers, which she curated and edited for Stainer & Bell, was awarded Presto Music’s Publication of the Year in 2022. Her own compositions are published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Having spent some years being encouraged to “play like a man”, Anna is proud and humbled to see so many adopt her hashtag #playlikeagirl.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s premier choral organisation. Since it was founded in 1920, SPC has brought people together through music, and for over five decades, it has been the heartbeat of choral performance at the Sydney Opera House.

Led by Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark OAM and Associate Music Director Dr Elizabeth Scott, and with more than 2,000 singers across six ensembles, SPC brings the full power of the human voice to dynamic music making. From blockbuster choral classics like Carmina Burana or the Verdi Requiem, to the soaring soundtracks of films such as Gladiator, heartwarming musical theatre, and world premieres by leading Australian composers.

Each year, SPC performs approximately 50 performances across Sydney and beyond, collaborating with top-tier orchestras, soloists and conductors, performing regularly with many of Australia’s most prominent arts companies and festivals. SPC has performed in the Sydney Opera House, Hamer Hall Melbourne, the Singapore National Football Stadium, Westminster Abbey, the Tokyo Dome and the Royal Albert Hall. Highlights over the years have included the opening of the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney and Nagano Olympic Games and being the first Australian choir to perform at the BBC Proms. SPC is also proud to have been the choir of choice for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1936.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs concerts celebrate diversity – of voices, of stories, and of sound – with programs that allow singers and audiences to connect with an exhilarating range of music in languages from English to Gadigal, keeping things fresh with premieres, commissions and new interpretations of beloved classics.