Lydia Teuscher, Julie Robard-Gendre, Damen des WDR Rundfunkchores, WDR Sinfonieorchester & Joseph Bastian
Biographie Lydia Teuscher, Julie Robard-Gendre, Damen des WDR Rundfunkchores, WDR Sinfonieorchester & Joseph Bastian
Lydia Teuscher
After studying at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and at the Mannheim University of Music, soprano Lydia Teuscher began a permanent engagement at the Dresden State Opera, where she played Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Gretel in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Susanna in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, and Valencienne in Lehár's The Merry Widow. The role of Pamina also took her to the Berlin State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Salzburg Mozart Week (with René Jacobs), the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, where she also sang Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni.
Other engagements included the Glyndebourne Festival (Gretel, Suanna, and Cherubino) and the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, Japan, with Héro in Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict.
She works regularly with conductors such as Emanuëlle Haïm, René Jacobs, Sir Roger Norrington, Jeffrey Tate, Robin Ticciati, Bernard Labadie, Giovanni Antonini, and Ivor Bolton.
This season, she made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Handel's Messiah under the baton of Bernard Labadie, with whom she also performed Mozart's Mass in C minor and Les Violons du Roy in Montreal.
She sang Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Ivor Bolton and thrilled audiences with her debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the roles of Gabriel and Eve in Haydn's Creation under the baton of Masaaki Suzuki.
She has a long-standing collaboration with Les Violons du Roy in Canada.
In September, she sang Bach cantatas with Giovanni Antonini and the orchestra IL Giardino Armonico at the 51st Catans Festival in Wroçlaw.
She has a particular love for lieder singing. Her chamber music partners include Graham Johnson, Angela Hewitt, and Juliane Ruf, with whom she has given recitals at deSingel in Antwerp, the Kennedy Center in Washington, London's Wigmore Hall, the Ruhr Piano Festival, and other festivals in Europe.
The coming season will feature, among other things, a concert with arias by Handel and Mozart and the New World Orchestra in Miami,
her debut with the Munich Radio Orchestra in Mozart's La finta giardiniera and Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire at a chamber music evening at the Bavarian State Opera, as well as Mozart's Mass in C minor with the Vienna Konzerthaus Orchestra and a production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in Hyogo under Yutaka Sado.
Her discography includes Telemann's Brockes Passion with AKaMu under René Jacobs, Hänsel und Gretel with the LSO and Robin Ticciati, songs by F. Schubert and R. Schumann with Graham Johnson, and a CD of imperial arias, released by Coviello.
Julie Robard-Gendre
French mezzo-soprano Julie Robard-Gendre garnered accolades from public and press alike with her recent role and house debut as Venus in Tannhaüser with Korea National Opera, her role debut as Santuzza with Opéra de Saint-Étienne and her powerful Foreign princess in Rusalka with Opéra de Massy.
Other recent engagements of note include Nefertiti in Philip Glass' Akhnaten with the Opéra de Nice, Sesto in La Clemenza di Titio at then Angers-Nantes Opera, Marguerite in La damnation de Faust at the Domstufen Festspiele in Erfurt, Germany, Maddalena in Rigoletto with the Cercle de l’Harmonie at the Festival Berlioz in La Côte Saint-André and in Bremen, Falstaff (Meg Page) in Lille, Luxembourg and Caen, La Tragédie de Carmen on tour with the ensemble Miroirs étendus, Carmen (title role) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Salomé (Hérodias) in Metz, La Mort de Cléopatre in concert at the Angers-Nantes Opera, and Ariane (Perséphone) by Massenet in Munich with Palazzetto Bru Zane, which was recorded with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
In recent seasons, Julie appeared as Gertrude in Hamlet in a new production with Opera de Nantes/Angers and Opera de Rennes. At Lausanne Opera she sang the title role in La Belle Hélène, a role she previously performed at Opera de Rennes, Opera de Vichy and in Avignon, and a new production of Don Quichotte as Dulcinée at Opera de Tours.
Additional career highlights include Robard-Gendre’s Paris Opera debut as Dame d’honneur/Bohémienne in Les Huguenots and a reprise of Zweite Dame in Robert Carsen’s production of Die Zauberflöte. She made her debut in the title role of Carmen at Opera de Rennes and was highly acclaimed by critics and public alike as Ghita in Der Zwerg at Opera de Lille, Opera de Rennes and Opera de Caen. She also enjoyed a debut at Festival Aix-en-Provence in the role of Ramiro in La finta giardiniera, which was broadcast live via ARTE, and sang the role of Prince Raphaël in Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde at Opéra de Limoges.
Prior roles for the artist include: Orphée in Orphée et Eurydice at Opera de Nantes/Angers, where she also revived the role of Prince Charming in Cendrillon (a role she previously sang at Opera de Massy); Olga in Eugene Onegin in Nice, Metz and Reims; Fenena in Nabucco in Toulon and Nice, and a debut at Opéra de Monte Carlo as the Kitchen Boy in Rusalka.
Joseph Bastian
Swiftly emerging as one of the most exciting talents of the younger generation, French-Swiss conductor Joseph Bastian is widely celebrated for his “total precision, and calm and masterful manner”, and renowned for the remarkable and tangible sense of partnership he creates with orchestral musicians, and his distinct and highly celebrated skill for building an orchestra’s character from within.
Beginning September 2023, Bastian holds the position of Chief Conductor & Artistic Director of the Munich Symphony Orchestra (Münchner Symphoniker), Germany. In this role, he is particularly passionate about developing the orchestra’s place as the true orchestra of the city and of the people of Munich, devising and implementing ambitious plans across a multitude of fronts: artistic, international, and social.
Since September 2022, Bastian serves as Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne, France, where he is tasked with building the orchestra of the Opéra de Dijon in its first forays as a symphonic orchestra in its own right. He devises and undertakes major inter-disciplinary projects (for instance, examining the links between music and neuroscience), and explores a diverse range of repertoire, programming multiple world premieres alongside major symphonic statements. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Pierre Thilloy’s SAMÂ – la lumiére exilée: an intercultural work that brings together contemporary music, Sufism, and literature.
Also since 2022, Bastian serves as Principal Conductor of the Asian Youth Orchestra, leading and inspiring this premiere ensemble on major annual tours throughout Europe and Asia. In Asia, the AYO regularly tours through China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The orchestra also has an increasing presence in Europe, with regular performances at such major Italian festivals as Bergamo and Ravello, main-stage concerts in Munich, and appearances at the Young Euro Classics series at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
As a guest conductor, Bastian enjoys a particularly strong profile in Germany, with recent and forthcoming highlights including projects with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Dresdner Philharmonie, DRP Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern, and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, as well as with the radio orchestras of Berlin (DSO & RSB), Frankfurt (hr-Sinfonieorchester), Köln (WDR), Munich (BRSO), and Stuttgart (SWR).
Bastian conducts at a high level in France, working regularly with such orchestras as the Orchestre National d’Île de France, and the Orchestre National du Capitôle de Toulouse. Other recent and forthcoming highlights include projects in Austria (Mozarteumorchester Salzburg), the Baltics (Estonian National Symphony Orchestra), Benelux (Belgian National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg), Central Europe (Prague Radio Symphony Orchesta), Japan (Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra Tokyo), Scandinavia (Aarhus Symfoniorkester, Gävle Symfoniorkester), Spain (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya), South America (Orquestra Sinfònica do Estado de São Paulo), and Switzerland (Orchestre della Svizzera Italiana and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne).
Bastian holds a particular passion and gift for opera, with recent productions including Hänsel & Gretel (2023) and Luisa Miller (2025) at the Luzerner Theater. His debut in the field was at the Zürich Opera Studio (2022), conducting Haydn’s Il mondo della luna at the Theater Winterthur, Switzerland, to widespread critical acclaim. In 2021, he led a highly successful run of Die Bernauerin at the Carl-Orff Festival, Germany, and has also enjoyed work with the Kammeroper München. Bastian is always keen to further his knowledge and skills in the art of conducting, and to that end he recently worked closely with Vladimir Jurowski at the Bayerisches Staatsoper on their production of Penderecki’s Die Teufel von Loudun.
Bastian burst into the international spotlight in February 2016, when he stepped in at the last moment to conduct the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (‘BRSO’) in three subscription concerts – widely heralded by the press as a “sensational debut”. Shortly thereafter, he was awarded the Neeme Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival (2016), and Eugene Jochum Prize for Young Conductors by the BRSO (2019).
Born in France to a French-Swiss family, Bastian began his musical journey by studying the cello, trombone, and composition. After studies in trombone at the University of Music Saar, he performed as a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and Pierre Boulez, and the Orchestra of the Academy of the Munich Philharmonic. Thereafter, he held for a time the position of Principal Bass Trombonist with the BRSO, before putting the instrument aside in order to focus fully on his conducting career.
Bastian worked as an Assistant Conductor to the late Mariss Jansons, who helped and supported him significantly in his early conducting studies, as well as to Daniel Harding (BR Choir, Symphony Orchestra, and Academy), and Vladimir Jurowski (London Philharmonic Orchestra). He also received masterclasses and ongoing support from Bernard Haitink, Jorma Panula, and David Zinman, amongst others. Bastian further honed his skills as Chief Conductor of the Abaco-Orchestra of the University of Munich (2011-2018), touring the orchestra to such major European venues as Musikverein Wien.
Alongside the major symphonic repertoire, Bastian is dedicated to championing contemporary works (including the recent world premieres of Fredrik Högberg’s Violin Concerto, and Aziza Sadikova’s Percussion Concerto). He also has a keen interest in historically informed performance practice. During his earlier career as an orchestral musician, Bastian’s expert knowledge of instruments such as the sackbut, serpent, and ophicleide saw him perform not only with the BRSO, but also with other such world-class ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
