Christianne Stotijn
The Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn was born in Delft and studied violin and voice at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. After obtaining her solo violin diploma she continued her vocal studies with Udo Reinemann, Jard van Nes and Dame Janet Baker. Over the years Christianne has won numerous awards, including the prestigious ECHO Rising Stars Award 2005/2006, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2005, and the Nederlands Muziekprijs in 2008. In 2007 she was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist.

Christianne is a passionate interpreter of art songs. Accompanied by the pianists Joseph Breinl and Julius Drake, with whom she has a longstanding duo partnership, she has appeared in the world’s leading concert venues. She regularly performs chamber music with musicians such as the violist Antoine Tamestit, her brother the double bassist Rick Stotijn and the Oxalys Ensemble.

The conductor Bernard Haitink has had a profound influence on Christianne’s career. Under his direction she has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra.

Christianne has also worked with world-class conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, Mark Elder and Jaap van Zweden, performing repertoire including: Berlioz‘s La Mort de Cléopâtre and Les Nuits d'été, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Britten’s Phaedra, Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, Mahler's Rückert Lieder and Kindertotenlieder, the Neruda Songs by Peter Lieberson, Fünf neapolitanische Lieder by Hans Werner Henze, Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and Sieben frühe Lieder by Alban Berg.

She has performed diverse world premières of contemporary works. For instance, Michel van der Aa jointly dedicated his song cycle Spaces of Blank to Christianne and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2009. In 2013 she sang the world première of Totentanz by Thomas Adès at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Christianne also appears regularly on the operatic stage. She has sung the role of Pauline in Pique Dame at the Paris Opera, Isabella in L'Italiana in Algeri at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Ottavia in Poppea at the Dutch National Opera, the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo and the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao. She sang Cornelia in Giulio Cesare at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and at the Dutch National Opera. Other major engagements have included the title role in Tamerlano at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and the role of Brangäne in a concertante performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. In 2014 she will appear as Marfa in Mussorgsky’s La Khovanshchina at Oper Stuttgart.

Christianne Stotijn’s recordings are brought out by the Onyx label. In 2010 her recording of Tchaikovsky songs received the BBC Music Magazine Award. For the MDG label Christianne recorded a work close to her heart: Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke by Frank Martin. This recording earned her the ECHO Award ‘Liedeinspielung des Jahres 2008’.

Dmitri Liss
Graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with Dmitry Kitaenko Dmitry Liss began his conducting career as Kitaenko’s assistant with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1991 to 1995 he was Principal Conductor of the Kuzbass Symphony Orchestra, and in 1997–1999 led the American-Russian Youth Orchestra. Since 1995 Dmitry Liss has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1999 to 2003 he was a conductor of the Russian National Orchestra. Since 2011 the musician has been Artistic Director of the Eurasia International Music Festival, which is held by the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Society every two years. Since September 2016 he has also been the chief conductor of the South Netherlands Philharmonic.

In 1995 Dmitry Liss won the I International Lovro von Matačić International Conducting Competition in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2008 he was awarded the State Prize of Russia and in 2011 named the People’s Artist of Russia.

Dmitry Liss appears with major Russian orchestras as well as with symphony orchestras in France, Germany, Italy, the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands and other countries.

Under the direction of Dmitry Liss, the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra participates in international festivals making tours worldwide and cooperating with top recording companies including Warner Classics and Mirare.

philharmonie zuidnederland
The South Netherlands Philharmonic truly is an orchestra for everyone. The inspired musicians deliver tailor-made artistry at the highest level. Ranging from the grand, symphonic concerts in the concert halls with the beloved evergreens out of the classical canon, to innovative concert formulas in unexpected places. From ancient masterpieces to exhilarating world premières, from challenging crossovers to educational projects. Under the direction of its intendant Stefan Rosu, the South Netherlands Philharmonic is an organisation with a clear vision of renewal, an orchestra that continuous to push its borders

75 Years of Liberation: In 2020 the Netherlands celebrate 75 years of liberation. Before the rest of the country was liberated, the Southern Netherlands already regained their freedom in the autumn of 1944. For the South Netherlands Philharmonic, this is ample cause to make the Liberation its central narrative in all its programming, this season. No better programmes to start with than the spectacular Liberation Concert Margraten and the Liberation Concert Eindhoven, organised in collaboration with the September 18 Foundation. Chief-conductor Dmitry Liss conducts Mahler’s Second Symphony, ‘Resurrection’. A masterpiece that symbolises the reconstruction of a new life. During the whole concert season, the theme of Liberation can be discovered in all its little elements. Composers like Respighi, Ravel, and Britten all offer pacifist alternatives, and Samuel Barber in his Second Symphony and Richard Danielpour in his Elegies both give glimpses of direct or indirect involvement with the act of liberating. But also works by Henri Dutilleux, Henryk Gorecki, Felix Mendelssohn, Bohuslav Martinû, Antonin Dvorák, and Igor Stravinsky contribute to our celebration of 75 years of liberty in a myriad of musical ways.

Anchored in the region: Although the South Netherlands Philharmonic has as its ambition to be one of the most prominent Dutch orchestras and to play at an international level, the orchestra certainly does not lose sight of its roots. It is, first and foremost, an orchestra for the people of the provinces of Noord-Brabant, Limburg, and Zeeland. The orchestra cherishes a strong connection to the region and its manifold societies. The South Netherlands Philharmonic attends all the important happenings. Think of the grand public events like Opera at the Parade and the Opera Sing Along, in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Or the aforementioned Liberation Concert in Margraten, which has become a staple tradition in Limburg. The fantastic performances at the Cultura Nova festival are the talk of the town. And of course, there are the popular Vastelaovend and Carnival Concerts in Limburg and Brabant. Important also are the many collaborations, with the contemporary music festival November Music in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, with the amateur musicians during the HAFA Concerts, and with rising talents of the Maastricht and Tilburg conservatories with the Orchestra Academy, to name but a few. And in Brabant, there’s also the String and Wind Days and the collaboration with the Euregional Youth Orchestra

Blossoming across borders: The South Netherlands Philharmonic already undertook a concert tour to France that was very well received by the press. The orchestra has furthermore played on stages in Cologne, Ghent, and Liège. But the international ambitions become most clear in this season’s new series of Meisterkonzerte (Master Concerts) in Aachen. Since last season, the orchestra has had a great deal of success in taking on the role of producer of this concert series in the Eurogress in Aachen. This way, the South Netherlands Philharmonic, as one of the most prominent artistic institutions of the Southern Netherlands, has become a true propagator and cultural ambassador in the Euregion. This ambitious series contains no less than six concerts, this season: three of them to be played by the South Netherlands Philharmonic, whilst the rest is taken on by guest orchestras. The South Netherlands Philharmonic has invited the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, and the young, English, multicultural Chineke! Orchestra for this special purpose. The latter of these three, much like the South Netherlands Philharmonic itself, stands for change and diversity in classical music.

Innovation: Classical music of course has a rich history. But traditions come and go with renewal. Therefore, the South Netherlands Philharmonic celebrates innovation, manifesting itself in various, invigorating projects. On the one hand, the South Netherlands Philharmonic investigates the changes and developments in the world of classical music as a core member of the Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music. The MCICM is an interdisciplinary research centre consisting of a collaborating orchestra, Maastricht University, and Zuyd Hogeschool. The orchestra is the centre’s laboratory, in a manner of speaking, and brings new ideas and insights to the fore and can experiment with them in practice too. On the other hand, the South Netherlands Philharmonic is wont to develop new concert formulas, such as the striking i-Classics series, and to strike up new interdisciplinary collaborations with theatre and dance troupes. The orchestra also innovates by pointedly bridging the gaps with big business, like during the inspiring business network event Leading the South.