Sebastian F. Schwarz
President
Sebastian F. Schwarz is currently the Casting Manager at La Scala in Milan.
He is an Austrian-German born musician, teacher and artistic director. In Italy, he has been the Artistic Director of the Festival della Valle d’Itria and of the Accademia del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti”, as well as the Superintendent and Artistic Director of the Teatro Regio di Torino. Previously, he had assumed primarily important roles as General and Artistic Director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Deputy Director of the Theater an der Wien and Artistic Director of the Vienna Kammeroper.
Schwarz held many other management positions at the Wexford Festival Opera and as an assistant opera director at the Staatsoper in Hamburg.
He was the co-founder and artistic director of the Pietro Antonio Cesti International Voice Competition for Baroque Opera at the Early Music Festival in Innsbruck. He is a regular member or the president of the jury at important international voice competitions. He was also the founder and the opening president of the jury of the Glyndebourne Opera Cup in 2018.
Schwarz is the vice president of the Richard Strauss International Society and a member of the board of directors of EMA (European Academy of Musical Theatre).
At present, he is working on the new OperaVision podcast for Opera Europa, which will be broadcast in September 2025 to introduce the European world of opera from its origins until today.
In 2015, Sebastian F. Schwarz was awarded the title of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia for his role in spreading and supporting Italian art and artists.
Laurent Brunner
Director of Opéra Royal/Château de Versailles Spectacles.
Since September 2007, Laurent Brunner is director of Château de Versailles Spectacles. He has developed the company significantly in the last ten years, increasing the number of paying visitors by 100% with 1.600.000 tickets in 2016, reopening the Opera Royal, which has been offering a season of around 80 performances every year since 2009 and producing the major Versailles contemporary art exhibitions: from Jeff Koons in 2008 to Olafur Eliasson in 2016.
The musical season offers concerts and operas with stars of classical music (Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, Jordi Savall, John Eliot Gardiner, Raphael Pichon, William Christie….) in the most prestigious venues of the chateau: the Opera Royal, the Chapel and Hall of Mirrors.
Château de Versailles de Spectacles today is a company with an annual budget of 16M€ which receives no subsidies from the government. It has 30 permanent employees and 400 summer season staff.
Born in Lorraine in the east of France, Laurent Brunner grew up in Verdun, a landmark city where history and the French-German axis are deeply rooted. He chose Strasbourg for his history and history of art studies. This is where he discovered ancient music and the opera and he launched a festival in Verdun in 1990. Its success led him to the organization of a full season in 1991 and ultimately to a merger with the Theatre Municipal, which became an official state supported stage in 1992.
In 1996, Laurent Brunner became director of the Scène Nationale de Forbach et de l’Est Mosellan (national stage of Forbach and East Moselle), covering 23 cities of the Lorraine coal basin, which he modernised and renamed Le Carreau (The Pithead). The Scène Nationale set up camp in a former pithead (Carreau Wendel in Petite Rosselle) to present shows and performances, strongly developing the offer of classic music in very diverse settings. He developed a project for Mission 2000 en France, with the renovation of an industrial building for the exhibition L’Aventure du travail (The Adventure of Work), coproduced by the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (Paris) and the Centro de Cultura Contemporanea (Barcelona), with a budget of 3 million euros and 5 million euros renovation works. In 2002 he became also director of the Festival Perspectives in Saarbrücken (Germany).
In May 2002, he joined the cabinet of the French Minister for Culture Jean Jacques Aillagon, as the minister’s technical adviser for performing arts. He was then appointed Cultural Attaché to the French embassy in Berlin (Germany), before moving to Versailles.
Jonathan Friend
Jonathan Friend was born in London, England, and educated in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. He joined English National Opera in 1974, becoming the Archivist in 1977. In 1979 he became Company Manager for English National Opera North in Leeds.
In 1981, he was invited by James Levine to come to the Metropolitan Opera, becoming Company Manager in 1982 and Artistic Administrator in 1984. He remained in that capacity for 36 years, working with two music directors and five general managers, being responsible for season planning and for engaging singers and conductors. He then became Artistic Advisor to the Met from 2020 to 2025, completing a total of 44 years with that company.
He was appointed Artistic Advisor to the Irish National Opera in Dublin in 2022, Casting Consultant to the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 2024, and Casting Consultant to the Houston Grand Opera in 2025. He frequently serves as a judge on vocal competitions.
Iva Hraste-Sočo
Iva Hraste-Sočo, PhD, is General Manager and Artistic Director of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. She graduated in solo singing from the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, and earned her doctorate from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. As a soprano, she performed 27 opera roles and pursued an extensive concert career in Croatia and internationally.
Her career spans the performing arts, cultural diplomacy, cultural policy, and academia. She served as Cultural Counsellor at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Vienna and as Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia. She also teaches at university and diplomatic programmes and publishes books and scholarly papers.
Since 2022, she has led the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, strengthening its artistic ensembles, repertoire, international collaborations, audience development, and institutional profile. Under her leadership, the new HNK2 stage opened in November 2025. She has been reappointed for a second mandate, from 2026 to 2030.
She is Vice-President of Opera Europa, a jury member of the International Opera Awards and the FEDORA Prizes Biennale, and Chair of the International Jury of the FEDORA Opera Prize 2027. Her honours include the “Judita” Award, the “Milka Trnina” Award, and Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia.
Javier Menéndez Álvarez
Javier Menéndez Álvarez was born in Oviedo in 1972. He holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Oviedo and simultaneously pursued studies in music and vocal performance. He later undertook studies in musicology and specialized in cultural management. In 1999, he joined the Artistic Management team of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, under the direction of Joan Matabosch, eventually becoming Deputy Director, a position he held until July 2003. At that time, he returned to his hometown to assume the role of Artistic Director of the Opera de Oviedo.
From 2013 onwards, he simultaneously served as both General Director and Artistic Director. In February 2019, he joined the Teatro de la Maestranza as General and Artistic Director, a position he continues to hold today.