Rosenblatt Recitals

Artist Biographies

Miroslav Dvorsky studied singing at the Conservatory and then at the Academy of Music in Bratislava with Ida Cernecka as well as at the Teatro alla Scala Milano with Luciano Silvestri. After winning several competitions, he became a member of the Slovakian National Theatre Bratislava. His first engagements took him to Munich, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Geneva, Lucerne, Bern and Basel.

These engagements were followed by appearances at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile in Madame Butterfly, at the Palau de les Arts de Valencia in Carmen under Lorin Maazel, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in Madame Butterfly, Opéra National de Paris in Rusalka, at the Vienna Staatsoper in La Traviata, Nabucco and Simon Boccanegra, at San Francisco Opera in Tosca under Donald Runnicles, Teatro Comunale Bologna in Il Trovatore under Carlo Rizzi, Teatro Regio di Torino in Rusalka and Teatro Giuseppe Verdi, Trieste in Madame Butterfly under Daniel Oren. He made his role debuts at the New National Theatre Tokyo and the Staatsoper Hamburg in Don Carlo and as Laca Klemen in Janáček’s Jenufa, and made his debut as Laca Klemen at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan. He also performed regularly at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Cincinnati Opera, Canadian Opera Toronto, Teatro Carlo Felice Genoa and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Florence.

In 2007 he sang Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach and at the MDR Musiksommer under Fabio Luisi, followed by Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Bamberger Symphoniker. He gave concerts with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano under the baton of Riccardo Chailly, with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Charles Dutoit, Orchestre de Paris with Vladimir Fedoseyev and at the Festspielhaus Salzburg, Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, Stefaniensaal Graz and with the Hessischer Rundfunk.

Highlights of the 2008 Puccini-year were the invitation of the Teatro alla Scala Milan for a new production of Il Tabarro under Riccardo Chailly, a series of Madame Butterfly performances in Dresden and a Puccini-Gala concert at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

In 2008/09 he sang in new productions of the Janáček operas Katya Kabanova at the Teatro Real Madrid and the Makropulos Case at the Teatro alla Scala Milan. Other engagements included La Bohème at the Semper Oper Dresden, Smetana’s The Bartered Bride at the National Theatre Prague, as well as Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra at the Staatsoper Hamburg.

His engagements in the 2009/10 season include the Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo, Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Laca Klemen in Jenufa at the Teatro Real Madrid, Alfred in Die Fledermaus at the Staatsoper Dresden as well as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly at the Staatsoper Munich.

Miroslav has recorded CD’s for Supraphon, Opus, Naxos and Discover and in addition has collaborated on recordings with the ORF, the NDR and the Slovakian and Czech Broadcasting Services.

Simon Lepper was born in Kent and educated at King's College Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, London where he studied with Michael Dussek. He obtained a Dip.RAM, the highest award for postgraduate study, and was subsequently awarded the Hodgson Fellowship. This year he becam an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. Competition successes include the 2000 Gerald Moore Award and the accompanist prizes in the 2002 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, 2000 Maggie Teyte Song Competition and the 1999 Royal Overseas League Competition

Simon works with many of the leading young singers of his generation including Karen Cargill, ,Jared Holt, Gillian Keith, Gweneth-Ann Jeffers, Kate Royal, James Rutherford and BBC New Generations artists Andrew Kennedy, Sally Matthews and Ailish Tynan.

Performances have included recitals in the festivals of Aldeburgh, Arundel, Brighton, Buxton, Chester, Chichester, Edinburgh Fringe, Newbury, Swansea and Three Choirs, and at venues including the Bridgewater Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, St John's Smith Square and Wigmore Hall. Simon has appeared on Radio 2, Classic FM, BBC Wales and Japanese television. He frequently performs on BBC Radio 3. Recent broadcasts have included recitals with New Generations Artists Sally Matthews and Ailish Tynan (BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff Song Prizewinner) a recital of Dichterliebe with Jared Holt from the Waterfront Hall, Belfast and a performance of Die Schöne Müllerin from Gresford Church, Wales and an English Song recital with Roderick Williams.

Simon has recorded a CD of Debussy’s early songs with the soprano Gillian Keith on the Deux-Elles label. Recent engagements have included recitals at the Wigmore Hall with Karen Cargill, Andrew Kennedy, James Rutherford and Ailish Tynan, a recital with tenor Edgaras Montvidas at the Vilnius Festival, Lithuania and at the City of London Festival with Sally Matthews. Simon performed last season in China, France, New Zealand and Switzerland. He also toured the Baltic states with London Winds and the baritone Stephan Loges. Future engagements include recitals with Sally Matthews and Kate Royal at the Wigmore Hall, with Andrew Kennedy at the Bridgewater Hall and throughout Great Britain with the classical saxophonist Sarah Field and cellist Gemma Rosefield. Simon is an official accompanist for the BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff Competition.