Ruud Zielhorst, Pianist

After finishing his Bachelorstudies at the Royal conservatory in The Hague, he continued his Masterstudies chamber music with Evgeny Sinaiski and Yannick Rafalimanana at the Folkwang University in Essen. After graduating in 2017, he continued studying ‘Liedbegleitung’ with Xaver Poncette, also at the Folkwang University in Essen. 

In 2019 Ruud has worked as guest-repetitor at several German theaters:

In Hagen he worked on the opera ‘Viva Verdi’, where he also performed in the production. As he is interested in working with singers in the operatic field, he did an internship at the Aalto-Theatre in Essen, where he worked on Cosi Fan Tutte with Tomas Netopil. At the Ruhtriennale in Bochum, Ruud participated as repetitor for the program Evoltion. There, he worked on Ligeti’s requiem with the Bochumer Symphoniker, state choir of Latvia and the Proton theatre of Budapest. In september 2019 he worked on ‘Ein Fest für Mackie’, a musical theater play, at the Schauspielhaus Bochum. This was directed by Johan Simons, and played by the Bochumer Symphoniker, conducted by Steven Sloane. 

Together with Maria Fiselier (mezzo-soprano) he recorded songs by Mattheu Dijker for the CD ‘The Madness of this World/De Waanzin van deze Wereld’.

He was pianist in the National Youth Orchestra, the Nieuw Kamer Orkest and in Ensemble Royaal. He also played together with several choires, like Kamerkoor Ad Parnassum, het Nederlands Zangtheater and Kamerkoor Kwintessens. He was also one of the accompanying repetitors for the rehearsals of the ‘Meezingconcerten’, organised by the Dutch Radio Choir. 

Ian Spinetti, Tenor

The Brazilian tenor Ian Spinetti, born in 1995, started his Singing lessons in the Music School of Brasília with Francisco Frias.

The young tenor moved to Europe through a singers program with the renowned Choir Academy Lübeck under the Artistic Direction of Rolf Beck. In 2015 he was chosen as a Soloist for the First International Residency in the Lyrical Opera of Chicago and had Masterclasses with Craig Terry and Julia Faulkner. Now he continues his studies with Professor Rachel Robins at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen.

After starting his life in Germany, he was quickly invited as a soloist for concerts like „B minor mass” by Bach with the Choir Academy Lübeck. He also got the opportunity to widen his concert repertoire with works like: Rossini’s „Petite Messe Solennelle”, Mozart’s „Coronation Mass” and „Requiem”, Orff’s „Carmina Burana” and numerous Bach Cantatas.

In 2019 he participated in the Slovakian International Competition „Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky” and won the first prize of his category and the prize for the best interpretation of Schneider-Trnavsky’s song.

In 2019 he made his Opera Debut with Jaquino from the Opera „Fidelio” with the „Oper Burg Gars” and sang the role of Lysander in the opera
„A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Britten in Essen.