URSULA STRAUSS I MICHAEL SCHADE - Schnitzel, goulash and gefilte fish

The four-time ROMY award winner studied acting at the Vienna Volkstheater and went on to appear at numerous renowned theaters, such as the Theater in der Josefstadt, the Ensembletheater, the Drachengasse and the Vienna Volkstheater.

She has made many successful feature films since 2001. Her most important films are "Böse Zellen" (2003, directed by Barbara Albert), "Crash Test Dummies" (2005, directed by Jörg Kalt) and "Kotsch" (2006, directed by Helmut Köpping), "Fallen!" (2005, directed by Barbara Albert), which screened in competition in Venice in 2006, and "Revanche" (2008, directed by Götz Spielman), the latter of which was invited to the Berlinale in 2008 and was nominated for an Oscar abroad in 2009. "Maybe in Another Life" (2010, directed by Elisabeth Scharang). "Michael" (2010, director: Markus Schleinzer) screened in the Cannes Competition in 2011. "October, November", again with Götz Spielmann, was released in November 2013. In 2015, she shot "Mein Fleisch und Blut", directed by Michael Ramsauer, and "Maikäfer Flieg" (directed by M. Unger), which was also the opening film of the 2016 Diagonale.

Her big breakthrough on television came with the role of Inspector Angelika Schnell in "Schnell Ermittelt", the series that quickly became one of ORF's most successful series and also made Ursula Strauss an audience favorite.
In 2015/16 she shot season 5 of "Schnell Ermittelt", among others. This was followed by the character of Anna Sacher in the 2-part "Das Sacher" directed by Robert Dornhelm as an ORF/ZDF production and the mini-series "Pregau" directed by Nils Willbrandt, an ORF/ARD production. She shot the mini-series "Die Aufschneider" and "Altes Geld" with David Schalko, among others,
several TV films with the directors Wolfgang Murnberger, Andreas Prochaska, Nikolaus Leytner, Lars Becker and with Stefan Krohmer.

In 2008 and 2016 she was awarded Best Actress at the Diagonale.
In 2012 she received the Austrian Film Award for Best Actress.
Since 2012, Ursula Strauss has very successfully curated her own festival WACHAU in ECHTZEIT.

Celebrated as one of the world's leading tenors of our time, the German-Canadian has a close working relationship with the Vienna State Opera, where he most recently appeared in new productions of Mozart's Idomeneo and La clemenza di Titoas the Prince in Dvořák's Rusalkaand as Flamand in Strauss Capriccio was to be experienced. He has also appeared as a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, the Bavarian State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Liceu Barcelona, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Opéra Bastille in Paris. In Hamburg, the artist made his successful role debut as Peter Grimes in November 2013. His role debuts as Eisenstein (The bat) in Toronto and as Florestan (Fidelio) under Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Theater an der Wien were acclaimed by the audience and the press. Further highlights were Aschenbach (Death in Venice) in Hamburg, Max in Weber's Freischütz at the Berlin State Opera and the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, as well as his role debut as Eisenstein in the traditional New Year's EveBat at the Vienna State Opera in 2017. This was followed by a new production in the 2018/2019 season Electra (Aegisth) at the Canadian Opera Company, as well as Strauss' Daphne (Leukippos) and Erik in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman at the Hamburg State Opera. In the fall of 2019, Michael Schade appeared in Montréal under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Séguin in a concertante Fidelio can be heard as Florestan. In the 2022/2023 season, Michael Schade will appear as Herod in a new production of Strauss' Salome at the Canadian Opera Company, as well as in a concert performance of Beethoven's Fidelio under Paavo Järvi at the Tonhalle Zurich.

Michael Schade has been a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival for many years, including in new productions such as Mozart's La clemenza di TitoPurcells King ArthurMozart's The Magic FluteHaydn's ArmidaCherubinis Medée, from Winters The labyrinth and in the title role of Schubert's Fierrabras as well as on the concert and song stage. From 2008 to 2010, he was Creative Director of the Young Singers Project, which he initiated.

With his large concert repertoire, ranging from Bach's Passions to Mahler's Song of the earth Michael Schade regularly works with conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Iván Fischer, Valery Gergiev, Stefan Gottgried, Daniel Harding, Pablo Heras-Casado, Philippe Jordan, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nezet-Séguin, Peter Oundjian, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Robin Ticciati, Franz Welser-Möst and Simone Young. His musical activity was strongly influenced by a large number of performances with Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

At the beginning of the 2022/2023 season, Michael Schade made his debut at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in a duo recital with Veronica Cangemi. Further highlights include Schoenberg's Gurre songs with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi, Mahler's The song of the earth with

Sascha Götzl in Nantes and Angers, Bach's Christmas oratorio with Ton Koopmann and Elgar's Dream of Gerontius under Nicholas Collon at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Bach's St. John Passion with the Concentus Musicus and Stefan Gottfried at the Vienna Musikverein, as well as recitals in Montreux, Augsburg, at the Vienna Musikverein and at the Liszt Festival in Raiding.

The MuTh (concert hall of the Vienna Boys' Choir) offers Michael Schade the opportunity to present his music salon, which he founded during the pandemic and whose aim is to offer young professional artists opportunities to perform, on four different evenings.

As a lieder singer, the artist has been celebrated at the most important venues, including the Musikverein, Konzerthaus and State Opera in Vienna, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, New York's Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, the Verbier Festival, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and the Grafenegg Festival. Recent recitals have taken him to the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Of the numerous recordings, those with Harnoncourt, such as Bach's St. Matthew Passion (Grammy Award), Verdi's Messa da RequiemHandel's MessiahHaydn's Orlando PaladinoMozart's Zaide and La clemenza di Tito to name a few. Other award-winning recordings include Mahler's Song of the earth with the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez, Mozart's Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado and Strauss' Daphne conducted by Semyon Bychkov (Grammy nomination 2005) and the live recording of a Mozart gala at the Salzburg Festival, as well as Schubert's The beautiful miller's wife with Malcolm Martineau, Soirée Française and Mozart: Aria & DuettiSchubert's The beautiful miller's wife with Rudolf Buchbinder (live recording) and the DVDs of Arabella (Vienna State Opera), The labyrinth (Salzburg Festival) and the Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2007, the artist was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersänger. Since 2014, Michael Schade has been the artistic director of the International Baroque Festival at Melk Abbey, which takes place every year at Whitsun. In 2017, Michael Schade was appointed Officer to the Order of Canada (OC). Since 2019, Michael Schade has been a voice professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where he gives numerous masterclasses and devotes himself intensively to the next generation of singers

Ethel Merhaut brings chansons, foxtrots, waltzes and tangos of the 1920s and 30s to life with great charm and musical dedication - whether in German, English or Yiddish. The Vienna-born singer, who, coming from opera and operetta singing, approached the repertoire via Yiddish tangos and forgotten Viennese songs, finds her own elegant approach without historicizing mannerisms.

Ethel Merhaut performs many concerts with her own ensemble in Austria and Germany (KlezMore Festival, Festspiele Golling, Niedersächsische Kulturtage, Rheingau Musik Festival, Porgy&Bess, Wiener Konzerthaus, etc.) She has worked closely with Bela Koreny for many years in his project "Der Geschupfte Ferdl geht Tauben vergiften im Park", in which she can currently be heard alongside Karl Markovics, Katharina Strasser, Ursula Strauss, Julia & Katharina Stemberger and Wolf Bachofner. (Concerts at Wiener Konzerthaus, Theater im Park, Theater Akzent, Schauspielhaus Linz, etc.) The joint project "Im Frauenparadies" with the orchestra Divertimento Viennese under the direction of Vinzenz Praxmarer will be presented at the Wiener Konzerthaus in the 2023 season.

Her solo debut album "Süss& Bitter- Lieder der 30er Jahre" was released by Sony Masterworks in May 2021. Together with her jazz quartet, she brings the now 90-year-old evergreens of German popular songs back to life in an enchanting way. In 2017, she released her first album "Out of Sight" - forgotten Viennese songs and Yiddish tangos published by Gramola Vienna in collaboration with Bela Koreny, Julian Rachlin, Andreas Ottensamer and Roby Lakatos.

Ethel Merhaut studied classical solo singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Performances and solo concerts in Munich (Gasteig), Trento (Teatro Sociale), Budapest (MÜPA), London, Udine, Paris, Stuttgart, Berlin, Krakow, Tel Aviv, New York (Carnegie Hall) and Mexico City (Palacio des Bellas Artes). In Vienna, she has performed at the Vienna Musikverein, Austrian Parliament, Vienna Burgtheater, Theater Akzent, Odeon Theater, Theater am Spittelberg and Hamakom Theater, among others.

Béla Korény was born in Csepreg, Hungary, and learned to play the piano as a child from the Hungarian pianist György Cziffra. He fled to Vienna with his parents in 1956 following the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian uprising. Here he studied with Hans Bohnenstingl at the Vienna Conservatory from 1960 to 1968.
Korény initially toured throughout Europe as a concert pianist and founded his own orchestra in 1975. He also composed music for plays and films for theater and television and appeared in public as an actor and cabaret artist.
In 1984, he opened the Broadway Piano Bar in Vienna, where he performed himself and hosted many artists from Viennese musical life, including Helmut Qualtinger, Udo Jürgens and Falco. In 2008, he was the director of the Dürnstein International Music Days, where he presented stars such as Peter Simonischek, Andrea Eckert, Angelika Kirchschlager, Julian Rachlin and many more. Béla Korény is committed to the Viennese Lied by playing the piano accompaniment for performances by artists, such as Katharina Straßer and Wolf Bachofner in 2016.
Béla Korény is celebrating his 70th birthday on tour with the entertainment that has always accompanied his life: "A Tribute to Liza Minnelli", "The Best of 80 Years of Cabaret" and a tribute to the German hit "Marmor, Stein und Eisen".