Biographies of the performers in GIULIO CESARE:

 

Sandro Rossi, Countertenor

 

Belgian-Italian countertenor Sandro Rossi began his musical training with violin and piano before completing a bachelor’s degree in drama at the Herman Teirlinck Institute in Antwerp. He subsequently studied singing at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp with the American soprano Stephanie Friede.​He made his operatic debut as Arbace in a revival of the historic production of Johann Christian Bach’s Artaserse. Further appearances have included Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Teseo in a reconstruction of Monteverdi’s lost opera Arianna at Moscow’s Natalia Sats Theatre, conducted by Andrew Lawrence-King.Among his other roles are Licida in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with La Petite Bande under Sigiswald Kuijken. Rossi won second prize at the 2023 San Colombano Competition and at the Caffarelli Competition in Bitonto, as well as a special prize at the 2021 Vittorio Gentile Competition. His further training has included the Accademia del Belcanto ‘Rodolfo Celletti’ in Martina Franca and specialist courses devoted to historically informed vocal performance.

 

Radoslava Vorgić, Soprano

 

Radoslava Vorgić began her professional career as a member of the Young Ensemble at Staatstheater Mainz, where she gained extensive stage experience across a wide operatic repertoire. She has subsequently appeared as a guest soloist at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn and Opera & Theatre Madlenianum in Belgrade.​Her further training has included international summer schools at Dartington and Karlsruhe, as well as workshops and masterclasses with Emma Kirkby, Andreas Scholl, Evelyn Tubb and Marijana Mijanović. Projects devoted to historically informed performance have played a particularly important part in her artistic development, fostering her command of rhetorical phrasing, stylistic detail and Baroque vocal expression.Vorgić is a member of New Belgrade Opera and was the first woman to be named a Knight of the Laza Kostić Foundation. She has performed with the Rhineland-Palatinate Philharmonic, Neumeyer Consort, Sarband, New Trinity Baroque and numerous other ensembles.​She completed her undergraduate and doctoral studies in singing at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad with Milica Stojadinović, and her master’s degree at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz with Claudia Eder, supported by national and international scholarships.​

 

Silvija Radjen, Soprano

 

Silvija Radjen Kumar graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where she studied with the Canadian soprano Theresa Plut.​Her awards include second prize at the seventh Bruna Špiler International Singing Competition in 2014 and first prize as the overall winner of her category at the 2016 Lav Mirski International Competition. At the inaugural ArtSong Opus International Competition in 2021, she received both a special prize in her category and the award for best programme.​She has performed across Europe and in India, with appearances in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Austria, Hungary and Italy. Her festival engagements include the Ljubljana Baroque Festival, Rossi Fest and Novi Sad Baroque Days.​Her operatic roles include Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Paquette in Bernstein’s Candide, Nerone in Handel’s Agrippina and Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She regularly participates in international courses and masterclasses and currently studies with the American soprano Adrienne Chandhok. Since 2025, she has served on the Global Advisory Board of the Vivek Music Academy.​

 

Julia Portela Piñón, Mezzo-Soprano

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Spanish-Argentine mezzo-soprano Julia Portela Piñón was born in Lugo, Galicia, and trained in London for more than a decade. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama before continuing at the Royal Academy of Music, where she completed a Bachelor of Music, a Master of Arts with distinction and an Advanced Diploma in Opera Performance, supported by the Norman Ayrton Award.​Her UK operatic roles include Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Ruggiero in Alcina, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Tirinto in Imeneo, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Concepción in L’heure espagnole and Zita in Gianni Schicchi. She has worked with artists including Elizabeth Kenny, David Bates and Marcio da Silva.During the 2023/24 season, Portela Piñón became the first international singer to join Cape Town Opera’s Judith Neilson Young Artist Programme, appearing in a range of operas by Verdi, Donizetti and Puccini.In 2024/25, she made her debut at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu in a contemporary opera project directed by Àlex Ollé. She subsequently appeared as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at the Òpera amb Gràcia Festival and as Dorabella in Così fan tutte in Luxembourg. Her concert engagements have included Mozart’s Requiem at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and the Teatro Afundación in Vigo.​She reached the final stages of the 2024 Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition in Jūrmala and the 2024 Pietro Antonio Cesti Competition in Innsbruck. Her awards include the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg Prize in 2020 and the Marjorie Thomas Art of Song Prize in London in 2017.​She speaks Spanish, Galician and English, is fluent in Italian and French, and has knowledge of German and Russian.

 

Federica Moi, Contralto

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​Italian contralto Federica Moi specialises in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire and has studied under the distinguished contralto Sonia Prina. Praised for the richness of her vocal colour, technical assurance and musical intelligence, she performs both as a soloist and as an ensemble singer at festivals, concerts and opera productions in Italy and internationally.​Her Baroque roles and concert engagements have brought collaborations with conductors including Alessandro Quarta, René Jacobs, Stefano Ranzani, Marco Attura and Carlo Ipata. Alongside her work in early music, she has appeared in productions of Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Madama Butterfly and Cavalleria rusticana.​Her sacred repertoire includes Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah and Duruflé’s Requiem, performed in major concert series and international venues. Her continuing professional development has included competitions, masterclasses and specialist programmes, including work at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala.​

 

Marcio da Silva, Bass-Baritone & Stage Director

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Brazilian bass-baritone, stage director and conductor Marcio da Silva trained at the Conservatoire de Toulouse, the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and the Royal College of Music in London.As a singer, his repertoire encompasses music from the early Baroque to the Classical period, with roles including Ulisse, Argante and Aeneas. His work combines close attention to musical style and text with the physical immediacy and dramatic clarity of an experienced stage director.​Da Silva has directed more than thirty fully staged operas, ranging from works by Cavalli, Lully and Handel to Mozart and Puccini. His productions are distinguished by their direct theatrical language, economical use of space and close integration of music, movement and character. His work at Arcola Theatre and across London’s fringe opera scene has received critical acclaim and several OFFIE nominations.​He is the founder and artistic director of Ensemble OrQuesta, with which he has developed a wide range of productions devoted particularly to Baroque and Classical opera. Ensemble OrQuesta’s production of Don Giovanni at Grimeborn in 2025 received the Fringe Theatre Award for Music.

 

​Predrag Gosta, Artistic Director, Conductor, Producer and Harpsichordist, Set and Costume Designer

 

​Predrag Gosta began his musical education in Belgrade and studied singing and harpsichord at Trinity College of Music in London. He continued his studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta, completing master’s degrees in vocal performance and choral and orchestral conducting.​Since 2019, he has undertaken doctoral research at the University of Oxford, focusing on Stephen Storace’s The Siege of Belgrade of 1791 and the development of English comic opera in the late eighteenth century.As a conductor, harpsichordist and artistic director, Gosta has led projects in concert halls, festivals and opera houses across Europe and the United States. His repertoire extends from the early Baroque to contemporary music, with a particular emphasis on historically informed performance, operatic dramaturgy and music for the stage.​He founded New Trinity Baroque in London in 1998 and is also Artistic Director of New Belgrade Opera, the Belgrade Early Music Festival and the Belgrade Baroque Academy. Through these organisations, he has developed numerous projects devoted to Baroque opera, period-instrument performance and the professional development of younger musicians. His discography includes more than ten recordings made with a range of ensembles and soloists.​

 

NEW TRINITY BAROQUE

 

Founded in London in 1998 by conductor and harpsichordist Predrag Gosta, New Trinity Baroque specialises in the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, performed on period instruments.​The ensemble has become known for performances that combine historical and stylistic insight with dramatic immediacy and expressive freedom. It has appeared at festivals and concert venues in the United Kingdom, the United States, Scandinavia and the Balkans, and has collaborated with distinguished early-music artists including Evelyn Tubb, Sonia Prina, Marion Verbruggen and Bojan Čičić.​New Trinity Baroque has been closely associated with the Belgrade Early Music Festival for fifteen years and has played an important role in the development of historically informed performance and Baroque opera in Serbia. Its educational work includes the Belgrade Baroque Academy, through which internationally established artists work with emerging singers and instrumentalists.​The ensemble’s discography comprises ten recordings. New Trinity Baroque is a registered charity in England and Wales.

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