Axelle Fanyo
French soprano Axelle Fanyo “does not only embody a character, she tells us the story. She clearly cultivates the art of communication, which gives her singing another dimension.” (Forum Opera) and is making her mark on both the opera world and in concert halls with her eclectic curiosity and “charismatic, beautiful voice [of] real star quality.” (Renée Fleming) With multiple accolades including the 2021 Nadia and Lili Boulanger Competition grand prize, prestigious Kaleidoscope prize and the Young Artist prize at the International French Song competition, Axelle is without a doubt an artist on the rise.
Axelle recently won her first Grammy in the 67th Grammy Awards for the Best Opera Recording in the role of Refka in Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater (Deutsche Grammophon).
After studying musicology at the Sorbonne and winning awards as a violinist at the Conservatoire La Courneuve, Axelle Fanyo studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) with Glenn Chambers and obtained her Master’s Diploma. She also took part in the lyric workshop Opera Fuoco, led by David Stern, and was a member of Renée Fleming’s Song Studio at Carnegie Hall in 2019.
The Deutsche Grammophon label invited her to make her first solo recordings (with repertoire including Weill, Ravel and Bolcom) within their Rising Star programme, and she was named as a Rising Star for the 2023/24 season in the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) programme, through which she gave a recital tour of around fifteen dates across major European venues including Vienna’s Musikverein, London’s Barbican, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Philharmonie de Paris and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. In July 2024 she sang the Olympic Anthem for the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee at the Louis Vuitton Salon in Paris.
The 2025/26 season highlights include her debuts at the Opera di Roma with the reprise of the role of Refka in Kaija Saariaho Adriana Mater and the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos, her debuts in the role of Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Wiener Volksoper, and returns to Opera de Bordeau in Porgy and Bess. In concert she returns to Verdi’s and Mozart’s Requiems with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and recital appearances will see her tour in the United States, including a return to Carnegie Hall, with pianist Julius Drake, and give recitals in Paris and London with Julius Drake and Fleur Barron.
In recent seasons, her debut roles include Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at the Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Massenet’s Thais at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Opéra Grand Avignon, performances of Tosca across France with Théâtre Imperial de Compiègne, following her acclaimed role debut there in 2023 and the Mother in the world premiere of Hèctor Parra’s opera Justice at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Notably, featuring at the Philharmonie de Paris in the title role of Debussy’s La Damoiselle élue with Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Axelle was invited by Salonen to sing the role of Refka in Kaija Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall, staged by Peter Sellars.
She has also performed with Hervé Niquet and his baroque ensemble Le Concert Spirituel in the comedy ballet Le Malade Imaginaire by Molière/Charpentier in the role of Flore, and the role of La Baronne in the lyrical comedy Les Aventures du Baron de Münchausen created at the Théâtre Imperial in Compiègne then on tour in France. With Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques she sang the role of Juno in La Divisione del Mondo by Legrenzi at the Cologne Philharmonie, the role of Pulcheria in Pallavicino’s Le amazzoni nell’isole fortunate. Her repertoire has also included Fourth Maid in Elektra at Opera de Toulouse and Leila in John Adams’ I was Looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the Sky at Opera de Lyon, and roles in Martín y Soler’s We are Eternal at Opéra de Massy.
In concert Axelle Fanyo has been heard in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Mahler’s Ruckert lieder with the Orchestre Les Siècles and in repertoire ranging from Respighi’s Il tramonto, Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder and Poulenc’s La Dame de Monte-Carlo. She performs in recital with pianists such as Julius Drake, Tanguy de Williencourt, Kunal Lahiry, and Adriano Spampanato, in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, La Seine Musicale, the Orangerie du Parc Bagatelle, Festival des Nuits Romantiques, Opéra Comique and the Musée d ‘Orsay. Her recordings include Saint-Saens’ Les Mélodies Persanes for Palazzetto Bru Zane with the Orchestre de Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Leo Hussain, and several melodies of Henri Duparc for B Records, in association with l’Académie Orsay-Royaumont.
Kunal Lahiry
Indian-American pianist Kunal Lahiry is a former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the 2021 Carl Bechstein Foundation scholarship. In the 2025-26 season, Kunal continues his close partnership with Icelandic soprano Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir through the ECHO Rising Stars initiative, giving recitals at venues including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris and BOZAR Brussels. He rejoins mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron for recitals in Madrid and Barcelona, tenor Freddie Ballentine for a performance of their programme ‘Our People’ at 92nd St Y, New York, and returns to Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall to present a new programme celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States with baritone Jarrett Ott. This season will also see the premiere of Kunal’s new solo piano programme ‘Journey to Softness’ which he performs at the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin and Philharmonie Duisburg.
During the 2024–25 season, he presented Power and the Glory, a programme exploring colonialism and its musical resonances across the world, on tour throughout the United States, culminating in a triumphant, sold-out Carnegie Hall debut. His recent projects include Apparition (2023), a reimagining of George Crumb’s cycle interwoven with Nordic music and nominated for Best Live Music Act of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards; Our People (Kennedy Center, 2022), celebrating Black and LGBTQ voices; and Sleep Cycle of an Insomniac (Heidelberger Frühling Lied.LAB, 2022), an immersive journey inspired by Max Richter’s Sleep. His large-scale project TransWinterreise reimagines Schubert’s Winterreise through a queer lens, in collaboration with 24 contemporary composers and poets.
His cross-disciplinary collaborations include Raw Cacao with drag artist Le Gateau Chocolat, an eclectic fusion of cabaret, folk, disco, and art song; performances with singer Lie Ning, blending pianism and pop aesthetics; and an appearance at the Berlin Jazz Festival with AŸA, exploring the boundaries between improvisation, pop, and jazz.
As Artist-in-Residence at LIFE Victoria Barcelona (2023–24), he presented several recital formats including Five Centuries of Song and collaborated with soprano Siobhan Stagg. He also served as musical assistant for the creation of Nine Jewelled Deer at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, in partnership with the LUMA Foundation (Arles). In 2023, he conceived and curated the Queer Song Festival at St. George’s Bristol, broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
His recent international tours have taken him to India (2024)—with a celebrated return recital at the NCPA Mumbai—as well as to the Musikverein (Vienna), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Wigmore Hall (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Gulbenkian (Lisbon), Théâtre de l’Athénée (Paris), and Konzerthaus Berlin.
On the recording front, he released the single Unsung (2023) with cellist Sophie Kauer (of the film TÁR), on Deutsche Grammophon; it reached #1 on the U.S. Classical On-Demand Audio Streaming Chart.
Kunal has collaborated with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, premiering works by Julia Perry and Pamela Harrison, and continues to champion underrepresented twentieth-century composers.
Originally from Gainesville, Georgia, he is a graduate of McGill University (Schulich Scholar) and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler (Berlin), with distinction in Lied performance. He has taken part in prestigious academies including Royaumont-Orsay, the Carnegie Hall Song Studio (under Renée Fleming), Heidelberg Lied Academy (Thomas Hampson), and the Samling Institute.
Based in Berlin, he is an Equilibrium Young Artist, Samling Artist, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Artist, and Britten Pears Young Artist.
