Opera Gala: Maksimov, Rowe, Byrne

Mozart, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Verdi. International singers come together in one concert to create a truly unforgettable night for everyone.

Imogene Rowe is a postgraduate soprano at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, studying with Anne Mason and performing with the BBC National Chorus of Wales. She completed her undergraduate vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music alongside a Music degree at Cambridge via CAMRAM, studying with Janice Watson and Mary Nelson. Her solo roles include Veronique (Le Docteur Miracle), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Dido (Dido and Aeneas). She has sung in major choral works such as Verdi’s Requiem with BBC NOW and the WNO Opera Gala, and has received awards including the Elizabeth Sparks Singing Cup and a choral scholarship at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Andrei Maksimov is a baritone and member of the Wiener Staatsoper Opernstudio, praised for his warm voice and commanding stage presence. He trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and continued his development at institutions including the Mariinsky Theatre Young Singers Academy and the Berlin Opera Academy. Maksimov has sung plenty roles at the Staatsoper, including Masetto (Don Giovanni), Donald (Billy Budd), Pietro Fléville (Andrea Chénier), the Imperial Commissioner (Madama Butterfly), Paris (Roméo et Juliette), and leading roles at the Vienna Opera Festival such as the Count (Le nozze di Figaro) and Escamillo (Carmen). His repertoire spans Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Ligeti, and contemporary works. Maksimov also composes and performs his own music across Europe, bridging classic opera and new composition together.

Evan Myles Byrne is an Irish–American tenor and graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where he studied with Dr Imelda Drumm. His roles include Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Don Basilio and Don Curzio (Le nozze di Figaro), Ernesto (La vera costanza), and modern repertoire such as The Man with the Shoe-Sample Kit (Postcards from Morocco). Recent seasons have seen him in French and Italian roles, including Giuseppe and Gastone (La traviata) and Don José (Carmen), making his Vienna Opera Festival debut in summer 2025. Before opera, Evan spent a decade as a professional magician and performance entrepreneur. He is also a composer and award-winning ballroom and Latin dancer. His first opera, CATHBAD, with his own libretto, was published in 2023, with the vocal score completed in May 2025.