Award-winning conductor Kristiina Poska is in high demand on the international music scene. She has held the posts of Chief Conductor of Flanders Symphony Orchestra since 2019/20 and Principal Guest Conductor of Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since 2021/22. She studied choral conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, and orchestral conducting at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. Poska was a finalist at the renowned Donatella Flick LSO Competition in 2010 and the Malko Competition in May 2012, where she also won the audience prize. She then went on to win the prestigious German Conductors’ Prize in April 2013. 

Last season’s highlights included several débuts—with the Oregon Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra in the US; London Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra in the UK; Rotterdam Philharmonic; Orquesta Nacional de España; Frankfurt Museumsorchester; and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. She also returned to WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Orchestre National de France, The Hallé, and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. Poska toured with Flanders Symphony Orchestra several times during the season, performing in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.

Past highlights include débuts with BBC Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Concertgebouworkest, Orchestre National de Lille, and Aalborg Symfoniorkester, and returns to Oslo Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and MDR Sinfonieorchester. Additionally, Poska has worked with hr-Sinfonieorchester; ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien; Gothenburg, Tokyo, and Estonian National Symphony Orchestras; Münchner Philharmoniker; Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg; Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich; Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg; Camerata Salzburg; Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; Stuttgarter Philharmoniker; Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne; Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich; and other orchestras.

Equally prolific in the operatic repertoire, last season Poska returned to Staatsoper Berlin to conduct a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Other recent opera productions include Così fan tutte at Royal Danish Theatre, La bohème directed by Robert Carsen at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Carmen with Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Semperoper). She has appeared with Komische Oper Berlin, Royal Swedish Opera, Norwegian Opera, English National Opera, Finnish National Opera, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Volksoper Wien, among others. 

Poska’s previous roles have included Principal Conductor of Cappella Academica (2006–2011), Kapellmeister at Komische Oper Berlin (2012–2016), and Music Director for Theater Basel in 2019/20. Poska’s recording of Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 7, released on Fuga Libera/Outhere, is the fruit of her successful collaboration with Flanders Symphony Orchestra. 

Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concert pianist, improviser, and composer. Goodyear has performed with, and been commissioned by, many of the major orchestras and chamber music organizations around the world.

Last year, Orchid Classics released Goodyear's recording of his suite for piano and orchestra, Callaloo, and his piano sonata. His recent commissions include a piano quintet for the Penderecki String Quartet, and a piano work for the Honens Piano Competition.

Goodyear’s discography includes the complete sonatas and piano concertos of Beethoven, concertos by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Rachmaninoff, an album of Ravel piano works, and an album entitled For Glenn Gould, which combines repertoire from Gould’s US and Montreal débuts. His Rachmaninoff recording received a JUNO nomination for Classical Album of the Year: Soloist with Large Ensemble Accompaniment. Goodyear’s recording of his own transcription of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (complete ballet) was chosen by The New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015. His discography is released on the Marquis Classics, Orchid Classics, Bright Shiny Things, and Steinway & Sons labels. His newest recording, of Adolphus Hailstork’s Piano Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic under JoAnn Falletta, was released in March 2023 on the Naxos label. His composition for solo cello and piano, The Kapok, was recorded by Inbal Segev and Goodyear on Avie Records, and his suite for solo violin, Solo, was commissioned and recorded by Miranda Cuckson for the Urlicht AudioVisual label.

Highlights of the 2023/24 season included his performances at Summer for the City (Lincoln Center, New York), Southbank Centre (UK), and Schleswig-Holstein Festival, his recital début at Wigmore Hall, his début with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, his return to the Milwaukee Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and his Carnegie Hall début with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra.