On December 5, an opera superstar returns to Paliesius Manor with a breathtaking program! Simone Kermes, a coloratura soprano possessing a truly exceptional vocal timbre, will be joined this time by Italian theorbo player Gianluca Geremia.

Simone Kermes is internationally renowned for her unique stage charisma, expressiveness, and extraordinary virtuosity. Her artistry shines most brightly through a concert repertoire that has taken her on successful tours across the globe.

The singer’s conceptual albums are born from a deeply personal artistic vision: S. Kermes develops them herself, taking full responsibility for the entire production process. She rejects stylistic boundaries, allowing Baroque, classical, opera, pop music, and crossover genres to blend naturally within her work. Her albums consistently reach the highest positions on both classical and pop music charts.

In 2017, S. Kermes founded her own orchestra, “Amici Veneziani”—the result of many years of close artistic collaboration with fellow musicians. The guiding principle of this ensemble is to unite quality and humanity, to experience them together, and to pass them on.

That same year, the singer established her own artists’ agency, “Arcadia Musica GmbH”. She also leads masterclasses worldwide. Supporting young artists and passing on her musical knowledge and experience are causes remarkably close to her heart. As of 2025, S. Kermes is a mentor at the Leipzig University of Music.

S. Kermes regularly performs in the world’s most prestigious opera houses and concert halls. She is a laureate of the Mendelssohn and Bach prizes and has received numerous other accolades—including one “Echo Klassik” award as Singer of the Year, and another for Opera Recording of the Year. In 2026, Simone Kermes will take a new step as an opera director.

With her album “Inferno e Paradiso” (2020), the singer ascended to the very top of the classical music charts, demonstrating that the roots of all music lie in the Baroque era. In this project, she unites Baroque and pop music, energetically supported by her orchestra, “Amici Veneziani”.

The international press reacted enthusiastically: “Kermes adorned melodies with Baroque ornamentation, exceptional coloratura, and fearless high notes, until Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ sounded even sharper than the original,” stated the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” daily. Meanwhile, “Concerti” magazine, which named it Album of the Month, praised the “emotional roller coaster she creates, rolling from the ears straight into the heart.”

Theorbo player Gianluca Geremia was born in 1991. He took up the Renaissance lute as his first instrument at the age of 10 through the “Dolce Consort” project, directed by Maurizio Baghin and Dario Pivato, who became his first lute teacher. Two years later, he began studying the Renaissance lute at the Early Music School in Venice under Massimo Lonardi. A few years after that, he entered the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, studying the lute with Tiziano Bagnati.

In 2014, he graduated with honors in Renaissance lute from Tiziano Bagnati’s class at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice. Two years later, at the same conservatory and once again under Tiziano Bagnati, he earned his master’s degree with honors in theorbo. The musician also studied contemporary composition, as well as Renaissance composition and counterpoint, at the Venice Conservatory in the classes of Riccardo Vaglini and Marco Gemmani.

He is a member of the ensemble “La Vaghezza”. With this group, he won first prize at the “Maurizio Pratola” International Competition (L’Aquila, 2016), as well as first prize, the audience prize, and the “Bärenreiter” prize at the Handel Competition (Göttingen, 2018). Currently, the ensemble is one of the resident ensembles in the European project “Eeemerging”.

G. Geremia has collaborated with various ensembles, including “Modo Antiquo”, “Il Pomo d’Oro”, “Venice Baroque Orchestra”, “Les Musiciens du Louvre”, “Mare Nostrum”, “I solisti della Cappella Marciana”, “Theresia Youth Baroque Orchestra”, “Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia”, “Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice”, “Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai”, “Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino”, “Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini”, “Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie”, and “Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin”.