LIORA GRODNIKAITE was born in Vilnius and graduated from the Lithuanian Music Academy before obtaining a BMus and MMus from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Ohio. She continued her training at the Resident Artist Program with the Minnesota Opera, Gerdine Young Artists with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Young Artists Program with the Opera North, New Hampshire.

Roles at Oberlin include Ruggiero (Alcina), title role (The Rape of Lucretia), Baba the Turk (The Rake's Progress), Der Trommler (Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Ludmila (The Bartered Bride), Angelina (La cenerentola), La Frugola (Il tabarro) and La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica). Other roles include Giovanna and cover Maddalena) (Rigoletto) and Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte) for Minnesota Opera, Myrtale (Thaïs), cover Minskwoman (Flight) (Dove) and cover Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Loss of Eden) (Franklin) for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Ottavia (L'incoronazione di Poppea) and cover Olga (Eugene Onegin) for Opera North, New Hampshire and Melissa (La liberazione di Ruggiero) (Caccini) in Vilnius. Concert performances include, at Oberlin, Szymanowski Stabat Mater, Beethoven Mass in C major and Choral Fantasy, and in Lithuania, Mozart Coronation Mass and Requiem, Bach Magnificat, Mass in G major, Mass in B minor and St. Mark Passion and Vivaldi Gloria.

She joined the Young Artists Programme in September 2004 and made her Royal Opera debut as Curra (La forza del destino), followed by Flosshilde (Das Rheingold), Flora (La traviata), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Aglaonice (Orphée), Maddalena (Rigoletto) and Emilia (Otello) (also understudying Giovanna). In the 2005/6 season, she has sung Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Flora (La traviata), to be followed by Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro). She has also understudied Margret (Wozzeck), Olga (Eugene Onegin) and Flosshilde (Götterdämmerung).

She will return to The Royal Opera in the 2006/7 Season as a Jette Parker Principal, singing Désirée (The Bird of Night), Mercédès (Carmen), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Dorotea (Stiffelio) and Myrtale (Thaï in concert).

SUSANNA STRANDERS studied at the University of Exeter and at GSMD, where she won the Accompanists' Prize, the Schubert Lieder Prize and the John Ireland Prize. As opera coach at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was supported by the Sir Henry Richardson Award 2000-02 and the Magro Foundation.

At CCM, she conducted Dido and Aeneas, was Music Director for 3's Company and répétiteur for Pelléas et Mélisande, The Crucible and the world premiere of The Memory Game. She was répétiteur for Cincinnati Opera in summer 2002, playing for productions of Roméo et Juliette and Le nozze di Figaro. With San Francisco Opera's Merola Programme in 2003 she was répétiteur and orchestral pianist for productions of The Medium and Angélique and répétiteur for Il barbiere di Siviglia. In 2003/4, she was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, working as répétiteur and orchestral pianist for the world première of HGO's production of The End of the Affair, as répétiteur and orchestral celesta player for Turandot, as Assistant Chorus Master for Die Zauberflöte and as répétiteur for Giulio Cesare. She has participated in master classes with Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, Stephen Blier, Sir Thomas Allen, Jane Eaglen, Tom Krause, Reri Grist, François LeRoux and Jonathan Miller.

She joined the Young Artists Programme in September 2004 and during the 2004/5 season joined the Royal Opera music staff for Werther, Die Walküre, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto and Otello. In the 2005/6 season, she has joined the Royal Opera music staff for Siegfried and A Midsummer Night's Dream, to be followed by La traviata, Macbeth, Eugene Onegin, Götterdämmerung, Tosca and Don Pasquale