Nathalie Ackermann

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Nathalie Ackermann

Natalie Ackermann comes from the Rhineland. Her father, Rudolf Ackermann, is German, and her mother is from Barranquilla, Colombia.[1][2] Born in Düsseldorf, she grew up bilingually in the Meerbusch district of Büderich, with German and Spanish as her native languages. As a teenager, she moved to Spain with her brother; later, they both lived with their mother in Barranquilla on the Colombian Caribbean coast.[1] There, she won the title of “Señorita Atlántico” in a regional beauty pageant in 2000.[1]

In 2006, she was elected Miss Germany Universe; previously, she had won the Miss North Rhine-Westphalia pageant and qualified for the Miss Germany competition. After being elected Miss North Rhine-Westphalia, Ackermann, who originally wanted to become a doctor, dropped out of her medical studies at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf in 2006 to pursue a career as a model and an acting career. She represented Germany at the Miss Universe pageant in Los Angeles, but did not make it into the final of the top 10 participants.[2] She came in 21st place. In 2007, she represented Germany at the Miss Intercontinental pageant in the Bahamas and reached third place. However, job offers as a model and actress in Germany failed to materialize.[3]

She then went to South America, where she worked as a presenter for the television station Azteca TV. She hosted, among other things, the television show “Al Extremo” and the television program “Juntas ni difuntas,” in which she interviewed politicians, athletes, and actors.[1]

Ackermann is also an actress. She took acting lessons in Bogotá. Her acting career began with a supporting role in the successful Colombian telenovela Betty, la fea (Betty, the Ugly One), which was also adapted for German television under the title Verliebt in Berlin (In Love in Berlin). In the soap opera Nuevo rico, nuevo pobre (2007/2008), she played the role of Fabia Schultz. She portrayed a deceitful lover of Austrian-Colombian origin who is plotting a scheme.[2] She had a small role in the Colombian film Este huele mal.[4] In 2009, she played the lead role in the Mexican film Más allá del deber (“Behind the Guilt”). In 2010, she made her Hollywood debut as forensic scientist Dr. Nichols in the horror film The Tenant.


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Juan-José Lopera

Juan José Lopera was born in Colombia and qualified as a medical doctor before he began studying singing. For three years he combined this with his work as a doctor before coming to Europe in 1993. He continued his studies at the Opera School of the Bayerische Opera in Munich for two years. He won the international Singing Competition orgarised by the Germany Radio ARD in 1994. In 1995 he became a member of the Innsbruck Opera where he has sung Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera. He has been invited to sing in Dresden, Hannover, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels, Strasbourg, Seville and at the Vienna Staatsoper. His engagements have included Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri and Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola in Seville, Ernesto in Don Pasquale in Brussels, Paolino in Il Matrimonio Segreto in Dresden and Montpellier. Until 1998 he sang regularly at the Stuttgart Opera as Fenton in Falstaff, Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He sings regularly at the Vienna State Opera in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and L’Italiana in Algeri. He made his Italian debut at the San Carlo Naples in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. At the Rome Opera he sang La Cenerentola. Recent engagements also included L’Italiana in Algeri at the Netherlands Opera and Tonio in La Fille du Regiment in St. Gallen. In the season 2000/2001 he made his debut as Henry in Die Schweigsame Frau in a new production at the Châtelet in Paris under Christoph von Dohnanyi and sang the role of Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Covent Garden, in Palermo Madrid and Tel Aviv. He also made his debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro singing Peleo in Le Nozze di Teti e Peleo. Recent engagements included La Cenerentola at the Bavarian State Opera Munich and in Helsinki, Don Pasquale in Brussels, Die Schweigsame Frau in Marseille, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Vienna, Il Turco in Italia in Oviedo and Così fan tutte in Treviso, Il Re Pastore in Brussels, Il Marito Disperato and La Cenerentola in Napoli, L’Italiana in Algeri in Strassbourg, La Cenerentola in Dresden and Tokyo. Future projects include, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Vienna and Bari, La Cenerentola and Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Munich, Il Socrate Immaginario in Napoli, Il Re Pastore in Brussels, La Cenerentola and Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Helsinki, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Don Giovanni in Strassbourg, Così fan tutte and Don Pasquale in Geneva.

Since ca. 2010 Juan-José is spiritual doctor and yoga teacher in Colombia.

As well as brilliant speaker @ TED (spanish)

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