Archives des mezzo-soprano - Page 3 of 3

Boasting an unrivalled and multi award-winning discography, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter’s versatility has seen her work with legendary artists ranging from the late greats of Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado and Giuseppe Sinopoli to Elvis Costello, Brad Mehldau and Rufus Wainwright III.

An ever-evolving repertoire has played a key role in sustaining Swedish-born von Otter’s international profile, from an early position as the superlative Oktavian (Der Rosenkavalier) of her generation giving performances around the world, including at Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris and The Metropolitan Opera, to her more recent acclaimed creation of Leonora in the world premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel, performed at both Salzburger Festspiele and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Other recent highlights include Countess Geschwitz in Christoph Marthaler’s production of Lulu at Staatsoper Hamburg, Madame de Croissy (Dialogues des Carmélites) at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, The Old Lady (Candide) at Komische Oper Berlin in Barrie Kosky’s new production, Geneviève (Pelléas et Mélisande) for Opéra National de Paris, and Leocadia Begbick (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Following earlier success at the Salzburger Festspiele as Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), von Otter returned there in the 2019 edition as L’Opinion Publique in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers; as Waltraute (Götterdämmerung), she has appeared under Sir Simon Rattle at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; and at Finnish National Opera, she has most recently created the leading role of Charlotte Andergast in the world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s Höstsonaten, based on the iconic Ingmar Bergman film, to unanimous critical acclaim.

Anne Sofie von Otter is one of today’s most recorded artists with an incomparable discography built across a career now spanning more than three decades at the very top of her profession. A lengthy and exclusive relationship with Deutsche Grammophon produced a wealth of acclaimed recordings as well as a collaboration with pop legend Elvis Costello on For the Stars. Her first recording with Naïve Classique, Love Songs, with renowned jazz pianist Brad Mehldau was released in 2010 and her double CD, Douce France, received a Grammy Award in 2015 for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Von Otter immortalized many of her operatic characters on disc: Oktavian with Bernard Haitink and the Staatskapelle Dresden and on DVD with Wiener Staatsoper under the late Carlos Kleiber, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) under James Levine, Idomeneo, La clemenza di Tito, Alceste and Orfeo ed Euridice under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Handel’s Ariodante, Hercules and Giulio Cesare under Marc Minkowski, and Ariadne auf Naxos under the late Giuseppe Sinopoli.

Equally recognized for her exemplary work in both concert and recital, Anne Sofie von Otter’s career has taken her around the globe as a regular presence in the world’s most important venues and her expansive discography of Lieder ranges from classics by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and Mahler, through lesser known compilations from Cecile Chaminade, Korngold, Peterson-Bergen and Stenhammar. Von Otter was part of two very special events which were streamed worldwide: Das Lied von der Erde with Jonas Kaufmann, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the late Claudio Abbado to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mahler’s death; and in specially-commissioned new arrangements by Aulis Sallinen of Sibelius’ songs with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Von Otter’s 20/21 season includes returns to the operatic stages of Bayerische Staatsoper as Marcellina in Christof Loy’s highly-regarded production of Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Constantinos Carydis and Ivor Bolton – as well as a special Gala concert as part of their summer Opernfestspiele, also under Carydis – Royal Swedish Opera in a concert performance of Kaija Saariaho’s Passion de Simone with Christian Karlsen, and Malmö Opera for a series of Christmas concerts. Anne Sofie joins Orchestre National de France and Dalia Stasevska for New Year’s concerts in both Paris and Aix-en-Provence, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Martin Fröst for a world premiere by Mikael Karlsson, and Drottningholms Barockensemble in Handel’s Solomon. In recital, Anne Sofie continues to perform with long-time collaborator Bengt Forsberg and guitarist Fabian Fredriksson at the Ghent and Naantali Festivals, Musée d’Orsay, and Mogens Dahl. At the 2021 Menuhin Festival Gstaad, von Otter performs her acclaimed Shakespearian programme of words and music alongside Roderick Williams and Julius Drake, and brings her special project “Ich wollt ich wär ein Huhn” to Bamberg’s Lied und Lyrik Festival, featuring music from the Weimar Cabaret era and originally devised together with Barrie Kosky for its premiere at Komische Oper Berlin last season.

Susan Graham – hailed as “an artist to treasure” by the New York Times – rose to the highest echelon of international performers within just a few years of her professional debut, mastering an astonishing range of repertoire and genres along the way. Her operatic roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi’s Poppea to Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, which was written especially for her. A familiar face at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, she also maintains a strong international presence at such key venues as Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet, Santa Fe Opera and the Hollywood Bowl. She won a Grammy Award for her collection of Ives songs, and has also been recognized throughout her career as one of the foremost exponents of French vocal music. Although a native of Texas, she was awarded the French government’s prestigious “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur,” both for her popularity as a performer in France and in honor of her commitment to French music.

This season, Graham makes her role debut as Herodias in Francisco Negrin’s production of Richard Strauss’s Salome at Houston Grand Opera and reprises her celebrated portrayal of Mrs. Patrick De Rocher, mother of the convicted murderer, in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s company premiere of Dead Man Walking. In concert, she sings Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopâtre and excerpts from Les Troyens with Donald Runnicles and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin at the Berlin Musikfest, revisits her signature interpretation of the composer’s Les nuits d’été with the Vancouver Symphony, and headlines the Jacksonville Symphony 2020 Gala. To complete the season, she graces a “Beyond the Aria” concert in Chicago’s Millennium Park and partners with pianist Malcolm Martineau for recitals of Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder in Berkeley’s Cal Performances series and of her Schumann-inspired Frauenliebe und -leben: Variations program in Fort Worth’s Cliburn Concert Series and at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Last season, Graham joined Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony for Mahler’s Third Symphony at London’s BBC Proms and in Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Lucerne, and Paris. She made her role debut as Humperdinck’s Witch in Hansel and Gretel at LA Opera, hosted “An Evening with Susan Graham” at Dallas’s Meyerson Symphony Center, sang Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with David Robertson and the Sydney Symphony, headlined the Mayshad Foundation’s season-closing gala concert in Marrakech, and returned to Carnegie Hall, first with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and then with Alec Baldwin and Leonard Slatkin for the Manhattan School of Music’s Centennial Gala Concert. To mark the 150th anniversary of Berlioz’s death, she performed Les nuits d’été with the Houston Symphony and made her New Zealand debut in La mort de Cléopâtre with the New Zealand Symphony under Edo de Waart. Other highlights of recent seasons include starring in Trouble in Tahiti at Lyric Opera of Chicago to honor the Bernstein Centennial, making her title role debut opposite James Morris in Marc Blitzstein’s 1948 opera Regina at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and appearing alongside Anna Netrebko, Renée Fleming and a host of other luminaries to celebrate the Metropolitan Opera’s five decades at its Lincoln Center home.

Graham’s earliest operatic successes were in such trouser roles as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Her technical expertise soon brought mastery of Mozart’s more virtuosic roles, like Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Idamante in Idomeneo and Cecilio in Lucio Silla, as well as the title roles of Handel’s Ariodante and Xerxes. She went on to triumph in two iconic Richard Strauss mezzo roles, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. These brought her to prominence on all the world’s major opera stages, including the Met, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival, among many others. In addition to creating the role of Sister Helen Prejean at San Francisco Opera, she starred in Washington National Opera’s recent revival of Dead Man Walking, making her triumphant role debut as the convict’s mother. She also sang the leading ladies in the Met’s world premieres of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, and made her Dallas Opera debut as Tina in a new production of The Aspern Papers by Dominick Argento. As Houston Grand Opera’s Lynn Wyatt Great Artist, she starred as Prince Orlofsky in the company’s first staging of Die Fledermaus in 30 years, before heading an all-star cast as Sycorax in the Met’s Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island and making her rapturously received musical theater debut in a new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

It was in an early Lyon production of Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict that Graham scored particular raves from the international press, and a triumph in the title role of Massenet’s Chérubin at Covent Garden sealed her operatic stardom. Further invitations to collaborate on French music were forthcoming from many of its preeminent conductors, including Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, James Levine and Seiji Ozawa. New productions of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust and Massenet’s Werther were mounted for the mezzo in New York, London, Paris, Chicago, San Francisco and beyond. More recently, she made title role debuts in Offenbach’s comic masterpieces La belle Hélène and The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein at Santa Fe Opera, as well as proving herself the standout star of the Met’s star-studded revival of Les Troyens, which was broadcast live to cinema audiences worldwide in the company’s celebrated “Live in HD” series. Graham’s affinity for French repertoire has not been limited to the opera stage, also serving as the foundation for her extensive concert and recital career. Such great cantatas and symphonic song cycles as Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopâtre and Les nuits d’été, Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer provide opportunities for collaborations with the world’s leading orchestras, and she makes regular appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Orchestre de Paris and London Symphony Orchestra.

Graham recently expanded her distinguished discography with Nonesuch Records’ DVD/Blu-ray release of William Kentridge’s new treatment of Berg’s Lulu, which captures her celebrated role debut as Countess Geschwitz at the Met. She has also recorded all the works described above, as well as appearing on a series of lauded solo albums, including Virgins, Vixens & Viragos on the Onyx label, featuring songs and arias by composers from Purcell to Sondheim; Un frisson français, a program of French song recorded with pianist Malcolm Martineau, also for Onyx; C’est ça la vie, c’est ça l’amour!, an album of 20th-century operetta rarities on Erato; and La Belle Époque, an award-winning collection of songs by Reynaldo Hahn with pianist Roger Vignoles, from Sony Classical. Among the mezzo’s numerous honors are Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year and an Opera News Award, while Gramophone magazine has dubbed her “America’s favorite mezzo.”

Ekaterina Semenchuk is one of the most sought-after mezzo-sopranos, known for her exceptional range and unparalleled technique. Born in Minsk, she made her stage debut at the Mariinsky Theatre while still studying at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg, and her career has since seen her perform at all the major houses across the world.
Recognised as one of the world’s most pre-eminent Verdi mezzos, Ekaterina’s signature operatic roles include Azucena Il Trovatore, Eboli Don Carlo, Amneris Aida, and Lady Macbeth Macbeth. Beyond Verdi, she is known for her portrayals of Princess de Bouillon Adriana Lecouvreur, Didon Les Troyens, Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana, Marina Boris Godunov, Laura La Gioconda, Lyubov Mazeppa, Marfa Khovanshchina, Dalila Samson et Dalila, Giovanna Seymour Anna Bolena, Preziosilla La forza del destino, and the title role in Carmen.
Recent seasons have seen Ekaterina perform at The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Bolshoi Theatre, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, New National Theatre Tokyo, San Francisco Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, Bayerische Staatsoper, Arena di Verona, Baden-Baden Festival, Berliner Philharmonie, and Teatro alla Scala Madrid, among others. In addition to her international career, she retains a strong relationship with the Mariinsky Theatre and Maestro Gergiev.
This season, Ekaterina returns to the Wiener Staatsoper for Anna Bolena, to La Scala for Macbeth, Dresden Semperoper for Carmen, and to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Macbeth and Les Troyens. In recital with pianist Semion Skigin, Ekaterina debuts at Salle Gaveau, Paris, and returns to La Scala, Bozar, and Boulez Saal. Ekaterina makes her long-awaited return to the Wigmore Hall in December 2021.

Adèle Charvet studied at the Paris National Conservatory (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris) with professor Elène Golgevit.

Her very first musical experience on stage was in the opera Brundibár by Hans Krása in which she sang the leading role Pepíček. From this enriching experience, she developed an irrepressible passion for Opera. With the Opéra 3 company, she sang the role of Hänselin Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. In 2016 she sang the role of Frau Reichin Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Nicolai, in a production staged by Emmanuelle Cordoliani. She made her debut at the Dutch National Opera, singing the Polovtsian Maiden in Borodin’s Prince Igor, staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Stanislav Kochanovski. She sang Filippievna in Eugene Oneguine by Tchaïkovski at the Verbier Festival. She made her debut on stage of the Royal Opera House in Carmen (Mercédès) and also sang Il Pirata (Adele) in a concert version, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina) and Manon at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Manon at the Paris Opéra Comique, Idomeneo (Idamante) with Opera Fuoco…

Very passionate about the Song and Lieder repertoire which she studied with David Selig and Anne le Bozec, she formed in 2015 a duo with pianist Florian Caroubi with whom she obtained the Mélodie Prize at the International Lied and Song Competition Nadia and Lili Boulanger in Paris. In 2016, they won the Grand duo prize of the International Vocal Competition in ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands – as well as the Junior Jury Prize, the prize for the Contemporary piece, the Dutch friend of Lied prize and the Press prize. They have since played at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the Petit Palais in Paris, at the Schmiermonnikoog Music Festival in Holland, and soon at de Singel in Antwerpen.

In 2017, Adèle Charvet had the opportunity to study in both Lied and Opera Academy of the Verbier. There, she sang in masterclasses with Thomas Hampson, Thomas Quastoff, Sir Thomas Allen and Anna Tomowa-Sintow. She was awarded the «Yves Paternot » prize for the most outstanding musician of the Academy, and will be invited to perform as a soloist at the Festival. After Verbier, Thomas Hampson invited her to join his upcoming Lied Academy in Heidelberg.

More recently, Adèle Charvet sang Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini (Ascanio) with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra at the Berlioz Festival of La Côte-saint-André, in Berlin, at the Proms in London and in Versailles under the baton of John Eliott Gardiner. the Mass in B by Bach in Leipzig, the Haydn Stabat Mater with Le Concert de la Loge and was involved in the Academy of the Aix-en-Provence Festival … She gave numerous recitals at the Deauville Festival, the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, the Jura Baroque Musique Festival, the Pont de Croix Festival, the Montevideo Escena Vocal Festival, with Le Poème Harmonique…

Among her projects, let us mention Roméo et Juliette(Stéphano) and Carmen (title role) with the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Serse with Opera Fuoco in a tour in China, Cadmus et Hermione (Hermione) with Le Poème Harmonique at the Royal Opera of Versailles, Rigoletto (Contessa Ceprano)and Carmen (Mercédès) at the Paris National Opera, Parsifal (Flowermaiden) in Toulouse, Pelléas et Mélisande (title role) in Rouen… She will sing in a Mozart program with the Pygmalion Ensemble under the baton of Raphaël Pichon. and will also be giving some recitals on a French tour for the release of her first cd Long Time Ago…

This season Ema Nikolovska joins the Berlin Staatsoper International Studio, where she will initially cover and perform roles in Hansel and Gretel, The Magic Flute and Babylon (Jorg Widmann).

On the concert platform she takes the role of Tangia in Gluck’s Le Cinesi with Les Musiciens du Louvre, and gives recitals at the Pierre Boulez Saal, Wigmore Hall, Heidelberger-Frühling Festival, Salzburg Mozartwoche, Schubertíada Barcelona and Berlin Konzerthaus. She collaborates with Malcolm Martineau, Wolfram Rieger, Sir Andràs Schiff and Barry Shiffman, among many others.

Born in Macedonia, Ema grew up in Toronto where she studied voice with Helga Tucker and violin at The Glenn Gould School. She received her Masters at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and completed the Opera Course in 2020.

Daniela Barcellona is a “much appreciated singer who can count on a broad phrasing, supported by a solid, robust and consistent technique. The silkiness of her voice is heightened by a fascinating timbre and her coloratura remains today unparalleled”. Daniela Barcellona was born in Trieste, where she completed her musical studies under the guidance of Alessandro Vitiello. After winning numerous prestigious international competitions like the “Adriano Belli” award in Spoleto, “Iris Adami Corradetti” in Padua, and the “Pavarotti International Voice Competition” in Philadelphia, she made her debut in the title role of Tancredi at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 1999, establishing herself as a reference interpreter for “en travesti” roles, which have brought her to walk the most prestigious opera houses worldwide, from New York’s Metropolitan Opera to La Scala in Milan, from the Royal Opera House in London to the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, from the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich to the Teatro Real in Madrid, from the Salzburg Festival to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, to name a few. 

Prized with the “Premio Abbiati”, she has worked with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Baremboim, Riccardo Muti, Myung-whun Chung, Riccardo Chailly, James Levine, Antonio Pappano, Gianandrea Noseda, Alberto Zedda, Roberto Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Bruno Campanella, Sir Colin Davis, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Lorin Maazel, Michele Mariotti, Kent Nagano, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Juraj Valčuha, Zubin Mehta and with such stage directors as David McVicar, Robert Carsen, Luca Ronconi, Damiano Michieletto, Pierluigi Pizzi, Mario Martone, Hugo de Ana, Paul Curran, David Alden, Yannis Kokkos, and Emilio Sagi.

In Italy she has been acclaimed numerous times at La Scala in Milan (Lucrezia Borgia, Iphigénie en Aulide, Il viaggio a Reims, La donna del lago, Luisa Miller, Falstaff, Les Troyens) where she also sang Europa Riconosciuta conducted by Riccardo Muti on 7 December 2004 for the Opera House’s historical re-opening, at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (Tancredi, La donna del lago, Semiramide, Bianca e Falliero, Adelaide di Borgogna, Maometto II, Sigismondo, Stabat Mater, Petite messe solennelle marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death), at the Teatro Regio di Torino (Anna Bolena, Tancredi, Don Carlo, Samson et Dalila, Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater), at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Il barbiere di Siviglia, La fiamma, Cenerentola, L’Italiana in Algeri, Tancredi, Semiramide), at the Comunale in Bologna (Giulio Cesare) and Florence (Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri, Tancredi, Orfeo ed Euridice), at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Verdi’s Requiem, Il viaggio a Reims, Petite messe solennelle), at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, at the Sferisterio in Macerata (Norma and Verdi’s Requiem), at the Arena and Teatro Filarmonico in Verona (Verdi’s Requiem, Aida, L’Italiana in Algeri), at the Teatro Regio in Parma (Norma), at the San Carlo in Napoli (Anna Bolena, Orfeo ed Euridice), at the Carlo Felice in Genoa (Cenerentola, Verdi’s Requiem, La Favorite), at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Stabat Mater, Norma), at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste (Ginevra di Scozia by Simon Mayr, Tancredi, L’Italiana in Algeri), at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Paisiello’s Missa defunctorum) and she made her debut at the opening concert of the Donizetti Opera 2018 festival.

Outside Italy she has been invited by the Berliner Philharmoniker (Verdi’s Requiem), Munich’s Rundfunkorchester (Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck), the London Symphony Orchestra (Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz, Verdi’s Requiem), the Deutsche Oper in Berlino (Les Troyens by Berlioz, La Gioconda), New York’s Metropolitan (Norma, La donna del lago), the Royal Opera House of London (La donna del lago, Semiramide), Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Falstaff conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Mario Martone), the Opéra National de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La donna del lago, Don Carlo), the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich (L’Italiana in Algeri, Semiramide), the Teatro Real in Madrid (Semiramide, Tancredi, The Rake’s Progress, Aida, Falstaff, Un ballo in maschera), the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (Semiramide, La favorite), the Palau de les Arts in Valencia (Les Troyens, Aida), the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, L’Italiana in Algeri, Cavalleria rusticana), the Staatsoper in Vienna (Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri), the Grand Théatre in Ginevra (Semiramide), the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (Puccini’s Triptych, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis), the Semperoper in Dresden (Verdi’s Requiem, L’Italiana in Algeri, La Favorite), the Tel Aviv Opera (Norma), the Oviedo Opera (L’Italiana in Algeri, Tancredi), the Salzburg Festival (Verdi’s Requiem, Romeo et Juliette by Gounod, La donna del lago, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, I pellegrini al sepolcro di Nostro Signore, Aida), the Sydney Opera House (Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater), the Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier (La donna del lago), Las Palmas’ Opera Season (Il barbiere di Siviglia, I Capuleti ed i Montecchi, La Favorite) and the Opéra de Wallonie in Liege (La donna del lago), in Tokyo (Tancredi, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Stabat Mater, Bajazet by Vivaldi), ABAO Olbe (Don Carlos, Semiramide), the NCPA Opera in Beijing and the Festival Verdi in Tbilisi (Aida). She also performed in Verdi’s Requiem with Konzerthausorchester Berlin led by Juraj Valčuha and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti, in Heroic Bel Canto recital with works by Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini in Melbourne and in Rossini’s Stabat mater at the Baalbeck International Festival in Lebanon with the Bucharest radio chamber Orchestra conducted by Toufic Maatouk.

Recently, Daniela Barcellona sang Mrs Quickly in Falstaff at the Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Zubin Mehta and directed by Mario Martone, at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and at the Opéra de Lyon directed by Barry Kosky; Duchess Federica in Luisa Miller conducted by Michele Mariotti at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Madame de la Haltière in Cendrillon at the Opéra National de Paris and Laura in Gioconda at the Teatro alla Scala. She performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Myung-Whun Chung at Circo Massimo and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Arena di Verona.

Some of the awards she has been granted include the “Lucia Valentini-Terrani” award, the “Aureliano Pertile” award, the “International Opera Award”, the “CD Classica”, the “Rossini d’oro”, the “San Giusto d’Oro”, the “Sigillo trecentesco di Trieste”, the “Oscar della lirica” award, and the “Laurence Olivier Award” and the “Pesaro Music Award”. 

She has made numerous recordings, including albums dedicated to Scarlatti and Pergolesi (released by Sony); works by Rossini including Stabat Mater, Petite messe solennelle, Giovanna D’Arco, two editions of Tancredi, Bianca e Falliero, Adelaide di Borgogna, Sigismondo, and Il viaggio a Reims; Bellini (two editions of Norma); Mayr and Meyerbeer (respectively Ginevra di Scozia and Margherita d’Anjou); as well as Verdi’s Requiem (a celebrated recording with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker) and the monumental Les Troyens by Berlioz, conducted by Valery Gergiev. 

A complete studio recording of Rossini’s last and one of his greatest Italian operas, Semiramide, starring Albina Shagimuratova, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, has been released by Opera Rara in 2018. The album was awarded the Recording of the Month by Opera, Gramophone & BBC Music Magazine and was chosen as one of the Gramophone, IClassical & Sunday Times 2018 Recordings of the Year. It also received the Opera Award 2019 as “Best Recording Complete Opera”.

Two DVDs of Falstaff have recently been released, one recorded at the Teatro Real in Madrid in a new production by Laurent Pelly, the second, a production by Mario Martone, released by C Major Entertainment and recorded at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. This year, moreover, the recordings of Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Gianandrea Noseda at the Verbier Festival and of the Stabat Mater conducted by Gustavo Gimeno on the podium of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg have been released.

Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by the New Yorker. With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to the Times, Joyce has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also widely acclaimed for the bel canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti.

Joyce’s 2020/21 season began with performances of her baroque-inspired programme My Favourite Things with Il Pomo d’Oro in Bayreuth and Valencia, as well as a breathtaking recital for the Met Stars Live in Concert series. Further season highlights will include performances of Joyce’s Songplay programme with Craig Terry in Oviedo, Madrid and Barcelona, and Werther in concert under Donald Runnicles at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. This year Joyce is also delighted to be an Artist Ambassador in partnership with the classical music streaming service, Primephonic.

Joyce was Carnegie Hall’s 19/20 Perspectives Artist with appearances including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Muti and Schubert’s Winterreise in recital with Nézet-Séguin and a. The season also held the final tour of her album In War & Peace with Il Pomo d’Oro to South America culminating in Washington DC, and a tour with the Orchestre Métropolitain under Nézet-Séguin.

Hamburg-born Okka von der Damerau began her vocal studies in Rostock and graduated at the University of Music in Freiburg. Her first engagements led her to the theatres of Rostock and Freiburg.

From 2006 until 2010 she was an ensemble member of the Hannover State Opera and performed in the world premiere of Edward Rushton’s DIE FROMME HELENE, in DAS RHEINGLD/ Erda, RIGOLETTO/ Maddalena and DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE/ Dritte Dame. After her debut as Erste Magd in the ELEKTRA-production of the Bavarian State Opera she has been an ensemble member since the 2010/11-season.

In the 2015/16 season she performed in three new productions: Verdi’s UN BALLO IN MASCHERA/ Ulrica (C: Zubin Mehta), DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG/ Maddalena (C: Kirill Petrenko), Prokoviev’s THE FIERY ANGEL/ Abbess (C: Vladimir Jurowski).

The 2016/17 season lead her to Chicago, where she sang the roles of Erda/ DAS RHEINGOLD and Anna/ LES TROYENS. She also gave her house debut at the Vienna State Opera with the role of Erda/ RHEINGOLD and SIEGFRIED. In June 2016 Okka von der Damerau gave her debut at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Bruck.

In 2017/18 she will, among others, perform in a new production DAS WUNDER DER HELIANE at Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Brangäne / TRISTAN UND ISOLDE in concert with Cleveland Orchestra, as well as concerts with Mahler II. Symphony under the baton of Antonio Pappano at Enescu Festival Bukarest and under Kent Nagano in Munich and Berlin, and IX. Beethoven under Daniel Barenboim in Berlinner’s TE DEUM (C: Riccardo Muti).

Recipient of numerous prestigious vocal awards worldwide, Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená came to prominence in 1995 when she won the Sixth International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. She has since performed on the world’s most prestigious concert and opera stages, with leading conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, and Bernard Haitink and with orchestras including Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic. Among her recital partners are pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Daniel Barenboim and Yefim Bronfman, with whom she recorded her 2021 Nostalgia album for Pentatone. Her extensive discography has given rise to multiple awards for Magdalena, including Gramophone Artist of the Year (2004), the Echo Klassik, Record Academy Prize Tokyo, and Diapason d’or. In 2003 she was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.