Category: 2015 16 Season

Performance Updates for Tanja Ariane Baumgartner

8/7/2015

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Contralto

Further to Tanja's fantastic series of performances in Oper Frankfurt's 2015-16 season, I am please to announce that three further European performances in the coming season:

From the 2nd to the 11th October 2015, Tanja will take on the roles of Judith and Mother in Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse's productions of Bluebeard's Castle and Il Prigioniero respectively.

At Theater an der Wien from the 18th April, she will perform the role of Clarion in Strauss' Capriccio. It was in this role that she made her stunning last-minute ROH début, which was the first time I heard her perform live.

Finally, in Bilbao on the 26th and 27th May, Tanja will take part in an exciting concert featuring music from Berlioz's La mort de Cléopatre.

This is a fantastic year for Tanja, and I hope some of the readers of this website will be able to support her by attending some of her performances!

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Three Contraltos to perform in the Summer 2016 Season at the Wigmore Hall

7/7/2015

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Towards the end of the Wigmore Hall's 2015-16 season, three mesmerising Contraltos will be performing early music repertoire under the famous Arts and Crafts Cupola.

On the 23rd June, Hilary Summers will take the role of Cleofe in the Early Opera Company's concert performance La Resurrezione, under the baton of maestro Christian Curnyn. Hilary will share the stage with Sopranos Mhairi Lawson (Angelo) and Claire Booth (Maddalena), and the amazingly talented Bass-Baritone Callum Thorpe (Lucifero). If you want to catch a glimpse of Hilary in the UK before next summer, she will be performing at the Edinburgh Festival as Buttercup in HMS Pinafore, a role début.

Nathalie Stutzmann takes the helm of her orchestra, Orfeo 55, on the 2nd July in a concert of Arie Antiche. Composers include Carissimi, Caldara, Bononchini, Scarlatti, and Parisotti.

Her Wigmore Hall début last year was a massive success, with her voice being described as "a contralto voice of great strength, suppleness and expressivity."

Sonia Prina continues her sensational relationship with the Wigmore hall with a concert of Gluck arias on the 28th June with orchestra La Barocca.

Sonia's previous two concerts have both been showcases of opera arias. The first was a concert of arias by Vivaldi, while the second comprised of arias written for the star alto castrato Senesino.

The Wigmore Hall has been a string supporter of the Contralto voice over the past couple of years, with five Contraltos performing in its 2014-15 season. I hope to see more Contraltos making their début at this glorious venue over the next few years!

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Sharmay Musacchio to perform in operas by Martinů and Verdi.

17/6/2015

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Sharmay Musacchio, Contralto

Dramatic Contralto Sharmay Musacchio is to perform in operas by Martinů and Verdi over the next few months.

From July 23rd for five performances, Sharmay will perform in the role of "Mother" in Martinů's opera Tears of the Knife (Slzy nože), with Bodhi Tree Concerts. The operas was considered too shocking, even for the avant-garde crowd of its own day. So schocking, in fact, that Tears of the Knife did not premiere until thirty years after its composition! You can grab a ticket here.

For four performances, starting on the 12th September, Sharmay will be taking on the role of Mrs. Quickly in Pacific Opera Project's production of Falstaff. Quickly is a role perfectly suited to Sharmay's cavernous Dramatic Contralto voice. Tickets are selling out fast, so check out the Pacific Opera Project website for booking.

Below you can hear Sharmay's recording of Menotti's "Lullaby". Also, check out Sharmay's Website and her Soundcloud page for more info and recordings!

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Romina Boscolo to make her debut as Ulrica at the Saarländisches Staatstheater.

12/6/2015

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Romina Boscolo, Contralto

Romina Boscolo is to make her début in the role of Ulrica at the Saarländisches Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, Germany.

Romina Boscolo is no stranger to Verdi's Dramatic Contralto roles, having recently performed the role of Mrs. Quickly alongside the great Ambrogio Maestri in the Theatro Municipal di San Paolo's acclaimed production of Falstaff. One reviewer said of her:

"But that voice! Warm, beautifully timbre, seamlessly across registers, with a deep, low contralto."

With her striking stage presence and arresting sound, Boscolo is certain to dominate the role of the witch Ulrica.

Further roles this season include: Mary in Hessisches Staatstheater's production of Der fliegende Holländer, which begins on 25th September; 1st Maid in Elektra at Teatro Comunale di Bologna; Romina Boscolo will also take on the roles of Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino, and Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff at the Hessisches Staatstheater in 2016. Please check out her webiste for further details.

Check out her sublime performance of Pergolesi's "Fac ut Portem" below.

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Three Contraltos set to perform in multiple roles at Oper Frankfurt.

30/5/2015

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Bernadette Fodor, Contralto

A new name to me, Bernadett Fodor will be performing multpile roles in Oper Frankfurt's Ring Cycle. She will take on the role of Erda in Das Rheingold, while sharing the same role in Siegfried. She will be sharing the role of 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung, while taking the role of Schwertleite in Die Walküre.

Hailing from Hungary, Fodor made her first opera debut in the role of Suzuki at the National Centre for the Performing Arts Mumbai in India in 2008.

She is currently singing several roles - Erda, Carmen, Fricka, Schwertleite, Waltraute, Dritte Dame, Annina - at the new Music Theatre of Linz in Austria.

Oper Frankfurt has always been a fantastic place for Contraltos, and the new 2015-16 season is no exception, with three Contraltos set to perform in multiple roles.

Tanja Baumgartner, Contralto

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, who I saw perform the role of Gaea in Strauss' Daphne at Frankfurt, will be performing in no less than five productions with Oper Frankfurt in its 2015-16 season.

Tanja shares the role of Mary in Oper Frankfurt's new production of Der fliegende Holländer. The production runs from Sunday 29th November 2015 to 23rd April 2015. She will also share the title role in the new production of Bizet's Carmen. It's wonderful to see a true Contralto in the role, so a big "well done" on that score! The production runs from the 5th June to the 16th July 2016.

Tanja is set to take on the demanding role of Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo, with the explosive "O don fatale" and the register-bashing "Nel giardin del bello". Oper Frankfurt is also giving a Ring Cycle, in which Tanja is set to share the role of Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre.

Meredith Arwady, Dramatic Contralto

The phenomenal Dramatic Contralto Meredith Arwady, whom I heard perform the ture Conrtalto role of Dame Quickly in Oper Frankfurt's procution of Falstaff with the amazing Ambrogio Maestri in the title role, will share the role of 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung, and also the role of Erda in Siegfried, with Bernadett Fodor. It is great to see Arwady in Europe, and hopefully more roles will be coming her way in the future on this side of the pond.

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Four Contraltos to perform in Three Operas in the 2015-16 ROH Season

6/5/2015

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Starting on Friday 13th November, Helena Rasker takes on the role of Erna in Georg Friedrich Haas’s Morgen und Abend (Morning and Evening), a new commission for The Royal Opera. The Opera is based on a novel by Jon Fosse and directed by Graham Vick. Georg Fredrich Haas is best known in the UK for his instrumental work in vain, acclaimed by Simon Rattle as ‘an acknowledged masterpiece of the 21st century’.

Tickets go on general sale on 14 July 2015.

From Thursday 25th February 2016, Anna Larsson reprises the role of Zia Principessa from Puccini's Sour Angelica, perfomed as part of the composer's triple bill Il Trittico. Larsson performed the role magnificently in 2011, moving from resolute self-composure to agitated insecurity as the confrontation scene progressed. Her return to the ROH stage is sure to be a highlight of the new season.

Keep a look out for tickets for the opening night here.

La Fura dels Baus’s production of Enescu’s rarely performed Œdipe features two Contraltos: Claudia Huckle in the role of Mérope, and the French-Canadian Marie-Nicole Lemieux as The Sphinx. Huckle, a Birgit Nilsson Prize Winner from the 2013 Operalia Conpetition, made her debut at the Royal Opera House this season in the role of Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Lemieiux makes her debut in this production Œdipe as The Sphinx.

Performances start on Monday 23 May 2016.

Exciting news as four Contraltos have been engaged to perform in the 2015-16 season at the Royal Opera House.

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Performance Updates for Tanja Ariane Baumgartner

Three Contraltos to perform in the Summer 2016 Season at the Wigmore Hall

Sharmay Musacchio to perform in operas by Martinů and Verdi.

Romina Boscolo to make her debut as Ulrica at the Saarländisches Staatstheater.

Three Contraltos set to perform in multiple roles at Oper Frankfurt.

Four Contraltos to perform in Three Operas in the 2015-16 ROH Season

Dramatic Contraltos

Contralto Profondos

Links

Blog Roll

Categories

Archives

Performance Updates for Tanja Ariane Baumgartner

Three Contraltos to perform in the Summer 2016 Season at the Wigmore Hall

Sharmay Musacchio to perform in operas by Martinů and Verdi.

Romina Boscolo to make her debut as Ulrica at the Saarländisches Staatstheater.

﻿Three Contraltos set to perform in multiple roles at Oper Frankfurt.

Four Contraltos to perform in Three Operas in the 2015-16 ROH Season

Dramatic Contraltos

Contralto Profondos

Links

Blog Roll

Categories

Archives

Three Contraltos set to perform in multiple roles at Oper Frankfurt.