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"It was Radvanovsky's night for triumph.
Still in the first decade of a career focused largely on Verdi,
she has made Leonora her signature role. She employs her richly
hued voice with ease and -- although a modern woman would have the
sense to escape this matted mess immediately -- she made Leonora
both credible and sympathetic. The intensity of her portrayal grew
throughout the evening" (Musical America)
"As the soprano pours herself into
the role, she also pours out a stream of really luscious sound…the
voice is a thrill" (LA Times)
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky's dramatic stage presence and stunning
vocal qualities have firmly established her as one of the rising
stars on the international stage today. She has been hailed as one
the great Verdi singers of the new generation, critically acclaimed
for her performances as Leonora in Il Trovatore, Violetta in La
Traviata, Hélène in Les Vêpres Siciliennes and Elisabetta in Don
Carlo. Her performance as Hélène in the rarely performed Les Vêpres
Siciliennes at the Paris Opera took the opera world by storm. The
press was unanimous in its praise: "…singing Hélène with dramatic
flourish and lyric radiance, who roused the audience from her first
entry (International Herald Tribune); "Not since I first heard the
young Cheryl Studer 20 years ago have I been so excited by a soprano
voice. It has a tender, softly coloured personality, with a light
tremolo that blossoms at the top (Financial Times); "Quant à la
belle Hélène de l'Américaine Sondra Radvanovsky, elle a de l'héroïne
tragique le registre étendu, la puissance et la projection..." (Le
Monde).
Sondra's 2007-2008 begins with her debut at the Teatro Carlo Felice
in Genoa in one of her signature roles - Elena in Verdi's I Vespri
Siciliani. In November Sondra makes her first appearance in the
role of Elvira in Ernani at the Teatro Verdi di Trieste, a role
she reprises later in the season at the Metropolitan Opera in New
York. In January, she will make her debut at Milan's famed La Scala
in another of her favourite roles - Roxanne - in Cyrano de Bergerac,
with Placido Domingo in the title role. May takes her back to Oper
Leipzig for Manon Lescaut and to the Vienna Staatsoper where she
again appears as Elena in I Vespri Siciliani.
The 2006-2007 season was an exciting one for Sondra with debuts
at the Vienna Staatsoper (I Vespri Siciliani) and in the Canary
Islands (Lucrezia Borgia) as well as a role debut as Lina in Steffelio
in a return appearance at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where
her Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac took critics and the public by
storm. A new production of Il Trovatore took her back to her hometown
of Chicago where she also debuted with the Chicago Symphony in Beethoven's
Symphony No. 9 under David Zinman. In June Sondra took Toronto by
storm with her appearance in the LUNA Opera Gala presented by the
Luminato Festival.
Sondra's 2005-2006 season opened in Bilbao with performances of
Rusalka, followed by a return to the Metropolitan Opera in New York
for Die Fledermaus and Cyrano de Bergerac. She also appeared in
Il Trovatore in Ancona, in Verdi's Requiem at the Puerto Rico Festival
and made her UK debut in a concert with the Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment. The summer of 2006 featured her return to Tanglewood
for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, with the Boston Symphony conducted
by James Levine.
Recent highlights also include critically acclaimed performances
of Cyrano de Bergerac with Plácido Domingo in New York and London,
and Susannah at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Sondra has also appeared
as Leonora in Il Trovatore with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Houston
Grand Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and the Bregenz Festival. In
earlier seasons she was featured in New York, Bilbao, Santa Fe,
Paris, Cologne and Japan.
In addition to being a winner of the 1997 George London Foundation
Competition, Sondra Radvanovsky also won the 1995 Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions and received first prize in the 1995
Loren L. Zachary Society Competition. A graduate of the Metropolitan
Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ms. Radvanovsky's
training has also included advanced studies at Tanglewood Music
Center and the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of
Music.
Sondra and her husband make their home in Toronto, Canada
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Season Highlights 2006-2007
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2007
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October
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Genoa, Teatro Carlo Felice: Elena in Verdi's I Vespri
Siciliani
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November
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Trieste, Teatro Verdi: Elvira in Verdi's Ernani *role
debut*
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2008
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January - February
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Milan, La Scala: Roxanne in Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac
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March - April
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New York, Metropolitan Opera: Elvira in Ernani
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May
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Leipzig: Title role Puccini's Manon Lescaut
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June
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Vienna Staatsoper: Elena in Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani
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* For more detailed performance
dates, please see
Ms. Radvanovsky's full
schedule *
Last Updated: October 3, 2007
© 2002 Moira Johnson Consulting,
All Rights Reserved
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