Captivating Alaska-born mezzo-soprano VIVICA GENAUX is applauded on the world’s great musical stages, not only for her technical prowess and vocal beauty, but also for her vivid character portrayals. She is hailed as one of the leading exponents of the Baroque and bel canto repertoires.
Her affinity for the music of these periods is ever-expanding and during the 2006-07 season Ms. Genaux adds six new roles to her pantheon of characters, four by Handel, one by Rossini and one (on disc) by Vivaldi. With her Handel heroes and heroines now numbering eleven in eight operas, her entire gallery encompasses thirty roles, twenty-one of which are trouser-parts.
Just as her 2006-07 performing season commences, a much-anticipated disc of arias by two Baroque masters, the ever-popular Handel and the lesser-known Johann Adolf Hasse, is released by Virgin Classics. This is her first recorded pairing with conductor Bernard Labadie and his Les Violons du Roy.
Two engagements follow in the United States. New York audiences welcome her back for a double debut, her first time at New York City Opera, singing the twin roles of Juno and Ino in Handel’s Semele as well as for “A Night at the Opera”, a Benefit for the Company. She then returns to the Baltimore Opera for Neocle in Rossini’s L’assedio di Corinto, another role debut. Rejoining her frequent musical partners, Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante, they perform Vivaldi’s Bajazet in Bilbao, Spain, having previously collaborated on the award-winning Virgin Classics CD of this Baroque pasticcio. A favorite with Dallas Opera attendees, she brings her charming Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia to the Company before Paris beckons for a concert with period-instrument ensemble La Cetra, conducted by Attilio Cremonesi, in music by Handel and Hasse at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
2007 begins with her first association with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques in another Handel role debut, the conniving Polinesso in Ariodante, heard at the Champs-Elysées, London’s Barbican Centre (her UK debut) and at the Teatro Real in Madrid. This marks a departure for the mezzo-soprano, having previously sung the work’s title role in Dallas and San Diego. Traveling to Florence, she commits to disc the role of Teodosio in the world premiere recording of Vivaldi’s L’Atenaide, with Federico Maria Sardelli leading the Orchestra Barocca Modo Antiqua on the Naïve label. For her initial engagement with the Atlanta Opera, she is heard in a Gala Concert, immediately followed by a tour with another distinguished Baroque ensemble, the Al Ayre Español Orquesta, during which they bring the Handel rarity Rodrigo to Zaragoza and Lugo (Spain) and Paris, as well as to disc (another world premiere recording) for the Naïve/Ambroisie label. Ms. Genaux and Maestro Cremonesi perform Baroque programs both in Dresden and at the Istanbul Music Festival, in between which she presents a recital with pianist Craig Rutenberg for Minneapolis’ Schubert Club. With Concerto Köln she performs other gems from the vast Baroque treasure trove at the RheinVokal Festival (Germany) and, to conclude the season, she reunites with Maestro Labadie and Les Violons du Roy for more Hasse in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and at the Rheingau Festival in Germany.
During 2005-06, Ms. Genaux made her San Francisco Opera debut in L’italiana in Algeri, followed by her first recital for San Francisco Performances, and sang more Isabellas, this time with the Anchorage Opera in her native Alaska. 2006 began with concert performances of Bajazet with Europa Galante/Fabio Biondi in Vienna and Yokohama. Back in the States, she performed La Cenerentola with Opera Carolina and Michigan Opera Theatre, made a role debut as Sesto in Giulio Cesare with San Diego Opera. She then traveled to Spain for concerts of Handel works at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, Cenerentolas on the isle of Menorca, and a recital in Malaga. Her season came to a close with Europa Galante/Bajazets at the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier.
The mezzo’s 2004-05 season was equally busy and diverse with appearances at: the Opéra National de Paris for L’italiana in Algeri; The Dallas Opera in Cenerentola; the Bayerische Staatsoper for Il ritorno d’Ulisse and Barbiere; recitals in Pittsburgh and Lugo, Spain with Craig Rutenberg; Cenerentola for her Japanese debut, as well as at Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera; concerts in Québec with Maestro Labadie and Les Violons du Roy; Cenerentola for her Swiss debut (St. Gallen); an AIDS Benefit in Köln; and a concert with the New York Festival of Song at the Caramoor Festival.
Prior career highlights have included: Brussels (La Monnaie) and Paris (Champs-Elysées) for Hasse’s Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra, led by long-time mentor, conductor René Jacobs; the recently rediscovered Alessandro Scarlatti oratorio La Santissima Trinità in Paris, Palermo and Lyon, which marked her first collaboration with Fabio Biondi and his Europa Galante; Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the Los Angeles Opera; a Weill Hall recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall; Rosinas at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera; the Opéra National de Paris (Barbiere and Alcina); a concert at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin with René Jacobs and the Akademie für Alte Musik performing music from their “Arias for Farinelli” CD; Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Paris and Hong Kong with Kurt Masur and the Orchestre National de France; Rinaldo in Montpellier and Innsbruck; Minnesota Opera for Lucrezia Borgia, I Capuleti ed i Montecchi and Semiramide; Urbain in Les Huguenots for the opening of the new opera house in Bilbao; Hassem in Donizetti’s Alahor in Granata in Sevilla; Selimo in Hasse’s Solimano at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin; and seven appearances at the Caramoor Festival.
Ms. Genaux’s discography continues to grow steadily. In addition to the new Vivaldi and Handel operas this season and the recently released Handel/Hasse CD, her previous recording was the lavishly praised, Grammy©-nominated Biondi/Europa Galante Bajazet on Virgin. The Biondi/Europa Galante La Santissima Trinità (Virgin) was released in 2004 and was preceded in 2003 by her first solo CD on the label, “Bel Canto Arias”, featuring works by Rossini and Donizetti, with John Nelson conducting the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. harmonia mundi produced two Baroque releases that have garnered tremendous critical and popular praise: Handel’s Rinaldo, in 2003, conducted by René Jacobs; and, in 2002, the Grammy©-nominated, “Arias for Farinelli”, also with Maestro Jacobs. Arminio, recorded live in 2001, released on Virgin Classics, led by Alan Curtis, won the 2002 International Handel Prize. Other live recordings include Alahor in Granata on the Almaviva label, “Rossiniana” released by Agora with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi and “An Evening of Arias and Songs by Gioacchino Rossini” with accompanist Martin Dubé. |
