Vincenzo Bellini
Operas Adelson e Salvini (1825) Bianca e Fernando (1826) Il pirata (1827) La straniera (1829) Zaira (1829) I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830) La sonnambula (1831) Norma (1831) Beatrice di Tenda (1833) I puritani (1835)
v t e

I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) is an Italian opera (Tragedia lirica) in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.

The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than taken directly from William Shakespeare. (The tomb scene from Vaccai's opera has sometimes been performed with Bellini's opera.)

Bellini was persuaded to write the opera for the 1830 Carnival season at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, with only a month and a half available for composition. He succeeded by appropriating a large amount of music previously written for his unsuccessful opera Zaira.

The first performance of I Capuleti e i Montecchi was on 11 March 1830.^[1][2][3]

Composition history[link]

Behind the libretto stand many Italian, ultimately Renaissance sources supplied by Bandello, probably through Belleforest and Pierre Boaistuau, rather than Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Romani rewrote for Bellini the Giulietta e Romeo he had written originally for Vaccai, which drew on a play Giulietta e Romeo of 1818 by Luigi Scevola, and which had also been set by E. Torriani. The theme was very popular in Italy: there were earlier librettos by Luzzi for Marescalchi (1785, Venice), Foppa for Zingarelli (1796, Milan), and Buonaiuti for P. C. Guglielmi (1810, London). The first Italian libretto explicitly based on Shakespeare’s play was by M. M. Marcello, for Marchetti’s Romeo e Giulietta (1865, Trieste).

In Venice to prepare the local première of Il pirata with Giuditta Grisi as Imogene, Bellini wrote I Capuleti in a month and a half (starting about 20 January) after the Teatro La Fenice had been let down by Giovanni Pacini. He wrote the part of Romeo for Grisi (whose presence, together with a relatively weak male company, may have conditioned the choice of subject); it rarely descends below c'. Giulietta was sung by Maria Caradori-Allan, Tebaldo by Lorenzo Bonfigli and Lorenzo by Ranieri Pocchini Cavalieri. Bellini had intended the part of Lorenzo for a bass, but in Act 1 of the autograph score he transposed it for tenor, and in Act 2 the part is written in the tenor clef throughout. Although these changes were possibly for Senigallia (summer 1830), Cavalieri, the singer at the première, appears to have been a tenor. (Published scores and most performances assign the role to a bass.)

Bellini thoroughly reworked ten melodies from his unsuccessful Zaira into I Capuleti e i Montecchi: he explained that "Zaira, hissed at Parma, was avenged by I Capuleti". Giulietta’s "Oh quante volte" in Act 1 uses Nelly’s romanza "Dopo l’oscuro nembo" from Adelson e Salvini (1825, Naples). Bellini prepared a version for La Scala (26 December 1830), lowering Giulietta’s part for the mezzo-soprano Amalia Schütz-Oldosi.

Performance history[link]

Early librettos divide the opera into four parts; at Bologna in 1832 Maria Malibran replaced the last part with the tomb scene from Vaccai’s final act, a tradition followed by contralto Romeos such as Alboni (Vaccai’s scene is included as an appendix to Ricordi’s vocal score). This version was performed in 1833 in Paris and London (on 20 July)^[4] with Pasta as Romeo, but in Florence the following year Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis restored Bellini’s ending. Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient’s singing as Romeo in Leipzig (1834) and Magdeburg (1835) created a profound impression on the young Wagner.

I Capuleti was revived in 1935, the centenary of Bellini’s death, at Catania and it was given its first US performance on 4 April 1937 in New Orleans. It appeared in 1954 at Palermo, with Giulietta Simionato as Romeo and Rosanna Carteri as Giulietta. In 1966 Claudio Abbado prepared a version for La Scala in which Romeo was sung by a tenor, Giacomo Aragall; the cast included Renata Scotto and Margherita Rinaldi alternating in the role of Giulietta and Luciano Pavarotti as Tebaldo. This version was also performed in Amsterdam, Rome and Philadelphia and at the 1967 Edinburgh Festival, but it is no longer used.

Modern day productions have been mounted fairly frequently, with 19 (some concert only) having been presented or planned to be presented since 1 January 2010^[5]. A San Francisco Opera production is planned for September 2013 featuring Joyce Di Donato.^[5]

Roles[link]

[edit] Synopsis ^[6]

Place: around the palace of Capellio (Capulet) in Verona

Time: 13th century

In this version of the story the Capuleti and Montecchi are rival political factions (Guelph and Ghibelline respectively) rather than Shakespeare's 'two households, both alike in dignity'. Capellio is the father of Giulietta (Juliet) and the leader of the Capuleti. Giulietta is betrothed to Tebaldo (Tybalt), however she has already met and fallen in love with Romeo, leader of the Montecchi. This is a secret to all but Lorenzo (Lawrence), her doctor and confidant. Complicating matters, Romeo has inadvertently killed the son of Capellio (Giulietta's brother) in battle.

Act 1[link]

Scene 1: The Palace

Capellio (bass) and Tebaldo (tenor) address their followers advising rejection of an offer of peace to be brought by an envoy from Romeo. Tebaldo will avenge the killing of Capellio's son to celebrate his marriage to Giulietta ('È serbata a questo acciaro'). Capellio wants the marriage to take place immediately, brushing aside the objections of Lorenzo (bass) that Giulietta is ill with a fever.

Romeo (mezzo-soprano) enters in the guise of a Montague envoy, offering peace to be guaranteed by the marriage of Romeo and Giulietta. He explains that Romeo regrets the death of Capellio's son ('Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio'), and offers to take his place as a second son for the old man. Capellio indicates that Tebaldo has already taken on that role and rejects all idea of peace. Romeo accepts their challenge of war ('La tremenda ultrice spada').

Scene 2: Giulietta's room

Guilietta (soprano) longs for Romeo (in the romanza 'Oh! quante volte'). Lorenzo enters. He has arranged for Romeo to come to her by a secret door. Romeo tries to persuade Giulietta to escape with him, but she resists in the name of family law and honour, declaring that she would prefer to die of a broken heart.

Scene 3: Another part of the palace

The Capuleti are celebrating the forthcoming marriage. Recognized by Lorenzo, Romeo is in disguise awaiting the support of his soldiers to prevent the wedding. In the tumult following the armed attack by the Montecchi, Giulietta sees Romeo and he again unsuccessfully urges her to run away with him. Capellio and Tebaldo discover them, believing Romeo to be the Montecchi envoy. Giulietta tries to shield him from her father, but he proudly tells them his true name. The Montagues enter to protect him and the lovers are separated by their two factions.

Act 2[link]

Scene 1: Another part of the Palace

Introduced by an arioso for cello, Giulietta awaits news of the fighting. Lorenzo tells her that Romeo lives, but she will soon be taken away to Tebaldo's castle. He persuades her to take a sleeping drug that will make it appear that she has died. He will arrange for Romeo (and himself) to be present when she awakes. Capellio comes to order her to leave with Tebaldo at dawn. She begs her father's forgiveness before she dies ('Ah! non poss'io partire'). Capellio is alarmed and suspects the involvement of Lorenzo. He will have him watched.

Scene 2: The grounds of the palace

Romeo is impatiently waiting for Lorenzo who fails to appear. Tebaldo enters and they have an angry duet ('Stolto! a un sol mio grido'). They fight but are interrupted by a funeral procession ('Pace alla tua bell'anima'). It is Giulietta's. The rivals are united in remorse, asking each other for death.

Scene 3: The tombs of the Capuleti

Romeo enters and his companions open Giulietta's tomb. Romeo bids her farewell ('Deh! tu, bell'anima') and swallows poison. Giulietta awakes finding Romeo surprised by her simulated death and unaware of Lorenzo's plan. With great pathos, Romeo tells her that he has already acted to end his life. He dies and Giulietta, unable to live on without him, expires on his body. The Capuleti and Montecchi blame Capellio for the tragedy.

Recordings[link]

References[link]

Notes

Cited sources

• Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4

Other sources

• Osborne, Charles, The Bel Canto Operas, Amadeus Press, ISBN 0-931340-84-5

External links[link]

• Libretto at Karadar.com

v t e William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Characters Romeo Juliet Mercutio Tybalt Benvolio Friar Laurence Nurse Paris Prince Escalus Rosaline Full Character List Sources The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet Pyramus and Thisbe Palace of Pleasure Troilus and Criseyde Ephisaica Musical adaptations Romeo und Julie (1776) I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830) Roméo et Juliette (Berlioz) (1839) Roméo et Juliette (1867) Romeo and Juliet (overture) (1870) Romeo und Julia (1929) Romeo and Juliet (1938) West Side Story (1957) Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour (2001) Giulietta e Romeo (2007) On screen Romeo and Juliet (1900) Romeo and Juliet (1908) Romeo and Juliet (1916) Romeo and Juliet (1936) Romeo and Juliet (1954) Romeo i Dzhulyetta (1955) Romeo and Juliet (1968) Romeo and Juliet (1978) The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (1982) Romeo and Juliet (1992) Romeo + Juliet (1996) Romeo and Juliet (2012) Adaptations Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (1960) Romanoff and Juliet (1961) West Side Story (1961) Romie-0 and Julie-8 (1979) The Sea Prince and the Fire Child (1981) Tromeo and Juliet (1996) Love Is All There Is (1996) The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) Shakespeare in Love (1998) Romeo Must Die (2000) Romiette and Julio (2001) Hobak Nar (2004) Pizza My Heart (2005) West Bank Story (2005) Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss (2006) Romeo × Juliet (2007) Saints & Sinners (2007) Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) Book:Romeo and Juliet

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Italian opera composer. A native of Catania in Sicily, his greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830), La sonnambula (1831), Norma (1831), Beatrice di Tenda (1833), and I puritani (1835). Known for his long-flowing melodic lines, for which he was named "the Swan of Catania", Bellini was the quintessential composer of bel canto opera. He died in Puteaux, France at the age of 33, nine months after the premiere of his last opera, I puritani.

Life[link]

Born in Catania, Sicily, Bellini was a child prodigy from a highly musical family and legend has it he could sing an aria of Valentino Fioravanti at eighteen months. He began studying music theory at two, the piano at three, and by the age of five could apparently play well. Bellini's first five pieces were composed when he was just six years old. Regardless of the veracity of these claims, it is certain that Bellini grew up in a musical household and that a career as a musician was never in doubt.

Having learned from his grandfather, Bellini left provincial Catania in June 1819 to study at the conservatory in Naples, with a stipend from the municipal government of Catania. By 1822 he was in the class of the director Nicolò Zingarelli, studying the masters of the Neapolitan school and the orchestral works of Haydn and Mozart. It was the custom at the Conservatory to introduce a promising student to the public with a dramatic work: the result was Bellini's first opera Adelson e Salvini an opera semiseria that was presented at the Conservatory's theatre. Bellini's next opera, Bianca e Gernando, met with some success at the Teatro San Carlo, leading to a commission from the impresario Barbaia for an opera at La Scala. Il pirata was a resounding immediate success and began Bellini's faithful and fruitful collaboration with the librettist and poet Felice Romani, and cemented his friendship with his favored tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, who had sung in Bianca e Gernando.

Bellini's cenotaph at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Bellini spent the next years, 1827–33 in Milan, where all doors were open to him. Sparking controversy in the press for its new style and its restless harmonic shifts into remote keys, La straniera (1828) was even more successful than Il pirata, and allowed Bellini to support himself solely by his opera commissions. The composer showed the taste for social life and the dandyism that Heinrich Heine emphasized in his literary portrait of Bellini (Florentinische Nächte, 1837). Opening a new theatre in Parma, his Zaira (1829) was a failure at the Teatro Ducale, but Venice welcomed I Capuleti e i Montecchi, which was based on the same Italian source as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The next five years were triumphant, with major successes with his greatest works, La sonnambula, Norma and I puritani, cut short by Bellini's premature death just nine months after the premiere of I puritani. Bellini left London for Paris, but never completed the journey back to Milan.

Bellini died in Puteaux, near Paris of acute inflammation of the intestine, and was buried in the cemetery of Père Lachaise, Paris; his remains were removed to the cathedral of Catania in 1876. The Museo Belliniano housed in the Gravina Cruyllas Palace, in Catania, preserves memorabilia and scores.

The central relationship in Bellini's life was with Francesco Florimo (1800-1888), from a village close to Catania, and the two shared a close correspondence. After Bellini's death Florimo was treated as his spiritual heir. Herbert Weinstock^[1] felt it "inescapably suggests to modern readers a homosexual attachment". However, John Rosselli^[2] rejects this idea, seeing it more as a romantic friendship.

Works[link]

In 1999, the Italian music publisher Casa Ricordi, in collaboration with the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, embarked on a project to publish critical editions of the complete works of Bellini.

Operas[link]

Songs[link]

The following fifteen songs were published as a collection, Composizioni da Camera, by Casa Ricordi in 1935 on the centenary of Bellini's death.

• Six Early Songs:
  • "La farfalletta" – canzoncina
  • "Quando incise su quel marmo" – scena ed aria
  • "Sogno d'infanzia" – romanza
  • "L'abbandono" – romanza
  • "L'allegro marinaro – ballata
  • "Torna, vezzosa fillide" – romanza

• Tre Ariette:
  • "Il fervido Desiderio"
  • "Dolente immagine di Fille mia"
  • "Vaga luna, che inargenti"

• Sei Ariette:
  • "Malinconia, Ninfa gentile"
  • "Vanne, o rosa fortunata"
  • "Bella Nice, che d'amore"
  • "Almen se non poss'io"
  • "Per pietà, bell'idol mio"
  • "Ma rendi pur contento"

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vincenzo Bellini

Biography portal

Other important bel canto opera composers:

• Gioachino Rossini
• Gaetano Donizetti
• Saverio Mercadante

Sources[link]

• Casa Ricordi. Edizione Critica delle Opere di Vincenzo Bellini (Italian)
• Rosselli, John (1996). The life of Bellini. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46781-0
• Willier, Stephen Ace (2002). Vincenzo Bellini: A guide to research. Routledge. ISBN 0-8153-3805-8,

References[link]

1. ^ Herbert Weinstock, Bellini: His life and his operas, 1971
2. ^ John Rosselli, The life of Bellini, 1997, University of Cambridge Press

External links[link]

• Bellini cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Free scores by Vincenzo Bellini at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Vincenzo Bellini in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Vincenzo Bellini in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Teatro Massimo Bellini, Catania
• Vincenzo Bellini at Find a Grave

Natalie Dessay, 2008

Natalie Dessay (French pronunciation: [na.ta.li də.sɛ]) (born Nathalie Dessaix, 19 April 1965, in Lyon) is a French coloratura soprano. She dropped the silent "h" in her first name in honor of Natalie Wood when she was in grade school and subsequently simplified the spelling of her surname outside France. Famous in her earlier career for a very high upper extension, limpid intonation and superb coloratura, Dessay became more recognized in recent years for her dramatic and comedic flair as a singing actress.

In her youth, Dessay had intended to be a ballet dancer, and then an actress.^[1] She discovered her talent for singing while taking acting classes, and shifted her artistic focus to music.^[2] Dessay was encouraged to study voice at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux and gained experience as a chorister in Toulouse. At the competition Les Voix Nouvelles, run by France Télécom, she was awarded First Prize (Premier Prix de Concours) followed by a year's study at Paris Opera's Ecole d'Art Lyrique, where she sang "Elisa" in Mozart's Il re pastore. Also, she entered the International Mozart Competition at the Vienna State Opera, winning First Prize.

She was quickly approached by a number of theatres, and subsequently sang "Blondchen", "Madame Herz" (in Der Schauspieldirektor), "Zerbinetta" and "Zaïde" at the Opéra National de Lyon and the Opéra Bastille, as well as "Adele" in Die Fledermaus in Geneva.

Career[link]

In April and May 1992 at the Opéra Bastille, she sang the role of "Olympia" in The Tales of Hoffmann with José van Dam. The Roman Polanski production was not well received, but it began the road to stardom for Dessay. Although she was soon featured in another production of Hoffmann, it would be over ten years before her return to Paris Opera in the same role. Soon after her Hoffmann run, Dessay joined the Vienna State Opera as Blondchen in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In December 1993, she was then asked to replace Cheryl Studer in one of the three female roles in a production of Hoffmann at the Vienna Opera. Her "Olympia" received acclaim from the Viennese audiences and praise from Plácido Domingo.^{[citation needed]}

She attended a performance where Barbara Bonney had sung Sophie in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier under Carlos Kleiber. Dessay was cast in the same role with another conductor. Her hope was to work with Kleiber, but he died before any project came to fruition.^{[citation needed]} Blondchen in Die Entführung and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos became her best-known and most often played roles.

In October 1994, Dessay made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in the role of Fiakermilli in Strauss's Arabella, and returned there in September 1997 as Zerbinetta and in February 1998 as Olympia.

The Staatsoper approached Dessay with two operas: Richard Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau, and Alban Berg's unfinished Lulu. Dessay declined the latter, saying the score was too difficult for her^{[citation needed]}. She admitted that Die schweigsame Frau was already painful to learn.

At the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Dessay first performed the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute. Although she was hesitant to perform the role, saying that she didn't want to play any evil characters, director Robert Carsen convinced her that this Queen would be different, almost a sister to Pamina. Dessay agreed to do the role, claiming it would be a one-time series of performances. There followed a year-long series of final performances of the Queen of the Night.^{[citation needed]}

During the 2001–2002 season in Vienna, she began to experience vocal difficulties and had to be replaced in almost all of the performances of La sonnambula. Subsequently, she was forced to cancel several other performances, including a French version of Lucia di Lammermoor in Lyon and a Zerbinetta at the Royal Opera House in London. She withdrew from the stage and underwent surgery on one of her vocal cords in July 2002.^[3] In February 2003, she returned to live performances in a Paris concert. Later, she cancelled and had further surgery, but by mid-2005 she was back on stage.

In the summer of 2003, Dessay gave her first US recital in Santa Fe. She was so attracted to New Mexico in general, and to Santa Fe in particular, that Santa Fe Opera (SFO) quickly rearranged its schedule to feature her in SFO's 2004 production of La sonnambula.^[4][5] She returned in the 2006 SFO season as Pamina (The Magic Flute). She gave her first performances in the role of Violetta in La traviata^[1] at SFO on 3 July 2009 in a production staged by Laurent Pelly. Her husband, Laurent Naouri appeared as Germont.^[6]

The 2006/2007 season schedule included Lucia di Lammermoor and La sonnambula in Paris, La fille du régiment directed by Laurent Pelly in London and Vienna, and a Manon in Barcelona. She opened the 2007–08 season at the Met as Lucia and also repeated her role in La fille du régiment.^[7] In January 2009 she sang the part of Melisande in a much acclaimed stagione production of Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy at the Theater an der Wien, the second opera house in Vienna, alongside Laurent Naouri. On 2 March 2009, Dessay sang the title role in La Sonnambula at the New York Metropolitan Opera. It was the first new production of the opera at the Met since Joan Sutherland sang the title role in the 1960s.^[8]

In February 2012, Dessay said in an interview with Le Figaro that she would take a sabbatical from opera performance in 2015.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Dessay is married to the bass-baritone Laurent Naouri, and she converted to his Jewish faith.^[10] The couple has two children.^[1]

Recordings[link]

Dessay provided the singing voice for the character of Anna Sørensen (played by Diane Kruger) in the 2005 movie Joyeux Noël.

DVDs[link]

• The Miracle of the Voice – Greatest Moments on Stage
• Le rossignol (Stravinsky)
• La fille du régiment (Donizetti) – Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Bruno Campanella, BBC 2007
• Hamlet (Thomas)
• Manon (Massenet)
• Les contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach)
• Orphée aux enfers (Offenbach)
• Arabella (R. Strauss)
• La sonnambula (Bellini)
• Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy)
• Ariadne auf Naxos (R. Strauss)

CDs[link]

• La sonnambula (Bellini)
• Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
• Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
• Orphée aux enfers (Offenbach)
• Les contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach)
• Mass in C Minor (Mozart)^{[clarification needed Great Mass in C minor, K. 427, or Waisenhaus, K. 139 ?]}
• Lakmé (Delibes)
• Mitridate (Mozart)
• Alcina (Handel)
• L'Orfeo (Monteverdi)
• "Vocalise" (Rachmaninov)
• Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (Handel)
• Magnificat (J. S. Bach) and Dixit Dominus (Handel)
• The Miracle of the Voice
• Delirio – Cantatas (Handel)
• Joyeux Noël (singing voice for the character Anna Sørensen)
• Mozart Heroines
• French Opera Arias
• Amor: Scenes and Lieder (R. Strauss)
• Bach: Cantatas (J. S. Bach)
• Italian Opera Arias (Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi)
• Mad Scenes (Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Bellini, and Leonard Bernstein)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Natalie Dessay

• Dessay's Official Web Site
• Natalie Dessay, unofficial Web site
• Natalie Dessay recordings on EMI & Virgin Classics
• Virgin Classics short biography and discography
• Natalie Dessay at the Internet Movie Database

Sarah Coburn is an American operatic soprano.

Biography[link]

Sarah Coburn was born in Petersburg, Virginia on August 4, 1977. She graduated from Oklahoma State University and received a Master of Music degree from Oklahoma City University, studying under Larry Wade Keller. She first achieved recognition in 2001 as a National Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Council National Auditions.

Noted in Opera News magazine as a coloratura singer with a "silvery, resonant soprano" voice,^[1] Coburn has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; the Vienna State Opera; and other major companies.

Her repertoire has included the leading roles of: Lucia in both Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and its French version, Lucie de Lammermoor (Glimmerglass Opera and Cincinnati Opera); Amina in Bellini's La sonnambula (Vienna); Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto (Opéra de Montréal, Welsh National Opera, and Los Angeles Opera) and the title role in Delibes' Lakmé (Tulsa Opera); Asteria in Handel's Tamerlano; and Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (both with Los Angeles Opera). In 2007 she succeeded Elizabeth Futral in the role of Princess Yue-Yang in the world premiere production of Tan Dun's The First Emperor at the Metropolitan.^[2] That same year she performed the role of Kitty in the world premiere of David Carlson's Anna Karenina at the Florida Grand Opera.

Coburn is the daughter of the United States Senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website

Anna Netrebko
Anna Netrebko, 2005
Background information
Birth name	Anna Yuryevna Netrebko
Born	(1971-09-18) 18 September 1971 (age 40) Krasnodar, Soviet Union (now Krasnodar, Russia)
Origin	Russian
Genres	Opera
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1993–present
Website	annanetrebko.com

Anna Yuryevna Netrebko (Russian: Анна Юрьевна Нетребко, born 18 September 1971) is a Russian operatic soprano. She now holds dual Russian and Austrian citizenship and currently resides in Vienna. She has been nicknamed "La Bellissima" by fans.

Biography[link]

Netrebko was born in Krasnodar (Russia), in a family of Kuban Cossack background.^[1] While a student at the Saint Petersburg conservatoire, Netrebko worked as a janitor at Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre.^[2] Later, she auditioned for the Mariinsky Theatre, where conductor Valery Gergiev recognized her from her prior work in the theater. He subsequently became her vocal mentor.^[3] Under Gergiev's guidance, Netrebko made her operatic stage debut at the Mariinsky at age 22, as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. She went on to sing many prominent roles with the Kirov Opera, including Amina in La sonnambula, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

In 1994, she sang the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with the Riga Independent Opera Avangarda Akadēmija under conductor David Milnes.

In March 2006, Netrebko applied to become an Austrian citizen, receiving her citizenship in late July.^[4] According to an interview in the Austrian weekly news, she will live in Vienna and Salzburg. Netrebko cites the cumbersome and humiliating process of obtaining visas (as a Russian citizen) for her many performances abroad as the main reason for obtaining Austrian citizenship.^[5]

In March 2007, Netrebko announced that she would be an ambassador for SOS Children's Village in Austria, and be a sponsor for the Tomilino village in Russia.^[6]

In April 2008, Netrebko announced that she and her fiancé, Uruguayan baritone Erwin Schrott, had married.^[7] Their son Tiago Aruã Schrott was born on 5 September 2008 in Vienna.^[8]

Netrebko at the Mariinsky Theatre after receiving the honorary title of People's Artist of Russia

Performances[link]

Anna Netrebko as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore

In 1995, at the age of 24, Netrebko made her American debut as Lyudmila in Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila at the San Francisco Opera. Following this successful performance, she became a frequent guest singer in San Francisco. She is known as an acclaimed interpreter of other Russian operatic roles, such as Natasha in Prokofiev's War and Peace, Louisa in Betrothal in a Monastery and Marfa in The Tsar's Bride. Netrebko has also made successful forays into bel canto and romantic roles such as Gilda in Rigoletto, Mimi in La bohème, Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Elvira in I puritani.

In 2002, Netrebko made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Natasha in the Met premiere of War and Peace.^[9] In the same year, she sang her first Donna Anna at the Salzburg Festival's production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. She also performed at the Russian Children's Welfare Society's major fund raiser, the "Petroushka Ball". She returned to the Ball in 2003 and 2006 and is an honorary director of the charity.

In 2003, Netrebko performed as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata in Munich, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Los Angeles Opera, and Donna Anna at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Her second album, Sempre Libera, was released the following year. She later appeared as Violetta Valéry in La traviata at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Carlo Rizzi and in 2008 she performed the same role at Covent Garden to triumphant acclaim on the opening night, opposite Jonas Kaufmann and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in performances conducted by Maurizio Benini. However, she cancelled three subsequent performances due to suffering a bronchial condition. This was the second time she had cancelled her performances at the Royal Opera House, having withdrawn from some performances of Don Giovanni the previous summer due to illness.

On 30 May 2007, Netrebko made her Carnegie Hall debut with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Originally scheduled for 2 March 2006, Netrebko postponed the recital because she did not feel artistically ready.^[10]

Netrebko appeared at the Last Night of the Proms on 8 September 2007 where she performed "Ah! Se una volta ... Ah! Non credea mirarti ... Ah! Non giunge" from La sonnambula, "Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß" (Giuditta) and the song "Morgen!" by Richard Strauss (with violinist Joshua Bell).^[11] In the fall of 2007 she reprised her role as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera. In December 2007, Netrebko performed for Martin Scorsese, a 2007 Honoree, at the Kennedy Center Honors, and in May 2008 she made a much-awaited debut at the Paris Opera in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, with Joyce DiDonato as her Romeo.

Netrebko was scheduled to sing Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor in October 2008 at the Metropolitan Opera, but due to her pregnancy she decided to drop out of the role.

In her first performance after her maternity leave, Netrebko sang Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor when it opened at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on 14 January 2009, in a production from the Scottish Opera led by John Doyle.^[12] She then sang the same role in January and February 2009 at the Metropolitan Opera. Netrebko appeared as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Royal Opera House in Spring 2009, and as Violetta in La traviata in June 2009 at the San Francisco Opera. On 13 November 2010 in a matinee performance broadcast nationally by PBS, she sang the role of Norina in Don Pasquale at New York's Metropolitan Opera House under conductor James Levine. On 2 April 2011, she sang the title role of Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera for a sold-out premiere there, and the repeat performance on 5 April 2011 was broadcast live to cinemas around the world. On 7 December 2011 she opened very successfully the new season at La Scala in Milan as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.

In September 2011, it was announced that Netrebko will be performing at either or both of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, near her native Krasnodar.^[13]

Discography[link]

Complete opera recordings in DVD format[link]

Complete opera recordings in audio CD format[link]

Other albums in audio CD and DVD formats[link]

• Opera Arias
• Opera
• Duets (With Villazon)
• Sempre Libera
• Russian Album
• Souvenirs
• In the Still of Night
• The Mozart album
• La nozze di Figaro - Highlights
• Rossini: Stabat Mater
• Prima donna - First ladies of opera
• Puccini gold
• Puccini: La Boheme (Soundtrack Highlights)]
• Violeta: arias & duets from Verdi's La Traviata (CD/DVD)
• Stabat Mater - A Tribute to Pergolesi (CD/DVD)
• The Berlin Concert - Live from the Waldbühne DVD
• The opera gala - Live from Baden-Baden DVD
• Gala concert from St. Petersburg DVD
• The woman - The voice DVD
• A Mozart gala from Salzburg DVD

Recognitions and awards[link]

Time magazine placed her on its Time 100 list in 2007.^[14] She was identified by the journal Musical America as "a genuine superstar for the 21st century" and was named 'Musician of the Year' for 2008.^[15] She has also been described by Associated Press as "the reigning new diva of the 21st century".

She was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2004).^[16]

Playboy magazine placed her in their "sexiest babes of classical music" list.^[17]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anna Netrebko

• Official website
• Reviews, articles, photos and future schedules for Anna Netrebko from The Opera Critic
• Profile of Netrebko in the New York Times
• Anna Netrebko at the Internet Movie Database
• Anna Netrebko on YouTube
• Unofficial site of Anna Netrebko
• Unofficial Anna Netrebko Blog
• Anna Netrebko on Charlie Rose

v t e Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg Stock company Conductor and opera company director Valery Gergiev | 22 sopranos · Anna Netrebko | 13 mezzo-sopranos · Olga Borodina | 23 tenors | eight baritones | 14 basses Stages Main stage · Second stage · Concert Hall · Theatre Museum