Metropolitan Opera soprano, Irina Rindzuner, was born in Russia. In the 2011- 2012 season, Ms. Rindzuner sang Turandot live stream with the Braunschweig Staatstheater , Turandot with Saarlaendisches Staatstheater , and Trovatore with Landestheater Linz . Irina covered Minnie at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and debuted as Minnie at the Tiroler Landstheater.
Upcoming for Ms. Rindzuner is Abigaille in Erfurt, a return to the New York City Ballet for Russian Seasons and Turandot with Minnesota Opera.
Sopranos at Encompass Arts
The press has hailed her as “…a star of tomorrow, today.” They’ve said, “…when she sings, all she has to do is open her mouth and the notes spill out sweetly and effortlessly.” Regis Philbin called her “…a beautiful operatic singer. Boy oh boy, is she great! She’s really amazing!”
Melissa Zapin started as a soprano in Honolulu, Hawaii with little more than a big voice and an even bigger dream. Raised by a single mother in Hawaii, Melissa’s sheer determination and love of music kept her focused on her ultimate goal: to sing on the greatest stages in the world.
Internationally acclaimed performing and recording artist, Maureen O’Flynn, garners enthusiastic praise from critics, peers and audiences, not only for her brilliant, soaring voice but also for her dramatic interpretations. Of her Violetta in Traviata, Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote, “soprano Maureen O’Flynn is a complete and compelling singing actress”. Of an opening night performance of Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera, The New York Times said the soprano “won a deserved ovation from the audience,” and Variety exclaimed, “not only a superb technician, with the full coloratura arsenal at her disposal, but a sensitive interpreter.”
Cheryl Studer’s startling and brilliant career began at a very early age. After studying voice during high school and college, her promising talent caught Leonard Bernstein’s attention; he gave her full scholarships to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, where she studied with Phyllis Curtin. She debuted at Tanglewood in 1976 in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, who invited her for a series of concerts with the BSO at Symphony Hall during the 1978-1979 season.
Korean Soprano, Na Li Youm recently marked her Opera North debut performing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and the Female Chorus in a scene from The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten. During her 2009-10 season at the Academy of Vocal Arts, she performed the role of Mimi in La Boheme to which critics wrote, “Watch especially for soprano Na Li Youm, whose large yet intimate voice will take her far”. She also performed the role of Alice from Verdi’s Falstaff, and sang the Soprano Solo from Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with New Jersey Master Chorale while at the Academy of Vocal Arts.
Mihoko Kinoshita is recognized as a compelling interpreter of “Cio Cio San” in Madama Butterfly. Mihoko has performed the role at Vancouver, Detroit, Baltimore, Phoenix, Santa Margherita Festival, Belgrade, and Sofia opera houses. Ms. Kinoshita reprised the role at Royal Albert Hall in London, in the 2010-2011 season to great critical acclaim. Upcoming she will sing return to Vancouver Opera for “Liu” and return to Sofia for “Cio Cio San.”
Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs is recognized as one of the most exciting lirico-spinto sopranos on the international scene today. Critics have praised her virtuosic bel canto technique, the beauty of her voice, her pyrotechnic coloratura, and her unerring theatricality. Hailed as one of the best young Verdi singers by Placido Domingo, she appeared with him at at the Washington National Opera as Fedora.
Recently Elizabeth sang Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera on a live Sirius Satellite broadcast with tenor Marcello Giordani and Minnie in Palermo
Lisa Vroman starred for several years on Broadway as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. As Christine, she garnered Theatre Critic’s awards for the role in a record breaking run in San Francisco, and did a return engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Ms. Vroman starred as Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella, making her New York City Opera debut with Paul Sorvino in the title role. This season Lisa made her Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops, starred as Lili Vanessi in Kiss Me Kate with Glimmerglass Opera, played Marian Paroo in The Music Man with Shirley Jones( Mrs. Paroo) and Patrick Cassidy( Harold Hill) at The Bushnell Theatre in Hartford; sang the role of Birdie in Regina with Utah Opera, conducted by Keith Lockhart;
American soprano Sara Heaton, noted for her “gleaming lyricism” by Opera News Online and her “sweet, pure soprano” by the Chicago Tribune, is gaining recognition as a sensitive performer of both opera standards and new works. This season, Sara won first prize in the Marie Kraja international singing competition in Albania.
Nina Warren is an internationally acclaimed artist, who has appeared in the most demanding interpretative dramatic parts on the stages of important theaters throughout the world. She has performed the title role in Salome with the Staatstheater Stuttgart, Baltimore Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Pacific, as well as Dresden, Berlin, Frankfurt, Trieste, Antwerp, Ghent, Utah and Arizona and in concert with the Kölner Rundfunk Orchester, Bochum Symphony, Junge Deutsche Orchester with Lothar Zagrosek and at Indiana University with Julius Rudel. In her continuing expansion of demanding roles, Nina recently made her debut at the Teatro Pettruzzelli as Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung which she follows by covering the same role at the Metropolitan Opera for the 2011-12 season.
“The primary force on stage was Veronica Mitina, an assured actress who created a multidimensional, thoroughly believable portrayal of Tatiana, from the charming, naïve creature so easily blinded by Onegin’s visit to the resigned woman summoning the will power to reject his belated declaration of love. Mitina’s singing proved equally memorable. She delivered the letter scene with myriad tone colors and vivid phrasing and used her particularly rich low register to keen effect later in the opera.” — Tim Smith - Opera News
Lauded by the Washington Times for her “dynamic” and “captivating” performance, Ms. Mitina made her professional début singing Tatiana with Virginia Opera in 2008, returning the following season to bow as Mimì. Sought-after as a Puccini interpreter, Ms. Mitina has triumphed as Cio-Cio San (Lyrique-en-Mer Festival, France, Center City Opera), Tosca (Opera North, Lyrique-en Mer Festival), Mimì (Virginia Opera, Anchorage Opera) and Minnie (Opera New England). Other recent engagements include her début with Annapolis Opera singing Nedda in I Pagliacci, Tatiana with Anchorage Opera, and Contessa with Opera North (NH). In 2008 she made her Carnegie Hall
Claire Primrose, Australian dramatic soprano, was acclaimed recently by international critics for her sensational Elektra at the Taiwan Festival of Arts by the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan under the baton of Shao-Chia Lü: “The soldout performance of Elektra by the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan may have been semi-staged, but props and set would have been a distraction: the drama sprang straight from the music. The effects on the audience in the National Concert Hall was electric. They jumped up applauding and cheering as soon as the last note died away.
Upcoming engagements for soprano Jennifer O’Loughlin are Gilda and Queen of the Night at the Vienna Volksoper, Queen of the Night at the Hamburg State Opera in 2011, and Frau Fluth and Cunegonde at the Volksoper in 2012.
2009-10 season held a series of triumphs for American soprano JENNIFER O’LOUGHLIN at the Vienna Volksoper. Singing the fiesty Frau Fluth, Ms. O’Loughlin was hailed by the press as having “… mastered the role with her bell-like voice” in the December premiere of “Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor” (WHL/APA). Her recent performance of Konstanze in “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” was praised in Der Neue-Merker:
Much sought after for her portrayal of the Queen of the Night, Anna Vikre has appeared in Die Zauberflöte in Mexico City at Bellas Artes (televised live throughout South America), Florida Grand Opera, Opera Columbus, Connecticut Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera Pacific, Nashville Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Stadttheater Geißen among others. She made her debut with Orlando Opera as Norina in Don Pasquale, a role she has also performed with Utah Festival Opera, Lake George Opera and in D_sseldorf at Deutche Oper am Rhein. Other Donizetti performances include the title role of Marie in La fille du Regiment with Michigan Opera Theater and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore with Dayton Opera.
Soprano Harolyn Blackwell is recognized for her expressive and exuberant performances, with a career that has spanned opera, concert and recital stages around the world. Following college, the Washington, D.C. native began her career on Broadway in Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story”. Shortly afterwards, she was selected as a finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and her career path changed from musical theatre to opera. Since then, she has performed with many of the major national and international opera companies, and at festivals around the world, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glyndebourne Festival,
Soprano, Amy Cofield Williamson has performed to critical acclaim across the U.S. and in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, England, Santo Domingo, Taiwan and Guam. Highly regarded for her “technical facility,” her “beauty of interpretation” and an “arresting presence,” Amy was a regional finalist in the MET National Council Auditions at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, and has been praised by the New York Times for her “lovely, rich tone.” Opera roles included Mimi, with Pro Cantus Lyric Opera in Texas, and Violetta with Annapolis Chamber Orchestra and Chorale, a role that marked her debut at Houston Grand Opera where she covered Renee Fleming.
Australian born soprano, Caroline Wenborne, has been singing regularly at the Vienna State Opera since 2007. In her previous season at the Vienna State Opera, Caroline performed Donna Anna in the new production of Don Giovanni. In January of 2011, she performed Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte and in April she also sang Fiordiligi in a concert performance of Cosi fan tutte in Athens with the Vienna State Opera. In November, Caroline will sing Gutrune in Götterdämmerung with Maestro Christian Thielemann at the Vienna State Opera. During the past two seasons in Vienna, Ms. Wenborne has performed and covered a large number of roles including, Countess (The Marriage of Figaro), Alcina (Alcina), Micaela (Carmen), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Antonia (Contes D’Hoffman), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Amelia (Simon Boccanegra), Mimi (La bohème), Fifth Maidservant (Elektra), Anna (Nabucco), Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos), Ein junges Mädchen (Moses and Aaron), Clothilde (Norma), Gerhilde (Die Walküre), Isotta (Die Schweigsame Frau), and Blumen Mädchen(Parsifal).
Born in Australia to French and Italian parents, soprano Gisele Blanchard has sung throughout France and Italy. She has made her debut at the Rome Opera with Sophie in Werther conducted by Alain Lombard, which she later reprised at the Teatro Vittorio Emmanuel in Messina conducted by Laurent Campellone. Gisele debuted in the role of Melisande in Ariane et Barbe-bleu at the Teatro Regio of Torino, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.
American spinto soprano Christina Lamberti has gained international attention with versatility of repertoire, gleaming tone, and soulful presence. She has not only garnered attention from portrayals at notable companies such as San Francisco Opera and Singapore Lyric Opera, but has also had a long standing relationship with the innovative Theatre Regensburg in Germany since 2006. For the 2008 Regensburg season, she sang numerous performances of the titles roles in Norma and in Manon Lescaut. In the 2006/07 season, she performed four major roles in repertory with astounding success and unprecedented ease.
The versatile American singer Laura Pedersen brings to opera houses and to concert halls, an exciting lyric soprano voice, beauty and a rare ability to make each role come alive on stage.
In the 2011-2012 season, Laura reprised the role of Hanna Glawari with Opera Delaware. In the fall, she will return to the Opera Shorts Troupe for a performance at Carnegie Hall to sing a work by Jake Heggie. She will return to Opera Panama for her first Mimi in La Boheme. This will be followed by concerts in the newly formed duo of Harp&Heels, as well as another Hanna Glawari in her home state of Iowa for Cedar Rapids Opera Theater.
Dramatic soprano Kirsten Chambers is gaining attention for her exciting voice of remarkable beauty and power. Highly applauded by The Dallas Morning News for her “appealing high notes,” her voice “sustains a fullness that blossoms to a consistently brilliant top well-suited to Strauss and Wagner.” As an emerging professional, her featured repertoire includes the title roles of Salome, Turandot and Tosca, Elsa in Lohengrin, and Chrysothemis in Elektra. Ms. Chambers made her Lincoln Center debut to begin the 2011-12 season, starring in the soprano monodrama Nora, In the Great Outdoors with American Opera Projects. Upcoming events include a return to the title role of Tosca with the Martha Cardona Theater and a Dramatic Aria Reading with American Lyric Theater
Soprano Irina Iordachescu was born in Bucharest, in a family of musicians. In 2000 she graduated the Academy of Music in Bucharest, at the singing class of professor Maria Slatinaru Nistor and the lieder-oratorio class of professor Dan Iordachescu.