The British/Romanian-born soprano NELLY MIRICIOIU
is one of the most versatile artists of our day. Her repertoire extends from
the title roles in Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor, Maria
Stuarda, Anna Bolena,
Lucrezia Borgia
, to Puccini’s Tosca and Violetta
in Verdi’s La Traviata. In 1982 she made her Covent
Garden debut as Nedda in I Pagliacci opposite John Vickers, Piero
Cappuccili and Thomas Allen. In 1983 she made a
triumphant La Scala debut as Lucia di Lammermoor and since that
time has been heard in all major opera houses of the world. She has
worked with some of the most prestigious conductors and directors (in leading
roles that include Tosca with Jose Carreras, Jose Cura,
Neil Schicoff), Mimi (with Placido
Domingo) and also Violetta in La Traviata (with Franco Bonisolli,
Roberto Alagna, Renato Bruson, Alfredo Kraus) and opposite many other leading
artists of the day. It was in Verdi’s La Traviata
that she became renowned for her interpretation of the role of Violetta Vallery. In 1986 she
began a famous series of Vara Matinee Concerts at the
Amsterdam Concertgebouw and over the next ten years continued to extend her
repertoire to include the great belcanto heroines. In
these roles she could advance her own unique artistry in the way for which she
has today become so highly acclaimed. Her Armenaide (Tancredi) at the 1992 Salzburg festival was greatly admired and she
continues to sing other Rossinian roles such as Armida, Semiramide
and Ermione to similar acclaim. In 1997 she debued the roles of Elizabeth in Verdi's Don Carlos
and the title in Luisa Miller and also for the first time the role of Silvana in Respighi’s La
Fiamma (Rome Opera’s critically acclaimed
opening to the 1998 season, produced by Hugo de Ana and conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti) for which she
was highly praised. Other highlights included three debuts, as Cio Cio San in Puccini's Madam
Butterfly for Hamburg State Opera, Giordano's Fedora for Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, the title role in Rossini's Semiramide for the Opera de Geneve
(also in a concert version at London's QEH) and as Musetta/Mimi
in La Boheme (L.Cavallo/Puccini)
in a concert performance at the Concertgebouw. In 1999 she was to return
there for Bellini's Norma which was repeated in Eindhoven and later debued
the same role onstage at the Teatro dell' Opera Di Roma and in Athens.
She also performed Tosca for Cologne Opera, Bayerische
Staatsoper-Munich, the Puccini Festival in Valencia, and
the Netherlands Opera. The 1999/2000 season she further extended her reportoire with the roles of Elvira in Verdi's Ernani in a Vara Matinee
concert at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (December 1999), Adriana in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur
at La Scala (Jan 2000), and Isabella in Meyerbeer's Robert
Le Diable for Deutsche Staatsoper
(Mar 2000). In April 2000 she again returned to the role of Norma for
the Greek National Opera followed by a semi-staged version of the same opera at
the ROH Covent Garden (May 2000).
The 2000/2001 season included further
performances of Tosca at Orange
(July 2000), La Monnaie (Sept 2000), the ROH
Covent Garden (Feb 2001) and Geneve Opera (June
2001), Meyerbeer's Robert Le Diable for the
Deutsche Staatsoper (Mar 2001), and Norma
at the Teatro Dell' Opera Di
Roma (Oct 2001). She also added new roles to her wide reportoire
with her debut as Francesca in Zandonai's Francesca
da Rimini at the VARA
Matinee concert in Amsterdam (Nov 2000) and as Imogen
in Bellini's Il Pirata in Washington (April
2001) repeated at the QEH London (May 2001).
In the 2001/2002 season she returned to the roles
of Norma in two concert versions at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival (Aug
2001) and as Tosca at the Opera Bastille, Paris (Jan 2002). In September
2001 she returned to the role of Elena in Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani at the
Vienna Staatsoper (in Italian) which she again sang
(but in French) at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (June 2002). She returned to the
title roles in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur
for the Bolshoi (Feb 2002) and also at the Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma (April 2002). This was followed by the role
of Anna Bolena in a concert version at the QEH
London (May 2002) and her daughter Elizabeth 1 in a recorded (by Opera Rara) concert version of Donizetti's Roberto
Devereux at the ROH Covent Garden (July 2002). Another Donizetti role
followed when she sang the title role in Lucrezia
Borgia for the Opera de Marseille (Oct 2002).
In January 2003 she further extended her
repertoire at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw to include the title role in Mascagni's Iris at the VARA Matinee series and in
April made another debut in the role of Helene in Verdi's Jerusalem in a
concert version for Frankfurt Opera She
also sang a gala performance of Tosca for Frankfurt Opera (May 2003) and
then later with the Norwegian Opera (June 2003). In Lisbon (May 2003) she performed a Mozart
opera onstage for the first time in the role of Fiodilighi
in Cosi Fan Tutte.
She returned to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in a concert versions singing the
role of Imogen in Bellini’s Il Pirata for VARA (Sept 2003) followed by the premier of Mercadante's Emma D'Antiochia
at the Royal Festival Hall (22nd Oct 2003). In November 2003 she again
performed the role of Tosca for the Barcelona Liceau
after which she returned to the Teatro Del d'Roma (Jan 2004) for the world premier of Respighi's Maria Vittoria
in the title role. In July 2004 she was at the ROH Covent Garden with Tosca
and in Nov/Dec at the Metropolitan Opera NY singing the role of Elena in
Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani.
In January 2005 she returned to the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw for a concert performance of Verdi's Jerusalem . In Nov/Dec 2005 she sang
the title role in Rossini’s Semiramide at the Barcelona Liceu and after a debut on the 29th December she began 2006
with a gala performance of the Lehar’s The
Merry Widow. In March 2006
she debuted the role of
Isabella in Verdi’s Attila with the Chelsea Opera
Group and again returned to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in October to sing the
title role in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. New roles followed in 2007 including Beatrice in
Donizetti’s Beatrice de Tenda and
Abigail in Verdi’s Nabucco.
Future engagements include a début in the title
role in Handel’s Agrippina with the New
York City Opera and Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Queen
Elizabeth Hall with the Chelsea Opera Group.
Her recordings include Puccini's Tosca, Mercadante's Orazi e Curiazi, Donizetti's Rosamunda
d' Inghilterra (with Renee Fleming & Bruce
Ford) and Maria De Rudenz (Maria), Rossini's Ricciardo e Zoraide,
Pacini's Maria d' Inghilterra
(Maria)- nominated for best bel
canto recording of 1998, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana (Santuzza) and a live recording in Rome of Respighi's La Fiamma (Silvana) and Nelly Miricioiu Live at the Concertgebouw.
Latest releases including "Nelly Miricioiu -A Rossini Gala"
and "Nelly Miricioiu - Bel Canto
Portrait" which were both nominated as records of the year in
2000 and 2001. Roberto Devereux (Elizabetta)
recorded at the ROH Covent Garden in July 2002 (by Opera Rara)
was released in July 2003 (see reviews) followed by a new recording of Mercadante's Emma D'Antiochia
released in May 2005 (see reviews
at www.opera-singer/repertoire.com)
(July 2007 - see Calendar for
dates of performances)
