Maija Kovalevska (born 21 September 1979) [1] is a Latvian soprano opera singer. She is a student of Italian soprano Mirella Freni. [2]
Born in Riga, Kovalevska rose to international prominence in 2006 after winning the Operalia singing competition. [3] She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006, starring first as Mimì in Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's La bohème conducted by Plácido Domingo, and later as Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice . [4] She made her Vienna State Opera debut in 2011 as Tatjana in Eugene Onegin , later as Mimì in La bohème, Micaëla in Carmen , Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro , Amelia in Simon Boccanegra and Violetta in La traviata . [5]
In 2011, Kovalevska sang Micaëla in the Royal Opera House's 3D film production (3D Blue-Ray Opus Arte 3D7096) of Bizet's Carmen. [6] Kovalevska made her Australian debut at the Sydney Opera House in 2014/15 as Mimì for Opera Australia. [7]
Ileana Cotrubaș is a Romanian operatic soprano whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages.
Teresa Stratas is a Canadian operatic soprano and actress of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu. She is formally retired.
Ana María Martínez is a Puerto Rican soprano.
Lucia Popp was a Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. Her career included performances at Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala. Popp was also a highly regarded recitalist and lieder singer.
Gabriella Tucci was an Italian operatic soprano who was particularly associated with the Italian repertory and performed at notable opera houses worldwide. She appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 11 Verdi roles across 13 seasons, including Violetta in La traviata and Desdemona in Otello.
Miriam Gauci is a Maltese operatic soprano, particularly associated with lyric Italian roles.
Nina Maria Stemme is a Swedish dramatic soprano opera singer.
Angel Joy Blue is an American soprano. She won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for the Metropolitan Opera production of Porgy and Bess in the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Melliangee Pérez-Maldonado is a Puerto Rican lyric soprano singer of classical music and opera as well as other music genres.
Kay Griffel is an American operatic spinto soprano.
Ailyn Pérez is an American operatic soprano known for her interpretation of Violetta, Mimì and Thaïs. She is a 2019 Opera News Awards Honoree, and the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award. In 2016, she received the $50,000 Beverly Sills Award and the 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization.
Marina Rebeka is a Latvian soprano, active on both opera and concert stages. Associated with Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, she performs primarily in the 19th-century Italian and French repertoire, most notably works by Gioachino Rossini, in addition to Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, another frequent role.
Urška Arlič Gololičič is a Slovenian soprano opera singer.
Olga Busuioc is a Moldovan soprano, currently based in Germany.
Irina Lungu is a Russian operatic soprano.
Cristina Pasaroiu is a Romanian operatic soprano who has performed leading roles at major European opera houses, with a focus on French repertoire such as Bizet's Micaëla, Massenet's Manon and Gounod's Juliette.
Nicoletta Panni was an Italian lyric soprano.
Nicole Car is an Australian operatic soprano. She has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Opéra national de Paris, The Dallas Opera, and Opera Australia. Car is particularly associated with the roles of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Mimì in La bohème, Marguerite in Faust, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Micaëla in Carmen, and has also given noted performances as Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos, and the title roles in Luisa Miller and Thaïs.
Andréa Guiot was a French operatic soprano. A long-term member of the Paris opera houses, she was known internationally for leading roles especially in the French repertoire, such as Gounod's Mireille and Marguerite, Massenet's Manon and Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen. She appeared as Micaëla when Carmen was first performed at the Opéra de Paris in 1959, and as Mireille in the 1000th performance of the opera at the Opéra-Comique. She performed in the world premiere of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1965. Among her many recordings, the 1964 Carmen conducted by Georges Prêtre, with Maria Callas in the title role and Nicolai Gedda as her lover, brought her lasting fame. She appeared at major opera house in France, Europe, and the Americas. After retiring from the stage, she was a voice teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris, succeeding Janine Micheau, her own former instructor.
Elsa Dreisig is a French-Danish operatic soprano. Based at the Berlin State Opera, she made a European career in both opera and concert. Her opera roles include, besides the standard lyric soprano repertoire such as Mozart's Fiordiligi and Bizet's Micaëla, Baroque opera such as Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, and the world premiere of Beat Furrer's Violetter Schnee.