Nuccia Focile

Last updated

Nuccia Focile (born 25 November 1961) is an Italian operatic soprano.

Contents

Nuccia Focile was born in Militello in Val di Catania, Sicily, studied in Turin under Elio Battaglia, [1] and made her opera debut in 1983 as Serpina in La Serva Padrona by Pergolesi in Spoleto. In 1984 she sang her first Mimi in La Boheme by Puccini at the Teatro Regio in Turin and made her debut as Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at La Scala in 1986. Also in that year, she won the International Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia, following which she made many concert appearances with the famous tenor. In 1995 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème . She has performed many leading roles for Welsh National Opera.

Focile has been described as bringing an "almost unbearable poignancy" [2] to Mimì, her best-known role.

She has made several recordings for the Philips, Opera Rara and Telarc labels, including three Mozart operas (Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni) conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, [3] Rossini's Petite messe solennelle conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, Ascanio in Pergolesi's Lo Frate'Nnamorato, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale conducted by Riccardo Muti and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

Focile was awarded Artist of the Year 2013 for La Voix Humaine by Poulenc at Seattle Opera.

In 2017 Nuccia Focile was appointed Professor of Voice at the Royal Academy of Music in London. [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>La bohème</i> 1895 opera by Giacomo Puccini

La bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème (1851) by Henri Murger. The story is set in Paris around 1830 and shows the Bohemian lifestyle of a poor seamstress and her artist friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Gheorghiu</span> Romanian soprano (born 1965)

Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano, especially known for her performances in the operas of Puccini and Verdi, widely recognised by critics and opera lovers as one of the greatest sopranos of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Moffo</span> American opera singer, television personality, and actress (1932–2006)

Anna Moffo was an American opera singer, television personality, and actress. One of the leading lyric-coloratura sopranos of her generation, she possessed a warm and radiant voice of considerable range and agility. Noted for her physical beauty, she was nicknamed "La Bellissima".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirella Freni</span> Italian soprano (1935–2020)

Mirella Freni, OMRI was an Italian operatic soprano who had a career of 50 years and appeared at major international opera houses. She received international attention at the Glyndebourne Festival, where she appeared as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni and as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seattle Opera</span> Opera company in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

Seattle Opera is an opera company based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as its first general director until 1983. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of eight to ten performances each, often featuring double casts in major roles to allow for successive evening presentations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonietta Stella</span> Italian operatic soprano (1929–2022)

Maria Antonietta Stella was an Italian operatic soprano, and one of the most prominent Italian spinto sopranos of the 1950s and 1960s. She made her debut in Spoleto in 1950, as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore, a year later at Rome Opera, as Leonora in La forza del destino, in 1954 at La Scala in Milan, as Desdemona in Otello, in 1955 at the Royal Opera House in London as Aida, and in 1956 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, in the same role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Sass</span> Hungarian operatic soprano (born 1951)

Sylvia Sass is a Hungarian operatic soprano who has sung leading roles both in her native country and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cesira Ferrani</span> Italian operatic soprano

Cesira Ferrani was an Italian operatic soprano who is best known for debuting two of the most iconic roles in opera history, Mimì in the original 1896 production of Giacomo Puccini's La bohème and the title role in Puccini's Manon Lescaut in its 1893 world premiere. Ferrani sang a wide repertoire that encompassed not only verismo opera but the works of composers like Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, and Debussy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelly Miricioiu</span> British opera soprano

Nelly Miricioiu is a Romanian-born British operatic soprano singing a large repertoire ranging from bel canto to verismo.

Barbara Frittoli is an Italian operatic soprano, specializing in operas by Verdi and Mozart. She has sung leading roles in opera houses throughout Europe and in the United States, such as La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her signature roles include Mimì in La bohème, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Desdemona in Otello.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriella Tucci</span> Italian operatic soprano (1929–2020)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonya Yoncheva</span> Bulgarian operatic soprano (born 1981)

Sonya Yoncheva is a Bulgarian operatic soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Dragoni</span> Italian operatic soprano

Maria Dragoni is an Italian operatic soprano active international career in major opera house from 1984 to present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberta Alexander</span> American operatic soprano

Roberta Alexander is an American operatic soprano. She began her career as a lyric soprano in 1975 and spent the next three decades performing principal roles with opera houses internationally. Particularly celebrated for her performances of Mozart heroines, she was a leading soprano at the Metropolitan Opera from 1983 to 1991. In addition to principal Mozart roles like Countess Almaviva, Elettra, Fiordiligi, and Donna Elvira, she had particular success with the parts of Mimì in Puccini's La bohème and the title role in Janáček's Jenůfa. More recently she has performed secondary character roles on stage, including performances at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in 2013, La Scala in 2014, and La Monnaie in 2015. She performed the Fifth Maid in Strauss's Elektra at the Met in 2016 and Curra in Verdi's La forza del destino at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2019.

Gemma Bosini was an Italian operatic soprano who had an active international performance career in 1909–1930. She is especially associated with the role of Alice Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff, a role which she performed more than 400 times on stage during her career. She is also remembered for being the first soprano to record the role of Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's La boheme in 1917. She also made complete recordings of Gounod's Faust and Lehar's The Merry Widow. After retiring from performance in 1930, she devoted herself to teaching singing and managing the career of her husband, baritone Mariano Stabile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce El-Khoury</span> Lebanese-Canadian opera singer

Joyce El-Khoury is a Lebanese-Canadian opera singer performing with leading opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world. She is a soprano praised for her bel canto singing.

Irina Lungu is a Russian operatic soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edyta Piasecka</span> Polish dramatic coloratura soprano

Edyta Piasecka is a Polish dramatic coloratura soprano.

Maria Mudryak is a Kazakh operatic soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominika Zamara</span> Polish soprano

Dominika Zamara is a Polish operatic soprano, with artistic training in Italy.

References

  1. "Nuccia Focile". www.opera-rara.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  2. Seattle Opera Presents: La Bohème (31:5), May 2007 (Opera program)
  3. "Nuccia Focile | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  4. "Italian Soprano Nuccia Focile to attend the 2020 NZ Opera School". New Zealand Opera School. 4 July 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  5. "Vocal staff". Royal Academy of Music . London. Retrieved 10 April 2020.

Sources