Sondra Radvanovsky -
Soprano- Ms. Radvanovsky is garnering
reviews that attest to her dramatic stage presence and stunning vocal
qualities. Ms. Radvanovsky's huge successes have her scheduled to make
debuts with all of the leading North American companies in the coming seasons
while continuing her appearances with the Metropolitan Opera.
Ms. Radvanovsky begins the 2000-2001 season as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with
the Cologne (Germany)
Opera before returning to the Metropolitan Opera in October/November as Musetta
in La Bohème. In December/January she continued at the Metropolitan Opera
as Leonora in Il Trovatore. In February/March Sondra Radvanovsky traveled
to Palm Beach to sing the title
role in Luisa Miller and makes her debut at the Opera National de Paris
(Bastille) as Marguerite in Faust during April/May. She ends the season
with appearances as Violetta in La Traviata in the Metropolitan Opera Parks
Concerts.
Future performances for Ms. Radvanovsky include roles of her repertoire at
the Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago through the 2004-05
season. Other future engagements include Leonora in Il Trovatore in
Bilbao, Spain, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Japan (conducted by Seiji Ozawa)
in 2001-02, Helene in Les Vespres Siciliennes at the Paris Opera (Bastille) in
2002-03, Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlo in San Diego, Leonora in Il Trovatore
at the Paris Opera (Bastille) in 2003-04, and Leonora in Il Trovatore at the
Houston Grand Opera in January/February, 2005.
Ms. Radvanovsky began the 1999-2000 season as the High Priestess in Aida
with the Metropolitan Opera. In October she sang Leonora in Il Trovatore
with the Pittsburgh Opera, and then she performed the same role with the San
Diego Opera in January/February, 2000. Ms. Radvanovsky returned to the
Metropolitan Opera in March of 2000 to sing Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung
and Freia in Das Rheingold in their Ring Cycle conducted by James Levine.
She ended the season performing the title role of Luisa Miller at the Spoleto
Festival in Charleston, South
Carolina in May/June, 2000.
As a result of her stellar performance of Leonora in Il Trovatore with the
Metropolitan Opera Parks Concerts in the summer of 1998, she was chosen by the
Metropolitan to sing the role in the house in the
Spring of 1999. She also appeared in the Metropolitan Opera productions of
Carmen (Micaela) Aida (the High Priestess) conducted by Placido Domingo and
Elektra (the Fifth Maid) conducted by James Levine.
She began the 1998/99 season in Japan
at the Saito Kinen Festival where she was involved with their production of
Dialogues des Carmelites, conducted by Seiji Ozawa. Other appearances in the
1998/99 season included her debut with the opera companies of Dallas as Freia
in Das Rheingold and Houston as Elena in Mefistofele. She was presented
by the George London Foundation in a Duo Recital with Samuel Ramey at New
York's Morgan Library. She also recorded Philip
Glass' work the Civil Wars for Erato records.
Earlier successes for Ms. Radvanovsky include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
with the Portland Opera; Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann and Dorotea in Stiffelio
at the Metropolitan while a member of their prestigeous Young Artists Program;
Arminda in Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera at the Glimmerglass Opera; and
the Verdi Requiem and Alice Ford in Falstaff at the Spoleto Festival USA.
In addition to being a winner of the 1997 George London Foundation
Competition, Ms. Radvanovsky was also a winner at the 1995 Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions and was awarded first prize in the 1995 Loren L.
Zachary Society Competition. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ms. Radvanovsky training has also
included advanced studies at Tanglewood
Music Center
and the University of Cincinnati's
College Conservatory of Music.
Francisco Casanova - Tenor - Mr. Casanova made his Metropolitan
Opera stage debut as Manrico in Il Trovatore in January 2001, followed by
Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera and Cavaradossi in Tosca (Met Opera in the
Parks, Central Park). In June, 2000 Mr. Casanova
made his Vienna Staatsoper debut as Eleazar in Halevy’s La Juive , and will
return there to reprise the role in 2002. The tenor made a very
successful debut at Carnegie Hall in April, 1999 in that same role to the
acclaim of both audience and reviewer, with Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New
York, and in the 1999-2000 season with the New Israeli Opera.
Upcoming engagements include a return to Carnegie Hall during the 2000-2001
season for Arrigo in Verdi’s La Battaglia di Legnano also under the direction
of Maestra Queler. As the recepient of Opera Orchestra of New York’s
prestigious Vidda Award, Mr. Casanova made his Weill Hall recital debut
the fall of 2000. Other engagements this season include Verdi’s Requiem
with the Columbus Symphony, concert performances of Cavaradossi in Tosca with
the San Antonio Symphony, and future engagements at the Metropolitan Opera
include repeat performances in Tosca and Nabucco.
In 1996 the tenor replaced Luciano Pavarotti, at his request, in the
“Pavarotti Plus” concert that took place at Avery Fisher Hall singing arias and
ensembles from La Boheme, Un Ballo in Maschera, L’Amico Fritz, La Traviata,
Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor and Il Trovatore. Also in 1996, he performed
the Verdi Requiem with Stadttheater of Klagenfurt, and the role of the Dauphin in
Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco with the Opera Orchestra of New York.
The following season, Mr. Casanova performed Gabriele Adorno in Simon
Boccanegra in San Juan, Puerto Rico, concerts for Opera Hamilton in Canada, the
Verdi Requiem his debut with the Spoleto Festival USA, the title role in
Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux in Oviedo and Gijón, Spain and at the Dresden
Festival at the Semper Oper opposite Edita Gruberova, the title role in Verdi’s
Don Carlo in Mallorca, Spain, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Colorado Symphony,
and Cavaradossi in Tosca for the Opera of Bogotá¡, Colombia. He also
performed Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera in San Juan the following year.
Mr. Casanova has toured extensively throughout the United States, Italy,
Germany, France, Spain, Yugoslavia and the Dominican Republic. Some
notable engagements have included Oronte in I Lombardi at the Metropolitan
Opera and at the Teatro Communale di Bologna, Alvaro in La Forza del Destino in
Avignon and Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera in Klagenfurt, Austria. He
has also appeared with Opera Ontario and the Stadttheater Wiesbaden.
Mr. Casanova’s most recent responsibilities at the Metropolitan Opera have
included the title role in Don Carlo, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Faust in
Mefistofele and Cavaradossi in Tosca. Other recent engagements included
Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Columbus Symphony, operatic concerts with the
New Mexico Symphony, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Haifa Symphony.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Francisco Casanova won the First Grand
Prize for Male Voices in the XXVIII International Singing Competition Francisco
Viñas of Barcelona, Spain (1990), as well as the special La Traviata
Prize. That same year he also won the Second Prize for Male Voices at the
III International Singing Competition in Bilbao, Spain. A year earlier he
had been a National Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera auditions. In May 1999
the American Landmark Festival in conjunction with the Richard Tauber Institute
of Vocal Art presented him with the Richard Tauber Medal for Vocal Excellence
“in recognition of his high lyrical achievement.” He is also a winner of
the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation Awards 2000, as well as the VIDDA 2000 Award.
Mr. Casanova is a disciple of renowed tenor Maestro Pier Miranda Ferraro.