Ms. Garanča has all the goods: musicality, technique, voice, confidence, smarts, dramatic range – and movie-star looks. She practically defines ‘can't miss’. And in her Met debut on Saturday night, she did not miss . . .” New York Sun, January 2008.
“Elina Garanca’s voice is one-in-a-million, allying grace and power…” The Independent, July 2007
“Elina Garanca woke up the Metropolitan Opera from its January slumbers…” Associated Press, January 2008
Marquez - Danz?n No 2 - Orchestra
Obradors - El vito - Elina Garanča
(arr. J.C.Cuello) (from Canciones Clásicas Espanolas)
Montsalvatge - Canción de cuna para dormir un negrito - Elina Garanča
(from Cinco Canciones Negras)
Verdi - Overture to I Vespri Siciliani - Orchestra
Ponchielli - Voce di donna - Elina Garanča
(from La Gioconda)
Donizetti - Fia dunque vero….Oh mio Fernando! - Elina Garanča
(from La Favorita)
INTERVAL
Chueca - Prelude to El Bateo - Orchestra
Barbieri - Canción de Paloma - Elina Garanča
(from El Barberillo de Lavapies)
Villa-lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 - Elina Garanča
No 1 Aria (Cantilena)
Rimsky-Korsakov - from Capriccio Espagnol - Orchestra
i Alborada: Vivo e strepitoso
ii Scena e canto gitano
iii. Fandango Asturiano
Bizet - from the Opera Carmen - Orchestra & Elina Garanča
i Prélude (Act I)
ii L'amour est un enfant de Boheme (Act I - First version)
iii. Entr’acte (Act II)
iv. Chanson boheme (Act II)
Elina Garanča was born in Riga in 1976 into a musical family. In 1996 she entered the Latvian Academy of Music in Riga. One of her most formative experiences came in 1998 while she was still a student: with only ten days’ notice, she performed the role of Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena and uncovered a deep affinity with the bel canto repertoire. After graduation she joined the Meiningen Staatstheater in Germany where she appeared in roles including Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier. In 1999 she also sang the role of Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and won the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Finland.
In 2000, she won the Latvian Great Music Award and one year later she became a finalist of the BBC’s Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. In 2003, she made her debut at the Vienna State Opera: Lola in Cavalleria rusticana, and at Salzburg Festival as Annio in La clemenza di Tito. Since then she has been a repeated welcome guest in these venues as well as all major European opera stages. One year later, she sings Bellini’s Adalgisa (with Edita Gruberova as Norma) at Baden-Baden, Rossini’s Ceneren¬tola in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. In 2006 she received the European Culture Prize during a gala at the Semper Opera in Dresden which was broadcast on German television. At the same year, she triumphs as Octavian at the Vienna State Opera and as Sesto in La clemenza di Tito at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien.
In 2007 Elina Garanča appears in three gala concerts with Anna Netrebko, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tézier, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra under Marco Armiliato, the third of which is broadcast on German television to an audience of over two million and recorded live for audio and video release. Her first solo recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Aria cantilena, with highlights from some of her celebrated operatic roles is released to great critical acclaim (Echo Award 2007); the release is supported by a German tour with this repertoire together with the Munich Symphony Orchestra under Heiko Mathias Förster. Elina Garanča is awarded the Three-Star Order by the Latvian State.
The year of 2008 begins with Garanča’s sensational Met debut as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. She gives her role debut as Romeo in concert performances of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in Riga, Latvia and repeats the role in Vienna alongside Anna Netrebko, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi (Deutsche Grammophon, 2009). Last year belonged mainly to Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at the Vienna State Opera, Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Carmen at Covent Garden, Angelina in Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Met, and Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther in Vienna and Baden-Baden with Rolando Villazón.
"...the outstanding musical event of the weekend was Maestro Karel Mark Chichon’s reading of Beethoven’s monumental Seventh Symphony... this youthful conductor of genius... There was nothing external in Chichon's Beethoven. Everything from piano to forte, to thrilling crescendo came from within...” New York Times
Hailed as one of today’s most exciting young conductors, Karel Mark Chichon was described by the New York Times as “A conductor of genius” and continues to thrill international audiences with his temperament, passion and musicianship.
In September 2009 he begins his tenure as Chief Conductor & Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and was formerly Chief Conductor of the Graz Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2009.
In addition to his post at the Latvian National Symphony, the 2009-10 season will see him conduct at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerisches Staatsoper Munich, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Real Madrid, Palau de les Arts Valencia, Teatro Comunale di Bologna and with orchestras such as the Wiener Symphoniker, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, English Chamber Orchestra, SWR Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Russian National Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Haydn Orchestra Bolzano in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Moscow, Barcelona and Valencia.
Born in London in 1971, Chichon hails from Gibraltar. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music (London) and was assistant conductor to Giuseppe Sinopoli and Valery Gergiev.
He has worked with artists such as Carlos Álvarez, Grace Bumbry, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, José Cura, Juan Diego Flórez, Edita Gruberova and Ramón Vargas.
Since 2003 he has been a regular guest conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra and in 2004 he was invited by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to conduct concerts at their International Orchestra Institute in Salzburg and made highly successful return visits in 2005 and 2006.
Chichon’s debut at the Vienna State Opera (Barbiere di Siviglia) in September 2008 was received to great acclaim by the Viennese public and critics and as a result he has been invited to return for numerous performances of Tosca, Barbiere di Siviglia and Elisir d'amore for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
He is a frequent guest conductor with leading orchestras throughout the world at venues such as the Musikverein Wien, Konzerthaus Wien, Royal Festival Hall London, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris, Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Alter Oper Frankfurt, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Auditorio Nacional de Musica Madrid and Seoul Arts Center South Korea.