Lisette Oropesa – soprano
Beatrice Benzi – piano
Cuban-American soprano Lisette Oropesa has been described by Spain’s Notodo online magazine as "one of those exceptional things … like Halley’s Comet”. One of today’s most sought-after lyric coloraturas and winner of the 2019 Beverly Sills Award and the Richard Tucker Award has triumphed in various roles in some of the foremost opera houses in Europe. Lisette Oropesa made her debut at the Met in 2006 in Mozart’s Idomeneo, and she returned to the house as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Gilda (Rigoletto), Nannetta (Falstaff), Sophie (Werther), Violetta (La traviata) or as Massenet’s Manon (which was broadcasted worldwide on October 26, 2019 within the Met in HD series). In June 2019, she made her La Scala debut as Amalia (Verdi: I masnadieri). She has also guest appeared In Paris National Opera as Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Gilda (Rigoletto), Marguerite de Valois (Les Huguenots) and Adina (L’elisir d’amore); in Teatro Real, Madrid, she was Violetta and Lucia di Lammermoor; at Los Angeles Opera, she starred as Gilda (Rigoletto) and at the Vienna State Opera, she was Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), etc.
Her Prague debut with PKF – Prague Philharmonia was rescheduled to May 2021 due to the pandemics. This time, she will be accompanied by the pianist Rubén Fernández Aguirre. Since 1991, Beatrice has worked at La Scala, Milan with internationally renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Daniel Harding, Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti and others. In 1984 she graduated from Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire in Milan and then she followed her teacher, Bruno Canino, to his masterclasses in Barcelona and Siena. Beatrice Benzi began her career as a chamber musician, notably as a member of a piano duo with Gianandrea Noseda. She has worked with many celebrated singers including Barbara Frittoli, Cecilia Bartoli, Dolora Zajick, Leo Nucci, Samuel Ramey, Andrea Rost, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Marcello Giordani and Roberto Scandiuzzi.
Program
SAVERIO MERCADANTE (1795–1870)
La stella
Text: Anonym
La primavera
Text: Anonym
GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797–1848)
Se a te d’intorno scherza
Text: Anonym
L’amante spagnuolo
Text: Leopoldo Tarantini
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)
Vedi quanto t’adoro ancora, ingrato, D 510
Text: Pietro Metastasio
FRANCIS POULENC (1899–1963)
XV Improvisation: Hommage à Édith Piaf
solo piano
GEORGES BIZET (1838–1875)
Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe
Text: Victor Hugo
from the cycle Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, Op. 2
Ouvre ton cœur
Text: Louis Michel James Lacour Delâtre
from the cycle Seize mélodies pour chant et piano
GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792–1868)
Non si dà follia maggiore (Fiorilla)
Il turco in Italia, Act I
GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813–1901)
Ah, fors’è lui... Sempre libera (Violetta)
La traviata, Act II
FRANCESCO CILEA (1866–1950)
Prelude to the opera L’Arlésienne
solo piano
JULES MASSENET (1842–1912)
Adieu, notre petite table (Manon)
Manon, Act II
GIACOMO MEYERBEER (1791–1864)
O beau pays de la Touraine (Marguerite de Valois)
Les Huguenots, Act II
https://www.nachtigallartists.cz/en/projects/lisette-oropesa-opera-gala-2021