Laura Giordano (born 9 June 1979 in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, Italy) is an Italian

lyric soprano A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and ot ...

Life and career

Born in Palermo, Laura Giordano made her operatic debut at a very young age in ''

Noye's Fludde ''Noye's Fludde'' is a one-act opera by the British composer Benjamin Britten, intended primarily for amateur performers, particularly children. First performed on 18 June 1958 at that year's Aldeburgh Festival, it is based on the 15th-century ...

'' by Britten. She went on to sing in numerous opera houses and festivals in Europe, Asia and North and South America, including

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

, the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

Opéra National de Paris The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

, the

Rossini Opera Festival The Rossini Opera Festival (ROF) is an international music festival held in August of each year in Pesaro, Italy, the birthplace of the opera composer Gioachino Rossini. Its aim, in addition to studying the musical heritage of the composer, is to r ...

in Pesaro, and the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the fir ...

in New Mexico.''Atelier Musicale Artists Management'', Laura Giordano, biography
(accessed on 2015-07-08)www.lauragiordano.com
(accessed on 2015-08-19)Liner notes to CD ''Don Pasquale, Gaetano Donizetti.'' RAI Trade, RTTI 0002, 2008 The core of Giordano's repertory is formed by roles in the operas of

Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long lin ...

. Her Donizetti roles include Norina (''

Don Pasquale ''Don Pasquale'' () is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti with an Italian libretto completed largely by Giovanni Ruffini as well as the composer. It was based on a libretto by Angelo Anelli for Stefano Pavesi's ...

'') performed with

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...

at the

Ravenna Festival The Ravenna Festival is a summer festival of opera and classical music (as well as dance, jazz, ethnic, musical theater, ballett, sacred music, electronic music, drama, film, plus conventions and exhibitions) held in the city of Ravenna, Italy and t ...

, at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, in Liège, Cologne, Como, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and in further performances in Santiago de Chile, Treviso, at

Teatro Massimo Bellini The Teatro Massimo Bellini is an opera house located on Piazza Vincenzo Bellini in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. Named after the local-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated on 31 May 1890 with a performance of the composer's mast ...

in Catania, and in Ferrara; Adina (''

L'elisir d'amore ''L'elisir d'amore'' (''The Elixir of Love'', ) is a ' (opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's ' (1831). The opera premiere ...

'') in Las Palmas, Tel Aviv, Maribor and Oderzo; Marie (''

La fille du régiment ' (''The Daughter of the Regiment'') is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra- ...

'') at

Teatro Massimo The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (at the time of its i ...

in Palermo, in Lecce, and on a tour with

Teatro Comunale di Bologna The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season. While there had been various theatres presenting opera in Bologna since the early 1 ...

at the

Savonlinna Opera Festival Savonlinna Opera Festival ( fi, Savonlinnan oopperajuhlat) is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), built in 1475. The castle is located amid spectacular lake ...

; and Betly (''

Betly ''Betly, ossia La capanna svizzera'' ("Betly, or The Swiss Chalet") is a ''dramma giocoso'' in two acts (originally one) by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. The composer wrote the Italian libretto after Eugène Scribe and Mélésville's l ...

'') at Konzerthaus in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Her performances in Verdi's operas include ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' (Nannetta) in Milan conducted by Riccardo Muti, and in Strasbourg, Rome, Brussels, Lyon, at the Santa Fe Opera, at

Teatro Regio di Torino The Teatro Regio (Royal Theatre) is a prominent opera house and opera company in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. Its season runs from October to June with the presentation of eight or nine operas given from five to twelve performances of each. Several bu ...

, and at

Berwaldhallen The Berwald Hall ( sv, Berwaldhallen) is a concert hall situated in a park landscape at Dag Hammarskjölds väg 3 in the Östermalm district of Stockholm, Sweden. Construction on the building began in 1976 based on a design by architects Erik Ahn ...

in Stockholm; ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...

'' (Gilda) at

Seoul Arts Center The Seoul Arts Center, also referred to as SAC, is an arts complex in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, in South Korea. It consists of five main buildings: the Opera House, with three auditoriums; the Music Hall, with two concert halls; the Han ...

, and in Fano and Ancona; ''

Un ballo in maschera ''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''. The ...

'' (Oscar) conducted by

Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He is scheduled to become chief con ...

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

, under the baton of

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев, ; os, Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери, Gergity Abisaly fyrt Valeri; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company d ...

at Teatro Regio di Parma, and in Nice and Trieste; and ''

Don Carlo ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedri ...

'' (Tebaldo) conducted by

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the foun ...

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (English: Florence Musical May) is an annual Italian arts festival in Florence, including a notable opera festival, under the auspices of the Opera di Firenze. The festival occurs between late April into June annuall ...

. Amongst her Mozart roles are Pamina (''

Die Zauberflöte ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...

'') in Palermo; Donna Anna (''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'') in Palermo, in Fano, and at Piccolo Festival FVG; Susanna (''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'') at

Teatro Regio di Parma Teatro Regio di Parma, originally constructed as the Nuovo Teatro Ducale (New Ducal Theatre),Martini, "Before the Teatro Regio", pp. 56 is an opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy. Replacing an obsolete house, the new Ducale achieved pro ...

Semperoper The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...

in Dresden

Teatro Carlo Felice The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the side of Piazza De Ferrari. The hall is named for King Carlo Felice, and dates fr ...

in Genoa, and in Reggio Emilia; Zerlina (''Don Giovanni'') at Opernhaus Zürich; Despina (''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...

'') in Palermo, Catania and Zürich; and Barbarina (''Le nozze di Figaro'') at

Opéra Bastille The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris N ...

in Paris. She sang Musetta in Puccini's ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...

'' multiple times, including performances at Teatro alla Scala,

Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace of Madrid, Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing a ...

in Madrid, in Catania, and at

Opéra Royal de Wallonie The Opéra royal de Wallonie is a Belgian Opera house located on the Place de l'Opéra, in Liège, Belgium. Together with La Monnaie and the Vlaamse Opera, the ''Opéra royal'', as it is colloquially known, is one of the three major opera house ...

. She has also sung Lauretta in Puccini's ''

Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...

'' in a performance in Lisbon. Giordano's first Bellini role was Elvira in ''

I puritani ' (''The Puritans'') is an 1835 opera by Vincenzo Bellini. It was originally written in two acts and later changed to three acts on the advice of Gioachino Rossini, with whom the young composer had become friends. The music was set to a libretto ...

'' at Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania. Her other significant roles, several of them in rarely performed operas, have been: Livietta (''

Il ritorno di Don Calandrino ''Il ritorno di Don Calandrino'' (''The Return of Don Calandrino''), also known as ''Armidoro e Laurina'', is an Intermezzo#Opera intermezzo, intermezzo in two acts by Domenico Cimarosa to an Italian libretto presumably written by Giuseppe Petrose ...

'') conducted by Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival, in Ravenna, in Las Palmas in Pisa, and in Piacenza; Corinna (''

Il viaggio a Reims ''Il viaggio a Reims, ossia L'albergo del giglio d'oro'' (''The Journey to Reims, or The Hotel of the Golden Fleur-de-lis'') is an operatic dramma giocoso, originally performed in three acts,Janet Johnson: ''A Lost Masterpiece Recovered'', pp. 37 ...

'') in Pesaro, at Teatro Real de Madrid and at the

Rossini in Wildbad Rossini in Wildbad is a bel canto opera festival in Bad Wildbad, Baden-Württemberg, specialising in the lesser-known operas of Gioachino Rossini and his contemporaries. The festival commemorates a stay by Rossini at the town's spa in 1856, which ...

opera festival; Coraline (''

Le toréador ''Le toréador, ou L'accord parfait'' (''The Toreador, or The Perfect Agreement'') is an ''opéra comique'' in two acts by the French composer Adolphe Adam with a libretto by Thomas-Marie-François Sauvage. It was first performed at the Opéra-C ...

'') in Palermo; Carolina (''

Il matrimonio segreto ' (''The Secret Marriage'') is a dramma giocoso in two acts, music by Domenico Cimarosa, on a libretto by Giovanni Bertati, based on the 1766 play ''The Clandestine Marriage'' by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick. It was first performed on ...

'') at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

in London, and in Palermo; Donna Fulvia (''

La pietra del paragone ' (''The Touchstone'') is an opera, or ''melodramma giocoso'', in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, to an original Italian libretto by Luigi Romanelli. Performance history ''La pietra del paragone'' was first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 26 Se ...

'') at

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a s ...

in Paris; Elena (''

Il cappello di paglia di Firenze ''Il cappello di paglia di Firenze'' (''The Florentine Straw Hat'', usually titled in English language productions as ''The Italian Straw Hat'') is an opera by Nino Rota to an Italian-language libretto by the composer and his mother, Ernesta Ro ...

'') at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Sylvie (''

La colombe ''La Colombe'' (''The Dove'') is an ''opéra comique'' in two acts by Charles Gounod with a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré based on the poem ''Le Faucon'' by Jean de la Fontaine. It premiered in a one-act version at the Theater der St ...

'') at the

Accademia Musicale Chigiana The Accademia Musicale Chigiana (''English'': Chigiana Musical Academy) is a music institute in Siena, Italy. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi-Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Classe ...

; Vi ('' Blue Monday'') at the

Teatro Nacional de São Carlos The ''Teatro Nacional de São Carlos'' () (''National Theatre of Saint Charles'') is an opera house in Lisbon, Portugal. It was opened on June 30, 1793 by Queen Maria I as a replacement for the Tejo Opera House, which was destroyed in the 1755 Li ...

in Lisbon; and Aminta (''

L'Olimpiade ''L'Olimpiade'' is an opera libretto in three acts by Metastasio originally written for an operatic setting by Antonio Caldara of 1733. Metastasio’s plot vaguely draws upon the narrative of "The Trial of the Suitors" provided from Book 6 of '' ...

'') at

Festival de Beaune The Festival de Beaune: ''Festival international d’opéra baroque'' is a month-long annual summer festival of baroque opera in Beaune, France. It is notable for revivals of many baroque operas and performances of Mozart on original instruments. M ...

. Giordano has performed as a soloist in ''

Mozart's Requiem The Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is a requiem mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Mozart composed part of the Requiem in Vienna in late 1791, but it was unfinished at his death on 5 December the same year. A completed version date ...

'' at St. John in the Lateran; Rossini's ''

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...

'' in Palermo; Poulenc's ''

'' in Palermo; Schubert's ''Mass No. 6'' at Festival de Saint-Denis; Mozart's '' Krönungsmesse'' at the Mozart Festival in La Coruña; Mahler's ''Symphony No. 4'' in Kazan; and Orff's ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

'' at

Teatro Fraschini The Teatro Fraschini is an opera house in Pavia, Italy. It was initially called the Theater of the Four Noble Knights. It was designed by Antonio Galli da Bibbiena and constructed in 1771 to counter the whims of a local aristocrat. The theater was ...

in Pavia, in Ravenna, and at the

Baths of Caracalla The Baths of Caracalla ( it, Terme di Caracalla) in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Ancient Rome, Roman public baths, or ''thermae'', after the Baths of Diocletian. The baths were likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, durin ...

in Rome. In 2010 Giordano appeared as a guest artist in Roberto Alagna's concert at dedicated to

Luis Mariano Luis Mariano Eusebio González García (13 August 1914 – 14 July 1970), also known as Luis Mariano, was a popular tenor of Spanish origin who achieved celebrity in 1946 with "La belle de Cadix" ("The Beautiful Lady of Cadix") an operetta by ...

. In 2014 she took part in the TV show ' hosted on

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

Enrico Brignano Enrico Brignano (born 18 May 1966) is an Italian actor, playwright, comedian, presenter and writer. Life and career Born in Rome, Brignano graduated in 1990 at the Laboratory of Performing Exercises under Gigi Proietti, who later chose him for ...

, performing excerpts from ''Rigoletto'' and ''La traviata'', and also made an appearance in the show ' as a vocal coach of

Karin Proia Karin Proia (born 14 March 1974 in Latina, Lazio) is an Italian actress who began acting in 1994. Movies she has appeared in include the Italian movies '' The Crusaders'', the comedy '' Cinque giorni di tempesta'' and ''Wasteland''. She has al ...

. Moreover, the same year Giordano made her debut as an actress in her first movie, ''Laurus Nobilis''.

Discography

DVD

* ''La bohème'', Giacomo Puccini. Opus Arte, OA 0961, 2006 * ''La pietra del paragone'', Gioachino Rossini. Naive, V5089, 2007 * ''Don Pasquale'', Gaetano Donizetti. Arthaus Musik, 101303, 2007 * ''Riccardo Muti - Lezioni concerto, 5. La lezione: Muti incontra Cimarosa''. Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A., 2009 * ''Roberto Alagna Live''. Deutsche Grammophon, LC00173 - 0762797 - EDV17, 2010

CD

* ''Rossini Discoveries'', Gioachino Rossini. Decca, 4702982, 2002 * ''L'Olimpiade'', Antonio Vivaldi. Opus 111, OP30316, 2003''El Cultural'' (2003-01-16), Antonio Vivaldi, L'Olimpiade
/ref> * ''Don Pasquale'', Gaetano Donizetti. RAI Trade, RTTI 0002, 2008 * ''Il ritorno di Don Calandrino'', Domenico Cimarosa. Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A., 2009

References

External links

Laura Giordano (official website)

Laura Giordano (official YouTube channel)

Atelier Musicale Artists Management (management agency)

Operabase (performance schedule)

Interviews

''Repubblica Tv'' (2015-10-17), Il Flauto Magico di Mozart debutta al Teatro Massimo

''Messaggero Veneto'' (2015-06-30), Mi garba cantare a casa del doge

''Repubblica Tv'' (2015-04-16), Cavalleria e Toréador, un dittico al Massimo di Palermo

''Sicilia in Rosa'' (2015-02-16), Laura Giordano: "La musica? È arrivata come uno schiaffo"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giordano, Laura Living people 1979 births Italian operatic sopranos Musicians from Palermo 21st-century Italian singers 21st-century Italian women singers