Mariana Nicolesco (Romanian pronunciation: [mariˈana nikoˈlesko]; born November 28, 1948) is a Romanian operatic soprano.
Career edit
Mariana Nicolesco studied violin at the Music High School in Brasov and voice at the Cluj-Napoca Conservatory of Music, before winning a scholarship at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where she studied canto with Jolanda Magnoni. Later she worked with Rodolfo Celletti and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Upon graduation, in 1972, she won the Rossini International Voice Competition in Milan and American conductor Thomas Schippers invited her to Cincinnati, as Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème.[1] She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1978, as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, a role she has reprised over 200 times, later singing Nedda in Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci (1978-1986) and Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto (1978).[2] Soprano Mariana Nicolesco sang in major opera houses such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where she appeared in the world premiere of Luciano Berio’s La Vera Storia in 1982 and later in: The Stone Guest by Dargomyzhsky (1983), Lucio Silla by Mozart (1984), Polish Requiem by Penderecki(1985), L'Orfeo by Luigi Rossi (1985), Un re in ascolto by Luciano Berio (1986), Don Giovanni by Mozart (1987, 1988, 1993), Fetonte by Jommelli (1988), Alcyone and Alyssa by Ravel (1990).[3] Mariana Nicolesco interpreted a wide repertoire from baroque, belcanto to verismo and contemporary music, and has been described as "an arresting personality with a vibrant voice"[4] Highlights of her repertory are the roles of Elettra in Idomeneo, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito by Mozart, Beatrice di Tenda by Bellini, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Queen Elisabeth I in Roberto Devereux, Maria di Rohan by Donizetti, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Desdemona in Otello, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Luisa in Luisa Miller by Verdi, Marguérite in Faust by Gounod, Tatyana in Evghenij Oneghin by Tchaikovsky, Liù in Turandot by Puccini, Zarina Marina in Dimitry by Dvorak.[5] Invited by Pope John Paul II, she sang in the First Christmas Concert in the Vatican (1993) [6] and participated in the world premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Seven Gates of Jerusalem (Symphony N° 7) in 1997.[7]
She returned to Romania in 1991, after the fall of the Communist regime, singing for the first time on a stage in her native country, in a Concert at the Romanian Atheneum. She created the Romanian Atheneum International Foundation.[8] She initiated in 1995 the Hariclea Darclée International Voice Competition and Festival. In the years between an edition of the contest and the next, she offers Master Classes to the young artists.[9] Mariana Nicolesco created the Romanian National Festival and Song Competition (2003) and presented for the International George Enescu Year, proclamed by UNESCO (2005), in world première the composer's complete songs in Japan, at Aichi World Exhibition as well as in Nagoya and Tokyo, in Prague, Paris, Rome and New York.[10]
An honorary member of the Romanian Academy since 1993, Officer of the Order of the Arts and Letters in France (2000)[11]), she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (2004) [12] and the National Order of the Star of Romania in the Rank of Grand Cross (2008) [13]. She was also named UNESCO Artist for Peace (2005) [14] and was conferred the Special Award Kultur Preis Europa Medal in Sibiu, European Capital of Culture, 2007).[15]
Discography edit
| Year | Title | Role | Cast | Conductor Orchestra |
Live / Studio |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Meyerbeer: Gli amori di Teolinda (cantata) | — | Nicolesco | Wolfgang Gönnenwein Ludwigsburg Festival Orchestra |
Live | Pro Arte |
| 1983 | Puccini: La rondine | Lisette | Te Kanawa Domingo, Nicolesco, Nucci, et al. |
Lorin Maazel London Symphony Orchestra |
Live | CBS Records |
| 1987 | Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda | Beatrice di Tenda | Nicolesco, Toczyska, Cappuccilli, La Scola, et al. |
Alberto Zedda Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra |
Live | Rizzoli Records Sony 1995, 2009 |
| 1987 | Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro | Marcellina | Hynninen Price, Battle, Nicolesco, et al. |
Riccardo Muti Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra |
Live | EMI |
| 1987 | Ravel: Alyssa and Alcyone (cantatas) | — | Nicolesco, Denize, Meens, Glashof |
Hubert Soudant Bamberg Symphony |
Live | Rizzoli Records |
| 1988 | Donizetti: Maria di Rohan | Maria | Nicolesco, Morino, Coni, Franci, et al. |
Massimo de Bernart Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia |
Live | Nuova Era reissued 1991 |
| 1990 | Verdi: Simon Boccanegra | Maria Boccanegra | Bruson Nicolesco, Sabbatini, Scandiuzzi, et al. |
Roberto Paternostro Tokyo Symphony Orchestra |
Live | Capriccio reissued 2005 |
Notes edit
- ^ Mariana Nicolesco: talent şi dăruire de excepţie pe altarul artei (http://www.cariereonline.ro/articol/mariana-nicolesco-talent-si-daruire-de-exceptie-pe-altarul-artei), Mariana Nicolesco: trăiesc într-un perpetuu foc de artificii (http://www.cotidianul.ro/mariana-nicolesco-traiesc-intr-un-perpetuu-foc-de-artificii-120622) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ New York Metropolitan Opera Archive (http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Teatro alla Scala di Milano, archivio storico http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/index.html accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/ accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Mariana Nicolesco: sunt prea spontană, prea directă ca să spun minciuni (http://www.revistatango.ro/celebritati/interviuri/mariana-nicolesco-sunt-prea-spontana-prea-directa-sa-spun-minciuni-1549.html) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Colinde cu Mariana Nicolesco la Vatican (http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/colinde-cu-mariana-nicolesco-la-vatican-959206.html) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Mădălina Grosu, "Mariana Nicolesco, soprana de aur a României" ("Mariana Nicolesco, Romania's Golden Soprano", Adevărul, 27 July 2010; accessed March 17, 2012
- ^ Mariana Nicolesco: talent şi dăruire de excepţie pe altarul artei (http://www.cariereonline.ro/articol/mariana-nicolesco-talent-si-daruire-de-exceptie-pe-altarul-artei) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ The Hariclea Darclée International Festival and Voice Competition http://www.darclee-voice-contest.com/, Mariana Nicolesco: sunt prea spontană, prea directă ca să spun minciuni (http://www.revistatango.ro/celebritati/interviuri/mariana-nicolesco-sunt-prea-spontana-prea-directa-sa-spun-minciuni-1549.html), Mariana Nicolesco omul zilei (http://www.jurnalul.ro/calendar/omul-zilei-mariana-nicolesco-586244.htm) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Festival marca Mariana Nicolesco (http://www.adevarul.ro/locale/brasov/brasov-festival_lied-mariana_nicolesco_0_579542109.html) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Romanian Academy http://www.academiaromana.ro/membri_ar/pag/mo01_MNicolesco.htm accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Sito web del Quirinale: dettaglio decorato.
- ^ http://www.presidency.ro/?_RID=det&tb=date&id=10526&_PRID=search accessed 20.03.2012
- ^ Mariana Nicolesco UNESCO Artist of Peace (http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=30910&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html) accessed 15.03.2012
- ^ Mariana Nicolesco Kultur Preis Europa Medal (http://www.kfe.de/index.php?navi=2&submenu=2&year=2007&ID=1198325310) accessed 15.03.2012
External links edit
- The Hariclea Darclee Festival and International Voice Competition
- http://www.darclee-voice-contest.com/
Category:1948 births
Category:Living people
Category:Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni
Category:Operatic sopranos
Category:People from Giurgiu County
Category:Romanian female singers
Category:Romanian opera singers