For all Fans of Opera, only one name is flaming all hearts today: Elīna Garanča.
Some people say she is the new Callas. Does it make sense? Actually it does.
Elīna Garanča was born in 1976 in Riga, capital of Latvia. she was raised in music as her mother was a music teacher and her father a choral director. She entered the Latvian Academy of Music in 1996 to study singing with Sergej Martinov. She continued her studies in Vienna with Irina Gavrilović and in the United States with Virginia Zeani. Elīna Garanča began her professional career at the Südthüringisches Staatstheater in Meiningen and later worked at the Frankfurt Opera. In 1999 she won the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Helsinki, Finland.
The comparison to Maria Callas is definitely not physical but more on her temperament. Indeed, these two divas have the same Fiery personality and passion on skin. We can feel it on both great voices. Elīna Garanča is still very young and her future seems so glorious. She is also a very elegant woman and the pictures from her albums are very aesthetics.
Her career went very fast, with capital roles as:
– Charlotte in Werther
– Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, 2004
– Dorabella in Paris, 2005
– Sesto, La clemenza di Tito, 2006
– Rosina, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Metropolitan Opera
– Carmen, Carmen at Metropolitan Opera, 2010.
2011 will be a great year too, as Elīna will play the role of Giovanna (Jane) Seymour in Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena”. Different dates and countries to come. She is in Switzerland right now where she performs at the Opernhaus of Zurich in May 21, 25, 28 and June 2, 8, 10. I am lucky to meet her next friday, during a special event I will tell you next week. I am so excited!
Right now, I have one of her albums in “repeat mode” in the player… pure magic. I am listening to “Habanera”, a celebration of spanish passion. Elīna Garanča shows all her passion and her love for Spanish culture: latin, gypsy, latin american…. Recorded in 2010 with the italian RAI national orchestra. On the name: The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic “Habanera rhythm”, and is performed with lyric songs. It was the first dance music from Cuba to be exported all over the world. The Habanera of Carmen is a perfect example. If you would like to dive into a passionate moment, you can find Habanera by Elīna Garanča in iTunes store here. Or you can also find it at the official website of the Deutschgrammophon.
Here is a presentation video of the album. Check how modern, young and vibrant it is. Beautiful.
Seduced? To know more about Elīna Garanča, her career or more important, the next dates, check her website http://www.elinagaranca.com/
LA
