Violeta Urmanavičiūtė-Urmana (born 19 August 1961) is aLithuanian opera singer who has sung leadingmezzo-soprano andsoprano roles in the opera houses of Europe and North America.[1]
Violeta Urmana | |
|---|---|
| Born | Violeta Urmanavičiūtė (1961-08-19)19 August 1961 (age 63) Kazlų Rūda, Lithuania |
| Occupation | opera singer |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Spouse | Alfredo Nigro |
Life and career
editUrmana was born inKazlų Rūda, a small town in Lithuania'sMarijampolė County. She studied piano and singing at theLithuania Academy of Music and Theater inVilnius and continued her vocal studies in Munich atHochschule für Musik und Theater München withJosef Loibl. Between 1991 and 1993, she was a member theBavarian State Opera's Opera Studio program for young singers where she studied underAstrid Varnay and would begin her stage career at the opera house.[1][2]
Urmana originally sang mezzo-soprano roles but from 2001 began singingdramatic soprano roles.[3] She sang Madeleine di Coigny inAndrea Chénier at theVienna State Opera in 2003, Isolde inTristan und Isolde in Rome in 2004 and Leonora inLa forza del destino in London that same year.
She is married to the Italian opera singer,Alfredo Nigro. The couple met when she was singing the title role in Gluck'sIphigénie en Aulide atLa Scala in 2002.[3]
Roles
editRoles sung by Urmana in the course of her career include:[1]
- Medea inMedea
- Waldtaube/Tove inGurre-Lieder
- Aida/Amneris inAida
- Azucena inIl trovatore
- Amelia inEin Maskenball
- Ariadne inAriadne auf Naxos
- Brünnhilde inSiegfried
- Elisabetta/Eboli inDon Carlos
- Isolde/Brangäne inTristan und Isolde
- Judith inHerzog Blaubarts Burg
- Ortrud inLohengrin
- Kundry inParsifal
- Lady Macbeth inMacbeth
- Norma/Adalgisa inNorma
- Sieglinde, Fricka, Brünnhilde inDie Walküre
- Tosca inTosca
- Wally inLa Wally
- La Gioconda inLa Gioconda
- Santuzza inCavalleria rusticana
- Venus inTannhäuser
- Waltraute, Brünnhilde inGötterdämmerung
- Soprano/mezzo-soprano inRequiem byVerdi
Awards (selection)
edit- 2001 Woman of the Year (Lithuania)
- 2001 Female Singer of the Year (Lithuania)
- 2001 National Prize of the Republic of Lithuania for the Arts (Lithuania)
- 2002Franco Abbiati Prize Premio Franco Abbiati della Critica Musicale Italiana, Italy
- 2002 L'Opera Award Italy
- 2002Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award (Great Britain)
- 2007 Honorary citizenship of Violeta Urmana's home town Marijampole (Lithuania)
- 2007 LT-Tapatybe Award in the arts category for the reputation of Lithuania abroad (Lithuania)
- 2007World Intellectual Property Organization Creativity Award
- 2009 Austrian title ofKammersängerin[4]
- 2011 Highest Honour bestowed by theLithuanian Ministry of Culture
- 2011 "Shine Your Light and Hope Award" by Carson J. Spencer Foundation (Denver, USA)
- 2012 Granting of the title of honorary doctor at theLithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre[5]
- 2014 Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia[6]
- 2016 Designated as aUNESCO Artist for Peace[7]
Discography (selection)
edit- Das Lied von der Erde,Rückert-Lieder (Gustav Mahler): Deutsche Grammophon
- Best ofWiener Philharmoniker Vol. VII: Deutsche Grammophon
- Andrea Chénier: Decca
- Messa da Requiem Soprano: Naxos
- Messa da Requiem Mezzo-soprano : EMI
- Violeta Urmana singt Lieder von List, Strauss, Berg: FARAO
- La Gioconda: EMI
- Oberto: Philips
- Tristan und Isolde: EMI
- Puccini ritrovato (famous arias und ensembles byPuccini): Deutsche Grammophon
DVDs (selection)
edit- Aida –Metropolitan Opera, New York: Decca
- Macbeth: Bel Air Classiques
- La canzone dei ricordi (Giuseppe Martucci) medici arts
- Aida –Teatro alla Scala, Milan (Italy) Decca
- La forza del destino –Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Arthaus – Rai Trade
- Cavalleria rusticana Opus Arte
- Un ballo in maschera –Teatro Real Opus Arte
- Don Carlos Opus Arte
- Le rossignol EMI
- Parsifal Arthaus
References
edit- ^abcKutsch, Karl-Josef andRiemens, Leo (2004)."Urmana, Violeta".Großes Sängerlexikon, Vol. 4, p. 4821. Walter de Gruyter.ISBN 359844088X(in German)
- ^Varnay, Astrid and Arthur, Donald (2000).Fifty-five Years in Five Acts: My Life in Opera, pp. 329–330. University Press of New England.ISBN 1555534554
- ^abAshley, Tim (14 February 2006).'My voice decides what's good for me'.The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
- ^Vorarlberger Nachrichten (16 December 2012)."Violeta Urmana zur Kammersängerin ernannt". Retrieved 8 June 2018(in German)
- ^15 min (15 March 2012)."Violetai Urmanai suteiktas Garbės daktaro vardas". Retrieved 8 June 2018(in Lithuanian).
- ^Presidenza della Repubblica Italiana (20 February 2014)."Urmana Dott.ssa Violeta". Retrieved 8 June 2018(in Italian).
- ^UNESCO September 2016"Designation ceremony of Ms Violeta Urmana as a UNESCO Artist for Peace". Retrieved 8 June 2018.