Liudmyla Monastyrska

Born in Irkliiv, Cherkasy Oblast, she studied at the R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music and Kyiv Conservatory.{{cite web|url=http://imgartists.com/artist/liudmyla_monastyrska|title=Liudmyla Monastyrska|date=17 May 2016 |publisher=IMG Artists|accessdate=8 January 2017}}

Monastyrska made her debut with the Ukraine National Opera as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in 1996 and became a principal soloist with the company in 1998. There, and at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, she sang the title roles of Verdi's Aida and Ponchielli's La Gioconda, as well as Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Lisa in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana.

In 2010 she appeared successfully on short notice in the title role of Puccini's Tosca at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which led to her Italian debut at the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago, Italy, under the conductor Alberto Veronesi. In February 2012 she appeared as Aida at La Scala, Milan.[http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/opera-ballet/2011-2012/Aida.html Aida at Teatro alla Scala from 14 February to 10 March 2012] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016055719/http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/opera-ballet/2011-2012/Aida.html |date=16 October 2012 }}.

In 2011, she appeared at Covent Garden, where she successfully stepped in for Micaela Carosi as Aida early in the season, with Fabio Luisi as the conductor.[http://www.day.kiev.ua/en/article/culture/liudmyla-monastyrska-besides-vocal-we-need-image Interview by Larysa Tarasenko in The Day (Kyiv), (23 August 2011)][https://www.thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera/article/aida-at-covent-garden-3w228hzrpt0 Neil Fisher, "Aïda at Covent Garden", The Times (London), 15 March 2011] (subscription required). She was also engaged to sing Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth, with Simon Keenlyside in the title role and Antonio Pappano as the conductor. Rupert Christiansen of The Telegraph remarked that "she lacked nothing in volume or stamina, articulating the coloratura cleanly and pitching steadily ... if only one could have detected which language she was singing in."[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8539791/Macbeth-Royal-Opera-House-Ariodante-Barbican-review.html The Telegraph, 26 May 2011]. A video recording of the Macbeth production has been issued on DVD. In his review of the DVD, William Braun of Opera News wrote: "Liudmyla Monastyrska's Lady Macbeth is unusually well sung. The role in the 1865 version is a nasty vocal hybrid, but she does beautifully with the later style, sounding quite suitably apprehensive at the start of 'La luce langue,' as the plot spins. Elsewhere, in the earlier style, and almost alone among sopranos, she observes the staccato markings in 'Or tutti sorgete' and has thought about why Verdi might have written them. (She makes them into a cackle of incipient delight.) The sleepwalking scene is admirable, with the final high D-flat wonderfully colored, as if she had glimpsed the abyss."[http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2012/7/Recordings/VERDI__Macbeth.html Opera News, July 2012] (subscription required).

She first appeared in New York at the 11 November 2012 annual concert of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, where her "go-for-broke" performance of Lady Macbeth's "Vieni, t'affretta" received "a big ovation".{{Cite news |last=Tommasini |first=Anthony |date=2012-11-12 |title=Starry Arias and a Duet With Chemistry |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/arts/music/richard-tucker-gala-and-award-at-lincoln-center.html |access-date=2023-09-26 |issn=0362-4331}} She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 23 November 2012 as Aida (again under conductor Fabio Luisi), to critical and audience acclaim. The critic of The New York Times, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, wrote: "For Liudmyla Monastyrska, who brought her voluptuous soprano to the title role, it was a triumphant house debut. ... [She] comes to the Met a fully mature artist. She is gifted with a luscious round soprano that maintains its glow even in the softest notes. Her 'O patria mia' was beautifully drawn and colored with darker inflections that added dramatic intensity. A passage in which Ms. Monastyrska’s lines were perfectly shadowed by the cellos, even as they were elastically shaped, spoke volumes about the trust and communication between Mr. Luisi and his singers."{{Cite news |last=Fonseca-Wollheim |first=Corinna da |date=2012-11-25 |title=A Pinch-Hitting Tenor and a Soprano’s Debut on a Trip to Old Egypt |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/arts/music/aida-at-metropolitan-opera.html |access-date=2023-09-26 |issn=0362-4331}}[http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=354672&xhomepath=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/&xhome=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/bibpro.htm Met performance of Aida on 23 November 2012] at the Met Opera Archive. David Salazar in the Latinos Post, wrote about her performance of the aria: "As she rose toward the high C near the end of the aria, she built a lengthy crescendo, but then delivered the C as a disembodied pianissimo that made the moment sublime."[http://www.latinospost.com/articles/7286/20121124/metropolitan-opera-review-aida-epic-triumph.htm Latinos Post, 24 November 2012].

On 30 April 2022, she replaced the Russian diva Anna Netrebko in the title role of Turandot after Netrebko was dropped by the Metropolitan Opera for her ambiguous stance toward Vladimir Putin and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{cite news |author=Javier C. Hernández |date=April 28, 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/arts/music/liudmyla-monastyrska-met-opera-turandot.html |title=Dropping Anna Netrebko, the Met Turns to a Ukrainian Diva |newspaper=The New York Times }}

After her performance, Monastyrska wrapped herself in a Ukrainian flag at her curtain call.{{cite news |date=May 1, 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/01/arts/ukrainian-soprano-flag-anna-netrebko.html |title=Ukrainian Diva Replacing Netrebko at the Met Wears Her Country’s Flag |newspaper=The New York Times }}{{cite news |author=David Salazar |date=May 1, 2022 |url=https://operawire.com/soprano-liudmyla-monastyrska-makes-political-statement-following-turandot-at-metropolitan-opera/ |title=Soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska Makes Political Statement Following ‘Turandot’ at Metropolitan Opera |newspaper=OperaWire }}{{cite news |author=Sophia Alexandra Hall |date=3 May 2022 |url=https://www.classicfm.com/artists/new-york-met/ukrainian-soprano-wears-flag-turandot/ |title=Ukrainian soprano drapes herself in flag during powerful ‘Turandot’ curtain call at Met Opera |newspaper=Classic FM }}{{cite web |author=David Wright |date=May 1, 2022 |url=https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2022/05/a-fresh-cast-and-ukrainian-soprano-lift-the-mets-spring-turandot/ |title=A fresh cast and Ukrainian soprano lift the Met’s spring “Turandot” |newspaper=New York Classical Review }}

In 2013, she sang Abigaille in the Royal Opera's production of Verdi's Nabucco opposite Leo Nucci and Plácido Domingo who alternated as Nabucco.[http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=10965 The Royal Opera – Nabucco – review] This production was broadcast in cinemas worldwide.[http://cinema.roh.org.uk/content/nabucco-mon-29-apr-2013-delayed-live Nabucco (29 April 2013 – delayed live)] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130505164238/http://cinema.roh.org.uk/content/nabucco-mon-29-apr-2013-delayed-live |date=5 May 2013 }}, Royal Opera House Cinema

Monastyrska is married to Oleksandr Monastyrsky, a tenor soloist with the Municipal Opera for Children and Youth in Kyiv. They have two children.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.day.kiev.ua/en/article/culture/liudmyla-monastyrska-besides-vocal-we-need-image Interview of Monastyrska by Larysa Tarasenko (23 August 2011)] at Kyiv's The Day
• [http://imgartists.com/artist/liudmyla_monastyrska Biography] at IMG Artists website
• WorldCat listings of the video recording of Verdi's Macbeth : {{OCLC|785847304|783796144|796919721}}
• {{YouTube|r4spmjttZZs|Monastyrska as Turandot "In questa reggia" at the Met}}

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Category:Ukrainian operatic sopranos

Category:Living people

Category:Entertainers from Cherkasy Oblast

Category:Kyiv Conservatory alumni

Category:1975 births

Category:20th-century Ukrainian women opera singers

Category:21st-century Ukrainian women opera singers

Category:R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music alumni