Maria Agresta

{{short description|Italian operatic soprano (born 1978)}}

{{infobox person

| name = Maria Agresta

| image = File:Berrugi, Agresta, Macheda.jpg

| image_upright = 1.2

| caption = Maria Agresta with tenor Giorgio Berrugi and her manager Gianluca Macheda (2016)

| birth_name = Maria Giovanna Agresta

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1978|7|16|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Vallo della Lucania, Italy

| occupation = Operatic soprano

| yearsactive = 2006–present

| website = {{url|http://www.mariaagresta.com/}}

}}

Maria Giovanna Agresta (born 16 July 1978) is an Italian operatic soprano.

Life

Born in Vallo della Lucania, Agresta obtained her diploma at the {{ill|Conservatorio Giuseppe Martucci|it}} in Salerno with top marks and then completed her studies with Raina Kabaivanska in Modena. In 2006 she made her debut in Spoleto as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and then appeared as Selene in Baldassare Galuppi's Didone abbandonata. She made her role debut as Micaëla in Carmen in 2007 in Messina and sang Desdemona in Otello in various venues.

Further roles from the Italian repertoire followed; including her role debut as Elena in I vespri siciliani at the Teatro Regio di Torino in 2011, which brought her wide recognition.[http://www.salzburg.com/nachrichten/spezial/festspiele/salzburger-festspiele/hinter-den-kulissen/sn/artikel/agresta-singen-mit-domingo-macht-gluecklich-159549/ Kurzportrait von Maria Agresta], Salzburger Nachrichten vom 27. Juli 2015. Since then she has also sung at La Scala in Milan and other important opera houses such as the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, La Fenice in Venice, the Bayerischen Staatsoper München, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Royal Opera House London and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía Valencia. In 2015 she appeared for the first time at the Salzburg Easter Festivals with Jonas Kaufmann in the role of Nedda in Pagliacci.Rezension von kultur24.berlin zu [http://kultur24-berlin.de/cavalleria-rusticana-pagliacci-in-salzburg-2/ Cavalleria Rusticana + Pagliacci bei den Salzburger Osterfestspielen 2015] She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera (New York) in January 2016 in the role of Mimi in La Bohème.[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/arts/music/review-in-turandot-and-la-boheme-a-new-depth-of-emotion.html?_r=0 "Review: In ‘Turandot’ and ‘La Bohème,’ a New Depth of Emotion"], New York Times, 14 January 2016. At the Salzburg Festival in August 2016 she made an acclaimed role debut in the French repertoire as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust.[http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/salzburger-festspiele-verzauberung-gibt-es-erst-im-sterben-1.3117343 Rezension der Premiere von Gounds Faust bei den Salzburger Festspielen 2016], Süddeutsche Zeitung (11 August 2016). In 2017 there followed further engagements at the Metropolitan Opera as Micaëla in Carmen in January{{Cite web|url=http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2017/01/margaine-makes-sensational-debut-in-mets-riveting-carmen/|title=Margaine makes sensational debut in Met’s riveting "Carmen"|author=Eric C. Simpson|publisher = New York Classical Review|date= 20 January 2017|language = en|accessdate = 1 January 2019}} and as Liù in Turandot in October.{{Cite web |author=Wilborn Hampton |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/met-opera-a-stirring-turandot-with-dyka-antonenko_us_59e76708e4b0153c4c3ec44c |title=Met Opera: A Stirring "Turandot" With Dyka, Antonenko, and an Homage to James Morris |publisher=Huffington Post |date=18 October 2017|accessdate = 1 January 2019}} In 2014 Agresta was awarded the XXXIII Premio della Critica Musicale Italiana.{{Cite web |url=http://critici.prosaclick.com/ |title=XXXIII Premio della Critica Musicale Italiana a Maria Agresta |access-date=2019-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929005722/http://critici.prosaclick.com/ |archive-date=2015-09-29 |url-status=dead }}

Repertoire

Roles include:

class="wikitable" border="0" style="background:#ffffff" align="top" class="sortable wikitable"

|+ align="center" style="background:DarkSlateBlue; color:white" |Operatic repertoire

width="200 px" style="background:Lavender; color:Black"|Role

! style="background:Lavender; color:Black"| Title

! width="70 px" style="background:Lavender; color:Black" |Composer

NormaNormaBellini
ElviraI puritaniBellini
MicaelaCarmenBizet
GemmaGemma di VergyDonizetti
SeleneDidone abbandonataGaluppi
MargueriteFaustGounod
NeddaPagliacciLeoncavallo
Donna ElviraDon GiovanniMozart
MimìLa bohèmePuccini
AngelicaSuor AngelicaPuccini
LiùTurandotPuccini
RosinaIl barbiere di SivigliaRossini
JuliaLa VestaleSpontini
LeonoraOberto, Conte di San BonifacioVerdi
Lucrezia ContariniI due FoscariVerdi
OdabellaAttilaVerdi
AmaliaI masnadieriVerdi
LeonoraIl trovatoreVerdi
Violetta ValeryLa traviataVerdi
Amelia GrimaldiSimon BoccanegraVerdi
ElenaI vespri sicilianiVerdi
DesdemonaOtelloVerdi

Her concert repertoire includes also Rossini's Stabat Mater and Verdi's Requiem.[http://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/kultur/article114925601/Maria-Agresta-rettet-Barenboims-Requiem-Konzert.html Konzertkritik] Berliner Morgenpost, 2 April 2013.

See also

Discography

= Recordings =

  • Galuppi: Didone abbandonata – Piva/Grasso/Giansanti/Agresta/Carnevale/Carè, Welterstaufnahme 2006 Bongiovanni
  • Verdi: Sacred Verdi. Quattro pezzi sacri, Libera me, Ave Maria – Maria Agresta, Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Antonio Pappano. 2014 Warner Classics

= Video recording on DVD or Blu-ray Disc =

References

{{Reflist}}