Mezzo-soprano elina garanca biography

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She portrayed Charlotte in "Werther" and Dorabella in "Così fan tutte" at the Vienna State Opera in 2004. Habanera was released in 2010, Romantique in 2012 and Meditation in 2014, the latter two albums taking further Echo Klassik awards. Her album ‘Sol y Vida’ was released in May 2019 and has been unanimously praised by the critics: “Garanča’s selection of flamboyant Mediterranean and Latin American songs is a predictably good fit for her ripe and beguiling timbre.” (Gramophone).

In 2006, she returned to "La clemenza di Tito," this time singing the role of Sesto.

On January 12, 2008, Elina made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, performing the role of Rosina in Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia." Critics praised her vocal agility, speed, and comfort with the complex Rossini repertoire. It features popular songs from Italy, Spain and Latin America, including numbers more often associated with the tenor voice, such as Core ’ngrato and Turna a Surriento, as well as two gems of the Latin American repertoire in which she is joined by guitarist José María Gallardo del Rey: Gracias a la vida and Piazzolla’s Yo soy María.

She has captured critical and popular acclaim for her beautiful voice, intelligent musicianship, and compelling stage portrayals. The following season she made two further much-praised debuts: Princess Eboli in the Paris Opéra’s new production of Don Carlos and Dalila in Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila at the Vienna Staatsoper.

Highlights of her 2019–20 stage and concert/recital season included concerts in Vienna, Hamburg and Graz with the Wiener Kammerorchester and Karel Mark Chichon, concert performances of La Damnation de Faust at the Metropolitan Opera (“Her mezzo-soprano, a pearl-smooth column of silvery sound that soars into the theater like a laser, remains one of the most coolly luxurious voices in opera.” – The New YorkTimes) and Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Lorenzo Viotti at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Having given two performances of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder at this summer’s Salzburg Festival with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Christian Thielemann, Garanča began the current season in Italy, singing the Verdi Requiem with the Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala and Riccardo Chailly in Milan, Bergamo and Brescia.

In 1999, she won the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Helsinki, Finland.

International Success

Elina gained international recognition in 2003 when she performed the role of Annio in Mozart's "La clemenza di Tito" at the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. She made her Covent Garden debut in 2007 and her Metropolitan Opera debut the following year.

Since then, she has established herself as one of the music world’s major stars through her performances with leading opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world. Her first solo recording ‘Aria Cantilena’ was released in March 2007 to great popular and critical acclaim.

During the 2019/20 season, she sang Dalila in a new production of »Samson et Dalila« at Staatsoper Berlin with Daniel Barenboim. She also sang at various festivals and galas throughout Europe, Japan, South America and beyond. Her first solo recording, Aria Cantilena, came in 2007, winning great acclaim and an Echo Klassik Singer of the Year award.

The album earned Garanča the 2020 Opus Klassik “Female Singer of the Year” award.

Her latest recording is her first solo recital album and includes a contrasting selection of Lieder by Brahms alongside Schumann’s song cycle Frauenliebe und Leben. One of the most influential events in Elina's education was her performance as Giovanna Seymour in Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Anna Bolena" in 1998.

This performance led to numerous engagements and opportunities. She studied at the Latvian Academy of Music with her mother. She was born on September 16, 1976, in Riga, Latvia, into a family of musicians. One of the youngest recipients of the Award, Ms Garanča was honoured for her devotion to the House, singing over one hundred and forty performances of eighteen roles since her debut in the House in 2003, beginning with the small role of Lola (»Cavalleria rusticana«), and now the House's reigning Carmen, Sesto (»La clemenza di Tito«), Giovanna Seymour (»Anna Bolena«), Charlotte (»Werther«) and Octavian.

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