Annamaria Popescu
Associate Professor (Voice)
Ever since her sensational 1994 debut on short notice in Berlioz鈥檚 Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, Canadian-born mezzo-soprano Annamaria Popescu has established herself as a force on opera stages around the world. Comfortable in both the mezzo and contralto idiom, she has been praised for her "dark and velvety voice" (Montr茅al Gazette), "a svelte, penetrating contralto, by turns bubbly-urbane and stricken," according to The Financial Times. Following her success in London, she was soon invited to La Scala which now has become the anchorpoint of her career, appearing in 14 productions ever since with such conductors as Riccardo Muti, Vladimir Jurowski, Myung-Whun Chung and Carlo Rizzi.
Her 07/08 and 08/09 seasons included several engagements in the Czech Republic, including the Beethoven Festival and Dvorak Festival, an evening of opera arias at the International Festival Cesky Krumlov where she performed with the Prague Radio Symphony,. She also sang in the productions of Rossini鈥檚 Viaggio a Reims and The Makropoulos Case at La Scala. She returned to Canada to perform with l鈥橭p茅ra de Montr茅al as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly; 鈥淐anadian mezzo soprano Annamaria Popescu is brilliantly cast as Cio Cio San鈥檚 maid, Suzuki鈥� as per Alan Conter of the Globe and Mail, 鈥淎nnamaria Popescu est parfaite en Suzuki鈥� as noted by Christophe Huss of Le Devoir. She gave a recital in Toronto with the Off Centre Music Salon.and then went to Montr茅al for her first Das Lied von der Erde with the Conservatoire de Musique de Montr茅al; 鈥淭he Milan-based Montr茅al mezzo-soprano Annamaria Popescu kept the line fresh and hopeful rather than old and weepy. With her handsome, focused voice and personable stage deportment she turned the Von der Sch枚nheit movement into a little opera scene鈥� according to Arthur Kaptainis of the Montreal Gazette.
During past seasons at La Scala, where she made her European stage debut in 1996 as Anna in Les Troyens, Popescu has since portrayed Mme Dangeville in Adriana Lecouvreur, M猫re Jeanne in Dialogues des Carm茅lites, La Duena in Cyrano de Bergerac where she shared the stage with Placido Domingo, Page in Salome, Pierotto in Linda de Chamounix, Meg in Falstaff, and Olga in Eugene Onegin, a role she recreated at l鈥橭p茅ra de Montr茅al and the Florentine Opera. Suzuki is one of her signature roles, having performed it not only in three different productions at La Scala, but also at the Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon, at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, the Teatro Bellini in Catania, Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria, and in Madrid.
Other opera engagements include Genevi猫ve in Pell茅as et M茅lisande where she had the honour of performing with Nicolai Ghiaurov at the Teatro Regio in Torino, Roggiero/Isaura in Tancredi with the Frankfurt Opera, Charlotte in Werther at Pacific Opera, St茅phano in Rom茅o et Juliette at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Erika in the French premiere of Barber鈥檚 Vanessa at the Th茅芒tre de Metz and collaborations with Charles Dutoit and the Montr茅al Symphony as Mother in Stravinsky鈥檚 Mavra and La M猫re in L鈥檈nfant et les Sortil猫ges, respectively.
Equally in demand for concert repertoire, Popescu sang Stravinsky鈥檚 Les Noces, Berceuses du chat, and Pribaoutky with the Montr茅al Symphony under Charles Dutoit for a Radio Canada broadcast. She performed Tipett鈥檚 Crown of the Year with Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony and the composer鈥檚 Mask of Time with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra. She was also a soloist in Beethoven鈥檚 Ninth Symphony with the LSO under Michael Tilson Thomas and the Houston Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach. In addition, she was heard in repertoire ranging from the Bach oratorios, to Rossini鈥檚 Stabat Mater and Petite Messe Solennelle, to Mahler鈥檚 Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Kindertotenlieder as well as his symphonies, to Schnittke鈥檚 Faust Cantata.
She has collaborated with British pianist Howard Shelley on a recording of the complete songs by Rachmaninov, which was released on Chandos to critical acclaim. For CBC Records, she has recorded the Garden of the Heart by R. Murray Schaffer, conducted by Mario Bernardi, and is shown on DVD as Fenena in a live recording of Nabucco at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, as Mme Dangeville in Adriana Lecouvreur and as M猫re Jeanne in Dialogues des Carmelites both at the Teatro alla Scala.
Her studies have taken her to 平特五不中 in Montr茅al, the Britten鈥揚ears School in Aldeburg, the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and the Atelier Lyrique de l鈥橭p茅ra de Montr茅al. She studied with Beverly Wolff, Nancy Williams, Jean-Fran莽cois Blivet and Alexandrina Milcheva and now collaborates with Janine Reiss in Paris, James Vaughan in Milan and both Michael McMahon and Esther Gonthier in Montr茅al.
Born in Montr茅al, Popescu has recently been giving masterclasses in the interpretation of Italian and French repertoire at various Canadian colleges, universities and young artists programs. Her keen interest and experience in the use of language in music and vocal techinique have lead her to teach voice and Italian Diction for Singers at 平特五不中 in Montr茅al, Canada since September 2010.聽
She now shares her time between her home in Milan and Montr茅al.
