Elīna Garanča

Elīna Garanča has been ruling over the world’s opera stages for twenty years now as one of the best mezzo-sopranos around. Initially, she studied with her mother, Anita Garanča, in her native Riga, then continued her education in Western Europe and the US, with her professors including Virginia Zeani. A breakthrough in her career came in 2003, when the 27-year-old singer apprared in La clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Today, Ms Garanča can be heard all over the world, performing breeches roles (Chérubin, Octavian, Sextus, Romeo) and her flagship portrayals of passionate women (Delilah, Carmen). She is a versatile artist who does not shy away from Wagnerian roles (Kundry), shines in Verdi’s operas (Eboli, Amneris), excels in the French repertoire (Charlotte), and eagerly performs art songs.

The Warsaw concert is divided into two distinctive parts dominated by the French opera. In the first section we will hear the famous Méditation from Jules Massenet’s Thaïs, introducing the seductive mood of Garanča’s pièce de résistance: Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix from Camille Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah. The aria will be followed by the sensual Bacchanale from the same opera, contrasted with the reflective cavatina Plus grand dans son obscurité from Charles Gounod’s rarely performed opera Queen of Sheba.

The second part will be ushered in by popular pasodobles, including Pascual Marquin Narro’s España cañí, which are quintessential for the culture of the Iberian Peninsula. The programme will culminate with fragments of Bizet’s Carmen, a French opera with the Spanish flair. This section of the programme is ordered into a suite, with the most famous arias of the eponymous heroine: Habanera, Seguidilla, Card Aria and Gypsy Song alternating with orchestral fragments from the opera, providing the audience with a run-through of the story of Carmen.

Critics are profuse in their praises for Garanča’s voice, considering her a continuator of the best traditions of Italian opera and comparing her to the likes of Fiorenza Cossotto. The Warsaw concert at the Polish National Opera will be a real treat for opera and classical music lovers and a chance to hear the world-class artist perform her favourite repertoire.