Artist

Sondra Radvanovsky

Soprano

Sondra Radvanovsky’s appearance is generously supported by Roy & Marjorie Linden and the Stratton Trust.

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is a globally celebrated artist. The depth and exquisite colour of her voice are matched by her dramatic acting ability and versatility across a remarkable range of repertoire, from the title roles in Rusalka and Lucrezia Borgia to Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac and the title role in Manon Lescaut. She is widely regarded as one of the premiere Verdi sopranos alive today, as well as one of the premiere interpreters of bel canto.

Radvanovsky begins her 22/23 season with her debut as the mythic sorceress Medea in the Met-premiere production of Cherubini’s rarely performed masterpiece Medea. It is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series and will be transmissioned to movie theatres across the globe. She is continuing on the operatic stage with one of her signature roles, Floria Tosca, in Puccini’s Tosca at the Zurich Opera, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and for a semi-staged concert version at the Chan Centre in Vancouver. In Verdi’s Macbeth she sings Lady Macbeth at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and for a concert version at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (Italy) and finishes the season on the operatic stage with returning to Zurich and performing the leading role of Turandot in Puccini’s Turandot. On the concert stage, Sondra Radvanovsky gives her house debut at Carnegie Hall in New York with pianist Anthony Manoli and presents a world premiere of new works by Jake Heggie alongside well-known arias and songs by Purcell, Händel, Duparc and Strauss, among others. Other recitals bring her to Halifax (Canada), to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and a gala concert at the Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

She has performed in every major opera house in the world, including the Royal Opera House, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zürich, and numerous others. Her signature interpretations of Verdi’s heroines include the title roles in Aïda and Luisa Miller, Elvira in Ernani, Elena in I Vespri Siciliani, Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlo, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, and Lina in Stiffelio, among others.

She trained at the Metropolitan Opera in the late 1990s in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. After performances in smaller roles there, Radvanovsky caught the attention of critics as Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann and was singled out as a soprano to watch. On the concert platform, she has sung with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, both with James Levine; with the Chicago Symphony and David Zinman; with the San Francisco Symphony and James Conlon, and with the Bayerische Staatsoper and Zubin Mehta.

Radvanovsky’s debut recording, Verdi Arias, was released in April 2010 on the Delos label. The album quickly became a critical hit and made several season-best lists, including those of NPR and The New Yorker. In 2011 Delos released a CD of Verdi opera scenes with Radvanovsky and her frequent artistic partner Dmitri Hvorostovsky to coincide with the pair’s return to the Met stage in Il Trovatore. The disc was recorded with the Philharmonia of Russia and Constantine Orbelian.

Radvanovsky is no stranger to the screen. She stars in a Naxos DVD of Cyrano de Bergerac alongside Plácido Domingo, and in Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera, and Roberto Devereux for the wildly popular “Met: Live in HD” series. She has also been an enthusiastic host for the “Live in HD” transmissions of La Fanciulla del West, Otello, and Francesca da Rimini.

Born just outside Chicago, Radvanovsky now makes her home near Toronto and has dual citizenship.