Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Happy Birthday: Andrea Rost

"Ach, ich fühl's" Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)

"Klänge der Heimat" Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss)

"Sempre libera" La Traviata (Verdi)

"Giunse alfin il momento...Deh vieni, non tardar" Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)

"Or sai chi l'onore" Don Giovanni (Mozart)

Gilda "Caro nome" Rigoletto (Verdi)

"Regnava nel silenzio" Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)


Andrea Rost was born June 15, 1962, in Budapest, Hungary. She graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music as the pupil of Zsolt Bende. She was still a student with a scholarship from the Budapest Opera when she sang Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the Budapest Opera House in 1989. Two years later, in 1991, she became the soloist of the Staatsoper in Vienna, where she sang all her

major roles; the conoisseur audience of Vienna heard her magnificient performances of the roles of Zerlina through Adina and Susanna to Lucia di Lammermoor and Violetta, as well as at a number of concerts. She enjoyed a roaring international success at the première of Rigoletto at La Scala in 1994, where she had been invited by Riccardo Muti, and she has been a regular guest singer there ever since. She was already a celebrated star when in 1995 she sang Pamina at the première of Die Zauberflöte at the night of the season at La Scala to great acclaim. These roles were followed by Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Violetta in Verdi’s Traviata. 1997 saw the release of her first solo recording, Le delizie dell’amor, featuring arias from bel canto, Verdi and Puccini operas.

"Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß" Giuditta (Lehár)
"Je veux vivre" Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)
"Signore ascolta" Turandot (Puccini)
"Saper vorreste" Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi)
"Bester Jüngling" Der Schauspieldirektor (Mozart)


In 2006 January she performed several times the role of Gilda at Teatro alla Scala. At the Salzburg Festival, she perfomed in several productions, including R. Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten (Voice of the Falcon, under Georg Solti), Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione de Poppea (Drusilla, under Nikolaus Harnoncourt), Verdi’s Traviata (Violetta, under Riccardo Mutti), and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (Xenia, under Claudio Abbado). In L' Opéra Bastille de Paris she sang Susanna, Gilda, Lucia, and Antonia (in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann). In the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden she made her debut as Susanna, then went on to sing Violetta with great success. She sang the title role of Donizetti’s Elisabeth at a concert performance, which was also a world première. In the season of 2003/2004 she has performed as Lucia di Lammermoor. In Teatro Real Madrid she sang the role of Blanche of Poulenc Les dialogues des Carmélites in June 2006. In the United States, she has performed at the Chicago Lyric Opera several times, singing Zerlina, Gilda, Violetta, and Giulietta (Bellini: I Capuletti e i Montecchi), in October 2005 she performed as Micaela. She made her debut in the Metropolitan Opera, New York in 1996 as Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, later appearing there as Gilda, Lucia, and Violetta as well. Last time in April 2006 she sang Susanna at the Metropolitan. She sang Antonia at the Washington Opera, and appeared in Los Angeles in the same role. In March 2002, she sang Pamina in Los Angeles. In April 2005 she performed as Pamina several times at Washington. She is often invited to sing at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. At the Budapest Opera, she often sings her favourite roles of Gilda, Lucia and Violetta. She sings Mozart arias from Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro on her latest released CD album performing eight different roles. The DVD-version of this recording is available. She is the holder of the title „Artist of Merit”, in 1997, she won the Liszt Prize and in 2004, the Kossuth Prize. [Source, Source]




"Abendempfindung" (Mozart)


"Du bist die Ruh" Schubert)


"Morgen" (R. Strauss)


"Regata Veneziana" (Rossini) w/Vasselina Kasarova


"A csitári hegyek alatt" folksong (Kodály)



(Photos: Zoltan Tombor)