Happy Birthday: Aïnhoa Arteta

"Goizeko eguzki argiak"
Mirentxu (Guridi)

Aïnhoa Arteta Ibarrolaburu, born 24 September 1964 in Tolosa (Guipúzcoa), Spain, is a Spanish soprano. After studying in Tolosa and Italy, she later studied under Ruth Falcon. After winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1993, her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in October 1994 was as Mimì in La Bohème. She has also performed at the Metropolitan Opera with Plácido Domingo and Mirella Freni and in Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias directed by James Levine. She was accompanied by Plácido Domingo for her debut at London's Covent Garden. For her Carnegie Hall debut she was accompanied by Dolora Zajick and Plácido Domingo, with whom she

"Sola perduta abbandonata"
Manon Lescaut (Puccini)

has toured several countries. She has also performed at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Amsterdam Opera, Bonn Opera, Teatro Bellas Artes in México, Teatro di San Carlo, Washington Opera (La Rondine), San Francisco Opera, Arena di Verona, among others. She has performed Faust at the Bayrische Staatsoper and Münchner Opern-Festspiele with Rolando Villazón, directed by Friedrich Haider. She has sung with the Orquesta de Cadaqués conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed and recorded with her former husband Dwayne Croft. Among other awards, she has the Concours International de Voix d'Opera Plácido Domingo (Paris). In December 2008 she gave a series of recitals accompanied by Malcolm Martineau. [Source]

Click here to purchase the recital disc of Ainhoa Arteta on Deutsche Grammophon.

"Quando m'en vo" La Bohème (Puccini)

"Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" La Rondine (Puccini)

"Dunque io son" Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
with Dwayne Croft

"Esulti pur la barbara" L'elisir d'Amore (Donizetti)
with Ismael Jordi

"Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito"
Cinco canciones negras (Montsalvatge)

FULL BIOGRAPHY
A native of Tolosa in the Spanish Basque Country, the soprano Aïnhoa Arteta came to international attention when she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Operalia – Plácido Domingo International Competition resulting in engagements with some of the world’s most important theaters. Of her debut of Mimì in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Times wrote, “Aïnhoa Arteta made a promising debut in La Bohème. She took over the role of Mimi with smooth legato and distinctive mix of buoyant lightness and rich, dark timbre…pianissimos registered ravishingly. Ms Arteta also projected an apt vocal and physical vulnerability”. Notable performances include Mimi and Musetta in La Bohème, Violeta in La Traviata, Micaela in Carmen and Olga in Fedora (telecast on PBS’ Live from the Met series) at the Metropolitan Opera, Magda in La Rondine (telecast on PBS’ Great Performances) at The Washington Opera, Leila in Les Pecheurs de Perles in Bordeaux, Bilbao and Seattle, Violetta in Barcelona, San Sebastián, Sevilla (La Maestranza), Micaela at the Scottish Opera, Gilda in Rigoletto at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Violeta in La Traviata and Marguerite in Faust in Cincinnati, Violetta at the Netherlands Opera, as well as Gilda at the Michigan Opera Theater, Mimi and Marguerite at the Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Carolina in Il Matrimonio Segreto at the Perelada Festival and Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Pacific. Later on Ms Arteta returned to the Metropolitan for Musetta and as Therese in the long awaited revival of Les Mamelles des Tiresias; to the Washigton Opera for Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, performed her Musetta at the Opera Bastille in Paris, Juliette in Gounod’s opera in Oviedo, debuted at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires as Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore and made her operatic debut at the Royal Opera Covent Garden as Musetta, La Bohème at the Metropolitan, the Houston Grand Opera, the Dallas Opera Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in Palm Beach, Liu in Turandot in Bilbao and La Rondine in Oviedo. A critically acclaimed recitalist, Ms Arteta gives dozens of recitals and concerts yearly. Among innumerable concerts, she has performed in Carnegie Hall with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, the Metropolitan Opera, the Perelada Festival, the Antibes Festival, Graz and Vienna. The soprano has also sung in concert at the White House and has appeared frequently with Plácido Domingo including performances in Berlin, Hamburg, Istambul, Leipzig, Madrid, Paris, Munich, Valencia, Brazil and London. She was invited to sing with tenor Ramón Vargas on the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico, and she subsequently sang with Plácido Domingo at Baalbeck Festival (Lebanon) with great success. Ms. Arteta can be heard on CD in the title role of Amadeo Vives’ Dona Francisquita, a recital CD of Zarzuela and Spanish songs with the Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra, as well as on a CD of music of the Renaissance for Helicón. Further CD productions include Aïnhoa Arteta – Recital for Ensayo RBA and Entrañable for RTVE-Música. Among the performances in her latest season, highlights include Marguerite at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich (with the tenor Rolando Villazón and conducted by Friedrich Haider), her debut as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at the Palau de la Música in Valencia, her debut as Musetta in La Bohème at the Arena di Verona and at the Trieste Theatre, as well as Vier Letzte Lieder by Richard Strauss with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Awards include "Best classical music artist" at the 5th Spanish Music Awards, the ONDAS Prize, the "Federico Romero", the award by the Autor Foundation for her international career, "Universal Basque" by the Basque Government, Member of the Board of the Winterthur Foundation, Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Cádiz, Member of the Board of the Orfeó Catalá-Palau de la Música Foundation, the Gold Medal of the Palau de la Música de Valencia and Artist in Residence of the Cadaqués Symphony Orchestra. Last year, she celebrated further successes with her debut as Manon in Bilbao and her performance as Marguerite in Valencia, with the premiere of Dulcinea: cantata-fantasía para un caballero enamorado by Lorenzo Palomo at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in Mozart’s Requiem with Sir Neville Marriner, with her debut in the

Musikverein in Vienna (accompanied by Roger Vignoles) and in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Orchestra of Tenerife conducted by Víctor Pablo Pérez. Further highlights include La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera House and in Las Palmas, as well as her debut as Blanche in Dialogues de Carmélites in Bilbao. Recently, she has given recitals with Roger Vignoles, Malcolm Martineau and Rubén Fernández Aguirre, as well as a Lyric Concert with José Carreras. Future engagements include La Bohème, Eugene Onegin, Manon Lescaut, Turandot, Simon Boccanegra and Cyrano de Bergerac (with Plácido Domingo), in such major venues as the Metropolitan Opera, the Liceu in Barcelona, ABAO, Las Palmas, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and in San Francisco. Further engagements include performances with the following orchestras: Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife and Orquesta de Cadaqués. Conductors will include Sir Neville Marriner, Gianandrea Noseda, Christopher Hogwood, Vasily Petrenko, Pablo González, Adrian Leaper, Víctor Pablo Pérez, Friedrich Haider, Pier Giorgio Morandi and Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez. [Source]