Anna Caterina Antonacci Does Double Duty At San Francisco Opera

Anna Caterina Antonacci stars in two roles during the San Francisco Opera's June season, which opens Sunday, June 7, 2015. She will play the role of Cesira in the world premiere of Marco Tutino's Two Women and also portrays Cassandra in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens. (Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)

"Anna Caterina Antonacci is an opera star who thrives on defying expectations. A mesmerizing performer with a supple and lustrous voice, Antonacci seems equally at home in roles written for soprano or for the lower-voiced mezzo-soprano. She has triumphed in one of the most popular of operas, Georges Bizet’s Carmen, but mostly she has sought out repertory off the beaten path. And while for many singers, appearing at the Metropolitan Opera represents the pinnacle of success, Antonacci has never sung there, and likely never will. But though her career is mainly in Europe, she has recently been making annual concert appearances in New York. In March, after she sang a program of French songs and Francis Poulenc’s monodrama La Voix Humaine, Zachary Woolfe wrote in The New York Times that 'her alertness to the texts and the unassuming grandeur of her presence made the night riveting.' Now she’s back in the United States again to headline the San Francisco Opera’s summer season, which opens Sunday, June 7. She will portray her touchstone role of Cassandra in Berlioz’s epic Les Troyens and also will star in the world premiere of an opera based on a classic book and film. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, the 54-year-old Italian singer talked about her unusual career and the roles she most responds to." [Source] Read the full interview, which covers how she chooses roles; creating the new operatic role of Cesira; interpreting the role of Cassandra in Les Troyens; why she infrequently performs in the United States; and what the future holds for her on the opera stage, by clicking here.